Hi all
Back in the 1970s I was at university in Northern Ireland. During the holiday breaks I would sometimes go and stay at the home of an old friend of the family. His name was Stanley and he had spent a lifetime wandering the wild places of the world. He was grizzled and bony and by the time I knew him he was well in his 70s, but still bright of eye and strong of arm. To everyone’s surprise he had found love late in life and his home, with his much-loved wife and young daughter, was always a warm and welcoming place to be.
He smoked Bulwark which, in those days, could be bought just about anywhere in Northern Ireland. Stanley would laugh if I told him what tobaccos I had tried recently (although, then, I smoked mainly Players Whisky Flake). In the years I knew him I never once saw Stanley smoke anything except his beloved Bulwark, mostly in small billiards. He would light up, and as the smoke wreathed his face, you could see his whole body relax - it was almost poetic to watch.
I was thinking about Stanley the other day, and especially about his simple loyalty to one brand.
At any given time I probably have four or five different tobaccos on the go, with maybe a dozen more in tins to be enjoyed later. Perhaps it has to do with my personality and I know there will be people on the forum who have many more tobaccos than I to choose from of an evening. The world of pipe tobacco is a very broad one and it is a delight to taste and sample something new.
But there is something in me too that admires Stanley and envies his complete satisfaction with one tobacco like an old lover he is content to grow old with, to the exclusion of all others.
Does this make any sense?
Cheers
Mike
Back in the 1970s I was at university in Northern Ireland. During the holiday breaks I would sometimes go and stay at the home of an old friend of the family. His name was Stanley and he had spent a lifetime wandering the wild places of the world. He was grizzled and bony and by the time I knew him he was well in his 70s, but still bright of eye and strong of arm. To everyone’s surprise he had found love late in life and his home, with his much-loved wife and young daughter, was always a warm and welcoming place to be.
He smoked Bulwark which, in those days, could be bought just about anywhere in Northern Ireland. Stanley would laugh if I told him what tobaccos I had tried recently (although, then, I smoked mainly Players Whisky Flake). In the years I knew him I never once saw Stanley smoke anything except his beloved Bulwark, mostly in small billiards. He would light up, and as the smoke wreathed his face, you could see his whole body relax - it was almost poetic to watch.
I was thinking about Stanley the other day, and especially about his simple loyalty to one brand.
At any given time I probably have four or five different tobaccos on the go, with maybe a dozen more in tins to be enjoyed later. Perhaps it has to do with my personality and I know there will be people on the forum who have many more tobaccos than I to choose from of an evening. The world of pipe tobacco is a very broad one and it is a delight to taste and sample something new.
But there is something in me too that admires Stanley and envies his complete satisfaction with one tobacco like an old lover he is content to grow old with, to the exclusion of all others.
Does this make any sense?
Cheers
Mike
