Gift of the Season
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Kevin Godbee - Aug 7, 2015
- 4 min read
E. Roberts
The Seattle Pipe Club’s latest gift to the community is live on the store shelves now: Potlatch, the second of the wave of new blends from the club, is available for your smoking pleasure at most retailers nationwide. Debuting at the Chicago show—the highlight of the piping year—and containing nearly every type of tobacco known to man, it makes a fitting centerpiece for this latest run of tobaccos blended by Joe Lankford.
The term "potlatch" describes a feast and gift-giving celebration peculiar to the indigenous Pacific Northwest Coast people. It’s fitting, then, for this blend, which contains a veritable smorgasbord of tobaccos: black Cavendish, "luxury" burley, bright Virginias, Turkish Orientals and Acadian Perique are all named on the label. The tin art is equally appealing: a woodblock-style graphic commissioned to Seattle local Joe Melberg, depicting a tribal mask in the spirit of the longhouse paintings where potlatches are held. Rendered in muted tones of red, cream and grey on a deep russet field, and grinning cordially, the face beckons one to return the smile and inspect the contents. Opening the tin, one finds the same muted tones of reddish-brown and black leaf enveloped by a musty vegetal bouquet similar in profile to a mild English blend, despite the lack of Latakia.
"There are those who give with joy, and that joy is their reward.
And there are those who give with pain, and that pain is their baptism."
Not surprisingly with seven different leafs, there is a lot going on in this blend. The light is typical again of light Englishes, with a high tart Virginia sting and a touch of peppery retort from the Perique overlaying a musty, smoky mélange beneath. The ribbon cut allows all the components equal voice, and soon they settle into a smooth chorus, no one outshining another. The balance and complexity which are Joe’s trademarks are certainly in evidence here, as the session continues through several bowls with supreme consistency. Despite having such a lengthy ingredients list, the recipe amalgamates them into a whole that is at times difficult to discern individual tastes from—one does not taste the eggs or the flour in the cake, in other words. Most prevalent now is the tang of the Cavendish, which, after some cellar time, should smooth out with the rest of the mixture.
"And there are those who give and know not pain in giving, nor do they seek joy, nor give with mindfulness of virtue"
Overall, this is one of the best all-day smokes I’ve sampled in quite some time. It’s like a mild English, but it’s devoid of Lat; it’s got Virginia and Perique in it but it isn’t a VaPer; there’s quite a bit of Cavendish in it but it’s far from an aromatic. Importantly, there’s enough complexity to keep my interest yet not so much that it’s an assault on the senses. The same can be said for the nicotine content—a fair amount, just enough from the burley to provide a good burn and a nutty background flavor, but not so much that my eyeballs sweat after the third bowl.
To parse out the flavor profile, it must be taken as a whole, for there is no soloist in the group. Again, for comparison’s sake, think along the lines of a light English or Scottish blend—only slightly Virginia-forward with equal voice from the condiments. It’s got the musty, leathery body of Virginia & Oriental that is deepened and ever-so-slightly sweetened by the Cavendish, a sweetness that is best enhanced by a beverage like an ice-cold sweet tea or cola. Then there is the smokiness, the Latakia-like campfire hints and floral notes peculiar to the Turkish, which bring out a parchment or pot roast note. As mentioned, the mild nuttiness of the burley rides in the background, though I’m not sure about the luxury part—perhaps it’s riding in a Mercedes? And finally the Perique, used with restraint here, its contribution mainly steering the profile along the earthy track with occasional zest. Together, they work magnificently, and given some cellar time one should expect the body to deepen considerably and offer a bit more in the way of sweetness in the middle bowl.
"They give as in yonder valley the myrtle breathes its fragrance into space." – Kahlil Gibran
Your neighbors shouldn’t mind you smoking this one. Without the polarizing scent of Latakia, the room note is a vague and generally pleasant smokiness, like being in the kitchen where a brisket was roasted. Faring well in a multitude of bowls, it’s also a blend that will agree with the ghosts in your pipe—in my English pipes it definitely exhibited more of an English blend profile, while in aromatic pipes it picked up the sweeter shadows and carried them with equanimity. Potlatch is a fitting addition to the SPC lineup and definitely whets my appetite for the upcoming release of Pike Place, which was originally slated for release July 1st, but has now been pushed back to December.
[Editor’s note: Potlatch is starting to sell out, so you should get some now while you can.]
"And there are those who have little and give it all.
These are the believers in life and the bounty of life, and their coffer is never empty."
Written by Kevin Godbee
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Welcome to The Pipes Magazine Radio Show Episode 636. Our featured interview on tonight’s show is with Barry Kane. Barry started smoking a pipe in 1961 when he was 14-years old. Back then it seemed like everybody smoked, and you could buy pipes and tobacco just about anywhere. Barry is a true old-school pipe smoker, sticking to just one blend. See if you can guess which one before listening. At the top of the show Brian will give his take on Scandinavian Tobacco Group’s purchase of Mac Baren and Sutliff Tobacco and their announcement that they will be shut down.
There’s a pipe in my collection that I cannot bring myself to smoke, though I’ve had it for more years than I care to recall. It’s old, or shall I say, well experienced; that experience, that oldness came to it long before it was in my possession. The pipe is an old Comoy’s Grand Slam from the 1940s. The shape (#93), a slightly canted, stack billiard (sometimes referred to as a Belgian) is right up my alley, and it’s a beautiful example of it. It came to me with some wear and tear; nothing unusual for an old pipe, but more the signs of one that has been well loved, smoked a lot, treated as a favorite tool, cherished, in a sense, by frequent use. It’s the pipe equivalent of a vintage car that’s been driven a lot, enjoyed fully and maintained adequately, rather than one kept in a spotless garage, dusted and detailed weekly, brought out only for leisurely Sunday drives, or to be ogled behind the ropes at the next Concours d’Elegance. When it arrived, those uncounted years ago, it wanted a little restoration. Nothing dramatic needed to be done to it, but the stem was oxidized, the finish a little dingy. The cake was even and fairly thin, and the airway was relatively clean, both signs that its previous owner cared for it, but the bowl’s surface was a little drab and dull. It took little effort to reveal its beauty, to show the lovely contrasted stain and interesting grain beneath the old wax. I often think I should do before and after photos of pipes that I work on, but those thoughts always come after the work’s been done. This one would have been a great illustration of how years of handling that can sometimes make a pipe more beautiful, can other times make it just look grungy. Once I’d cleaned up the externals, it was time to address the inside bits. I approach this a little bassackwards, I realize. It would be more sensible to take care of the inside before addressing the outside, but it’s how I roll. If an old pipe isn’t pretty to look at, it’s unlikely that I’ll care much about it, and cleaning is usually the hardest part, or at least the most boring part of any restoration for me. Alcohol and pipe cleaners. Lots of pipe cleaners. That’s why I leave it for last. Sometimes, I’ll even give a pipe a test smoke before a deep cleaning, just for a point of reference. I gave it a sniff to get an idea of what I was up against, and it stopped me cold. There in that bowl was an aroma that I had not smelled in decades. My head was instantly filled with memories of being in the back room of a fabled Berkeley tobacconist’s shop where I stumbled upon a few jars of long discontinued blends. One of them, a blend called Forty and Eight, had the most engaging and unusual scent of any tobacco I’d stuck my schnoz into. It was sweet, but not in a candy store way. There were none of the usual vanilla, cherry, berry or anise notes of typical aromatics, nothing that could be compared to aftershave or deodorant soap, but something almost musky, a little earthy, something exotic. The shop’s owner couldn’t tell me what was in it, how, or where it had been produced. The old blend had been retired before he’d bought the place. The printed catalogue gave no clues, either, other than being overprinted with the word “DISCONTINUED” in bold, rubber-stamp type. (And, I don’t recall it as being “highly aromatic” as the description indicates.) There was still quite a bit in the jar. Being, at that point, an intrepid explorer of all kinds of tobaccos, whether I thought I’d like them or not, I had to give it a try. It was burly based, but also comprised a good measure of virginia leaf, and maybe some other varieties; I didn’t have enough experience at the time to really pick it apart. But, that aroma was unlike anything I’d experienced before or since. It was something now completely lost to time. Until it wasn’t. Memories are powerful things, and there is no sense more tightly bound to memory than our sense of smell. One whiff was all it took to carry me back in time, conjuring a vivid recollection of something long submerged in the inky depths of a subconscious mind. Look, I know as well as anyone that pipes are meant to be smoked, and that many feel it almost sacrilegious to have a pipe and not set it to its intended task. In this case, I simply can’t. I won’t. Ever. Rationally, I am fairly certain this pipe would probably be a great smoke. It was too well loved by its previous caretaker to be anything less than that. My choice not to smoke it is an emotional one, not something rational. Of the thousands of pipes that have passed through my hands over the years, this is the only one to create such a singular and vivid, almost Proustian recollection of temps perdu, of lost time. It revivified a long dormant memory that is mine, and mine alone, and that’s enough. I keep it in a drawer with other old English pipes. In some ways, it’s nothing special, just a nice old pipe. I don’t lavish it with any particular care that arguably befits the hidden treasure that it holds. It’s not in a special box, or displayed preciously in a glass cabinet. Every once in a while, I take it out, point my nose bowlwards, and every time, those memories return just as powerfully as they did the first time. I have no idea how long it’s been since its last owner smoked it, but in the years I’ve had it, there seems to have been very little degradation of the aroma, and that’s […]
Welcome to The Pipes Magazine Radio Show Episode 635. Our featured interview on tonight’s show is with James Ravenwood. James is the boutique tobacco blender of Ravenwood Blends. His blending started out as a fun hobby, and he now has professionally packaged commercially available products with some great tin art. Part of his interest in pipe smoking goes back to fond memories of a retired Navy Veteran that lived on his street while he was growing up that would sit in his driveway smoking a pipe all day. Later, in 2011 he began smoking pipes and soon after started experimenting with mixing different tobaccos. His other hobby, that he has been doing for 30 years, is photography. He takes wonderful photos of outdoor spaces, and still life pictures of pipes and tobacco. You can see them on his Instagram @thebriarfellowship. At the top of the show we’ll have an Ask the Pipemaker segment with renowned pipe artisan Jeff Gracik.
Welcome to The Pipes Magazine Radio Show Episode 634! Our featured interview on tonight’s show is with Warren Ertle. Warren is an extremely accomplished musician with a PhD in music. He started early as a percussionist in sixth grade. Later his grandmother got him a cheap Casio keyboard which he taught himself to play. He started playing in blues bands in high school, and has been a pianist with jazz big bands for years. Even though he was already a professional musician, he took his first real piano lesson when he enrolled in college with his studies in classical music. He is of course a pipe smoker. At the top of the show we will have an Ask the Tobacco Blender segment with Jeremy Reeves. Jeremy is the Head Blender at Cornell & Diehl, which is one of the most popular boutique pipe tobacco companies in the USA.
Soon now, supposedly, our neighborhoods will shift from grinning pumpkins, skeletons in various assortments, and zombies dashing about to pretty reindeer, angels, and flashing lights illuminating homes with sparkling stars and laughing, scurrying Santas. But, lest we forget, there is the turkey season, fancy pie aromas wafting from kitchens, and a national pardon of a big Tom Turkey. Remember, now, that only one of these holiday personalities is a pipe smoker. And that is the hefty, bearded fellow in a bright red suit sitting in a sleigh with a herd of deer hitched up and ready to streak across the globe, bringing tidings of joy and many presents. Ok, the scene is set for the next couple of months, right? So, before we get too far off the beaten path, let’s just take a deep breath of fresh autumn air, shall we? Ahh. That’s better, isn’t it? What’s got the Pundit in a snit is not all the Halloween spooks who came a-jostling for candy. Or the wild turkeys gobbling in the backwoods or all the fuss and feathers over the big one—Christmas. No, it is that we might need to take note of all the little things that mean so much to us. Like a good sunrise (seriously, Pundit has not gone all Pollyanna.) Mayhaps we need to appreciate more of what we have than what we have not. Or something like that. Like, a good pipe in the morning with coffee as the dawn brings us coolish weather now that we have flipped the calendar to autumn. But it also brings beautiful leaves that have become a spectacle of technicolor in the wind. It is the little things. The rereading of an enjoyable book and finding something you did not see or learn in the first go-round. Or a stunning phrase you commit to memory with the re-read, while smoking that favorite pipe. And you notice a superior puff that just seems to be different. It’s in the air and the seasons of meaningful little things. It’s aromatic! 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.
Mr. Roberts, I will need to grow the acuity of my palate by a factor of 10 before I can review a tobacco as complex as this with the same precision as you have. And in general, I have the same response to your other reviews. Bravo! Is this the only place where your reviews are published; that is, is there some repository where you have published a number of them in the past? You would appear to have been reviewing for some time. I’d love to read more.
Thanks Mike, I just saw this comment–my notifications must be borked. I’ve been reviewing tobacco exclusively for PipesMagazine.com for a few years now, as well as churning out other topical essays here and there. They’re collected under a few different headings, so I guess you’ll just have to spend some time searching through the site to find them all. I’ll refer you back to an oldie but goodie, “How Do I Taste?” ( https://pipesmagazine.com/blog/pipe-smoking-culture/how-do-i-taste/ ) from 2013, and entreat you to redouble your efforts at building up the muscle memory of tasting, if that is your aim!