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  1. rmbittner

    Tobacco Rotation?

    I keep hearing people talk about their tobacco rotation, but it’s never really explained. By how many degrees, and how often, should I be turning my tins? ;)
  2. rmbittner

    Exploring a Blender’s Entire Product Line

    It’s been a while since I’ve opened a tin of a new-to-me blend, and I’m thinking it’s about time I started exploring again. That got me thinking about picking a blender/brand with a manageable range of blends and going through them all, one by one, just for the education/adventure. There’ll be...
  3. rmbittner

    Let’s Talk about Two Friends

    I was recently reminded of Two Friends, the series of blends developed by Greg Pease and Craig Tarler. My search turned up a couple of posts in WAYS threads, along with this one from 2013: Two Friends Pipe Tobacco :: Pipe Tobacco Discussion -...
  4. rmbittner

    Stuck at Six…

    I’ve recently started getting really methodical about my pipes/tobaccos, taking photos, putting everything into a spreadsheet, etc. Anyway, I was surprised to discover a pattern for some of my favorite pipe brands. Without setting any kind of goals or limits, I’ve ended up with six pipes each...
  5. rmbittner

    How Are Your Cellared Aromatics Holding Up?

    For those of you who enjoy aromatics enough to cellar them, I’m curious how they are faring for you over time. I realize that aromatics don’t typically improve with age, due to the added flavorings/sauces. But I’m wondering how they change. How does your favorite blend taste to you after five...
  6. rmbittner

    Loose Acrylic Stem

    I just received an eBay purchase from a seller who knows nothing about pipes (it’s a charity resale shop) so they didn’t think to mention the fact that the acrylic stem on the early Caminetto I just bought is so loose that it will turn on its own with the smallest movement of the pipe. I know...
  7. rmbittner

    Do You Ever Revisit a Former “No”?

    Since so many factors can influence our response to a new blend—weather, pipe, mood, etc.—do you ever go back to a blend you didn’t like to see if anything’s changed? For instance, I first tried Dunhill’s Royal Yacht as a fairly new and inexperienced pipe smoker. I did not enjoy it. Thirty...
  8. rmbittner

    1980s-Era Royal Comoy Pipe?

    I don’t have a large pipe collection—around 40-some—but I’ve finally gotten around to photographing them and putting the relevant information on a spreadsheet. (Hey, it keeps me from spending hours tweeking my SmokingPipes Wish List…) I have a very nice Group 4-ish billiard that I personally...
  9. rmbittner

    Cigar Lounges Flourish; Pipe Shops Disappear

    While I very rarely smoke cigars, I do enjoy them. And I’m aware of the cigar boom that hit in the late 1980s and 1990s, which may still be having an effect on the marketplace. I also realize that cigars can “mean” something different than pipes—status, luxury, success, power—and that the...
  10. rmbittner

    An Alternative Way of Looking at What’s in the Tin

    In a discussion thread about Grousemoor, @UB 40 made the following comment: “When it comes to wine nobody would rant about different nuances in taste from year to year. Try some of Chateau Latour, Chateau Margaux or Chateau Haut Brion through the years. And even once bottled they change some...
  11. rmbittner

    Are You Over-Drying Your Tobacco?

    You can’t spend 30 minutes reading threads here without being advised to “dry your tobacco.” The need for this necessarily will vary from blend to blend, based on how it was tinned. But I get the impression that a number of forum members dry their blends as a matter of course, regardless of the...
  12. rmbittner

    Never-Tried Blends in the Cellar?

    Whether through reviews or recommendations or the desire to just roll the dice on a blend and see what I get, I’ve got several blends in the cellar that I have yet to try. Fox’s The Bankers Mixture, C&D’s Pirate Kake, Macbaren’s Original Choice, and Samuel Gawith’s Skiff come immediately to...
  13. rmbittner

    A 1946 Perspective on Pipe Smoking

    I’ve been going back and browsing issues of the old Pipe Lovers Magazine from 1946 that have been scanned/uploaded to the Internet Archive. The articles aren’t great. And whoever scanned it was not careful about getting all of the gutter text. But I did enjoy the time-capsule look into...
  14. rmbittner

    Bless My Local Tobacconist

    I admit to almost always preferring Internet shopping to visiting physical stores. But I recently realized that doesn’t apply to pipe shops. There, you have the aromas. surprising chance conversations…and you never know what might be sitting on the shelves. So after years away, I visited my...
  15. rmbittner

    Taking Stock of the Blenders in the Cellar

    I don’t know if my tobacco cellar is deep or wide, both, or neither. I know there are still a number of brands/blenders that aren’t represented—some, like Ashton, Astley’s, and CAO, I’ve never even tried—but out of around 275 tins, this is my current breakdown of blenders and the number of...
  16. rmbittner

    If You’ve Never Heard of William Serad…

    Whenever I think of reviewing—or even sampling—a new tobacco blend, I am always mindful of William Serad, a former reviewer for Pipes & Tobaccos magazine and one of my pipe-smoking mentors (through his writing; we’ve never met). For some reason, the tone, taste, style, and approach of his...
  17. rmbittner

    On Aged Dark Star

    McClelland’s Dark Star is, IMO, one of the great stoved VA flakes, distinguished from its peers by a stoving process that leaves the broken flakes nearly black and with a consistency similar to slightly old jerky. While it can be a challenge to rub out, it takes a light well and burns all the...
  18. rmbittner

    Which Luxury Flake Is This?

    I recently discovered a jar from 2019 that I’d only labeled as “Stokkebye Luxury Flake.” Any idea whether it’s Twist Flake or Navy Flake? I detect neither rum nor perique, to which I’m very sensitive. After only one bowl so far, it just seems fairly one dimensional.
  19. rmbittner

    What Have You Cellared the Longest?

    I’m not picking up truly collectible tins or anything, so the tins I’ve cellared the longest are only from 2004, when my cellaring began. (Although I’ve been smoking a pipe since 1980, “cellaring“ wasn’t a thing back then. Unfortunately.) My 2004 tins are from McClelland: Dark Star and Frog...
  20. rmbittner

    What Do You Get in an SG Box?

    At the risk of asking a dumb question: What do you actually get when purchasing a SG 250g box of tobacco? Is the tobacco inside bagged or sealed up in anything? Is it portioned in any way or more like one solid brick? I’m eager to buy it, but I’m wondering if it will have to be jarred up...
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