I've been working my way (slowly) through the H&H sampler that I ordered, and the final sample of the bunch was House of Lords. Since I'm a noob and I'm only smoking a bowl here and a bowl there, I've held off on posting anything about first impressions, aside from my first attempt at Black House...
But getting to that first bowl of House of Lords has been an adventure. Where to start?
I placed the order back in January, along with an order for a bag of seconds from Missouri Meerschaum. My mother-in-law had recently passed away, and we were scheduled to travel to Seattle for the memorial service. The tobacco arrived just before we left - and I lost my job right around the same time. 8O
So - I smoked that quick bowl of Black House in one of my briars and we headed off to Seattle. The rest of the H&H order waited patiently for my return. I caught a cold while traveling, so the first few bowls after I got back were nothing to write home about - I'm just now rotating back through, and it's amazing how much one's sinuses can affect a smoke. Last week, I finally got to the House of Lords baggie and packed a pipe to smoke while I did chores around the house. Just as I got the match lit to do the initial char, my phone rang - it was a recruiter, who wanted to do a face-to-face interview on short notice. I did not have time to even start that bowl.
The next day, I tried again - but as I've noted, I only smoke outside, and the weather was shifting. High winds and cold temperatures made the process of lighting the pipe nearly impossible, and even once I got the thing lit, it was just miserable trying to keep it lit with an Arctic wind whistling around me.`I gave up about 1/3 of the way into that bowl.
Fast forward to this morning. The sun is out, the wind is a gentle breeze at most, and I had a really positive interview yesterday with a company that wants to hire somebody very soon (hopefully me!). I decided to celebrate with my third attempt at House of Lords.
And it was darn near a perfect smoke. Lit with no problems, smoked the first third of the bowl almost without thinking about it (or anything else, for that matter). Thought it was about to go out, but I seem to have figured out the "fingers over the bowl" airflow restriction trick, and kept it going a little longer. I did relight later on, but before I knew it, I was done. And I think I get the appeal of the English style blends. I don't quite have the palate or the vocabulary yet to describe the experience in formal review terms, but it was probably one of the most pleasant hours I've spent recently.
Now to cross-check with one of the other English samples, and then try Black House again. :D
But getting to that first bowl of House of Lords has been an adventure. Where to start?
I placed the order back in January, along with an order for a bag of seconds from Missouri Meerschaum. My mother-in-law had recently passed away, and we were scheduled to travel to Seattle for the memorial service. The tobacco arrived just before we left - and I lost my job right around the same time. 8O
So - I smoked that quick bowl of Black House in one of my briars and we headed off to Seattle. The rest of the H&H order waited patiently for my return. I caught a cold while traveling, so the first few bowls after I got back were nothing to write home about - I'm just now rotating back through, and it's amazing how much one's sinuses can affect a smoke. Last week, I finally got to the House of Lords baggie and packed a pipe to smoke while I did chores around the house. Just as I got the match lit to do the initial char, my phone rang - it was a recruiter, who wanted to do a face-to-face interview on short notice. I did not have time to even start that bowl.
The next day, I tried again - but as I've noted, I only smoke outside, and the weather was shifting. High winds and cold temperatures made the process of lighting the pipe nearly impossible, and even once I got the thing lit, it was just miserable trying to keep it lit with an Arctic wind whistling around me.`I gave up about 1/3 of the way into that bowl.
Fast forward to this morning. The sun is out, the wind is a gentle breeze at most, and I had a really positive interview yesterday with a company that wants to hire somebody very soon (hopefully me!). I decided to celebrate with my third attempt at House of Lords.
And it was darn near a perfect smoke. Lit with no problems, smoked the first third of the bowl almost without thinking about it (or anything else, for that matter). Thought it was about to go out, but I seem to have figured out the "fingers over the bowl" airflow restriction trick, and kept it going a little longer. I did relight later on, but before I knew it, I was done. And I think I get the appeal of the English style blends. I don't quite have the palate or the vocabulary yet to describe the experience in formal review terms, but it was probably one of the most pleasant hours I've spent recently.
Now to cross-check with one of the other English samples, and then try Black House again. :D
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