Today I decided to open yet another new tin of tobacco. The one I chose is Peterson Old Dublin and I then grabbed my Savinelli 804KS Sitting pipe. I believe the Savilelli was my 3rd pipe in my collection, which is still small but slowly growing. I picked it up at one of my local tobacco shops called Ted's Tobacco in Omaha, Nebraska. It's a rusticated Canadian with a dark brown stain on the briar. It is sanded down to create a flat base on the bottom, hence the title "Sitting". It has an acrylic stem and is a pipe that uses a 6mm filter. It is one of my "go to" pipes for sure. Now back to the tobacco. I placed a fairly large order of tobacco at Pipes and Cigars online (www.pipesandcigars.com) after the Bank of Shari (that's the missus) approved my $200 line of credit :P You see, I've been doing a lot of powerpoint work for my sister-in-law so I deserved this paycheck! Anyhow, I looked around the website and Peterson tobaccos have been pretty good in my book so when I read the description I knew I had to add it to the cart. So here we are. Here's the description on the label, "The traditional mixture of the finest Latakia, Turkish oriental and Virginia Lef is slowburning, cool and still blended by hand". I was sold! When I cracked the tin and put it to the sniff test I could smell the sweet-n-spicy Latakia. It has that campfire, smokey, BBQ and maybe a little pepper aroma. My nose enjoyed that :) The tobaccos are light, medium & dark brown ribbon cut and just right regarding the moisture--not too moist & not too dry. This is perfect because I didn't want to have to wait for a dry pinch or two. I packed it, lit it with my IM Corona Old Boy, and then tamped it with my favorite Plateau Briar (shout outs to Aaron Strange a.k.a BriarBoy on Etsy), and enjoyed the smoke. It was a smooth, cool, and fulyl producing smoke. The flavors of peppery cooked smoked meat over a campfire put a fantastically silky smooth coat over my tongue. This was perfect and a very relaxing smoke. No room noted and maybe shouldn't be since it isn't an aromatic...I'm still working on describing what I taste & smell whcih will come in time :) The bowl smoked down cool and fast and I think I'm on my 3rd or 4th sitting. It is hightly recommended and gets two thumbs up in my book! Go out and try it for yourself and let me know whatcha think! Until next time...keep on smokin' on!!
After work I decided to pair up McClelland's Syrian Full Balkan tobacco with my new pipe from BriarBird that was purchased from Tobacco Pipe Collectors. The blend is made up of Virginia, Latakia and Oriental tobaccos. The brown and black ribbon cuts of tobacco are not too wet and not too dry---just right. Taking a good whiff of the tobacco right out of the tin was a little underwhelming. I was hoping or maybe expecting a stronger aroma of Latakia but was a little disappointed. It has a mild scent of Latakia and after a few sniffs I was automatically brought back to a time in the early 1990's when I was deployed to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia...more specifically the Gold Market. Now that was kind of weird...but it is what it is. Anyhow, I get a smokey, BBQ sauce-like aroma which isn't bad...just not the stronger scent I wanted from a tobacco named Syrian Full Balkan. Was I way off on assuming this or not? When I filled up the bowl of my new billiard, lit it with my Corona Old Boy, and tamped it with my Plateau Briar I got a good amount of full smoke. It took a wee bit before I could taste a little of the cooked sweet meat flavor of Latakia---really mild flavor. I really couldn't pinpoint a room note but will work on that (again, it was windy on the deck). Overall, it is a "middle of the road" tobacco for me...not that bad. Yesterday I received my BriarBird Albatross Line Straight Billiard pipe from Tobacco Pipe Collectors (www.tobaccopipecollectors.com). Jason Cochey is the artisan and I must say that this is one fantastic pipe that I'm glad to have purchased at a reasonable price! It also smokes wonderfully! The colors are awesome! The bowl is dyed reddish brown and blasted to showcase the grain of the briar. The texture of natural ridges in the briar wood is amazing! The shank is a faux horn inlay with a lighter brown/tan lines. The stem is amber in color and is a tapered fishtail. If you look closely, you can see the splintery or flame-like streaks that appear to be encapsulated by the stem. The pipe is 5-1/2" in length, stands at 1-3/4" tall with a 7/8" chamber and depth of 1-1/4". This pipe weighs in at 1.7 ounces. Overall, I'm very impressed with Jason's craftwork and am happy to own one of his pipes! This month I joined the biggest pipe collector club called Tobacco Pipe Collectors Global Pipe Collectors, or better known as TPC GPC! Mike Lancaster is the Founder & President and an awesome ambassador to all of the pipe artisans/vendors listed on his website (www.tobaccopipecollectors.com). I subscribed to his YouTube channel as well as Instagram and am impressed with waht he has done and is doing for the pipe community. Although I'm new to pipe smoking, I feel that I know much so much more in this short amount of time due to the contributions of many in the pipe smoking community via social media. In the envelope I received was a letter from Mike, my plastic membership card, and a TPC GPC sticker. In addition to that was a vinyl window decal. I received this since the pipe I ordered from his website was processed without free shipping. It is now displayed on my truck window! Anyhow, as a new member I get free shipping on products ordered from his website & discounts from vendors (10-20% noted). TPC is a great focal point for featured pipe vendors and is one place everyone should visit and purchase their next tobacco pipe! Yesterday I received a package of goodies from Pipes and Cigars which included a couple of pipe stands (fish in this photo + chief headdress), leather pipe case, plenty of pipe tobacco plus a couple of other things. I knew I wanted to try another tin and Samuel Gawith's Skiff Mixture was what I chose. I really wanted to try this one first because a co-worker of mine has it but hasn't smoked it yet. It's been about a month now and he still hasn't smoked it so I thought I'd order it and taste it myself. This English blend has Virginia, Turkish, Latakia, and Oriental tobaccos in a ribbon cut form. When I opened the tin for a sniff test I could automatically smell the Latakia which produces the BBQ smoke pit/campfire aroma that I love. Once I grabbed a few pinches I could feel the moisture in the tobacco and thought that I really should let it dry out a bit before smoking a bowl, but I chose not to. Bad move. I packed my Savinelli Oscar Dry 127 "Second" pipe (refurbished by Ric Farrah), lit it with my IM Corona Old Boy, and tamped it with my Plateau Briar Tamper (Aaron Strange craftwork) and repeated the lighting/tamping process for some time. It was difficult to keep lit and it produced light smoke because of the moisture in the tobacco. It was an okay smoke but I decided to "prep" another pinch or two for the next morning so that I could give it a fair shot. Well the next morning came and I went through the motions and what a difference in drying the tobacco made! It produced full but mild smoke with a creamy, sweet meat flavor on the tongue which was very nice. I've had a couple of tobaccos that produced similar "creamy" coats on the palate which is very nice if you ask me :) So overall, what I'll take from this is to let any moist tobacco dry out a bit to give it a chance to shine like this Sammy-G blend called Skiff Mixture! I opened another new tin of tobacco from Peterson of Dublin. This mixture of tobacco is called the Nutty Cut. It is a blend of golden, red & dark Virginia tobacco with a little Burley and Black Cavendish. The label on the tin mentions that a "frgrance flavour of rum, coconut & Macadamia nut" make up this nutty cut of tobacco. I paired this tobacco with my Savinelli 804KS Sitting pipe. Also out for the photo shoot is my IM Corona Old Boy and Plateau Briar Tamper. The new base in the photo above is a slice of a tree trunk that I picked up at Michaels which adds a little umph to the photos :) Once I opened the tin I could smell a little bit of rum but more coconut than anything else. Macadamia nut?...I don't know, coconut was the dominate casing. I'm a fan of cocnut so I was looking forward to the taste. I lit it, tamped it, then puffed away. No tongue bite, no coconut/rum/Macadamia, just good full smoke and flavor. There is a little "sweetness" on the palate from the Virginia baccy but nothing more for my first go around with this blend. I must say that it smoked a little hot in my Savinelli in the beginning but I might be able to blame that on the windy day on the deck. Overall, it's a good aromatic blend minus the lack of cocnut "sweetness" I was hoping for. Orlik's Golden Sliced tobacco has been in my posession for a few weeks now. It was Jayson Dagner on YouTube (alson dagner_the_terrible on IG) that said it was one of his favorites over and over again. I thought if this veteran of pipe tobacco smoking says it's good, it's got to be good! So I went out and bought a tin. First off, it is Virginia tobacco with a touch of Louisiana Perique (or others say is Burley even though the label says it's Perique). I'm very new to this so I don't who is correct, but I'll go with the label. It is a flake tobacco that has been pressed and sliced out. Right out of the tin is smells hay-like with some green tea as well. At least that's what I'm sniffing out. Anyhow, it needs to be rubbed out in order to break up the slices before you pack it in the bowl. Once lit with your favorite lighter (in my case it is the IM Corona Old Boy) and then tamped with your favorite tamper (Plateau Briar Tamper but I had to use my homemade jobber because it fits down this pipe's bowl), you get a nice & smooth flow of mild tobacco. It is very relaxing and enjoyable from beginning to end. Although it doesn't compare to the blends that have the Latakia that I love, it still has enough Virginia flavor in the baccy that works--keeps me satisfied which is why I'll continue to buy Orlik Golden Sliced! It was a nice cool 43-degree morning on the deck. I chose a different tin of tobacco called Three Nuns and paired it up with my J.M. Boswell Churchwarden. The tobacco is a blend of dark fired and sun cured tobacco mixed with Brazillian Light tobacco. That's what I read on the label. Even though the label is incomplete, and after further research, we now know that the other two "silent" nuns are called Virginia and Kentucky. Right out of the tin I noticed the cuts of tobacco are "coin" shaped--rolled up and cut thinly. I also sniffed tested the tin and realized that it was quite difficult to pin point a smell. It almost smelled like standard cigarette tobacco with a hint of pepper...maybe. I broke up a few coins and packed it lightly in the pipe. It lit it with the good 'ol Corona Old Boy, tamped it with the trusty Plateau Briar Tamper. It smoked quite nicely with fairly "light" puffs of smoke spread about. I also had a difficult time in pin pointing any flavors on my palate...maybe a hint of sweetness from the VA's but not much of anything else. It was very mellow in my opinion. Not a bad experience, but not overly impressive. It's good but I'm not floored by it. I'll continue to smoke it without any hesitations. Today I smoked a bowl of some Samuel Gawith Black XX Kendal Twist that I ordered from Pipes and Cigars. It is a strong and full smoke which I cut thinly and rubbed to separate the flake. I probably should have let it dry out for a few hours before I smoked it but I didn't have much time before I headed to work which is probably the reason why I had to relight the pipe several times. It is a strong and full smoke which is best described as a "sweet open fire cooked meat, with a bit of a wet pine sharpness to it". After smoking it a few minutes I couldn't have described it any better! At the end of the bowl I felt a little loopy which almost compared to the same effects of smoking 1792 Virginia Flake. It is something that I like every now and then. At the end of the work day I came home to a package from the postman containing the IM Corona Old Boy lighter that I ordered from eBay. It is a chrome ribbed lighter that has a bit of weight to it--very solid! At the bottom of the lighter is a removable tamper which also functions as a poker and screwdriver to remove the screw to fill it with butane. There is also screw for the flame adjustment. At the top of the lighter is a screw to replace the flint. To light, just flip the top and rotate the striker which produces a flame at an angle which points the flame into the pipe. The lighter also comes with a nice cover for protection. I'm already a fan of this beautiful lighter for sure!
Happy Friday everyone! This was yet another fast work week and the summer is really winding down...unfortunately. As the cooler it gets, the more likely I'll have to move my smoking location on the deck to the garage--will need to find a comfortable chair since all I have are bar stools there and sitting on 'em ain't gonnna cut it! Anyhow, I'm starting my morning with a new tin of Dunhill Nightcap in my Vauen Ascot pipe. The tobacco is a light brwon Virgina blend with darker brown Perique in ribbon cut form. It smells of delicious Latakia...the campfire aroma that ya'll know I love, so you know I was looking forward to a bowl! I lit it with my IM Corona Old Boy and tamped it with my Plateau Briar Tamper but immediately felt the tongue bite. That later faded which is a good thing. The room note had a BBQ pit aroma as someone labeled and the full smoke was also noted. I could taste a very light hint of sweetness (cooked sweet meat) so I would consider this a mild smoke. It got better towards the end and I really can't complain about the overall experience of this tobacco. On a non-tobacco related topic, the background of the photo is a pencil drawing of my brother-in-law Bobby who is the Fire Chief of Fairmont City, Illinois. It was created as an invitation for his surprise 50th Birthday. My nephew Brandon wants to give it to his dad as a Christmas gift so I signed it and will be getting it framed soon. Anyhow, that's all for now...enjiy your Friday pipe smokers!!
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