Just enjoyed some 403 slices over lunch. Love the little things. I'll always have a half pound of those or so on hand.
The 400... It burns nice, and I love the flavor till mid bowl. Then I have to let it go real slow to maintain that flavor or it gets dull and ashy on me. Maybe I just wasn't practicing good pipe hygiene. I got lazy. My Stanwell, normally a nice wide-open draw, would go narrow till it rejected my pipe cleaners. Gotta be I just was being hard on it.
I have cute the 400 to cubes before. Seems like too much hassle, though other flakes that's what I always do. Mostly I just pinch off half a stick, twist it in my fingers till it shreds, then fold it in and poke it down. I give it a few false lights to let it level. Then once it's going, it's going well. Maintains its ember and lasts longest of just about anything I smoke.
Never the same gunking up issue with 403. I like the slices whole and flat in a big bowl, but at lunch today, I had just my tiny-bown lunch meerschaum-lined Grabow on me. Very nice in that one (one of my favorite little pipes, though I got it used at just a few dollars. Love that thing!) For that bowl, I have to shred the first slice and drop it in, then sort of mangle the next couple to get a good fill. Won't hold more than that, for sure. But 403 doesn't fail to please no matter how I smoke it.
Whatever else I order, these two are always included, and have become my staples. Other tobaccos, I just smoke those for variety or to try a new one, like the Viprati (sp?) I just got from P&C, last order.
Gentlemen, as always, thank you so much for your answers. Always a good place to ask my questions. I wouldn't turn anywhere else for them, I don't think.
