Thinning The Herd

I own between 125 and 130 pipes. I tried to make an inventory once but its been awhile so my count is inaccurate. I actually smoke about 20 of said pipes on a regular basis, and another 5 to 10 on occasion. Some I smoke only when I have an extended opportunity because they are lovely but too large. Others just as the mood hits me, for instance I own 5 or 6 beautiful meershaum pipe that I smoke very infrequently. But there are a good 75 pipes that I haven't smoked in years and have no intention of smoking for one reason or another. Yesterday, 30 of those pipes were packed up and readied for shipment to smokingpipes.com for evaluation, and hopefully sale.Of all the methods of selling estate pipes this struck me as the best. I'm certainly not interested in cleaning and freshening-up the pipes myself to sell on ebay. Smokingpipes.com offers a much easier way of doing business as well as either 30% of their expected sales price or 50% if taken as trade credit, which is what I expect to do. They say it takes about two weeks, so wish me luck and I'll let you know how it goes. Hopefully I will able to report on the acquisition of a new pipe or two (or three or four?)with my credit.

Let The Good Times Roll

What else are vacations for but overdosing blog posts and spending a lot of time thinking about and, more importantly, enjoying pipes and tobacco? So I'm back again having produced more posts this week than in the previous number of months.

What brings me back?



G&P Chelsea Morning. It is actually strange, but after years and years of essentially being a one-tobacco-at-a-time guy, sometimes the same tobacco for years, I've morphed into a compulsive taster. I actually blame this, somehow, on A Passion for Pipes the fabulous blog by Neil Archer Roan. Don't ask me to explain that, it just is so. Anyway, having read in various places about Greg Pease's new tobacco I couldn't resist picking up a tin last time I was at Holt's and cracked it open last night after a nice heavy meal. Let me say again that I am not a Latakia man. I hadn't smoked a blend with Latakia in it in probably 40 years since I first tried Balkan Sobranie and didn't like it. As reader's of the blog may remember, I broke that ban back a few months ago with a tin of Pease's Maltese Falcon. I still have a few of those and smoke it very judiciously. I like it very much, but in small doses. Chelsea Morning is another Latakia blend. I have to say I like it even better. While I don't think I'm yet ready to say that I would smoke it regularly, I can say that I will smoke it more regularly than any other Latakia blend, including Maltese Falcon. The flavor is truly brilliant and it passes the highest test I have for any tobacco: An hour after the smoke does the lingering taste in one's mouth begin to cry out to be replenished by a bowl of the same. The two blends that have passed this test this week are Chelsea Morning and Smyrna No. 1. The latter is still out ahead by quite some distance.

All of which put me in mind of reflecting on this Golden Age of tobacco that we are living in. How long can it last? What will those of us who may live to see it come to an end do after that? Should we be stocking up? Hoarding? Or what is politely called Cellaring? I'm loath to fall into that, but I'm beginning to think that if I allow this rampant experimentation to go on for awhile, just long enough to identify, say, four or five blends that I don't want to face the possibility of living without, then maybe I'll start buying those 2 tins at a time and in a disciplined way smoke from one and cellar the second. But for how long? How many tins doth a fully stocked cellar make?

Along those lines I bring to your attention the following article from Pipesmagazine.com. On the subject of the current embarrassment of tobacco riches

Check out the full article here in which the following lines appear:


Truthfully, I am overwhelmed by the embarrassment of riches of all these blends. I don’t know how many more masterpieces I can take from these blenders, especially McClelland, but also other blenders like GLP & C&D. I want time to enjoy the awesome blend I just discovered, to get to know it more intimately. I don’t want to hurry to the next masterpiece, then the next, in a decadent orgy of tobacco consumption

Finally, chapter 3 of Pipe Smoking 101. this is the last chapter I will embed. Those interested in continuing the course should go to the site.

Club Night

Yes, last night was the July meeting of the Christopher Morley Pipe Club at the Pen&Pencil Club in Philadelphia. A small turnout, perhaps because of the season or because Wednesday nights appear to be less popular than Thursday's. Still, a fine time, with pleasant conversation regarding pipes, tobaccos, and a million other things from 1950's TV to current politics. And a full three pipe evening for me.

I was fortunate enough to have received my Steve Linskey pipe and was able to break it in at the meeting, alternating with the new Becker. The first smoked really fine from the first bowl and promises to be a real keeper. The second continues to impress.

I also broke open yet another tin, this time of McClelland's Smyrna No. 1. The second in the Grand Orientals Series. Stunning. As much as I'm enjoying the first tin just recently opened of Venidje Supreme, this tobacco is positively intoxicating. It really does put everything else I've been smoking into a far second place. Now, of course, in addition to alternating between these two, I will have to acquire the other tobaccos in this series just to check them out.

Finally, enjoy part two of Pipe Smoking 101.

Pipe Smoking 101

I thought I'd share this series of instructional videos, adding one of the seven every couple of posts. Enjoy, or go to Smokingpipetobacco.com to check it out

Turkish Delights

What an unusual confluence of events! I have always enjoyed Turkish tobacco; it has been my favorite second only to Perique, and possibly ahead of it. However, finding good Turkish blends has been difficult. One occasionally finds a strong Latakia blend, like Bombay Extra, flavored with Orientals, including Turkish, but I've always found the Turkish flavor disappears after the tin has been opened for a few days. Now, a veritable cornucopia! In the very same (last) issue of Pipes&Tobaccos Magazine there was a review of Daughters & Ryan Ramback and a feature article on McClelland's new series of Oriental blends. I have mentioned earlier my impressions of Ramback.

This morning I couldn't resist opening my tin of Venidje Supreme. I now have too many tins open, which worries me, but I've become more conscientious about keeping them well humidified and, hopefully, long lasting. So sitting in my backyard with a mug of tea I enjoyed my first bowl in my Brian Ruthenberg



nosewarmer. Interestingly, the first impression was very much the same as the Ramback. Distinctive Turkish flavor, a bit hot to begin with and then settled down into a very flavorful smoke, almost the same flavor truth be told. However, after the half-way point in the bowl I would have to say that the Venidje Supreme stayed a bit cooler and richer to the end. For anyone who enjoys Turkish tobacco either of these blends will make comfortable companions. For me you can't beat these as early smokes before turning to Vapors or Latakia blends later in the day. As I still have only found Daughters & Ryan available in 16 oz bags and the McClelland is now pretty much available in every shop and on every web site I visit, it will be both easier to find and less of a commitment to buy.

New Pipes

Feeling like it was time to freshen up my collection and my rotation of pipes, and taking advantage of a 50% off sale at Holt's and then a very low price from a new and obscure pipe maker I've added two new pipes. Below is the pipe by a well-known pipe maker, Paulo Becker, procured at half price from Holt's. It is a tad longer than an official nosewarmer, but is pretty close. Call it an opera pipe, it is a lovely shape, so far smokes terrifically well and is a much needed short smoke in the rotation.

The two shots below are of the Stephen Liskey Sandblasted Dublin Nosewarmer that I am still awaiting delivery of. It looks to be a beut and expands my now more than respectable collection of nosewarmers. I''m really looking forward to trying this one out.

Daughters and Ryan

It has been a few weeks since I received my 14 ounce bags of Rimboche A.P. and Ramback from Daughters and Ryan tobaccos. I had the hardest time finding these tobaccos on any of the usual internet sites and when I found it on Pipes and Cigars.com I bought it despite the humungous amount I had to buy. I was definitely betting on liking this stuff. Thankfully, I have not been disappointed. I am enjoying both tobaccos immensely.

First there is the pure Turkish, Ramback. this has become my everyday smoke. It is particularly good in the hot summer weather when other tobaccos might be a little too strong or heavy. Sitting in my back yard in nearly 100 degree heat, it smokes as cool as you'd like and offers a light taste just perfect for the occasion. I have always loved Turkish tobaccos and I probably would have liked this to be a little darker and full-flavored, but it has been perfect for the season. On the other hand, inspired by a renaissance of interest in Orientals, I also purchased 2 of the 5 new McClelland tins in the their new Grand Orientals series. I bought Smyrna No, 1 and Venidje Supreme when I was last in New York and Barclay-Rex tobacconists, neither of which has been opened yet, but that will be another story. Meanwhile, in addition to smoking the Ramback, I also experimented with using it for a bit of blending. I cut about a 50-50 mixture of G.L. Pease's Maltese Falcon with the Ramback and created a Latakia blend that I can smoke regularly. Not usually much of a Latakia fan, this mixture provides a perfect full-bodied smoke once every couple of days after a good dinner. So, believe it or not, my 14 ounce bag of tobacco is definitely not going to go to waste.

Second, we have the Rimboche A.P. A.P. stands for Arcadian Perique, certainly the thing that Mark Ryan is most famous for, having almost singlehandedly rescued Perique, my favorite tobacco, from becoming extinct. This is a lovely VaPer blend that has a sweet and light flavor that deepens as you smoke it. Since I regularly smoke VaPers anyway, and this is most certainly a good one, smoother than the C&D Red Carpet that I had been smoking, the large amount of my purchase will also end up being ok. My only problem is that I don't want to open up too many tins at once, so the McClelland's will have to wait awhile.

Going back to my mention of New York, let me give you a few more relevant details. I had an early morning meeting there so took the Bolt Bus and arrived and 8:30 AM. After my meeting, at about 10:30, I went book shopping, successfully, I might add. After that I met my son and daughter-in-law for lunch at the 2nd Avenue Deli. The perfect meal preceding a good pipe. The restaurant is on 31st and Lexington, an easy walk to Barclay-Rex to see if they had a comfortable place to sit and enjoy a pipe. (The temperature/humidity did not recommend sitting in Bryant Park, say, though I would have had it been necessary.) They do not have a lounge in that store, but I spied the new McClelland blends that I had just read about it P&T magazine, so I bought a couple of cans as described above and continued on to Nat Sherman's to make use of their smoking lounge. The store has moved since last I visited and is smaller, but still has an adequate area for smokers. I was approached by an associate as soon as I entered and I asked if it was ok to sit and have a pipe. He said sure and ushered me back. Unfortunately, a few minutes later, a different associate came over and made it clear that in the future I would have to purchase my tobacco at the store in order to smoke there. Then the first associate came back and apologized saying, things were not as they had been in the past. Well, first of all, I was entirely prepared to buy something if necessary, which is why I asked to begin with. It wa rather rude to accost me after the fact. Second, it would be much easier to purchase something if Nat Sherman sold any tobacco other than their own blends. Their blends may be great, but I have limited resources and would have wanted something I knew more about if I had to buy something. And if they do sell other tobaccos in tins I certainly didn't see them. But what the hell. I was in. Enjoyed a perfectly luxurious bowl sitting next to a guy who belonged to the New York Pipe Club (sorry, didn't get his name) who regaled me with stories of the Chicago show. Left just in time to catch my bus back to Philly. Perfect day out.