Capstan Original Navy Cut Flake (Vintage STG-Made)
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Kevin Godbee - Mar 8, 2019
- 4 min read
Kyle Weiss
This particular tin became lost some years ago, between moves, breakups, job switching, and I had forgot about it. I shifted a box amongst some belongings and a small, blue anchovy-tin looking object tumbled to the floor. I suddenly remembered my friend Anna in Finland sending this to me. I realize this version of Capstan wasn’t commonly available here in the US a while back, and this particular tin has seen some mileage. It isn’t the current Mac Baren incarnation, but apparently made under license in Denmark for Imperial Tobacco. Regardless, this is a review more for nostalgia, as well as perhaps an indication of how well this tobacco managed to age.
I always have a tinge of concern when I pop an all-metal, brass tin open and there’s rust. Sometimes this means the tobacco is compromised, sometimes not. Fortunately this time things seem to be okay: the contrasted, calico flakes sitting inside had plenty of moisture and a nice smell of wood detritus, fruit blossoms and a touch of fermented Virginia tobacco.
The snow for the month has turned to rain, but this made my job all the easier. Rain resets the senses in the desert, with fewer ambient factors to impede flavors and smells. The Capstan seemed to do well smoked with increased humidity. First lights were always consistently lively, a little spicy and what those-who-know will understand when I say, “The kind of natural sweet only a real Virginia tobacco can give.” Roughing up the thin flakes creates a very fine, shaggy cut that is a joy to load into any pipe. I can’t recall one instance it did not smolder with more than two flicks of the lighter or two matches.
The first quarter of the bowl opens up the world of Virginias that had been slumbering patiently for me while I forgot their dignity. Not holding a grudge, the rewards became evident. The mouth feel of the smoke is silky, the flavors are deep with an umami quality, meaty but not overwhelming, and just enough of a thin spice to keep it interesting.
Midway through this poor, orphan Capstan a warm, Irish stout kind of quality comes through. It’s a tad sweet and yeast-like, and wholly enjoyable. What is also both a benefit and drawback comes about too: this tobacco is a ghost-hunter. If your pipes are not clean, or at least earmarked for only smoking subtle-natured tobacco, it will pick up on other things in the bowl that aren’t there. In one pipe I had, years ago, loaded up a Lakeland-scented tobacco that I had not known was such. After spitting and cursing at the tobacco and scraping my tongue, I did a very thorough job of ridding this demon from this particular pipe. I was safe: until one bowl of Capstan. I muddled through.
Finishing qualities of this aged treat are yearning. It fades pleasantly rather than getting unruly or ashy, and though I enjoy a good tarry bottom-of-the-bowl experience, this wasn’t to be had. Which is good: I was told once with things wonderful and pleasurable to never fulfill yourself completely—be left wanting a little more, and have some at another time. Capstan this aged, which I’m guessing is at least seven years, does this almost automatically. I’m grateful for it being a patient teacher, if not a reminder.
My verdict on this import tin of Capstan Flake is glowing. It came to me at the right time, falling into my lap, nearly literally, at a moment I could use the break from life’s drama. I welcomed it. Nicotine is just right for me in that it is plentiful without being a head-spinner, the taste was well-rounded at all stages of smoking in just about any pipe. It didn’t get stellar marks by others for having the best room note, but I never got “the look” of wrinkled faces and noses. Being my first time getting acquainted with Capstan, I can only hope what is out there currently via Mac Baren is just as good (and well-aging) as this. I’m dubious, but it’d be nice. It might be a good idea to keep a few of these stashed away to be found later, if not by accident, with purpose and intent. I may never see this version of Capstan again, so I might as well enjoy what I have. There’s probably a life lesson in there, somewhere, along with keeping better track of my own tobacco.
Editor’s note: Capstan Blue was being made by the Orlik factory (Scandinavian Tobacco Co.) when I visited the factory in July 2010. Below is a photo where I am holding the tin top in my hand. I was lucky enough to bring a couple of these home with me, and to get them without the nasty warning label.
Written by Kevin Godbee
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Welcome to The Pipes Magazine Radio Show Episode 636. Our featured interview on tonight’s show is with Barry Kane. Barry started smoking a pipe in 1961 when he was 14-years old. Back then it seemed like everybody smoked, and you could buy pipes and tobacco just about anywhere. Barry is a true old-school pipe smoker, sticking to just one blend. See if you can guess which one before listening. At the top of the show Brian will give his take on Scandinavian Tobacco Group’s purchase of Mac Baren and Sutliff Tobacco and their announcement that they will be shut down.
There’s a pipe in my collection that I cannot bring myself to smoke, though I’ve had it for more years than I care to recall. It’s old, or shall I say, well experienced; that experience, that oldness came to it long before it was in my possession. The pipe is an old Comoy’s Grand Slam from the 1940s. The shape (#93), a slightly canted, stack billiard (sometimes referred to as a Belgian) is right up my alley, and it’s a beautiful example of it. It came to me with some wear and tear; nothing unusual for an old pipe, but more the signs of one that has been well loved, smoked a lot, treated as a favorite tool, cherished, in a sense, by frequent use. It’s the pipe equivalent of a vintage car that’s been driven a lot, enjoyed fully and maintained adequately, rather than one kept in a spotless garage, dusted and detailed weekly, brought out only for leisurely Sunday drives, or to be ogled behind the ropes at the next Concours d’Elegance. When it arrived, those uncounted years ago, it wanted a little restoration. Nothing dramatic needed to be done to it, but the stem was oxidized, the finish a little dingy. The cake was even and fairly thin, and the airway was relatively clean, both signs that its previous owner cared for it, but the bowl’s surface was a little drab and dull. It took little effort to reveal its beauty, to show the lovely contrasted stain and interesting grain beneath the old wax. I often think I should do before and after photos of pipes that I work on, but those thoughts always come after the work’s been done. This one would have been a great illustration of how years of handling that can sometimes make a pipe more beautiful, can other times make it just look grungy. Once I’d cleaned up the externals, it was time to address the inside bits. I approach this a little bassackwards, I realize. It would be more sensible to take care of the inside before addressing the outside, but it’s how I roll. If an old pipe isn’t pretty to look at, it’s unlikely that I’ll care much about it, and cleaning is usually the hardest part, or at least the most boring part of any restoration for me. Alcohol and pipe cleaners. Lots of pipe cleaners. That’s why I leave it for last. Sometimes, I’ll even give a pipe a test smoke before a deep cleaning, just for a point of reference. I gave it a sniff to get an idea of what I was up against, and it stopped me cold. There in that bowl was an aroma that I had not smelled in decades. My head was instantly filled with memories of being in the back room of a fabled Berkeley tobacconist’s shop where I stumbled upon a few jars of long discontinued blends. One of them, a blend called Forty and Eight, had the most engaging and unusual scent of any tobacco I’d stuck my schnoz into. It was sweet, but not in a candy store way. There were none of the usual vanilla, cherry, berry or anise notes of typical aromatics, nothing that could be compared to aftershave or deodorant soap, but something almost musky, a little earthy, something exotic. The shop’s owner couldn’t tell me what was in it, how, or where it had been produced. The old blend had been retired before he’d bought the place. The printed catalogue gave no clues, either, other than being overprinted with the word “DISCONTINUED” in bold, rubber-stamp type. (And, I don’t recall it as being “highly aromatic” as the description indicates.) There was still quite a bit in the jar. Being, at that point, an intrepid explorer of all kinds of tobaccos, whether I thought I’d like them or not, I had to give it a try. It was burly based, but also comprised a good measure of virginia leaf, and maybe some other varieties; I didn’t have enough experience at the time to really pick it apart. But, that aroma was unlike anything I’d experienced before or since. It was something now completely lost to time. Until it wasn’t. Memories are powerful things, and there is no sense more tightly bound to memory than our sense of smell. One whiff was all it took to carry me back in time, conjuring a vivid recollection of something long submerged in the inky depths of a subconscious mind. Look, I know as well as anyone that pipes are meant to be smoked, and that many feel it almost sacrilegious to have a pipe and not set it to its intended task. In this case, I simply can’t. I won’t. Ever. Rationally, I am fairly certain this pipe would probably be a great smoke. It was too well loved by its previous caretaker to be anything less than that. My choice not to smoke it is an emotional one, not something rational. Of the thousands of pipes that have passed through my hands over the years, this is the only one to create such a singular and vivid, almost Proustian recollection of temps perdu, of lost time. It revivified a long dormant memory that is mine, and mine alone, and that’s enough. I keep it in a drawer with other old English pipes. In some ways, it’s nothing special, just a nice old pipe. I don’t lavish it with any particular care that arguably befits the hidden treasure that it holds. It’s not in a special box, or displayed preciously in a glass cabinet. Every once in a while, I take it out, point my nose bowlwards, and every time, those memories return just as powerfully as they did the first time. I have no idea how long it’s been since its last owner smoked it, but in the years I’ve had it, there seems to have been very little degradation of the aroma, and that’s […]
Welcome to The Pipes Magazine Radio Show Episode 635. Our featured interview on tonight’s show is with James Ravenwood. James is the boutique tobacco blender of Ravenwood Blends. His blending started out as a fun hobby, and he now has professionally packaged commercially available products with some great tin art. Part of his interest in pipe smoking goes back to fond memories of a retired Navy Veteran that lived on his street while he was growing up that would sit in his driveway smoking a pipe all day. Later, in 2011 he began smoking pipes and soon after started experimenting with mixing different tobaccos. His other hobby, that he has been doing for 30 years, is photography. He takes wonderful photos of outdoor spaces, and still life pictures of pipes and tobacco. You can see them on his Instagram @thebriarfellowship. At the top of the show we’ll have an Ask the Pipemaker segment with renowned pipe artisan Jeff Gracik.
Welcome to The Pipes Magazine Radio Show Episode 634! Our featured interview on tonight’s show is with Warren Ertle. Warren is an extremely accomplished musician with a PhD in music. He started early as a percussionist in sixth grade. Later his grandmother got him a cheap Casio keyboard which he taught himself to play. He started playing in blues bands in high school, and has been a pianist with jazz big bands for years. Even though he was already a professional musician, he took his first real piano lesson when he enrolled in college with his studies in classical music. He is of course a pipe smoker. At the top of the show we will have an Ask the Tobacco Blender segment with Jeremy Reeves. Jeremy is the Head Blender at Cornell & Diehl, which is one of the most popular boutique pipe tobacco companies in the USA.
Soon now, supposedly, our neighborhoods will shift from grinning pumpkins, skeletons in various assortments, and zombies dashing about to pretty reindeer, angels, and flashing lights illuminating homes with sparkling stars and laughing, scurrying Santas. But, lest we forget, there is the turkey season, fancy pie aromas wafting from kitchens, and a national pardon of a big Tom Turkey. Remember, now, that only one of these holiday personalities is a pipe smoker. And that is the hefty, bearded fellow in a bright red suit sitting in a sleigh with a herd of deer hitched up and ready to streak across the globe, bringing tidings of joy and many presents. Ok, the scene is set for the next couple of months, right? So, before we get too far off the beaten path, let’s just take a deep breath of fresh autumn air, shall we? Ahh. That’s better, isn’t it? What’s got the Pundit in a snit is not all the Halloween spooks who came a-jostling for candy. Or the wild turkeys gobbling in the backwoods or all the fuss and feathers over the big one—Christmas. No, it is that we might need to take note of all the little things that mean so much to us. Like a good sunrise (seriously, Pundit has not gone all Pollyanna.) Mayhaps we need to appreciate more of what we have than what we have not. Or something like that. Like, a good pipe in the morning with coffee as the dawn brings us coolish weather now that we have flipped the calendar to autumn. But it also brings beautiful leaves that have become a spectacle of technicolor in the wind. It is the little things. The rereading of an enjoyable book and finding something you did not see or learn in the first go-round. Or a stunning phrase you commit to memory with the re-read, while smoking that favorite pipe. And you notice a superior puff that just seems to be different. It’s in the air and the seasons of meaningful little things. It’s aromatic! 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A fact is not a truth until you love it—Shelby Foote. A parting thought: It is said that famed Southern author William Faulkner carried a packed pipe in a coat pocket wherever he went. That’s one effective way to deal with workday conflicts and confusion. A calm and objective judgment in our everyday human affairs, as the quantum man said.
Welcome to The Pipes Magazine Radio Show Episode 633. Our featured guest tonight is Jon David Cole. JD is the Owner/Tobacconist at The Country Squire in Jackson, MS, and the accompanying online store. We’ll have JD and Brian talking about what’s new at the store and in the business in general. At the top of the show, Brian will discuss tobacco growing, what happens to the leaf, and provide updated information on where tobacco is being gown today. Tobacco production originated in the United States and we were once the #1 producer. It’s quite different now.
In my humble opinion, the Orlik factory (Scandinavian Tobacco Co. was much better than the new MacBaren version. I have two tins like the ones in the picture above, I’ll open them for a special occasion only. The Capstan Yellow by Orlik was also very good btw, again the MacBaren version is different.
I’m comparing fresh tins from both producers so who knows, aged MacBaren tins could be a blast. If I only knew about the MacBaren switch, I would have bought more STG. Maybe STG has kept both recipes under a new name, who knows?
I get the Capstan Blue from Smoking Pipes, and regrettably, for a premier blend, it is very basic. I can understand why people lament the passing of that decent quality blend the reviewer was speaking about.
Thanks for yet another well written and nicely illustrated article. A pleasant read, indeed.
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Whenever Capstan is discussed I am reminded of Troels Mikkelsen’s amusing story about the Orlik takeover of Capstan Flake production (was it from Cope’s?). Anyway, at the time, Orlik utilized the tins and labels leftover from the Liverpool factory and never received a complaint about their new rendition; but when they started using their own labels, complaints about the Orlik version started coming in.