The Satanic Pipe Smoker

Log in

SmokingPipes.com Updates

18 Fresh Estate Pipes
120 Fresh Peterson Pipes
12 Fresh Brigham Pipes
24 Fresh Rattray's Pipes
12 Fresh Dunhill Pipes

PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor

PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor

PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor

PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor

PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor

Status
Not open for further replies.

deathmetal

Lifer
Jul 21, 2015
7,714
32
This was named after the well-known magician/philosopher/Prophet Aleister Crowley, who used to smoke straight Perique soaked in rum. His successor, Major Grady Louis McMurtry, didn't even bother with the rum. My car reeked of the vinegar smell of Perique for days after I had given him a ride. So if the smell of Aleister, which is a pronounced Perique blend, doesn't disturb me, it's because it's not a patch on my previous experiences. Actually, it's a relatively mild blend--I know you don't believe me--with only a small percentage of Perique. Mr. Pease knows how to mellow it without losing it. It's expertly blended, and a pleasure to smoke. I wish I had a case of it. Personally, I tend to favor Latakia over Perique, but Aleister is one blend I am happy to make an exception for.
http://www.tobaccoreviews.com/blend/831/friedman-pease-aleister
Interesting backstory I never would have guessed.
http://briarfiles.blogspot.com/2008/11/featured-pipe-smoker-aleister-crowley.html

 
Haddos Delight is a tribute to Aleister also. But, he was more of a show man, like Ozzy, Marilyn Manson, or any number of musicians with that type of persona.

Haddo was the character's name in a novel based on him, "The Magician."
I'm not into him or his subculture that he inspired, but I smoke straight perique occasionally. It's not that bad, and was smoked by itself quite a bit in history. It has a very acrid cigarettey room note when smoked alone. But, it doesn't overwhelm me with nicotine like most plugs or ropes do. It's rather tasty, IMO. I think I'll smoke some now. :puffy:

 

deathmetal

Lifer
Jul 21, 2015
7,714
32
What an interesting, if self-destructive, character is Mr. Crowley.
Many of those who choose philosophies based on opposition are. Then again, that includes most philosophies. There are a few from the left hand path who have chosen a better route.

 

glpease

Starting to Get Obsessed
Jun 17, 2010
239
96
California
There's much more to the backstory. The notion of perique soaked in rum intrigued me sufficiently when I'd read about it that I had to give it a go. Dreadful is the best word to describe the experience. Frightening is another. It was powerful and sinister in its effects on my well being…
Perhaps a bit hyperbolic. But, I did NOT enjoy the ride. ;) There was, however, something there that continued to intrigue me, and I knew that if I spent some time formulating a proper BLEND using the idea, I could tame "The Beast." I worked on that one for a very long time before getting it right.
It was one of the most popular of the F&P blends that I did, which is to say that it sold a few more tins than the others. (All tolled, the number of F&P tins sold probably fewer than 5000 over the 18 months the company existed.) So, when I started over in 2000, I had to resurrect it in some form. Two things prevented me from simply using the original formula. First, to expedite the dissolution of the previous business, I voluntarily agreed to not use any of the blends I'd developed during its operation. Pretty standard practice. Second, and more difficult, the method of production was quite complicated, and had to be simplified for larger scale production. Had I asked the C&D boyz to jump through the flaming hoops I did when I made Aleister, they'd have sent a torch and pitchfork brigade to my door. A lot more work ensued, with the end result being a blend that was similar enough in taste and smoking qualities, and also practical to produce. I released it as Haddo's Delight in August of that year.
To be clear - no animal sacrifices took place, no circles and triangles were drawn on the ground, there were no bubbling cauldrons or flaming altars, and to the best of my recollection, the only oaths sworn were muttered in hushed tones when things didn't go quite right during the lengthy development process. Sorry to disappoint. ;)

 

styler

Starting to Get Obsessed
Oct 31, 2014
144
0
Haddos has been one of my favourite tobaccos since I first tried it, I love it even more with a bit of back story. Thanks Greg! I would have loved a tin of that original blend for comparison though :)

 

deathmetal

Lifer
Jul 21, 2015
7,714
32
Sorry to disappoint.
No disappointment, but now I'm on the hunt for some Haddo. If you don't mind, I would like to pass your story on to some LHP affiliated personae. Maybe they will enjoy it, too, and it might get them into pipes.

 

perdurabo

Lifer
Jun 3, 2015
3,305
1,575
I have a feeling that this 100% perique with rum that Crowley supposedly smoked wasn't St James Perique soaked in rum. I think it was the perique that the shipmates made. Using tobacco wrapped in canvas, seasoned with rum, then twisted with rope and rested for a period of time. I know when Crowley was at Trinity College, Cambridge, he had a tobacconist. Now the research would really be to find out what the tobacconist in this area were selling as Perique soaked in rum. To give a little perspective on the 100% St James Perique with rum, Crowley was a lover of Extremely spicy foods. I have a recipe that he used for curry in a book somewhere around my house. Greg, Haddo's Delight was the first blend I tried of yours. It was the first perique I tried also. Haddo is a beautiful blend, just fantastic. Thank You.

 
Blends that were made with perique were often just called perique. However, I must just be one of those people not susceptible to perique, because I can and do often smoke just the blending perique by itself. I love it, and I cannot get enough. Soaking it in rum, nah... Just perique please...

 

perdurabo

Lifer
Jun 3, 2015
3,305
1,575
Cosmic I think you nailed another possibility to the wall. I saw a video on YouTube, where some old gentlemen were recreating the Perique made aboard ships, up until this point I didn't know that that process was also called perique. I hear C&D Blending perique is great. I think this Crowley smoking 100% perique with rum is a modern day misconception.

 
According to Mark Ryan, there is no 100% pure perique, it has all been blended since the 1950's. And, when I asked him where I could get his L.A.Poche made perique for blending my own, he said McClelland buys from him. He didn't say that C&D doesn't buy from him, but he did give me a nod in the McClelland general direction. There is a lot of swill being peddled as perique out there, but it has to be made right there on the L.A.Poche building to get those microorganisms that ferment the burley.
Crowley smoking 100% perique with rum is a modern day misconception.
I don't think it's unheard of to smoke straight perique. If you really, really enjoy perique blends, then of course one will enjoy the straight perique. Like if you really love chili, you'll probably enjoy nibbling on some chili peppers. But, you won't give up chili for eating the straight peppers, right?

 

deathmetal

Lifer
Jul 21, 2015
7,714
32
Crowley sheds some light on the topic by referring to it as originating in "rolls" (which seems to mean "ropes"):
UTA2Kt7.png

From "Diary of a Drug Fiend"
https://books.google.com/books?id=3tk6AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA44&lpg=PA44&dq=%22aleister+crowley%22+perique&source=bl&ots=fJ_iijE4Rr&sig=rJwi3ThHEBfgUyiHiqp4dSibzOM&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CCIQ6AEwATgeahUKEwjPo5Dc5avIAhVPhQ0KHS0QCPA#v=onepage&q=%22aleister%20crowley%22%20perique&f=false

 

deathmetal

Lifer
Jul 21, 2015
7,714
32
And yet...
Admiral Fitzroy, by no means the least of English poets, was wont to observe -- at least he was always putting it on his barometers --
Code:
<br />
<pre><code>

Long foretold, long last: Short notice, soon past.'' So please settle down in that Oxford Basket Chair, draw the table close, for you'll need that jar you bought at Bacon's in your first teens because Calverle hypnotized you into doing so, fill the old Meerschaum ([redacted]) with the pure Perique of St. James' Parish Louisiana, throw some coals and a log or two on the fire, and put your legs on the mantlepiece; for if the laws of weather apply to literature, this ought to be a terribly long chapter.
http://www.thelema.ca/156/Not%20the%20Life%20of%20Sir%20Roger%20Bloxam/chapter23.html
From one of his writings.

 

glpease

Starting to Get Obsessed
Jun 17, 2010
239
96
California
He didn't say that C&D doesn't buy from him,
I can assure that C&D certainly do buy from him.
As for
a lot of swill being peddled as perique out there,
I read about this stuff often, yet have been unable to actually find any to purchase…
I've had the privilege and pleasure of tasting examples of estate produced perique from different farms. Just as with wine grapes, the terroir, that sense of place that comes from the local soil, microclimate and farming practices, not to mention the microflora responsible for the fermentation of the leaf, was discernible in the leaf when smoked straight. When blended in the quantities that are typically used, the differences became so small that they were much more difficult to distinguish reliably.
A lot of the mythology that surrounds perique results from the efforts of some marketing "geniuses" some years back who mounted a campaign to promote one farmer's product as the "only real St. James perique" being produced, and all others being "faux perique." It was false then, and is even more false today. Mark has done a fantastic job of rekindling the perique industry, getting more farmers on board growing the leaf, and working hard to ensure the quality of the finished product manufactured in his facility.
The perique we use is a blend, as Mark said, with leaf selected and blended to assure consistency from batch to batch, and from year to year.

 

perdurabo

Lifer
Jun 3, 2015
3,305
1,575
Rolls of black perique hmmmm could be the rolls of canvas referred to on ships. Crowley never went into the process in diaries that I have seen. He was very prolific about everything he did. And yes there is a possibility it was pure 100% Cosmic, but I really doubt it. I know at the end of his life he was getting into Latakia blends. The person that could really shed light on this would be Jimmy Page. That is if he has any of Crowleys pipes in his collections. Anyway...it doesn't matter anyway, we have Haddo's Delght because of Crowley& GL Pease and that is good enough for me.

 

deathmetal

Lifer
Jul 21, 2015
7,714
32
The person that could really shed light on this would be Jimmy Page. That is if he has any of Crowleys pipes in his collections.
I wish he would. Should we write to him, or is he busy with that rock and roll music that the kids like?

 
Status
Not open for further replies.