As a young man, I preferred autumn to all other seasons. The cool weather. The wonderful foliage (I grew up in New England). The smell of leaves on the ground. The early frosts in the morning. I loved it all.
As I've gotten older (56 now), have moved to the Cleveland area where autumn is just another reason to rain (and no foliage to speak of), spring has become my favorite season.
But fall is still magnificent smoking weather.
I'm an outdoor smoker. Even if my wife would allow me to smoke indoors (not in a million years), I'd still prefer to smoke outside. And this cooler weather, the leaves falling from the pin oak near the back deck - it's just the perfect weather for pipe smoking.
Along with rain, we get plenty of wind here in Cleveland. So matches are never really an option. And during the autumn, my butane lighters are pretty much useless. And so I have several Zippos with pipe inserts.
With today's morning mail there arrived two packages: one included a Zippo hand warmer (for winter) and yet another Zippo lighter with pipe insert - this time from the "street" series. The other package contained a Missouri Meerschaum Freehand. I own several of the smaller MMs - and think they're great smokers at any price. And I must say that this Freehand is one stout pipe. And so this afternoon's smoke, when my wife has some of her lady friends over to make jewelry, will be some Rattray's Bagpiper's Dream in my new MM Freehand, fired up with my new Zippo pipe lighter.
It just won't get any better than this.
As I've gotten older (56 now), have moved to the Cleveland area where autumn is just another reason to rain (and no foliage to speak of), spring has become my favorite season.
But fall is still magnificent smoking weather.
I'm an outdoor smoker. Even if my wife would allow me to smoke indoors (not in a million years), I'd still prefer to smoke outside. And this cooler weather, the leaves falling from the pin oak near the back deck - it's just the perfect weather for pipe smoking.
Along with rain, we get plenty of wind here in Cleveland. So matches are never really an option. And during the autumn, my butane lighters are pretty much useless. And so I have several Zippos with pipe inserts.
With today's morning mail there arrived two packages: one included a Zippo hand warmer (for winter) and yet another Zippo lighter with pipe insert - this time from the "street" series. The other package contained a Missouri Meerschaum Freehand. I own several of the smaller MMs - and think they're great smokers at any price. And I must say that this Freehand is one stout pipe. And so this afternoon's smoke, when my wife has some of her lady friends over to make jewelry, will be some Rattray's Bagpiper's Dream in my new MM Freehand, fired up with my new Zippo pipe lighter.
It just won't get any better than this.
