Crowd-Sourcing Reviews
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Kevin Godbee - Jul 20, 2015
- 6 min read
E. Roberts
You asked for them, and here they are. Back in April I asked you, our loyal PipesMagazine.com readers, what tobaccos you’d like to see reviewed. While I intended it to be followed in a most timely manner the next month, there were a few blends I’d had on backlog that got in the way of the schedule. Sometimes it takes a while to get a handle on a blend, a process that can stretch for several days or even weeks—and the best blends, of course, we can spend a lifetime teasing apart, a most delicious riddle for us pipe enthusiasts. So, without much further ado, the labor of many, many pipefuls of tobacco, I finally offer you an opinion on some reader selections.
McClelland’s Tudor Castle. Jack Swilling (if that’s his real name) writes that he’s "newly intrigued" by McClelland’s Tudor Castle blend, a VaPerO touting bright and red Virginias, top-grade Yenidje, and a touch of St. James Perique. For him, the Oriental component really brings the blend together and "makes the magic happen"; being a big fan of Virginia-Periques with Oriental myself I placed an order for it immediately, figuring it couldn’t be so bad that I wouldn’t want to smoke through three tins of it. The short story is that I’ve found a new entry into my top five VaPerOs. It’s a brilliant blend in all regards—the presentation of the richly fermented and loosely packed flakes, the succulent sweetness that arises from the interplay of the tobaccos, the full-bodied mouthfeel and aroma, and the delightful woodblock-style tin art that I’ll assume was drawn by Mary McNiel. The full two-ounce tin is brimming with the dark, damp flakes that exude a hint of the trademark McClelland ketchupy scent, doubtless owing to the red Virginia. After a short drying time, the rubbed out flakes burn cool and steady, with a sweet consistency that hints at cola nut, sweet tea, and candied pecan, with just a tinge of the sour saltiness characteristic of the Oriental leaf, and occasional peppery retorts from the Perique. A flexible smoke, it performs well in a variety of pipes, tall-bowled chambers faring best. I’m thankful I took the gamble on buying extra tins for cellaring, as the ones I received were dated 2015; if it’s this good now then a few years should really bring out the magic.
McClelland Tudor Castle Arcade. Since I was taking a gamble on the Tudor Castle, I figured it wasn’t much of a stretch to try out the other label in the series, Tudor Castle Arcade; honestly, I haven’t been truly disappointed with a McClelland tobacco to date. I was also intrigued to discover the blend contains Syrian Latakia, as there are fewer and fewer left as the years go by, with no more to come in the foreseeable future. These three tins were dated 2009, so they arrived with at least five or six years of aging under the belt, a very telling milestone for aged blends. I am happy to report, albeit with some trepidation, that Arcade exceeds its predecessor in flavor. I say with trepidation because I’m now worried I won’t have time to stockpile the blend before you lot buy the tins out from under me; it’s at the top of my cellaring list for sure. The same Virginia-Perique mixture is there from TC, with its high, winey notes and cola sweetness and aftertaste, complemented by Katerini leaf with its floral overtones and the fabled Syrian with its pitched muskiness steering the ride. The balance of savory with salty and meaty highlights over a rich bass sweetness reminds me of a favorite Iranian dish—fessenjoon made with duck.
SettersBrace wants to know how Squadron Leader with Perique rates. Now to segue into another Latakia blend, again containing Perique, but sporting a different complexion altogether: SmokingPipes.com’s recent limited-edition offering of only 2,000 tins, affectionately acronymed ‘SLAP’ on the forum. While not a regular production tobacco, I know readers will be seeing some of these on the sale or trade aftermarket eventually. Maybe. It’s really quite good, unsurprisingly; the Cypriot Latakia brings a hide glue dankness to the smoke, as opposed to Syrian’s sweeter tart notes. The parchment-like nose is further enhanced by the Perique, which responds to the Oriental leaf with a more pronounced peppery aspect, dark and sharp on the retrohale. The cut is a perfect ribbon, packed to the brim in the square 50g tins with British racing green label. The tin note is starchy and sour, promising a rich blend even without age. Particularly suited to large, long-lasting bowls, and amicable to DGT, the tobacco is given to slow and contemplative smokes, evincing a shy peek of spiciness with a gingerbread and hard cider mid-bowl; a hint at which direction the effect of several years will have on mellowing and sweetening the mix. Right now it’s young, a little on the dry side, with a slight phenolic tilt. If you had the luck to snatch up a few, you will be rewarded handsomely. Smoking it now, while still so young, I find a smoky black tea—Harney & Sons’ Russian Country with a spot of cream and brown sugar fills the bill nicely—really illuminates the details in the flavor profile. Thanks for the suggestion from reader SettersBrace, and apologies to those who didn’t score a tin.
The Irish are coming! The Irish are coming!
Breaking news: new Peterson tobaccos coming to the States! The Irish are invading, and their vanguard lineup is varied and venturesome and…oh, very well, on with the verbiage.
Hitting our shores now are a flight of 40g packets bearing the Peterson marque. The pouch is more prevalent packaging for the European market; in the States it’s gaining traction though, thanks to the resurgence of roll-your-own in the past decade. The blends are all new inflections bearing romantic Irish names: Aran mixture, a tobacco-centric light vanilla; Connemara Black, a tart cherry Cavendish; Irish Dew, a stalwart Virginia-burley; and Wild Atlantic, a salty yet mild English blend. The art on the packages looks great, and the overall presentation of the fine ribbon contained in the blends is effective at invoking a tone from the start. All offer a moderately complex smoke, flavorful with good leaf, ready to pack and smoke straight from the gold-lined pouch. Aran is a light, nutty take on an ever-so-lightly cased vanilla, great for an afternoon on the go. Connemara Black is akin to another of my Peterson favorites, Sunset Breeze—the topping rides atop the Cavendish, a fine duet and a good dessert smoke. Irish Dew is nutty and clean, a no-nonsense tobacco that makes a great companion for a cold beer or tea. Wild Atlantic isn’t nearly as tempestuous as the name would imply; it’s rather on the mild side, but with a full-bodied and comfortable English flavor. They’re all good, easy-going blends, and I’m very interested to see how these work out for Peterson in the North American market. My buddy Conor from Peterson was kind enough to send pictures of the packets suitable for framing, and also some glamour shots of the Peterson seasonals—here’s a sneak peek at this year’s Holiday Season blend!
Sneak Peek!
Want to get in on this? First, if you’ve tried the tobaccos reviewed, leave a comment to let us know how your experience was, whether similar or completely different. It’s always good to bounce ideas off fellow smokers to more fully flesh out one’s own experience. Second, if you have a suggestion for another reader review, leave that in the comments below too, and if selected you’ll receive a few ounces of recent blends to taste for yourself. Special thanks go out to readers JackSwilling and SettersBrace for these submissions; I’d have reviewed all the suggestions, but there’s only so much one guy can smoke at a time. And watch this space for the upcoming review of Seattle Pipe Club’s Potlatch!
The spoils of my labour—a lot of cleaning to do.
Written by Kevin Godbee
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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! Or perhaps it is that sense of satisfaction knowing and appreciating you made it to another day. With the world in a kind of rinse-and-repeat history, reminiscent of a Shakespearean play, it is perhaps a good moment to remember some of Pipedom’s philosophers whose cogent thoughts brought light to clear a path in the mists of confusion and confounding opinions. Ok. No gloom and doom. Just some down-home thoughts. Think of times in the past when history was running off the rails. It took our pipe-smoking thinkers (the mind workers of the world) to speak of better pathways to more light. Think for a moment, with a pipe in hand, these wizards of the world and word: Albert Einstein, J. R.R. Tolkien, Mark Twain, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Edwin Hubble, Bertrand Russell, C. S. Lewis, and Jean-Paul Sartre. All learned and enlightened. They offered wisdom instead of storms of meaningless roads to nowhere. All while smoking their pipes! Maybe especially with the help of their pipes in the art of thinking and philosophy. Recall the words of Mr. E=MC2 when he said, “I believe that pipe smoking contributes to a somewhat calm and objective judgment in all human affairs.” Amen and amen! Dealing with world-rattling events takes a calm and objective view of things, to the Pundit’s way of summing it up. You just don’t go messing around with quantum physics without a calm and objective approach, methinks. Or as the extraordinary physicist Robert Oppenheimer said after he and a team in the Manhattan Project at Los Alamos Labs developed a way to split atoms into bombs during World War II. “I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds,” said Oppenheimer referring to the development of the first nuclear bombs dropped on Japan. It must be pointed out that Oppenheimer was more of a cigarette smoker than a pipe smoker. Nonetheless, pipes were part of his personality. Now, if you have read some of the great authors of the past and present, their pipes were always nearby. Reading Sir Arthur Conan Doyle can be a three-pipe problem at times. S. Lewis and Jean-Paul Sartre require time with your pipes to reflect on the existential problems and solutions these authors provide in learned novels and other narratives. Or take Edwin Hubble and Bertrand Russell, philosophers of another world. Pipes are required for reading. The quantum lode of ideas Pundit is attempting to sort out is that our pipes are relaxing and stimulate our thoughts and creativity. Especially in these last months of the year. Many times Pundit has had that light bulb flick on while smoking my beloved pipes. And friends in Pipedom, it ain’t easy to turn on the lights in Pundit’s rock pit head. Now it’s time for a quote from a Pipe Smoker of the Past. Shelby Foote was born Nov. 17, 1916, in Greenville, Miss., and died June 27, 2005, in Memphis, Tenn. 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.
Well there’s nothing like a touch of the plague to usher in the changing season. Leaving the airport just when the first advertisements for all things pumpkin spice began to appear—lattes, muffins, shampoos, trash bags, and myriad other concoctions—so, too, my ability to breathe freely disappeared. The unfortunate side effect of losing one’s sense of taste and smell for weeks is the utter inability to enjoy tobacco. Not that I consider myself an expert on anything but my own tastes, but be forewarned that this review was made with mildly impugned sensory equipment. Just when a comforting pipe was most needed, its comfort was denied. Be that as it may, the road to recovery found me limping along on one lung this past month, trying to wrest the particulars of two blends on offer from Sutliff: the latest 175th Anniversary blend, Silver Quarter, as well as their spooky seasonal Maple Shadows II. Silver Quarter is a new style on offer from Sutliff, their first coin-cut blend. Naturally a Virginia-Perique, it is enhanced with a traditional core of black Cavendish. In the tin it holds much promise, with a lightly bready and very woody, if ever-so-slightly sour, aroma. After some time acclimating to air, the bouquet softens further and offers hints of the burley with some chocolaty notes wafting through the more dominant dry grassy aspect. The tin art is of a coin-style bas-relief bust, presumably of a founding Sutliff brother, à la The Old Boss On the reverse of the tin we find the blend’s description: Reflecting on Sutliffs 175 years of tobacco excellence, we came across a brand that embodies true value, SILVER QUARTER. This name pays homage to Sutliffs roots, the legacy of two brothers who popularized pipe smoking in the burgeoning mining society of San Francisco. We celebrate this heritage with a coin cut composed of the finest African Virginias, complemented by a core of Perique and Black Cavendish. The tin notes are, forgive the pun, on the nose for a good VaPer blend: mild tart sweetness peeking out from behind dried hay and slight chocolate undertones, with a lightly tannic finish of weathered oak. It is always a joy to prepare a coin cut, my preference being to put a few in my palm and vigorously warm my hands together to fully break them apart. These well-formed discs pack and light easily, and smoke with little prodding to the end of the bowl. For technical points it scores well—it smokes light, and it’s easy to tend the ember. While it gets sharp after a few quick bowls, pacing should be heeded to easily smoke down to the heel without inviting bite. Of the flavor, though, I am left a bit wanting. There are tart and high notes aplenty, but very little of the lemony citrus I would anticipate, as well as scant midtones; they tend more toward the red wine-vinegary and sour. The flavors are muted, also, lacking the sweetness and piquancy of other marques—the small measure of Perique tickles the nose now and again with peppery hints, and there is a smidge of a deeper sweetness to be found in the Cavendish from puff to puff, but overall it lacks some dynamism. The Virginias, to my palate, come off a bit on the dry side, and here they dominate the blend. The aftertaste and mouthfeel are neutral, again evincing more of the dry, woody, tartly tannic end of the spectrum. The blend has plenty of polish, but not enough depth or richness (*yet) to make it a standout. Here, comparisons are inevitable: Luxury Bullseye Flake has more sweetness, both from its Virginia as well as its Cavendish, and a better finish; Davidoff is similar but with a pronounced umami that is absent here; as for Escudo, I haven’t had any fresh tins lately so it would be unfair to compare. While it rates as a solid, fairly mild smoke, particularly to lovers of the genre, it does not surprise with any exceptional flavors. To be fair, all the boxes have been checked for the blend to benefit from some real aging, and it would be worth checking in on this after a couple of years sealed away. I’ve set half my tin aside to sample again in a month or two, in case I’m merely suffering from the lingering effects of parosmia, and will amend this review in that case. Maple Shadows II, on the other hand, made up for the weeks of sniffling and sneezing I’d endured. Offered in a full 8 ounce tin with delightfully spooky Halloween art, it’s (hopefully) enough to last through the season. Somehow I had missed this last year, so it’s a real pleasure to get some in my candy bucket this year. As the chilling winds of autumn draw eerie prattle from contorted, deciduous limbs, we find ourselves possessed by the spirit of the season. Bewitched by a dissonant charm, we’ve created Maple Shadows. In a season that is defined by the unlikely harmony of treats and frights, we’ve joined the enchanting sweetness of maple with the earthy spice of Dark Fired Kentucky for a smoking experience that captures the senses with an otherworldly fusion of flavor. This may be the best aromatic blend Sutliff’s ever made—and they make a ton of them. First off, it’s not overbearing in the least—quite the opposite, it is also one of the more restrained aromatics they’ve ever made, with a clear but very light topping that melds oh-so-well with their choice Kentucky added to the mix. Opening the tin, the sweet maple is up front and center, but so too is the must of fallen leaves, bready pie crusts, and a crackling fire in the hearth—a perfect invocation of Herbstdüfte in a can. Packing best in an open and capacious bowl, the flavoring is subtle, and recedes to the background while puffing. With a sweet coffee or tea to accompany, the aftertaste of the maple is reinvigorated on the palate […]
Welcome to The Pipes Magazine Radio Show Episode 632. Our featured guest on tonight’s show is the host of the Pipe & Tamper Podcast, Mike Murphy. Brian and Mike will have an extended chat revolving around the days before, during and after the Las Vegas International Pipe Show. We will hear about their travels to the show and the anxiety of Hurricane Milton bearing down on Florida at the same time while running a show and not knowing if your house is going to be there when you get home. In the end, the show went great and our homes survived, although many others in Florida were not so lucky. We’ll have clips from the show, and shoutouts to other podcasts and vlogs that were broadcasting from the pipe show.
Vegas Baby The show started out strong on the 14th floor hospitality suites hosted by the Vegas Pipe Show and Smoking Pipes as well as room hopping to carvers, estate sellers, and vendors to pre-game for the festivities. If you’re interested in what that looks like I’ll refer you to last years pipe show round up. I circled with Brian Levine to get the totals in comparison to last year: This year’s show numbers: 108 Exhibitor tables, 445 attendees, 3,250 Raffle Tickets, 100ish dinners, 172 Rooms in the Hotel. Last year, by comparison, 107 exhibitor tables, 425 attendees, 2,200 raffle tickets, 104 dinners, and 175 rooms on Friday and Saturday nights. We were at capacity, basically, when it came to vendor tables and the dinner, so there is no physical room for growth at this point except for attendees. That said, we filled that smoking lounge to the brim. New Carvers Spotlight Garret Woo (Pipes by Woo) How long have you been carving? Garret: I’ve been carving since 2021, and I’m guessing your next question is probably how’d you get started carving? James: Yes. Garret: In 2021 I took a break from my full time job – that included machining and assembly work and I thought maybe it was time I made something that I would like and I started looking at youtube and Instagram and putting together my shop. I did struggle on the stems to start and there was a lot of failure at the beginning. James: How many pipes have you made so far? Garret: I number my pipes, so I just finished up 186. James: What is your favorite shape you’ve been making? Garret: I really dig Canadians and pipes with longer shanks and lovat Canadian blends. I like to play with different shapes of stems on the longer shanked pipes. The billiard would be my go-to shape but I want to learn more techniques on freehanded shapes. I like to put brass and copper adornments on my pipes with my machining background it helps. James: What is the craziest thing you’ve seen at this show? Garret: The first thing that comes to mind is the table over there with C-Pipes with the shapes and the size and petiteness and the intricate details they did. You can check out what Garret is working on by going to his Instagram. Stefan Cashwell James: how long have you been carving? Stefan: about 3 years. James: What’s the craziest thing you’ve seen at the show? Stefan: The Adam Davidson pipe with the clear shape and the bamboo—I don’t know if it’s 3D printed or what, but it’s amazing. James: What’s your favorite shape to do? Stefan: That’s a tough question. I think they’re all the same shape, but what’s fascinating is that Dublin, volcano, and blowfish are all the same depending on how you turn them. Playing with that, with all its variations, is a lot of fun. My favorite accent to use is also horn; it’s finicky, but it’s a great accent on pipes. You can check out Stefan’s work on his Instagram. Science: Meet Pipes I chatted with Chris from the San Diego Pipe Club; he started off doing stem replacements for estate pipes but also improved the airflow. James: How are you doing 3d printing? What is the thought process? Chris: It’s a 3D-printed pipe with a briar insert. The design is a calabash meets a Peterson system meets a metal Falcon/Kirsten radiator style. It is a bottom draft smoking bowl like a radiator like those metal pipes. The inside chamber is a calabash. The stummel and accent rings in the stems are all 3d printed. The insert is briar, olive wood, or I have the potential to use meerschaum as well. This idea came about through the San Diego Pipe Club, wanting to see if we could 3D print a pipe and being curious about the technology; I have a printer and design ability, so here we are. James: What’s the type of plastic you’re using? Chris: It’s all PLA plastic, a renewable potato starch plastic that is food-safe. The stummels are printed with a plastic that has wood in it 40% wood fiber, bamboo, rosewood, ebony, redwood, and walnut are the woods I’m printing. For the accent rings I just got a new material that I’m printing that has 40% copper, so its real metal that you can sand, and polish the same as wood filament. The stems are 3d printed as well. The concept is renewable and cheap from a production standpoint, with the ability to make a very high quality smoking pipe based on the experience. By combining the calabash system pipe and bottom draft hole and using 3d simulations to see airflow, I can see where I’m having eddies and ripples in my current, and see where my moisture and all the particles are dropping back out from a vapor to a liquid. Most people who have tried these say the stems are clean, and they don’t even have to run a pipe cleaner afterward because everything collects at the bottom. Chris has also been experimenting with color-changing plastics so you can see the hotspots. Chris said he was able to use this to slow down his cadence, which, of course, could mean you could get a slow-smoke training pipe to teach yourself to perform better. If you’re interested in learning more or want to check one out, you can contact him on Instagram: Copper Beard Pipe Works The Negative Space The show was buzzing about one specific pipe, which had everyone guessing how it was made. I chatted with Adam Davidson briefly about it. James: How did this idea come to fruition? Adam Davidson: Smokingpipes.com had an expo back in August open to all of the makers they carry. The theme was to make a pipe utilizing bamboo. Given that the last time we had the expo I made a smooth Almond with three bamboo shanks, […]
Tudor Castle – Yes, goodness for your pipe.
My name is John, but my alter ego is Jack Swilling
Love theses reviews/news/updates from you Mr. E. Roberts, if that is your real name.
Now I want to try some Arcade based on this write up.
Thanks again Mr. Roberts and the reviews were great! We are on different sides of the fence when it comes to SLAP but diversity IS the spice of life they say. Great work!
Always fine reviews, Mr. Roberts!
Another good set of reviews, Bill. I love that pipe rack you have there.
@kcghost — it’s a classic (but seldom send) Decatur Industries pipe tree that I scored for a steal at the NY Pipe Show a few years back. The notion is that once the tree is full I have to clean the pipes…sometimes it even works.