-
Kyle Weiss - Sep 15, 2020
- 7 min read
“Spare me the unsolicited lecture about addiction, I don’t believe a man’s contentment comes from purity—it comes from innocent vices and the reasonable cognitive dissonance about them.”
I’m sharing that line because I spewed it in some haste to someone commenting about my pipe smoking. The summer around my neck of the sagebrush has been hot, and literally, on fire. The wildfire smoke from local and regional catastrophes has been awful. As an outdoor smoker, this left me with fleeting moments to do what I do, and that includes writing about pipe tobacco. It’s also made it rather difficult to deal with people who, on top of everything else going on, have been edgy and much more bold in their opinions of what everyone else is doing. When I explained to this particular complainant I’m merely doing my job smoking this evil, briar crucible of terror, I gained a bit of much-needed pleasure by telling them to mind their own damned business in a decent, honest manner.
I’m unapologetic about being a new-school pipe smoker, but I have at least a handful of old-school values that were handed down to me. I like old-school style tobacco, even if it isn’t the exact tobacco that might have existed decades ago, I can tell the attitude and poise is probably still there. It’s not usually a whimsical, novelty tobacco, it was meant to develop a long-term relationship. One in particular that I had the pleasure of exploring for the first time is Drucquer & Sons “Inns of Court.”
The Drucquer & Son’s Inns of Court tin is peachy-yellow with a parchment shadowing, scripted lettering and sadly with a hefty warning label about nicotine obscuring what would normally be an attractive 100g tin. There’s some history on the label about the Druquer & Sons courtesy of G.L. Pease (with which he himself has history), but I’ll add a little more context: it all started in London in 1841 and nearly a century later found itself in Berkeley, California in 1928. To make a long story short, it was a major Bay Area institution for many a smoker for a long time. Knowing fairly well the spirit of brick and mortar tobacconists, the stories that I found from that time are heartwarming. Do look them up. I miss places like this, and they get rarer by the day. What we do have is their tobacco and mixture recipes, and hopefully, at least a little hint of what it was like to fill up a bowl with something real from people who knew tobacco well.
Inns of Court, like all D&S offerings, come in a 100g tin. It’s a lot of tobacco to devote yourself to, but for many, it’s worth the investment. Consisting mainly of Virginia and Burley, Perique and a dash of Latakia round out the mixture in lesser amounts. The nose that comes off the just-popped tin of tobacco leans fruity and raisin-like, gently oaken in color, loose, and not too moist. There’s a little hint of a berry vinegar faintly running around in there as well. Packing my bowls sometimes was a challenge if they had a narrower chamber, as the springy Burley tends to like to make a fool of itself when being lit. There’s nothing more exciting than a burning lapful of tobacco that decided to play “slinky.” Please keep this in mind.
The first puffs of Inns of Court are brut-dry and bold. The mouth-feel on this tobacco is almost astringent and it was helpful to have a drink handy. Surprised by this as much as I was intrigued, I was immediately graced with a nice spicy, tongue-coating of just the right amount of Perique. It’s not shy with the Perique, but it’s about as much as I myself like to handle: piquantly present and not overpowering. A pine-like wooden attitude holds up the smoke, as well as the faintest, and I mean impressively faint, amount of Latakia to round out the introductory flavor profile. This tobacco is in no way, shape or form sweet, but the Virginias do add a cracker-crisp and baked quality as well as some slight tartness. It is as simple as it is forthright.
By the middle of my bowls, I caught what was more of a coffee-like quality once the wood-like nose moved on. I’m a fan of plain, black coffee, usually a medium-roast, Panamanian if possible. The notes aren’t bitter, they lean almost herbal. That’s what I like about Central American coffee. Nearly all of the beginning flavors I mentioned in this tobacco become built-upon, evolving with each draw that range from coriander to the barest suggestion of cumin. What Inns of Court provides is a wonderful tobacco purity that isn’t for the faint of heart, but in the spirit of the leaf itself. I love nothing more than occasionally tasting tobacco in nearly pure form. It’s nice to enjoy tobacco that hasn’t been mucked around with to the point of losing its identity. It’s not easy to get used to, but once you understand this, I (or you) may wonder what lengths people actually go to with tobacco these days, be it flavor or varietal. The result with Inns of Court is, and I’ll say it again, a totally un-sweet tobacco that is filled with savory nuances.
The end of the bowl consistently finishes just as flavorful. As Inns of Court builds its flavors gradually, it stays fairly consistent no matter which stage you’re smoking. What starts out spicy and dry, moves on to sophisticated savories, and ends with a nutty, chicken meatiness and relatively surprising velvet mouth-feel. Burley as a rule in most mixtures tends to stand out early on, but in Inns of Court, it patiently waits until the end. This suited me just fine. It’s fascinating to smoke this mixture. My personal palate gets fatigued by Perique, and I found smaller bowls smoked of this allowed me to finish a portion of Inns of Court to completion more often. One of the most unique qualties with this mix is when finishing a bowl, I often noticed a fire-roasted tomato quality that popped up: it was just the right taste to dwindle with the last tamps.
I have heard from others who swear by this blend that there’s a chocolate/cocoa attitude floating around, but I didn’t find this. Admittedly, the wildfire smoke has probably skewed my senses a little, but what I did find in each bowl as I got to know this tobacco was perfectly pleasant.
This is a stiff tobacco with a basic premise, and that’s to deliver leaf in a simple and genuine way. There’s nothing artificial or suggestive about this tobacco, it’s simply an old-school style smoke. The lack of flavoring or topping combined with gentle uses of Latakia and Perique suit it. It’s a really good old-school style smoke. The room note isn’t going to win any favors from people passing by willing to dig their nose where it doesn’t belong, it burned with no effort and was forgiving to interact with, it paired well with my favorite gin on ice with a slice of orange (a nice sweeter break between puffs), and if smoldered and puffed slowly, it provided a moderate amount of nicotine.
I liked this tobacco, but it wouldn’t be my frequent or first choice. That’s my problem, not the tobacco’s. I like spending a little time with the old-school, but I need a few more dynamics long-term. Smoking Inns of Court day-in and day-out might be just the thing if you want nothing besides just tobacco while you puff. It doesn’t punch the senses, it has a frank and honest conversation with them. I don’t think many inexperienced smokers would like this blend, but guys looking for something nostalgic and historic, I think this could satisfy your curiosity. Who knows, it could be your go-to daily choice of puffing.
They truly don’t make them like this anymore.
- Editor Rating
- Rated 5 stars
- Spectacular
- Drucquer & Sons Inns of Court Tobacco Review
- Reviewed by:
- Published on:
- Last modified:
Inns of Court, like all D&S offerings, come in a 100g tin. It’s a lot of tobacco to devote yourself to, but for many, it’s worth the investment.
Written by Kyle Weiss
More Pipes and Tobaccos Articles
11 Responses
Recent Posts
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, […]
Welcome to The Pipes Magazine Radio Show Episode 631. Our featured interview on tonight’s show is with pipe maker Dan Keller from Good Made Better. Dan is from South Dakota. Growing up working in the family hardware store where he was always finding solutions to fixing things, he ended up always wanting to make things. He now makes elegant handmade pens, pen holders, portable desks, blotters, blotting paper, book carry cases, and of course artisan pipes. At the top of the show we are continuing the virtual tour of Brian’s pipes with his “f#@k you pipes”.
I recently clicked my way through the Drucquer & Sons blends at an online retailer to see what they’re about, and I may go back to compare Inns of Court with the others. This review isn’t a rave notice, but sometimes blends that aren’t exciting the first few rounds evolve into more over time. One of these D&S blends could be one of those for me, perhaps. There’s a big of arrogance in the fact that you can’t sample these in smaller quantities. It’s a choice of two larger tins, so a D&S order from me may tend to get shouldered over by blends more amenable to sampling in smaller quantities.
Great review, much appreciated and enjoyed. I have a 4 year old tin of Inns of Court in the cellar and now I’m conflicted whether to let it age a few more years or not. It sounds as though it could benefit from the additional dimensions aging can bring so I’ll likely let it be.
Thanks guys
I also wish there were 50g tins—I’m not sure if this keeps packaging cost down or they’re following tradition.
As for aging, it might take a while. It’s not the moistest leaf and there’s a lot of atmosphere in the tin that could affect the time spent with the tobacco doing the aerobic/anaerobic magic dance. The ten year plan on this stuff could be the ticket
?
Thanks for the review, this one and The Levant Mixture have been on my to-do list for a while. I enjoyed the little social commentary too, and your handling of the rude comments was perfect.
Kyle, I have to ask–do you make that quote up on the fly? It’s brilliant, poetic and very thought-provoking!
Adding it to my journal right now to ponder more on it.
Great review by the way!
gerryp: thank you!
hairvise: It…was kind of on the fly. I reduced it by a few word, but a nearby friend laughed so much at my poise he asked if I’d write it down. To be honest, after a few drinks, this is the distillate of that comment. I’m far less succinct in vocalization as I am with keyboard or pen. The spirit of what was said and how was not lost. Thank you for your ponderance of my emotional and possibly alcohol-fueled response to the common rabble I come across…
KW
Hello Mr. Weiss. I am completely unfamiliar with what you refer to as a “new-school pipe smoker” and I confess that I have never heard this term before. And since you refer to yourself as such, I hope you don’t mind my question.
Would you, or someone, please explain to me what is meant by “new-school pipe smoker”? It would be much appreciated. Thank you.
And along the way, perhaps you could tell me what an “old-school pipe smoker” might be, or what the old school is about in comparison with the new school? Thank you.
A kind hello in return Mr. Hanna!
I’d be happy to (at least try) to differentiate what I define as a “new-school pipe smoker” versus an “old-school pipe smoker.” I apologize if the following is a tad waffling and includes some personal history, but I’ll be a concise as I am able:
It took me about three years to feel “comfortable” smoking a pipe. This was after guidance and suggestions of those older than me (but not related to me), and it has been an interesting and enjoyable journey. Pipes and tobacco have a dynamic history with humans, it seems. Some things change drastically, some really do not.
I found myself working as a tobacconist at some point and it was there I was dealing with both younger, inexperienced customers as well as those who had been buying pipe tobacco since before I was born. I noticed both similarities and differences in the way they purchased and considered both their pipes and the leaf they put in them. I also heard commentary and was a part of discussions that supported my theory: there are defining generations of pipe smokers, and it came as no surprise.
As my pipe and I went from a curious, bumbling relationship to a harmonious one, I discovered tobacco used to be a cornerstone of past generations. In the case of the pipe, it was an important fixture of some peoples lives. The everyday man could pick up a briar at the drug store, along with his preferred leaf, and would smoke it in the morning, at work, on the bus, and in the evening. This was common. Film and movies reflected this, as often those art forms are reflections of the population at large. These are some of the people from which I myself learned to smoke. However, they could not smoke as they themselves once did in today’s world. It was limited to their homes, porches, hunting trips or while visiting the local tobacconist. They would tell me stories of being in an office with pipe clenched in jaw, and how astonishingly /ordinary/ it was–and they missed that. When I asked them how they started, usually it was a pipe and tobacco handed down from an older family member–both brand in pipe and tobacco went hand-in-hand and sometimes didn’t change for the life of the smoker. They liked what they liked, and did what they did, and at times were confused or critical of the way pipe smoking is approached today.
The younger generation, from my perspective behind the counter, they wanted it /all/. They read about their new interest on blogs and the internet, saw social media photos of other young people with pipes as either a prop or a new way to connect to unknown nostalgia, or maybe found something historical or fascinating to them. Sometimes the interest was fleeting, and I never saw them again. Other times I’d be at a bar and others my age would ask me questions, and get quite enamored by the prospect of doing something different, “old-school” and “cool.” They still enjoy the pipe to this day. More often than not however a younger pipe smoker became interested because cigarettes had a bad rap, but they liked the /idea/ of smoking tobacco. Maybe it was something to do while camping with friends, a way to stand out or be unique, or it was a way to unwind after a day at work or school. For them to choose a tobacco was fascinating. Often it was I who was to introduce them to a mixture to smoke, rather than an older family member or friend. I would have done them a disservice had I given each of them the exact same thing, especially with so many choices at a tobacconist shop. Younger pipe and tobacco consumers cannot get enough choice, and they largely crave new–it’s a fast pace of generally how things are going. Long gone are the heirlooms of father to son (or crazy grandmother to daughter, and yes, I have a story about that), handing down the how-to and what-to smoke with regards to the pipe. It’s a global, connected world, and the humble pipe is going along for the ride.
To summarize, an “old-school pipe smoker” started out with wares and goods available and more readily, but in limited choice. it became a part of life in that it was a companion throughout the day. It’s a cornerstone to their time, and isn’t looked at as a novelty or a trend. It’s also deeply important to them. Tobacco was and is to them a mainstay, perhaps a choice handed down, and it was commonplace, and they try to replicate this spirit the best they can. Usually they have one brand or perhaps a few, often a simple Virginia or a bulk aromatic they have known for years, a small selection of favorite pipes with a particular shape they enjoy, and they stick with that. It works for them. Simple, easy, no fuss.
A “new-school pipe smoker” would almost be seen as a passionate part-timer. Hip, self-motivated, and fun. They may not smoke every day, and if they do, it’s often with a dizzying array of pipes and styles that push the boundaries of creative effort on some of the artisan briar turners. To compliment such a pipe, there are new, limited-run artisan blends and mixtures of pipe tobacco, component-heavy mixtures with a lot of Perique or a lot of Latakia. Flavors of aromatics have gone far beyond Cavendish or cherry, there’s just about every flavor imaginable out there. I once saw a website with “bubble gum” pipe tobacco. I found the concept of this vile, but apparently it was something just novel enough to sell. This goes hand in hand with the popular interest in micro breweries, craft whiskeys and unique choices that dot the consumer landscape today. Choices, choices, choices. And the occasional selfie with that pipe that looks like Frankenstein’s monster.
This isn’t a hard and fast rule, more of a guided theory, a spectrum. There’s some younger smokers that are more “old-school” and prefer one type of pipe and tobacco, and some spirited older customer that I considered “new-school” and get very excited about new pipes or tobaccos that just came out. The basic prerequisites are still there: patience, time and enjoyment.
Whatever the case, I find it wonderful that a new generation of pipe smokers exists at all, even if not under my observations, especially in the climate that tobacco has found itself recently. The spirit is simply different. As I mentioned earlier, pipes and tobacco exist dynamically with us and I hope /that/ never changes. My short time as tobacconist was great, and solidified the best advice I was given:
“Like what you smoke, and smoke what you like.” I’m simply happy to be a part of it.
Thank you for your considered reply Kyle. Very interesting. I like how you allowed room for ambiguity in your reply. As for me, I found it rather reassuring to know that even though I smoked my first bowl of tobacco in 1967, I currently have the characteristics of both the old school and the new school pipe smoker, and probably more of the latter than the former. Thus, for just a moment, you made me feel like a young man. Thanks again.
You’re welcome, Fred–thank you for enduring my long-winded explanation. It was challenging to put it into context, and I enjoyed doing so.
I believe anyone that does what we do with pipes on a professional level has to have a foot into each “generation” of both new-school and old-school.
Thanks again, Fred