The Joy of Smokes
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Kevin Godbee - Aug 5, 2014
- 9 min read
E. Roberts
Perambulating about the Upper East Side the other day I saw the remnants of an apartment move-out on the sidewalk, looking for all the world like a shipwreck washed ashore. The grim skeletons of lamps and furniture jutting out at odd angles, black trash bags bursting at the seams with last season’s wardrobe, broken pottery scattered over the curb, and the obligatory boxes of books that Manhattanites tend to amass. Atop the pile of discarded volumes was the amusing title, "Sex for Dummies." Was there really such a book? Who would read it? My mind, working as it does, tried to fill in the backstory to this scene: a middle-aged couple hit a few bumps in the road, bought a few books, successfully rekindled the flames they once had, and packed it all up and moved to Borneo to live out their days in connubial bliss…or something like that.
Cornell & Diehl rewrite the book on cellaring.
As it happens, I’d been spending my evenings in the company of Cornell & Diehl’s latest, the Cellar Series. I’ll get it out of the way right now: they are each amazing blends. Yet despite being quite impressed with them, I couldn’t find the hook I needed to start writing some sort of narrative to string all these tasting notes together. The title of that book on the sidewalk stuck in my head for some reason; it was laughable, surely, but there was obviously a market for it—the Dummies books are a media franchise with thousands of titles and millions of copies in print. But sex for dummies? Was there a walking, breathing adult human who needed this sort of primer to accomplish the instinctual? Then it occurred to me that these three new blends from C&D were like that book, in a way—sure, we all love tobacco, or else I wouldn’t be writing about it and you wouldn’t be reading about it. But once we get into the swing of our ritual of the pipe, it’s easy to become complacent and overlook the foundation aspects of what drew us to it in the first place. These blends were a reminder how amazing and fulfilling good, pure, strong tobacco can be.
Cellaring has been around since man has enjoyed tobacco. That is to say, the knowledge of what the inimitable function of time does to mellow, smooth and generally improve the flavor of tobacco has been apparent since the first early humans in Peru enjoyed it around their campfires and began cultivating it. However it’s not an exact science by any means—while one blend may trend toward improving indefinitely with age, another may fall flat after a relatively short time. That being said, years of experience with handling tobacco can give a pretty good idea of how to increase the probability for improvement with age by creating the conditions favorable to that end. Start with high quality, sugar-rich and flavorful Virginia, add a balance of ingredients that will complement each other favorably as they marry in the tin, press the tobacco enough to crush some cell membranes and mingle the juices together, then seal the environment—and sit back and wait. C&D’s recent merging with the Smokingpipes.com folks brings an unprecedented degree of knowledge and facility to the table, and this first new offering announces a force to be reckoned with in the blending world.
The three blends—Chenet’s Cake, Oak Alley, and Joie de Vivre, all share some of the same qualities. First, and quite unabashedly, they’re all firmly on the robust end of the spectrum in terms of strength, flavor and nicotine content. They also share a good deal of the same component leafs in their respective mixtures; obviously the Perique, but also a superior grade of red Virginia that may already have some age on it, judging by the smoothness. The two-inch-square cakes all crumble easily and rub out to a nice even coarse cut to load the pipe with, and, frankly, look and smell good enough to eat.
A meal fit for a Perique Freak.
Chenet’s Cake: Being a confirmed Perique Freak, the first tin I opened was, naturally, the "Perique powerhouse". Broader cuts of Virginia ribbon are the first thing I notice, lots of red streaked through with a good amount of lemony bright leaf, and of course, heaps of jet-black Perique. Seriously, a LOT of Perique—chalk one up to truth in advertising. The nose from the fresh tin is quite musky and dank with the stuff, redolent with earthy prune overtones. Take a thick, juicy prune, cover it in milk chocolate, pack it in a nest of damp hay, and wrap it in a freshly-tanned leather bag, and that will give you some idea of the flavor and aroma profile here. It’s a real brawler on the strength scale, and can bring on the sweats if one is not properly hydrated (and fed!) before smoking. Consider yourself warned.
The top starts with a briny, peppery tang and mouthfeel, and then deepens quickly. Through the thick plumes of smoke, one is enveloped by the heavy musk of leather, and of mushrooms sautéed in sherry—this tobacco really glides over all the areas of the palate, eliciting salty, sour, bitter and sweet sensations as well as a conspicuous tannic response in the gums. Truly, an umami experience is created with this level of Perique; it’s an ode to the Stickland reaction.
Through the mid-bowl to the heel, there is a steady moderate pepperiness on the retrohale, warming to the nose and the spirit—and this blend goes exceedingly well with spirits. Small-batch bourbon with a corncob is highly recommended (my preference is Basil Hayden’s and, of course, a Missouri Meerschaum) to complement the tannic edge of the young blend. It took a fair amount of tending and relights to reach the bottom of the bowl, even when well-dried, which I chalk up to my own deficiencies in technique as much as the fine crumbled cut that results from breaking the cake apart. Within its estimated peak timeframe of 10-15 years, I predict this blend will become the stuff of legend—some mellowing and sweetening will elevate this to be on par with a Remy Martin Louis XIII cognac (I did say I was a fan of VaPers). Out of the gate it’s a great smoke now: fresh, slightly sharp, and has a lot of boisterous flavor that time should temper well.
One word: Sumptuous.
Oak Alley: VaPers with a touch of Oriental are two great tastes that taste great together, to borrow a phrase. Oak Alley is another potent brew, though not quite as heady as Chenet’s Cake. Interestingly, the Oriental leaf coupled with the burley and Perique in this blend creates an opening flavor profile surprisingly akin to a Honduran cigar—mildly spicy, nutty, toasty, and with a hint of floral top note. After the top third of the bowl it segues nicely into a more traditional VaPerO profile, though much heartier and fuller-bodied than any others that I’m accustomed to. The Katerini here, though slight in proportion, manages to define the flavor profile by the way it enhances and draws out nuances in the other leaf, particularly the Perique. Often throughout the bowl wisps of Latakia-like smokiness snuck into the menu.
Notice the olive Katerini leaf in the upper left.
This blend is all about a variegated bouquet of complementary flavors. There is a good portion of red Virginia that imparts a fruit liqueur-like sweetness, while the Perique straddles the fruity and vegetal aromas and flavors masterfully. The burley, in turn, balances it all while lending its own voice of nutty nuance, as well as a kick of nicotine. Mid-bowl is dominated by a dark chocolate and leather tone, with a slightly caustic edge of tannin that justifies the name of "Oak Alley". It’s very wine-y and reminds me of some underage California Chardonnays.
Breaking apart the cake there is a nice mixture of ribbon that seems crosscut to further blend and meld the overall mixture. For me, at least, it had an easier draw and burn than Chenet’s, but still took some tending to make my way to the bottom of the bowl. I speculate that in the 10-15 year peak timeframe suggested on the tin, this blend will temper down some of the cigar notes, transmuting them into more of a spicy sweetness, and really burst with the chocolate and wine flavors.
Laissez les bon temps rouler!
Joie de Vivre: Now that I’d settled into a heady groove with these rich and redolent cakes, I was prepared to meet the Latakia blend in the lineup. What I found striking from the moment of opening the tin is the incredibly deep, dark chocolate & leather bouquet, with oaky campfire liberally mingled in. The Latakia here is surprisingly well tempered in the bowl compared to its aroma in the tin. It’s obviously of exceedingly high quality, probably with some age on it, and emphatically Cypriot with its loamy flavor profile.
Breaking apart the cake, I note there is overall a dark balance of leaf with a sprinkling of bright that seems probably less than it is, percentage wise. The leaf is mostly a fairly coarse crosscut, and the bigger pieces actually seem to burn a bit easier in testing. My clays and cobs seem to perform the best, doing justice to the cut.
The pre-light draw is like sipping bourbon through a straw. A surprisingly soft "charred nose"—that being the term I’m coining to describe direct nasal olfaction (or smelling) of the business end of the bowl—is somewhat unanticipated, considering the strength of the smokiness in the palate. Slightly tangy, the Virginia pokes its head in more at the bottom half to the heel of the bowl with graham cracker / s’mores hints.
Joie de Vivre is not yet as balanced in its presentation as the others in the trio. This is not a knock against it; rather, I simply feel this one tastes the "greenest" of them, and will benefit most dramatically from as little as a year or two in the tin. There is still a hint of a tarry tilt to the smoke, and it can come off as unfocused (even a tad riotous!) when trying to pin down the profile. And, like the others, it took some tending to keep the ember down to the heel. I’d venture to guess that in the 8-12 year suggested peak the Virginia will have stretched its legs, greatly sweetening and balancing the mix, while the Latakia and Perique will have mellowed considerably, perhaps resulting in a more Syrian complexion to the smokiness.
Though it will take supreme effort of will to exercise the patience necessary to hit the targeted peaks of these blends without opening them, I have a lot of faith in Cornell & Diehl’s history of blending excellence and will do my best to wait out at least a couple of tins. In the short term, I think they’re all just a shade green now, although wonderfully smokable; in a year or two they should be exhibiting the beginnings of brilliance that are already apparent, and are safe bets for wonderful smokes as time goes by.
Tune in again in 2024 for the second half of the review!
Written by Kevin Godbee
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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. 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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. 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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”.
Thanks for a well written and nicely illustrated article describing C&D’s latest offering. I stowed a tin of both Chenet’s and Oak Alley, but it’s doubtful I will wait 15 yrs. to sample them.
Thanks for the reviews.
some more to try for sure.
Bill
I enjoy reading your reviews, the way you are able to match flavors to words with such ease and grace- but I will admit this time I was drawn in with gusto to see how you would combine ‘sex for dummies’ with a pipe tobacco new addition…
Well done, as always.
Who’d read *Sex for Dummies*? Why, Vince and Larry, of course. After a good smash up for GM, they tend to need help remembering a lot of things, actually.
🙂
12 more tins in the shopping cart!
The “E” in E Roberts stands for Enabler.
One of your finest articles yet, I especially love the first two paragraphs… Beautifully written.
Bill, another nice set of reviews. A friend of mine has been smoking the Chenet’s and Oak Alley for a while now and really loves them. They didn’t do so much for me , but with my two taste bud palate (good/bad) that is hardly surprising. I didn’t find them near as robust as you did, but as someone who can smoke brown rope in the morning that’s not much of a complaint.
C&D seems to have really stepped up their game of the last couple years.