Ask G. L. Pease (Volume 22)
-
Kevin Godbee - Feb 26, 2013
- 10 min read
G. L. Pease
As I put the finishing touches on this edition, I’m sitting on the back porch, enjoying a beautiful, cool but sunny almost-spring day. Birds are singing, bees are busy gathering pollen and nectar, and legions of chorus frogs are on the prowl, devouring insects and looking for love. Between my teeth is a small 1918 Keystone billiard filled with a long aged mixture, its fragrant smoke softly dissipating in a very gentle breeze. This pipe was a lucky find; and I got it for a price much lower than so much enjoyment should cost. When it arrived in the post, there was little doubt it had been, shall we say, enjoyed rather a lot, but its restoration was relatively painless, and the result was well worth the efforts. It is a wonderful old pipe with many stories to tell. At nearly a century-year old, it’s still looking pretty darn good, smokes beautifully, and is a delightful testament to the enduring quality of the classics.
Throughout the history of the pipe, there have been many explorations of aesthetics, of technology, of materials, but here we are, nearly 160 years after the supposed discovery of briar, most of us smoking pipes that aren’t much different from what our grandfathers or great-grandfathers would have smoked, and in some cases, we’re smoking those very pipes. In so many ways, today’s pipes are yesterday’s pipes are tomorrow’s pipes. Nihil sub sōle novum. Each time we light a bowl, we hold something timeless in our hands, something very rare in today’s world of disposability. That’s pretty special.
On to the Q&A.
Mark wonders: I’m always buying new tins of tobacco to try something different or something I’ve heard about that I just have to try. The problem is that I end up with lots of open tobacco. I’ve been storing the unsmoked leaf in small canning jars. My question is, how does opening a tin interupt any aging that may take place. If the unsmoked tobacco is put in a jar and left sealed, does any aging occur from that point on, or is the process totally halted. Also how does opening the jar every couple months to take another sample out complicate the process? I’m thinking that by using the canning jars I’m maintaining the moisture content, but that’s about it. Your expert opinion would be highly appreciated!
A: This is one of those tough decisions faced by those of us who enjoy aged tobaccos. Once the seal is broken, things change in that little microcosm, and you’ll never get back to square one. “Aging” still happens, but it’s quite a different sort of thing. How much different it is depends on many factors, including how long the tobacco had originally been aging in its sealed tin. I generally recommend smoking up an aged tin fairly quickly once it’s been opened, which is why I prefer smaller 2oz (or 50g) tins for the cellar, but it’s not always practical to do so. By keeping the contents of that tin in a tightly sealed jar, you’ll at least maintain its quality over the weeks or even months that it takes to finish it, but it’s almost certainly going to undergo some additional changes during that time. You may find that you actually enjoy the aged blend more after a couple days of air time. It’s not unlike how an open bottle of wine changes as it “breathes;” though the time-frame with tobacco is much longer, it too can “open up” over a few days or even weeks to offer new dimensions. One good thing about tobacco is that it won’t “turn to vinegar” over time the way an open bottle of wine will (as good a justification as any for finishing the bottle).
If you’re trying blends that don’t have much age under their belts, then just jarring them up again and putting them aside will provide at least some if not most of the benefits of time that you’d have gotten had you left the tin sealed in the first place. It’s really all a matter of exploration and enjoyment, after all, and figuring out what works best for you.
Alain worries about the tobacco apocalypse: I have been reading a lot lately about people cellaring tobaccos to hedge against future tax hikes and government legislation. How, as a business and a blender, are you protecting yourself from predicted government legislation against tobacco. It would be a shame to see many blenders have trouble staying open due to government meddling. Any insight would be appreciated. What does your tobacco stash look like?
A: Tax hikes and increased legislation are as inevitable as inflation; it’s the only way bloated, top heavy government agencies can continue to exist. Of course, we’re all concerned over the proposed additional regulation and taxation, and the fact that it appears as though Big Brother just wants tobacco to go away. Personally, I think it’s kind of a Chicken Little, “Sky is falling” scenario. While it’s certainly true that there’s a very loud, vocal subgroup opposing tobacco use of any sort, the fact is that tobacco production and sales in the US account for a very large and healthy revenue stream, and if all the antis got their way, eliminating tobacco in all its forms, the resulting deficit through the loss of that revenue would be huge. You can’t fill a hole with hot air. But, the gasbags will keep trying, and no matter how we look at things, tobacco will never be any cheaper than it is today, so buying for the future is certainly not a bad hedge if you want to enjoy your pipes into the next decades.
The possibility of FDA regulation, on the other hand, is a more significant threat, especially to the small producers (like, ahem, G.L. Pease). While the large factories could absorb and amortize the resultant costs more easily, the sad fact is that if we were forced to perform the very expensive third-party testing and analyses that the FDA would require of every batch, we’d either have to raise prices drastically, as well as reduce the number of blends offered, or shut the doors forever. The result to the consumer would be a dramatic decrease in the choices available to them. Many of the small-batch premium tobaccos we enjoy today would disappear, and all that would be left are the mass-market products from large producers. Ironically, the majority of pipe smokers in the US wouldn’t be effected, as only a small percentage of the roughly 2.5 million who enjoy the briar buy the small-batch, boutique tobaccos. But to those of us who do, this is one way the sky could definitely be falling. For a change, threats of increased taxation are not the greatest enemy we face. Again, stocking up for the future might ultimately be your best recourse, and a change in careers might be mine.
My stash? I’ve been accumulating slowly over 30 years. I could stop acquiring new tobaccos today, and enjoy my pipe for another 30 years, or longer. And, yes, I continue to add to it, though its mostly my own blends at this point.
Steven asks: Greg, I’m curious as to what some of your favorite tobaccos are (other than your own, of course).
A: A lot of my cellar consists of blends that are no longer available. My all time fave, as many know, is the fabled Orient Express #11 made for the now defunct Garfinkel’s of Washington DC by Sobranie House. To my taste, it was one of the most exquisitely balanced, complex and nuanced tobaccos ever produced, and I consider it very good fortune that I was able to acquire quite a few tins before it disappeared forever. (In fact, before Larry shuttered the shop, he sold me his last pound, a box of 8 2oz tins. I’ll never forget that sad phone call.) There are a number of the old classics that I have laid in, and still enjoy a great deal. I have to admit that between the time spent smoking my own prototypes during development and enjoying my stash of aged tobaccos, I don’t have much time to sample much of what is currently being produced, and new stuff just keep on coming. I’ll never catch up…
Spartan wants to know: In "Number 20", you wrote an answer pertaining to nicotine in aged pipe tobacco. Some of which reads, “The higher the pH (more alkaline), the more readily available nicotine in the smoke stream can be absorbed. If the aging of the leaf reduces sugars, the pH of the smoke will likely rise, increasing the bioavailability of Vitamin-N. But, this doesn’t always seem to be the case.” Is there an easy way to measure the pH of my tobacco?
A: The short answer is no. What you’d want to do is measure the pH of the smoke produced, not the tobacco itself, and that gets a bit tricky. The smoke has to be captured, usually by filtering it through a liquid medium, and the pH of the solution measured and normalized to get a meaningful result. It’s easier, but not simple, to find the pH of the leaf itself. Unfortunately, the result on pH of the aging process remains somewhat mysterious in a real sense. It’s true that some tobaccos seem to “get stronger” with age, whist others become “milder.” Certainly much of the available sugars are being consumed by microbial metabolism, but at the same time, longer chain carbohydrates are being digested to produce simpler sugars. It’s a sort of race condition that is difficult to predict. It’s on the long list of things I’d love to put more research time into. Sadly, my own metabolic machinery seems to be digesting time at an an increasing rate…
From Bob: I realize this might be an oddity, but here goes: A very few tobacco blends that I love are actually better, to me, when they’re younger. Penzance, for example, has an oriental zing that disappears after a couple of years in the tin. But I’m a stockpiler. And I hate thinking that the qualities I love in some blends are going to simply vanish when I open some of my tins 10-20 years from now. So I’m wondering: Is there any way to dramatically slow the effects of aging on tinned blends? Since heat speeds the effect, would refrigeration slow them? And would screw-on/open-with-a-coin tins retain their seal if actually refrigerated over time? Thanks!
A: Cold storage will certainly slow down the chemical and organic processes that take place as a tobacco ages. It’s not likely to grind to a halt, but it’s probable that keeping tobacco close to, but above the freezing point, will cause it to retain some of its youthful attributes for a longer period. Freezing would slow things down still further, but the damage to the structure of the leaf might affect the its smoking characteristics in ways that we won’t like. Additionally, depending on what you prefer about these young tobaccos, you may find that storing with plenty of additional air space may be to your advantage. Regarding the seal on those tins, it’s hard to say. Cooler temperatures, of course, will increase the vacuum slightly, but it will also make the seal less pliable, and could result in early failure.
Unfortunately, there’s no way to stop the hands of time. Your best bet is to enjoy the young tobaccos for as long as they are available, and hope for the best with whatever you put into cold storage. Or, invest in my new venture, the WayBack Corporation. I’ve retained Mr. Peabody as CEO, and we’re currently testing our latest time-machine technology. We should be ready to release our product very soon, so it should be on the dealers’ floors about ten years ago…
That’s it for this month. Keep ’em coming.
-glp
All Photos Credit & Copyright © G. L. Pease from his personal collection. Used by Permission
 Since 1999, Gregory L. Pease has been the principal alchemist behind the blends of G.L. Pease Artisanal Tobaccos. He’s been a passionate pipeman since his university days, having cut his pipe teeth at the now extinct Drucquer & Sons Tobacconist in Berkeley, California. Greg is also author of The Briar & Leaf Chronicles, a photographer, recovering computer scientist, sometimes chef, and creator of The Epicure’s Asylum. See our interview with G. L. Pease here. |
Written by Kevin Godbee
9 Responses
Smokingpipes.com Updates
34 Fresh Rossi Pipes |
2 Fresh Wandi Riyadi Pipes |
12 Fresh Radice Pipes |
New Cigars |
24 Fresh Johs Pipes |
Recent Posts
Welcome to The Pipes Magazine Radio Show Episode 641. Our featured interview tonight is with Jeremy Reeves. Jeremy is the Head Blender at Cornell & Diehl and is featured in our recurring series, “Ask the Tobacco Blender”. However, tonight he will be the interviewee as we learn about how he became a pipe smoker and collector, when he got his first pipe and how he progressed from there. At the top of the show, Brian will have a review of the rare German tobacco blend, Tumblin’ Dice.
I remember the first time I heard someone else say it. “How many pipes do I need? Just one more.” It’s glib, sure, a bit of a joke, but it also rings a bell of truth, at least to me. I certainly have “enough” pipes, but pipes are seductive little things. Just when we think we’re all set, we have enough, another will come along that tempts us beyond any sense of reason. I suppose it’s the same way with any sort of collecting. There’s always another white whale we’re in pursuit of. When we finally track that one down, though, another will almost inevitably breach the surface, taking its place as the new object of our desire, enticing us to change course and set sail once again. But, there’s a potential problem with having a lot of pipes. Maybe. The more pipes we may have, the harder it can be to keep them in rotation. It makes sense. We tend to gravitate towards our current faves, the ones that most appeal to us for whatever reason, and sometimes, maybe they stay in rotation longer than they really should. The side-effect of this, of course, is that another favored pipe might end up too-long forgotten. That’s exactly what happened recently. Exhibit A: The Castello pictured is one that has been long overlooked. It’s a Trademark shape #55. It’s a really nice example of the shape. The red pearlized stem is beautifully done. The wood isn’t really anything special to look at, but it’s evenly covered, without any bald spots. When I look at it, I wonder why it wasn’t done in the more typical dark ruby-red finish that adorns most Trademarks. I’ve seen a great deal of variation amongst the grade over the years, including one really nice bent-bulldog that left the factory with a brown sandblasted finish. (For those who don’t know, Trademark has long been the lowest Castello smooth grade, usually finished in a dark red.) Was this a stamping/grading error, or is there just more leeway in the grade than we’ve come to expect? I might never know. This example is from the early 1970s, maybe even the late 1960s, identified by the upper case Ks in the grade designation. (On Sea Rock and Old Antiquari pipes, the Ks reflect the size, while with the smooth finishes, Trademark, Castello and Collection, the Ks represent the relative grade.) It has been living in a different rack than the one housing the majority of my #55s. I don’t recall why I put it there, but as many of us can relate to, rack space is often at a premium. I stumbled upon it while looking for something completely different. “Oh, you? Why are you there? I remember you smoke pretty well.” Yeah, I sometimes talk to my pipes – one of many quirks, I suppose. I won’t begin to worry until they start talking back. I grabbed it from the rack, dusted it off, and decided to give it a fill with a bowl of a slightly aged VA/perique blend, Telegraph Hill, from 2018. What a delightful smoke! At five years, the tobacco is expressing a lot of the complexities of aged Virginias and the perique adds a delightful fruitiness. When young, the composition is a bit brighter, maybe a little spicier, but time has polished any edges, and amplified the sweeter notes. Like the pipe, I’d forgotten about this blend for quite a while, but one evening in March, after chatting with my good friend Nate, who is quite a fan of it, I decided it might be time to revisit it. I got a couple of fresh ones, and excavated a couple older tins from the library. I normally reach for Fillmore when I want a VA/perique thing because of its boldness and depth, but in revisiting this one, I’m finding something soothing and comfortable about it that I’ve really been enjoying, both young and aged. Sticking with the theme of the forgotten, and as a perhaps interesting tidbit to the photographically inclined, I shot the pictures for this month’s column with my old Nikkor-O 35mm/2.0 mounted on my trusty Nikon Df. The last time I used this lens, it was adapted to one of my Fujifilm bodies, and I didn’t care much for the results, so I put it away and pretty much forgot about it. But, I’ve recently been exploring some of my old kit, deciding what to keep, what to pass along, and this one once again came to my attention, kind of like that old Castello. On the Df, there’s something about its vintage rendering that I find truly appealing. Another forgotten treasure, and just like with that old pipe, it seems that, at least today, everything old is new again. If your collection is on the large side, are there pipes or tobaccos that you’ve all but forgotten, only to come back to them one day to find yourself wondering why? Maybe it’s just another fun dimension to this endlessly fascinating journey.
Welcome to The Pipes Magazine Radio Show Episode 640. Our featured interview on tonight’s show is with Ben Rapaport. Ben has been known internationally as an avid pipe smoker, antique pipe collector, and book author. His first book on pipes was published in 1972, and his latest book – his 10th – is out now in very limited quantities. The distribution has already sold out, but you can still get a copy of “The Wide World of Wood Tobacco Pipes. Two Centuries of Craftsmanship and Creativity” by contacting him directly at ben70gray@gmail.com. At the top of the show we’ll be turning the tables on our recurring Ask the Pipemaker segment. This time, Jeff Gracik will ask the questions, which Brian will answer as a pipe collector, and you can give your answers too.
Welcome to The Pipes Magazine Radio Show Episode 639. Our featured interview on tonight’s show is with Per Billhäll. Per is the owner of Scandinavian Pipes, which is an online retailer of high grade pipes. He started smoking pipes in the 1960s. His first high grade pipe was made by Hans “Former” Nielsen, who is one of the living legends from Denmark. That led to Per becoming a huge pipe and tobacco collector, and show attendee where he became well known. Along with pipe book author Jan Andersson, they started The Pipe Club of Sweden in 1991. Then in 1999, Per started “Scan Pipes”. He is now one of the pipe retailing legends from Sweden. At the top of the show Brian will talk about holiday blends, and other special pipe tobacco blends.
Welcome to The Pipes Magazine Radio Show Episode 638. Our featured interview on tonight’s show is with Fae “The Sassy Pipe Lady” Simmons. Fae is the owner of Tobacco Treasures, which sells new, vintage, & estate pipes, and smoking accessories on Etsy. She has been in business since 2017, and has been surrounded by pipes and tobacco most of her life. Her father and his brother smoked pipes, and so does Fae. Her husband is also a retired tobacconist that worked all over the industry from coast to coast for several different companies in the industry. She has a great story of how her business got started with a great inventory of unsmoked vintage pipes. 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.
Ok, so it’s that time of year, as we all know. Family feasts, houses, yards, and big trees festooned with lights and dangling ornaments, just high enough to keep the cats from reaching a paw into the greenery. It’s also the time of year when your pipe-smoking-significant other makes vast hints about a new pipe. That’s to be expected since he or she was a good boy or girl during the year. Yes, ladies smoke pipes, too. Oh, you want an example? Okay, try Actress Greta Garbo, Millicent Fenwick, Mary Frith, and my late grandmother (who died when she was 93) dipped snuff and smoked a cob occasionally. So now that we have settled that the gentler side of life will puff a pipe too, let’s move on to the upcoming biggest holiday of all. Of course, that huge event is brought to us by the hefty fellow in a red suit, puffing his pipe all the way in a sled filled with presents, being led by a reindeer with a red nose. Or some such. That’s Santa Claus, of course. Becoming a bit more serious, Christmas is such a wonderful time for families and friends. It’s also quite special for pipe puffers. For many of us, this brings up a nostalgic look back to our pipe-smoking or cigar-smoking friends who have died during the current year. A great journalist pal whom I often joined in a local brick-and-mortar pipe and cigar shop. I puffed my pipe, and occasional cigar, as he enjoyed a cigar. He died in October and will be missed. On the happier side of things, Christmas is also a time when mind workers of the world renew their collections with fresh additions. Pundit included. A French passion has overtaken Pundit, from reading more Albert Camus, a heavy cigarette smoker, as were many French intellectuals of a certain time. Instead of cigarettes many of us prefer the more relaxed enjoyment of pipes for that “calm and objective judgment” in the comings and goings of the world. This brings me to French pipes. While visiting France once in the long ago, I happened by a “Tabac” shop in Paris, Tabac Des Vosges. I purchased a beauty of a Chacom bent. I also later bought a Ropp made from ancient briar. To learn more about the dawn of briar pipes and beginnings, take a peek at a well-done piece by Davin Hylton in Pipe Line on April 12, 2023, on Saint-Claude, France, the birthplace of briar. Also in the long back when, on a cold Christmas afternoon, Pundit wandered into an Atlanta bricks and mortar pipe shop to look around. There, resting in an enclosed glass counter was an exquisite Comoy. An older gent, smoking a beautiful bent, asked me if I wanted to look at that pipe. It had a $100 price tag. A college student working for a grocery store chain to help with college tuition at the time, Pundit didn’t have one hundred cents, let alone a C note! I declined and found a $5 basket pipe. A Christmas tradition had just begun. Since that early time, Pundit has made it a holiday ritual to either reward himself, or a special friend, with pipe or tobacco. A Claudio Cavicchi would be nice. Just sayin.’ And now for a couple of December-born Pipe Smokers of the Past: Joseph Rudyard Kipling was born on Dec. 30, 1865, and died on Jan. 18, 1936. I always prefer to believe the best of everybody; it saves so much trouble—Rudyard Kipling. Martin Van Buren, born Dec. 5, 1782, and died July 24, 1862, U.S. President, 1837-1841 As to the presidency, the two happiest days of my life were those of my entrance upon the office and my surrender of it—Martin Van Buren. And one more note to recall a deceased World War II veteran who loved William Somerset Maugham, the author. Maugham, a pipe smoker, was born in Paris, France, on Jan. 25, 1874, and died on Dec. 16, 1965. One cool afternoon as the veteran and I talked while sitting in his backyard patio, he looked off into the distance as if studying something. Nothing in particular. Just looking. He turned to me and said if I wanted to learn about life, “read Somerset Maugham.” I did. It wasn’t until late in life that I discovered how easy it is to say, ‘I don’t know’ –W. Somerset Maugham And now a Parting Shot: Any day with an old friend with pipes and tobacco is a good day.
The pipes chosen for this essay are outstanding. I’m in love with that Keystone and GBD (Unique?)
I forgot to add that in conversation with JM Boswell of Boswell Pipes, he has also mentioned that the FDA has been leaning on him regarding his toppings and it worries him greatly. Nothing good can come of governmental meddling, a lesson the restaurant industry has learned with the recent menuboard caloric content labeling mess.
Good article!
Many thanks for writing.
Al, the GBD is an old New Era (say that ten times fast), not a Unique, likely from the 1920s or 1930s. (GBDs are SO difficult to pin down, sometimes.) It’s a fascinating little thing. The Keystone is possibly a GBD second, as it’s an Oppenheimer product, as indicated by the silverwork. It’s really a wonderful pipe, and a lovely smoke. Glad you liked the photos.
-glp
Those pipes are just gorgeous.
Greg, Yet another great article & the pipes are, in a collectible sense, museum pieces (but no doubt very well used too).
Point about the FDA is disturbing – between them and our health regulators this side of the pond it is certainly time to stock up. I have seen so many good and some great producers disappear, or at least get taken over by Orlik or KKK, this side of the pond. I had been watching “Pipes Magazine” and as there were no recent features on the FDA had assumed they were at least slow bureaurats (not a typo). Are we drinking in the last chance saloon and, not to beat about the bush, is it “last orders please” or nearly so?
Ed Turner
“there’s a very loud, vocal subgroup opposing tobacco use of any sort, the fact is that tobacco production and sales in the US account for a very large and healthy revenue stream…”
I think you undersell the antis, Greg. These people are numerous and in positions of power all over the country, from local health boards to congress. They’ll drag along (mostly) leftist politicians that, despite appreciating the luxury of tobacco tax revenues, will sacrifice the revenue stream to push forward the antis’ agenda because they won’t want to be seen as pro-tobacco/smoking/individual rights, etc. Just as the temperance movement achieved prohibition the antis will get us as close to that through regulation and taxation as possible without making it entirely illegal. Trying smoking in a public park, and in some places your own car, and see what happens.
The more pressing problem is that at least one, maybe two full generations of Americans have been brainwashed into thinking that tobacco smoke isn’t just bad for you but is the equivalent of a dirty bomb. Few non-smokers will support our right to enjoy tobacco when they think they’re doing us and themselves a favor by eliminating it. Unless pipe and and cigar smokers get politically active with smoking issues the proverbial sky really will be falling. Thank goodness Mayor Bloomberg is showing people what type of door they opened with smoking bans.
Other than that, another great column, Greg 🙂
At the risk of being pummeled, may I respectfully add this: I’m a pipe smoker. I smoke in moderation — great moderation compared to some folks I know. A bowl a day maybe three or four times a week. Always at home in the evening.
I’m a college professor, so it seems like a natural time to deal with the pain of grading papers by enjoying a bowl and accompanying it with a good wine.
Having said this, I must come down on the side of the opponents of smoking in public places and advocates of higher taxes on tobacco. Forgive me, but it’s clear that there’s connection between disease and tobacco use. Latest research shows that there’s no statistically significance between cigarette smoking, although I don’t know that the methodology accounted for dosing.
Is it not possible to hold two seemingly contradictory thoughts at once: 1.) We enjoy pipe tobacco and good pipes. 2.) Tobacco use is, without question, closely associated with serious health problems.
I don’t see a contradiction here for the pipe smoker:
Risk is pervasive. Everyone knows that, yet, familiarity doesn’t diminish the validity of the premise. We drive cars. We pay dearly for the privilege. We fly, and we pay dearly for extra security. The idea’s clear. My argument is that pipe-smoking is an aesthetic experience that we value, and that, like driving, carries a risk that is both absolute (in terms of the cause-and-effect relationship) and probably dose-related.
Short of giving up our valued aesthetic pleasures, such as good wine and fine pipe tobacco,can we not accept, a.) that non-smokers in public spaces have no obligation to ingest our secondary smoke; and, b.) that we accept the risk and its price of using pipe tobacco and cope with that risk however we see fit — e.g., coping can mean anything from adjusting our dosing to doing nothing at all. But, I fail to see that the civil liberties of pipe smokers are being limited by being required to enjoy our pleasure in ways that do not infringe on others’ right to breathe that’s not laced with smoke?
But, of course, we have the right to choose what we do so long as we affect only ourselves, understand the risks, and mitigate the risks.
And, yes, I’m one of those crazy, liberal college teachers. I work in Holocaust and genocide studies, so I’m terribly sensitive to matters of human rights and infringements thereon.
I offer these comments with the most sincere respect and openness to others’ views; I certainly make to claim to having an Answer. As I tell my students, questions are more important than answers.
Thank you for reading this.
warm regards,
avi
Avi, you might want to read this –
–
https://pipesmagazine.com/blog/kevins-blog/here-we-go-again-ridiculous-melodramatic-absurdity-disguised-as-facts/