Pipe and Cigar Smoking II

[prime]

September 22, 2023:

I heard more terrible "just rub it out" advice about flakes the other day, but upon observing the smoker who was being talked to, I could see that he was struggling. He did the usual fold the flake, roll it into a pillar, and then stuff it into the pipe, but in my view, he was simply not aggressive enough. Bend that flake, roll it, twist it, and make it a solid slim wad that can slide into the pipe easily. It expands when it burns; that slows oxygen supply; that in turn leads to "tongue bite" (steam), gurgle pipe, sucking hard because of bad draw, and everything else that makes a pipe go from excellente to mucho sucko in a few short minutes. You are a wrestler and your job is to pound that flake into a nice slender stack that holds together and has space on the sides. It will expand enough to fill the pipe; this is never the problem unless you load radically too little flake (at which point it will collapse in a heap and burn well as a half-bowl). Get rough with your flakes. Pretend they are California lawyers. Make them become what you need them to be. If you do this, you have a great long smoke full of flavor. If you do not, you get the usual wet clogging mess.

September 6, 2023:

My tobacco "cellar," when I entered records for some of it and then got distracted by a squirrel and never made it back to update. Now of course I have no hope of making this list complete unless I clean the guest/office closet, which is an absolute impossibility (no way in Hell I'm going into that thing, much less trying to impose order on... that).

http://tobaccocellar.com/deathmetal

August 30, 2023:

One more detail on 3P: this tin lasts longer than most tins, in part because the blend itself smokes so slowly and cool if sliced in feathered, angular slivers instead of big thick flakes.

August 28, 2023:

Enjoying some tasty "Peterson's Perfect Plug." What I like about this is that the topping gives a little spin to the flavor but is otherwise not noticeable, and that good UK plug flavor of mixed smoky and sweet comes to the fore and then like a river splintering as it runs down a mountain, manifests in similar but distinct flavors. I think I could smoke this one all day every day and never get bored.

August 27, 2023:

I put all my random #pipesmoking observations here:

https://write.as/nicotiana/

Including the introductory guide to #pipetobaccosmoking and #tobacco and #pipe generally:

https://write.as/nicotiana/pipe-tobacco-smoking-guide-ptsg

There is also a guide here:

https://www.deathmetal.org/lifestyle/introduction-to-pipe-smoking-and-pipe-tobacco/


And a series of "pipe smoking thoughts" here:

https://www.amerika.org/tag/pipe-meditations/

August 24, 2023:

Alas, the "Old Joe Krantz" has expired with this bowl. It will be remembered well, even if not explicitly remembered; it is one jar of a certain type of tobacco content which together form a miasma of happy memories. I forgot how this one has sweetness but holds it back, keeping a nice minimum such that it does not overwhelm the broad, warm, and nutty Burley flavor. Hope there is another jar in there somewhere.

August 23, 2023:

On my way to a tin of 3P, I stumbled over something on the floor. Backing up with an oath, I picked up the object that had stubbed my toe. It turns out that someone in the family had to cram something into my "cellar," basically an anomalous giant walk-in closet in our guest room cum office cum exercise room, and it had dislodged a five year old or more jar of "Old Joe Krantz." When the gods hand you something to smoke, you really should not offend them, and besides they have been good to me and my briar puffin' habit for a long time. Consequently, I started today with a bready, yeasty, spicy, fruity, and smoky bowl of Burley with Virginia and Perique that is the formula for "Old Joe Krantz," basically a big brother to "Haunted Bookshop" and a little brother to "Burley Flake #1," still one of the best smokes in the universe. They changed up the formula; I liked it better when it was crushed or shredded pressed and aged Burley, not a little ribbon cut, because it was stronger in flavor and nicotine, but this is very close. Like all C&D blends over the better part of the last decade, there is some propylene glycol or something like to it to keep the leaf pliable and in my view, probably cut down on mold, which C&D had a little scare with before this all began. The bowl starts off with a typical Burley tempest, a campfire-roasted bread flavor with a slightly bitter vegetative undertone, but then the Perique floats to the top and the Virginias caramelize, introducing this unpredictable sweetness among the wafting threads of nutty, grainy, and buttery Burley goodness. I could smoke this one all day. While the reviews say it is really strong, I find it a solid medium-to-strong with lots of flavor, since the Burley lifts up and expands whatever it is mixed with, and there is a good amount of Perique in here along with the red Virginias that give it a wine-like sweetness. The marketing morons attacked this blend a few years ago and spun off white, blue, and red varieties which were unexceptional and less powerful, but if you go for the original, you will find a challenging protean flavor profile in a blend that is easy to smoke and brings lasting enjoyment.

August 17, 2023:

I have a J.R. "Bob" Dobbs style pipe, a straight billiard with the simplest style design. It is considered a classic design because over the years it has been reduced to the most basic shape that fulfills the need, and then tweaked for efficiency. This one is a masterpiece; light it, stick it in your mouth, and you enjoy a thin strong stream of smoke until you taste ash and it is time to reload. It kilns the tobacco more than most pipes, which means it retains core heat to roast up more flavor, and it is light and has a large enough bowl that you are not constantly fiddling like a hipster. I smoke very few aromatics and no goopy aromatics -- just not my thing -- so there is no real need to "dedicate" pipes to a blend. Generally in this pipe, as soon as you smoke a bowl of something else, any previous ghosts are gone, unless you get a full-on Lakeland at which point it will take your soul. Today I broke with tradition, since you are supposed to smoke English blends in the winter, and loaded it up with Dunhill "My Mixture 965," a sweet spicy English with enough Cavendish to make it smooth. The smoke tastes like a gingerbread cookie, and this batch has been aged for five or six years, so the Latakia has calmed down a bit and the Virginias have become honeyed. The famous Dunhill cut is slightly narrower than most ribbon cut blends and they seem to have pressed it twice in order to make it soft and likely to burn thoroughly. If you like a good solid blend with medium strength, this one will keep you happy for some time.

[prime]

July 30, 2023:

Switched back to the Black Twist and Virginia Flake mix. Many of the great blends involve this split: sweetness of the Virginia, power and flavor of the smoked leaf. Might hit up the semois stash later.

July 29, 2023:

I know that you are supposed to smoke English blends in winter, but they fit that summer craving for a tasty dessert, since most of them taste like spice cake through the combination of smoky, tangy Latakia, sweet Virginias, and zesty Orientals. Epiphany -- this is the C&D remake of Revelation, which a certain physicist smoked -- crosses over to an American blend because there is a lot of Burley in this. From looking at the leaves, there is as much Burley as Virginias and a fair amount of Latakia, not to mention Perique and a light fruit topping. This makes this blend both an Americanized English and an aromatic English, both of which seem to have been growth areas. The Burley warms up the English blend flavor and adds some roasted almonds to that spice cake or coffee cake, where the Perique adds raisins. The Latakia takes center stage but is tamed by the other ingredients, which makes this the kind of smoke to stimulate the taste buds and gently prod the mind. This one benefits from a few years of aging because the somewhat reckless and careless Cyprian Latakia calms down and the Virginias grow sweeter. Probably never going to be a top ten blend for me but fun for a change, especially if I can get away with smoking Englishes in summer.

July 24, 2023:

Switched back to a mix of GH "Dark Flake" and Sutliff "507-c." This combines a lot of dark fired Kentucky Burley with sweet Virginias, leading a mellow smoke with a lot of depth that tastes like fiery molasses toward the end. Really, the final third of the bowl is my favorite part of one of these "parfait" mixes where the flakes are kept intact, folded, and twisted before insertion and lighting. To make sure they fit, I take these long flakes and cut them into little bowl-sized squares since both of these flakes come in the full length size which reflects the width of the press. Sharpen your kitchen knife, set them on a cutting board, and press down firmly until you hear the crunch. Keep your fingers out of the way. Both of these store well, but the Sutliff really shines after a year in the jar.

July 19, 2023:

I don't blow back through my pipe. I just leave my mouth unsealed. The key part is to relax your cadence, just stop puffing at all, and as you breath the gullet of your neck will be slightly enough to keep a trickle of smoke circulating. It really requires no thought. And, it would make the most boring video in the world, because there is literally nothing to see. I have seen a few and they really aren't exactly what I do or have seen men do while growing up. Not that they are wrong, just doing it differently.
When Kashmir was prolifically posting here, he would write that it is merely just walking around with a lit pipe in your mouth, with no sign of smoke or anything.
You are merely savoring the smoke. I usually do it when driving, working at my workbench, working in the garden, reading, or walking, or really anything that occupies my mind, so that smoking becomes a passive, non-cognitive thing.
At first, yeh, it does take some thinking, like in learning to drive, you have to think about every little detail of shifting gears, let off gas/clutch/shift/ gas/ as you let off clutch... But, then in no time you are shifting gears without even thinking about what you are doing.
But, there is no one way of doing any of this. Just find a way that works with your... style.

https://archive.ph/nK1Kr#selection-2811.0-2819.97

July 16, 2023:

Today was a beast. I work on my own schedule, but this means that I fill in wherever I need to... whenever I need to... which is often always. So after a half-day of desk work, I headed out to fix some hedges, and I needed a good solid smoke for three hours of trimming, raking, and fertilizer scattering. At the back of the cabinet where I keep things I am smoking currently (which usually translates to the last year or so) I have a corner area hidden behind a few books where I keep some of my tins of 10+ year aged "Irish Flake," one of my favorites overall since it is a good solid UK plug, i.e. light honeyed Virginias mixed with brutal dark fired Kentucky Burley. Peterson is from Ireland, but was founded by a fellow from Latvia, and they adopted what was current at the time, adding a little extra anise and berry to a powerful flake. I can smoke this all day, but the older version is a bit stronger, which is perfect for outdoor work and closing out a weekend. The hedges look great, the neighbors and family are happy, and the smoke is fantastic.

https://www.deathmetal.org/news/comparing-old-and-new-peterson-irish-flake-pipe-tobacco/

Older article on the differences between nu-Irish and classic Irish flake.

July 15, 2023:

And so another week ends, and it becomes time for the ultimate kickin'-back tobacco. C.S. Lewis smoked "Three Nuns" back when it was a Virginia-Perique blend, but later the blend switched to Virginia and dark fired Kentucky Burley to give it a bit more kick as some of the empire Virginias lost their full-sun high powered nicotine blast. Savinelli "Doblone d'Oro" (gold shekels) is from that genre, mixed up by Mac Baren, the masters of curly cut, with both dark fired Kentucky Burley and Perique for a sweet, spicy, and yet surprisingly mild smoke. Like anything with bright Virginia, this one benefits from some time in the "cellar" (fancy name for a closet full of junk and tobacco around here) because the Virginias lose their agave thin sweetness and broaden for more of a honey-lemon flavor. With the Perique, in my honest opinion, this blend tastes like a crouton: roasted bread with salad dressing and herbs on it. There is faint vinegar, a tang of spice, and a hint of dried vegetable and fruit, like chives on roast tomato, through the interaction of Perique and dark fired Kentucky Burley with the layers of Virginias. For smoking this one like an expert, pack it loosely and then tamp lightly before lighting; you can then breath-smoke it for a few hours. When it goes on sale, I always try to pick up a few of these because despite being 3.5oz tins, they seem to disappear pretty quickly because when one bowl is done, I pack another and stick the pipe back in the mouth because I do not want the festival of flavor and slightly medium-to-strong nicotine to end.

July 14, 2023:

The thing about Cornell & Diehl "Virginia Flake" is that it is not flake, more of a ready-rubbed (which was once flake), and it comes from a blending house more recognized for their Burley blends than Virginias. It also bites like a methed-out weasel straight from the bag, but this conceals a wonderful melding of bright and orange Virginias that makes a citrusy, clover honey, and roasted white bread with the crusts cut off flavor. I accidentally -- this is the nature of cellaring in my world -- stashed this away for a few years and it lost the bite, gained some depth, and warmed up a bit. Mixing this with Gawith Hoggarth "Black Twist Sliced," a smoked Virginia blend, makes for a wonderful range of flavors heading more toward molasses with a hint of spice. Most C&D blends these days need a bit of time in the basement, but when they mature, watch out because they might become favorites.

July 14, 2023:

The "cellar" is an anomalous big-ass walk-in closet in our "guest room" slash exercise room slash storage dump, and I put stuff in there, usually without labels, until the closet chooses to disgorge them to me. Today I did the usual and slammed the wall next to the door, then heard something *plop* onto the carpet so I opened the door and without looking in at the horrible mess of fishing gear, clothes, hunting gear, books, electronics, old ISA video cards, family heirlooms bought on vacations long forgotten, camping gear, ten thousand cables for gadgets that broke and were thrown on the window on the way home to buy their replacements at Directron or MicroCenter, a few crates of tax records no one will hopefully ever have to read, posters for 1980s bands, and so on, reached in and pulled out the jar. This time it was two, a GH "Black Twist Sliced" and an unmarked jar of what appears to be C&D "Virginia Flake." The closet knows... and I tend to follows it recommendations, so I loaded up a pipe with a parfait of these. The "Virginia Flake" is probably three years old at a minimum, and the "Black Twist Sliced" probably almost that. The result is like a UK plug, Virginia sweetness melded with smoky goodness, tasting like molasses maple syrup with lemon juice in it on toasty French bread outside on a spring morning. Would recommend, but you guys gotta get over here to try some.

July 12, 2023:

I see alot of propaganda to tell you to rub our your flakes, plugs, coins, etc.

I have to beg to differ here...

Stuff gently, pile some of the shake on top, give it five minutes to dry slightly on the top layer, then light gently and tamp. Then give the real fire for just a few seconds while drawing gently.

Smoking compressed tobacco is a great joy because it burns slowly, is full of flavor, and doles out nicotine in a constant stream.

This is for breath-smokers of course, since this is all I know at this point!

July 11, 2023:

Switched it up to Newminster's "No. 702 Light Burley," blended by MacBaren. I originally adopted this as an alternative to "Prince Albert," which everyone thought was going away at the time, but for whatever reason, this blend tastes like an M&M: good milk chocolate flavor, some depth, spice at the edges, but basically a good Burley flavor although I suspect more dark Burley than white Burley. Maybe a nudge past moderate strength. Ready-rubbed, so smokes roughly like a flake for a long-lasting smoke that lends itself to breath-smoking.

July 2, 2023:

I like powerful smokes, but I also like a little sweetness, so I combine Gawith Hoggarth "Dark Flake" with Sutliff "507-c," more of the former than the latter, for a UK plug style power smoke. This one burns like wood, meaning that it smolders for hours down to the very bottom of the pipe, leaving that light grey dust that we all seek as the result of a thoroughly-smoked bowl. This "parfait" bowl is a bit heretical because I am mixing fancypants tobacco with budget Virginia, but "507-c" is worth it if you have six months or a year to cellar it because it ripens into a golden honey on wheat toast flavor that is worth pursuing.

July 1, 2023:

Smoking some "Coniston Cut Plug" (GH) in a 320 Vittoria. They tell you to rub it out, but my advice is the opposite, just pack light on the sides because it expands like one of those little sponge bath animals. Perhaps the perfect smoke: Burley warmth, Virginia sweetness, full strength, and just enough of the frankincese, myrrh, peat, and dragon's blood they put in the Lakeland Essence to give it an incense-like quality. It takes a little work to get it lit but it's worth it for a couple hours of really intense but surprisingly gentle smoke.

June 30, 2023:

Smoking some Villiger "Early Day," a decent "Early Morning Pipe" clone with a sweet low-Lat English formula. It's in one of my favorite pipes, a basket pipe that just happens to smoke like a dream. This tobacco is now well over a decade old, having been discontinued in 2012, and has gained quite a bit of sweetness over the years.

June 26, 2023:

I forgot how much I love English blends. I know you are "in theory" (says who) supposed to smoke them in winter, but sometimes you crave that smoky spicy Latakia. I am smoking a blend I made myself... it is a Lat-bomb, probably 25%, with layered Virginias but also strong Burleys, a touch of White Burley, a smidge of dark fired Kentucky Burley to tame the Lat, some tasty Brown Twist, and a fair amount of Perique.

May 15, 2023:

Mac Baren - Dark Twist:

I like this better than the various #403s -- Luxury Bullseye Flake, Superior Round Slices, Navy Flake, Comoy's Single Coin Sliced, Flake Medallions -- because the Mac Baren natural Cavendish made from Dark Fired Kentucky Burley is better than the overly sweet sugar-roasted sun-dried Burley normally used and the Virginias here cover a range of flavors and the fermentation caused by the rope process makes them fermenty like Perique.

April 25, 2023:

A few months back, I got ahold of one of those pasta presses that can compress tobacco into dense cake. I mixed up some Dark Fired Kentucky Burley with a smaller amount of bright Virginia, red Virginia, and white Burley, then crammed the heck out of it for a month. Today I carved up the cake, which behaves more like a plug than cake, and have to report a sweet and rich success.

April 20, 2023:

Just curious because Mr Crockett posted about this, but how many pipes have you lost? I have wrecked a few over the years, including one cob I dropped off a five-story parking garage roof.

March 30, 2023:

Someone mentioned Sweet Black Cherry Twist. I went to the reviews page and saw some consternation about how to load and light this ancient form of tobacco.

My take on these ropes: they are designed to be carried in pockets, sliced with knives, and then lit with big kitchen matches. Consequently they are a bit damp and dense. Load light, give an initial light and very, very gently tamp down whatever rises, but then really give them the flame and get it deep in there. This will get the bowl started and require no relights. Takes a little practice though.

March 4, 2023:

Enjoying some "Doblone d'Oro." I put this one away a couple years ago and already the bright Virginias have mellowed and the Perique has gained a spicy tang, sort of like a roast plum with Fire Sauce added.