Lane Limited Ready-Rubbed: Return of a Legend
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Kevin Godbee - May 18, 2015
- 4 min read
E. Roberts
Hungry-Man dinners, really? I couldn’t believe it—or rather, I could believe it, all too easily on second thought. The celebrity host of a popular fashion-themed show frequents the same supermarket as a colleague, who sees him in there a couple times a week stocking up on the packaged meals. On the one hand, it was contradictory—here was a fashionista of the first order, someone who probably spent more on a tie than I do on an entire suit, the spokesperson for a lifestyle that demanded egregiously expensive self-branding in order to be de rigueur; a scion of taste, a taste-maker, in fact. On the other, I could easily understand that the guy’s professional schedule likely dwarfed mine by the same margin as his ties in terms of being hectic. Perhaps his lunches were all of the power variety, spent at the city’s finest five-stars, and when he was finally home from a long day all he wanted was a sodium-laden box of comfort food. I get it, I really do, and this confirms to me the value of not being a snob when it comes to taste—that even if it’s demanded in one’s professional life, it needn’t be in one’s personal life.
Which brings us to a most delightful package dropped off by the mail carrier the other day, courtesy Lane Limited: an advance screener of a certain classic burley in ready-rubbed format. That’s correct: Leonard Wortzel and company have heard the pleas of the common-man cognoscenti and revived the legacy of one of the all-time greats of OTC burleys with their answer to the fabled Edgeworth ready-rubbed. It doesn’t carry the name of its antecedent due to the legal disincentive of pursuing copyright and trademark, but it is the same recipe and it certainly embodies the spirit of that erstwhile blend. That it carries the moniker of Lane Limited Ready-Rubbed should be no discouragement, and perhaps be a better thing in the grander scheme for establishing its own legacy in time.
Perhaps the comparison of LLRR to a TV dinner is a bit of a stretch, but bear with me. First of all, it is without question firmly in the comfortable and economical camp of tobaccos, much like a packaged dinner replete with meat, vegetable and dessert is comfort food and a cheap square meal. When you get right down to brass tacks, though, this is a tobacco that can hold its own amongst the more precious boutique-variety specialty tins (composed of only the finest exotic tobaccos from far-away lands, of course) and due to its comparative economy, it can go a fair bit further when running that race. The bottom line is that it’s a damn good smoke, regardless the price or presentation, and it is on that quality which it shall be judged.
It certainly retains that earlier blend’s ease of packing, lighting, and puffing. One of the most effortless smokes I’ve had, to be frank; it takes to a match and rarely requires more than a second touch-up to find the heel. The taste is solid, uncomplicated, and satisfying. With a mildness that recommends it as a benchmark in the all-day smoke category, it’s easy to like. Not quite as nutty as Half and Half, milder and purer than Sir Walter, and less tart than Carter Hall, it is its own creature altogether in the pantheon of great OTCs. The cut is classic burley cube-chunk all the way. In the smoke, it’s in more of a woody, graham-crackery vein, with just a hint of cocoa, while the room note displays a bit more of the characteristic burley roasted nut aroma. It certainly evinces a “classic” vibe, as commented on by some friends I was taste-testing near over a few rounds of drinks in the backyard. If I had a nickel for every young lady who said I reminded her of her grandfather in these situations, I’d be a wealthy man. As it is, I simply invite them to sit on my lap for the full effect. No matter what pipe or chamber size you choose it smokes with equanimity, though it certainly gains a little something extra from the sweetness of a fresh Missouri Meerschaum. I tend to prefer smaller bowls, finding it perfect for my vintage Medicos. Thankfully, it tends to burn through to ash with very little moisture or residue, so eschewing the filter is an easy choice.
Sometimes, you’re just in the mood for a smoke, not an experience. Driving, doing the yard work, doing the Sunday crossword, lounging on the beach or just kicking back with a cold one—this is that kind of smoke. Appreciate it for what it is, and you’ll find yourself returning to it often. It’s comfort smoke, the memory of what your grandfather or uncle enjoyed, simple, relaxed, easy as a spring afternoon; and most of all, memorable for being all of that.
Lane Limited Ready-Rubbed is Available from PipesAndCigars.com Here
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, […]
Great review. Would love to try it. For those who live outside the US and can’t order from P&C, does anyone know when SP or 4noggins will have this in?
If I recall correctly, P&C has a 2 month exclusive for online only. B&Ms can get it now.
I’ve been on a Burley quest lately so the timing is right!
Love the chunky cut … will try this one for sure.
Peck, I’d be happy to send you a sample when mine arrives.
Another fantastic review Mr. Roberts, and as always you are enabling the pipe community at large with your prose. I don’t know why Edgeworth was ever discontinued in the first place, but I am glad that it is back. Being a smoker that enjoys almost all blends at one time or another, this is a blend that stands the test of time despite the fact that some regard it as an inexpensive drug store blend. Many old timers (myself included) are smiling ear to ear upon the resurrection of Edgeworth now labeled as Lane Limited RR.
Boy oh boy- the layers of irony AND marketing! As an elitist by nature due to the ongoing onslaught of mass culture, and a populist by way of economy, I herald this with a certain glee which has everything to do with a reverse snobbery into retro-values. Bottom line is the price, and I’ve yet to focus on that through the spaces between the fingers clutched over my eyes. Ultimately, will I pull the wool?
I’ll tell you this. I’m fascinated by the new Hearth & Home Mid-Town series, and I plan to purchase a canister shortly. Like cobguy above/below, I too have been on a bit of a burley quest lately. A purchase of my first pouch of Half & Half has not been at all a foray into a world of unsmokable and ancient drug store blends.
I spent nearly a decade working in a B&M smoke shop. During that time I concentrated more on cigars, finally finding that quality and price are not at all directly proportional always by any means.
I think we are seeing an emerging form of tobacco revisionism, and my suspicions are that those whose reflexively spend the most they can on tobacco will be left with egg on their faces. That is if they can ever bring themselves to try some of these newly-revised blends which they ordinarily would have seen as beneath them.
Just imagine packing a bowl of something without thinking about it too much and just smoking it; it’s nearly unimaginable.
For the record, our new brand manager Lasse Randbøll Petersen was the real force behind bring RR back.
Many thanks for the review!
Great review Bill – thanks! I had never really thought about trying any of the American OTCs, mainly because they’re not readily available in England and what I’d heard about those you list didn’t encourage me to work out ways of sourcing them. However, I enjoy burley and your review makes the Lane RR sound like a winner, so I’ll definitely give it a go (as soon as I can work out how to get a tub!). If this is as good as I suspect, then the Pipe Club of London members will have to set up a supply line….
I am new to pipe smoking and have only smoked aromatics so far can someone give me a comparison ?
Moejoe, it’s a little difficult to describe the taste of an orange to anyone, let alone someone who’s never had any citrus fruit at all. Let’s just say there’s a flavor spectrum, and that aromatics are on the sweet side of things. The non-aromatic side is more savory, say, but in all truth there is a little sugar/flavoring in prectically every blend, it’s just those things are less-pronounced. I’m a big fan of latakia blends (Balkan, English Oriental etc) and with those you often get more natural flavors like pine, camphor, and different varieties of smokiness. I also smoke a blend I’ve created myself, with Virginias, Perique, dark-fired Kentucky and also Black Cavendish, and the latter is what gives it aromatic qualities, but its not sweet like most aro-smokers like. That’s my very generalized explanation.
Once upon a time there was a Georgian, a guy named Josif Dzhugashvili. His boss, a guy named Ulyanov, didn’t think he had leadership abilities. Still, Mr. Dzhugashvili did all right, the bad evals from his boss notwithstanding. Of course, Dzugashvili was Stalin who was from what became the Soviet Republic of Georgia and Ulyanov was Lenin. Now, Josif was a pipe smoker, a real pipe smoker. He was often photographed puffing away. Back in 1958, one of my high school teachers, a naval intelligence officer in WWII, told me Stalin preferred and smoked Edgeworth. As for me, I’ll be entering my 73rd year of this life in a couple weeks. I began smoking a pipe when I was 12 years old. I’ve been puffing away on a pipe all 61 years since then. I confess I purchased the odd pouch of Edgeworth back in the day. Although I most certainly find Mr. Roberts review laudable from a literary standpoint, I’m not so sure about one point. He makes reference to Mr. Wortzel hearing and responding to “the pleas of the common-man”. My supplier, Pipes and Cigars, offers Lane Limited RR for $35.99 for a 14 oz. can. No super math whiz, I believe that comes out to $2.57 per oz. Being one of those common men retired on a fixed income, I think the pricing is pretty steep for what was once an inexpensive OTC tobacco. That price is considerably higher than Half and Half, Raleigh, Granger and Carter Hall, all of which were OTC tobaccos. Anyhow, if Mr.Dzhugashvili, definitely not a common man and an Edgeworth smoker, encountered his beloved Edgeworth at this price, I think he would’ve screamed, “This is a capitalist plot!” I just think it’s too pricey, but what do I know?
@ Skipdetour,
I recall seeing an old illustrated diagram of Stalin’s pipe, along with FDR’s cigarette plus holder and Churchill’s cigar. The message was that these three added together would defeat Hitler, a nonsmoker. Funny how the symbolism plays out- where Stalin’s habit (something we of course see as the least harmful)is in contrast to the greatest murderer out of all of them.
“Being one of those common men retired on a fixed income, I think the pricing is pretty steep for what was once an inexpensive OTC tobacco. That price is considerably higher than Half and Half, Raleigh, Granger and Carter Hall, all of which were OTC tobacco”. And that precisely is the crux of the biscuit and part of my point as well. You might try one of Hearth & Home’s revised classics in the rather new Midtown Series. I can say right now that the Walnut is okay, and the Derby Club Classic is even better. These are on sale right now at $20 for a 14. oz. tub. How’s that for savings?
@moejoe – Taste is so subjective that it’s hard to define, yet there are commonalities strong enough to hold true for the larger percentage of the populace. In this regard, your best bet is to visit a local shop and start sampling pipe tobaccos in small quantities to discover what appeals to *you*. See this article ( http://bit.ly/How2Taste ) for a good primer on keeping track of your experiments.
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@skip – Uhm… http://www.usinflationcalculator.com/inflation/current-inflation-rates/ Alternatively, instead of being bullied by the companies that produce the goods you wish to consume, you could grow your own! http://www.wikihow.com/Grow-and-Process-Tobacco
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@Leonard – Thank you, and Lasse Randbøll Petersen, for making this happen.