Here is Part III and the Conclusion of our interview with Michael Gladis, who plays the pipe smoking copywriter, Paul Kinsey, on AMC TV’s Mad Men. If you missed it in the beginning, Mr. Gladis smokes a pipe in real life, and we enjoyed smoking during the entire interview. We sat down in the private smoking lounge at Davidoff of Geneva in New York City, while we smoked an exclusive blend from Nat Sherman in NYC, called Old Oxford Blend No. 649. Michael liked it so much, that I gave him my bag.
In this last part of the interview we find out what Michael smokes during filming of the show. (He is the only person that gets to smoke real tobacco.)
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Just about every member of the pipe smoking community should already know about H.R. 4439, the Tobacco Tax Parity Act of 2010. It proposes to raise the tax on pipe tobacco 775% from $2.8311 to $24.78 per pound. Many of you have signed our Petition to Stop the Pipe Tobacco Tax. While I am quite pleased with the support the pipe community has shown in rallying against this bill, many of the comments, attitudes and opinions expressed have been disappointing and disheartening to say the least.
We are thankful for the support, but we are frustrated with the finger-pointing, self-segregation of smokers and suggestions to tax other things that are Personal Lifestyle Choices.
Nat Sherman is one of the most well-known luxury tobacconists in the world. They have had a retail store and smoking lounge in New York City for 80 years now.
They are famous for their own brands of all-natural cigarettes, cigars and pipe tobacco. As soon as you walk through the front door you will see nearly 100 pipes displayed, as well as over 15 exclusive pipe tobacco blends.
Here is an account of our visit to the store, including a video interview with Michael Holba, Retail Sales Manager.
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Latakia, Perique and Virginia tobaccos! Hmmm …. what an interesting combination that sounds like! And there’s Turkish Orientals in there too! I bought a tin of McClelland’s Bombay Extra Personal Reserve on the recommendation of a friend that just loves Latakia. Interestingly, while I find it to be quite an enjoyable smoke, it is not a full on Latakia to me. Even more interesting, in other reviews I’ve read, some people say it has too much Latakia and recommend it for the people that just can’t get enough Latakia. I am thinking just the opposite. I would recommend Bombay Extra for someone that wants to be eased into Latakia blends, and definitely for a refined palate that enjoys picking up little nuances of a complex mixture.