G.L. Pease Cumberland - Pipe Tobacco Reviews

By Bob Tate

The tin aroma of this blend is a nice sweet and tangy straight forward tobacco smell. It smells pretty good. The moisture content is perfect for smoking right away. I loaded up my pipe and proceeded to the charring light. Upon the charring light, I am greeted by a straight forward tobacco taste and aroma accompanied by a slight sweetness. There is also a sort of a sharpness to it has well. I detect the sharpness on my palate, but it is not a bite. That may be the Kentucky tobacco. I finished lighting the pipe to see where this blend would go.

At the start, I taste a nice naturally sweet tobacco taste. There is a bit of fullness to the smoke that I would attribute to the Kentucky. The sharpness is still there, but it moved more to the background. There is some smokiness to it as well, but not a Latakia smokiness. It’s more of a natural straight type of smokiness. The sweetness is very light and subtle and seems to be detected more on the finish than the actual smoke. Read the rest of this entry »

Hearth & Home Louisiana Red - Pipe Tobacco Reviews

By Bob Tate

The pouch aroma of this blend is a nice tobacco scent with a sweet, tangy, spicy aroma with a hint of plums. The tanginess is a little more predominate than the others and causes my mouth to water. I love it! The moisture content is perfect for smoking right away. I loaded up my pipe and proceeded to the charring light.

On the charring light, I was greeted by a nice tobacco aroma and taste. There was a nice amount of natural sweetness with a slight tang to it from the Virginias. It tasted very nice. I finished lighting the pipe and settled in for a nice relaxing smoke. Read the rest of this entry »

A Few Pipe Lighter Reviews

By Bob Tate

When it comes to lighting your pipe, there are always discussions about what is the best thing to use. There is the famous debate about lighters VS matches. Because whether to use lighter or matches is mostly a personal preference, I am not going to talk about that here. In this article I am going to talk only about lighters. Hopefully it gives those who are looking for a lighter a little more insight on which lighter to choose.

There is always a lot of talk about pipe lighters in pipe smoking. Which lighters are the best, which ones are the worst, which ones are inexpensive, etc. I am going to give a short review on my experiences with the lighters that I own. I will not talk about or review any lighters that I do not nor have not owned before. The reviews will mainly consist of Pros and Cons to each lighter that I have had experience with. I will be listing the lighters in order from least expensive to most expensive. On to the reviews! Read the rest of this entry »

Interview with Tim Ozgener, President of CAO International

By Bob Tate

We’ve been intrigued with rumors circulating around the pipe community that CAO might become the new distributor of Dunhill pipe tobaccos in the USA. There have been comments that CAO would increase its presence in the pipe tobacco business in 2010, rumors of new tobaccos, possibly bringing back the old CAO tobaccos, CAO meerschaum pipes and possible Dunhill distribution.

We had a great conversation with Tim Ozenger, President of CAO International (he’s a very friendly and accommodating chap). We talked about the aforementioned rumors and a few other things. Find out which rumors are true and which are not. So without further ado, here is our conversation with Tim:

PipesMagazine (PM): Tim, at the beginning of 2009, there were a lot of rumors that CAO was getting out of the tobacco pipe industry. Is it true that CAO made the decision to no longer be involved in the pipe industry or was it more related to Scandinavian Tobacco Group merging with CAO and there being a switch from Dan Tobacco to Scandinavian Tobacco Group?

Tim Ozgener: Well, Scandinavian Tobacco Group acquired CAO and in the acquisition they stated that they were in the cigar business and were not interested in pipes, although they are the largest producer of pipe tobacco in the world. So pipe smoking is still of interest to them, but they wanted us to focus more on cigars and pipe tobacco in the future instead of pipes. My father retired from the business, but still has some pretty tight relationships with some of the more important carvers in Turkey and he continues to purchase pipes from these carvers in Turkey. It was just made clear that that was not a part of CAO and more of, a kind of, personal decision. So my father has continued to receive pipes from these carvers. Read the rest of this entry »

Interview With Master Blender Russ Ouellette - Part 3

By Bob Tate

This is the conclusion to our Russ Ouellette (Blendtobac) interview. So far in our interview with Russ Ouellette, we have talked about how he got started blending pipe tobacco blends, Perique tobacco, some of the challenges that he faces obtaining certain tobacco components, how he created Larry’s Blend, and many other things. Here, we are picking up the interview where we left off in Part 2:

PipesMagazine (PM): We have heard from quite a few people in the industry and have seen for ourselves that a lot of younger people are starting to get into pipes. Have you noticed this as well and have you seen a resurgence in pipes and pipe smoking?

Russ: Yeah, we’ve had a number of guys under 30 [years of age] who have stopped in to visit or join our pipe club and we’re seeing more and more of it. Some of it is kind of a trendy thing; a group of local college students, or whatever, will decide that they want to get together and smoke pipes. And because, I think, we do a very good job at our retail store of helping the new pipe smoker get started and give them the information that they need to stay with it, they tend to gravitate towards our store and they start hanging out on a regular basis because we have a lounge.

They like to get together and they’ll sit there around the card table and smoke their pipes. Our customers are such a great bunch of people that the older lawyers, doctors, and business people don’t look down their nose at these 24 year old kids sitting there smoking pipes. It’s a very comfortable environment and we’re doing what we can for the people who’ve made the decision that they want to smoke a pipe and we’re going to make it as enjoyable as possible for them.  Read the rest of this entry »

Castro Brothers (Davidus) Portrait - Pipe Tobacco Reviews

By Bob Tate

Note: Portrait is a house blend that is sold by Davidus. Davidus is a tobacconist chain that is located in Maryland. I try not to do reviews of tobacco blends that are not available to everyone, but Davidus.com does have an online store where you can purchase Portrait. There is not much information on this blend, so I am somewhat taking an educated guess on the tobacco contents and I am listing what it looks and tastes like to me*. This blend is only available in tins. From the look of the tin and the tobacco, I am guessing that this blend is made by McClelland Tobacco exclusively for Castro Brothers (Davidus). - Bob

The tin aroma of this blend is of a heavy, smoky Latakia with a hint of sweetness and spice. I also am picking up on a very slight hint of plums far in the background. The moisture content upon opening is a little on the moist side and some drying time would not hurt. I let this blend dry out for a bit before smoking it. I loaded my pipe using the two step method and proceeded to the charring light. Read the rest of this entry »

Interview With Master Blender Russ Ouellette - Part 2

By Bob Tate

In part 1 of our interview with Russ Ouellette (Blendtobac), we talked about some of the things he has done before he got heavily involved in the tobacco industry. We also talked about how he got started blending pipe tobacco blends, how he maintains the consistency of his blends, some of the problems that he has acquiring certain tobacco components, and a few other things. Here, we pick up the interview where we left off in Part 1:

PipesMagazine (PM): What are some of the major changes that you have seen in the pipe industry over the years that you have been involved?

Russ: Certainly from the pipe end of things, some of the old brands are not quite what they used to be, but there are still a lot of wonderful pipes out there. I think one of the best things to happen is that we’re seeing more individual carvers around the world. There weren’t that many individual artisans in the US in the 70’s even though the market was pretty strong. It was mostly mass manufactured, even though a lot of those brands produced wonderful quality pipes. But now we’re seeing a lot more one-of-a-kind freehand pipes by very, very talented carvers.

In terms of tobaccos though, it’s radically in the other direction where the European cigarette companies have snapped up a lot of the Oriental tobaccos that used to be available for pipe blends and some of those tobaccos that I mentioned to you before just aren’t available. Mike McNeil [McClelland Tobacco] was able to acquire a number of different Orientals because he has a friend in the cigarette business. Unfortunately, I don’t have a contact like that; that would allow me that kind of access. And a lot of the old blends have disappeared; the current versions aren’t the same as what they used to be. The one thing that I think a lot of people don’t understand is the subtle complexities of the tobacco leaf, and they shouldn’t have to. Unless you’re dealing with it, you won’t recognize it unless you’re doing it all the time. One of the problems that I have seen in recent years is that a blend will become unavailable and I’ll get phone call after phone call, you know “Can you reproduce it?” Some people say that they can and they make an attempt, and sometimes they do a great job of it. Read the rest of this entry »

Interview With Master Blender Russ Ouellette - Part 1

By Bob Tate

Russ Ouellette (Blendtobac) is the Retail Sales Manager and Master blender for Habana Premium Cigar Shoppe (HPCS), also known as Pipesandcigars.com, in Albany, New York. Russ has been involved in the tobacco industry for over 30 years. He is regarded as one of the best blenders in the country and has created over 100 different pipe tobacco blends over the years, many of which are still being sold today. Russ is probably best known for the Hearth & Home Series of pipe tobacco blends that he has created for HPCS (pipesandcigars.com). I had the opportunity to talk with Russ at length about pipe tobacco and a few other things. Here is Part 1 of our interview with Russ Ouellette:

PipesMagazine (PM): Russ, you have been involved in the tobacco business on and off for over 30 years, what else have you done besides blending pipe tobacco?

Russ Ouellette: I’ve traveled a winding path. Besides that, I spent a number of years in the automotive business, I’ve done sign painting, I supervised 15 bowling pro shops and trained ball drillers, and was in the computer sales area for awhile. Also piano and organ sales, so I’ve done quite a few different things.

PM: That’s a pretty extensive background.

Russ: Yeah, it’s rather eclectic.

PM: How long have you been actually blending pipe tobacco blends?

Russ: Well, I’ve done it for about 30 years. I started doing it when I first worked, during college and after graduation, at a chain store. Then when I left the business, I still did it because I had old customers and friends who used to like some of the things that I made and they would ask me to make them for them. So I continued to do it right on through, but the heavy lifting has been in the last 5 years.

PM: What got you started in blending? Was it just your love for the tobacco leaf?
Read the rest of this entry »

Hearth & Home Virginia Spice - Pipe Tobacco Reviews

By Bob Tate

Note: I would like to say that I have seen two descriptions on this blend. I have a copy of the old description from 2005 that says that this blend contains cigar leaf. The current description does not say this. I do see pieces of tobacco in this blend that look like cigar leaf, so I assume that it is still used in this blend and have included it in the ‘Tobaccos’ part of the information break down.

The pouch aroma of this blend is sweet, slightly spicy, tangy, and with a hint of, what I would call, plum. I love the way that this blend smells. I love when a Virginia or a Virginia/Perique blend has that tanginess that tingles my nose and makes my mouth water when I smell it. The moisture content of this blend is perfect for smoking immediately with no drying time needed.

I loaded up my pipe using the two step method and proceeded to the charring light. The charring light presented a nice tobacco taste with light hints of sweetness and spice. I also picked up on a little pepper in my nose. I can already tell that this is a very good blend and I settled in for a nice relaxing smoke. Read the rest of this entry »

Bill Introduced to Further Raise Federal Taxes on Pipe Tobacco

By Bob Tate

Hold onto your pipes people, here it is.
On January 13, 2010, Rep. Steve Cohen (D-TN) and co-sponsor Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-TX) introduced bill H.R. 4439 to congress to raise the federal pipe tobacco tax from $2.8311US per pound to $24.78US per pound and “To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to impose the same rate of tax on pipe tobacco as is imposed on roll-your-own tobacco.”

At the time of this article, this has not been reported by any news agency. This seems to be the way that all anti-tobacco legislation has been happening as of late. “Do not report on it until is has already passed” and I am sick of them sneaking their laws in and not letting the public know until after it is passed.

If this bill passes, the average increase to your favorite blends will be about:
$2.43US per 50gr
$2.74US per 2oz
$4.86US per 100gr
$10.98US per 8oz
$21.95US per 16oz
$24.15US per 500gr
These prices would be added onto the price you are currently paying for those amounts of pipe tobacco. So with the average price of 100gr tin McClelland Frog Morton being about $13.20US, the new price would be $18.06US! That is outrageous! Read the rest of this entry »