Having had the day off, I went to pack a bowl to smoke in the mid-afternoon sunshine. Being very particular about maintaining my pipe rotation (”anal” is the adjective my wife uses), I wanted to select one of the pipes I had not smoked in the longest time. One of these today was my corncob, and since I was in a very casual mood, I decided that was the one to smoke. Since I consider the corncob the “bottom of the barrel” pipe, I thought it would be appropriate today to pack it with the last bowl of that disappointing “Bear’s Blend” a friend gave me a few weeks ago.

Those of you who have read my previous posts might recall that I am not terribly enamored of this Bear’s Blend. It is similar to many smoke shop “store-blends” in that it has no real flavor and tends to smoke very hot. Its drawbacks have been mitigated somewhat when I have smoked it in some of my better pipes, but overall it definitely is not something I would buy.

Similarly, the corncob, in my opinion, is a puffer barely worth puffing. It, too, usually smokes hot — both to the tongue and to the touch. So, when I packed the Bear’s Blend in it today, I prepared myself for a worst-case scenario — poor tobacco in a bad smoker. Surprisingly, though, the smoke was not too bad. Was it the setting (relaxed, sunny day), had I misjudged the tobacco or the pipe, or was it something else?

I believe it was the synchronicity that comes about when two things that are made for each other come together to produce a sum greater than the parts. One would not drink Dom Perignon from a mason jar; neither would one drink Blatz from Waterford crystal. But, I’ll bet Blatz in a mason jar would be downright prime.

So, my lesson learned today is, keep experimenting with different combinations of tobaccos and pipes. You never know when you’ll hit on something grand.

Keep puffing, my friends . . . .

AA