Tonight We’re Gonna Party Like It’s 1849
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Kevin Godbee - Jul 8, 2014
- 5 min read
E. Roberts
Summer’s here, finally, and the time is right for dancing in the streets. And by "dancing in the streets" I mean, of course, settling into a comfortable lawn chair with some good friends, adult beverages, and a tin and pipe. My often-repeated insistence to pay no attention to popular conventions aside, VaPer blends—that’s Virginia-Perique for the uninitiated—simply and consistently make for damn fine warm-weather smoking. My personal cellar contains a depth and breadth of them that is perhaps less than a surfeit, but much, much more than a dearth. That is to say, around 50 different varieties that I return to with regularity.
From the vaunted staple of Escudo to standards (but standouts) like Hearth & Home’s Anniversary Kake and AJ’s VaPer (and Frenchy’s Sunzabitches and LJ Heart Virginia and Louisiana Red), too many by C&D to list (but my favorites are Bayou Morning Flake and Red Carpet and Sunday Picnic), 4noggins’ Prairie Wind, D&R’s SJ Rimboché, Sterling’s VaPer, GL Pease’s … well, all of them, to …. You get the idea.
The combination of the right Virginia leaf with some coal-black Perique is truly one of nature’s perfect unions. Like peanut butter and jelly, gin and tonic, or Bogie and Bacall, a good VaPer simply satisfies, and occasionally mystifies. The range of flavor that Virginia leaf can exhibit, from sharply sweet to velvety soft to crisply spicy, finds its perfect foil in the chameleonic Perique condiment. Most often Perique is cited as peppery and earthy, but in many blends there are added dimensions that can be so subtle as to only be noticeable in their absence. Pease in particular is a master at adding just the right amount to a blend to enhance and clarify other flavors while abstaining from a direct solo voice from the Perique—Lombard is a good example. Depending on its proportion in the mix and the accompanying components, Perique can range from dark, dank earthiness to bright liquorice sweetness, or a sharp fiery pepperiness can be tempered down to a mere vegetal edge defining a rustic woodsy profile. The permutations are potentially limitless, and fortunately for pipe smokers who enjoy the genre, the blenders keep trying new ones.
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Which brings us to this month’s Sutliff offering: Sutliff 1849. Unveiled at the Chicago show, and procured for me by a good friend (thanks, Peter), this is Sutliff’s first presentation in the "shoe polish" style tin. The tin art is interesting: a black label with the Sutliff crest and other pertinent information encapsulates a central graphic with "SUTLIFF 1849" artistically lettered and flanked by two female figures. The font and figures are perhaps more Belle Époque than Victorian or Barbizon, but regardless, it makes for a nice image and sets the tone of an old-style, all-natural blend.
Slightly anachronistic tin art, for a slightly anachronistic blend.
Opening the tin itself entailed rather a bit of difficulty. Perhaps Sutliff is still tweaking the settings on their tinning machine, but this thing was tighter than the proverbial duck’s nether regions. A quarter wouldn’t do it. Nor the pipe tool. I eventually wrangled it open with the help of two butter knives and a rubber kitchen mat, much to the detriment of the tin itself. Hopefully this is an issue that will improve for future production. Judging by its flavor, though, I don’t think this blend will have a chance to dry out. The aroma of the fresh tin was quite sharp, with a bouquet wavering between citrusy and peppery in all the right ways. The initial smoke was a little on the harsh side, so a week of rest in the now less-than-airtight tin was prescribed.
Despite some wrap rage, this is still a jewel of a tin.
Returning to the mellowed and acclimated blend the following weekend, I was quite pleased that the wait had paid off exactly as expected. The tin aroma was now much more balanced, and in addition to the citrus and pepper, a nice round chocolaty note had developed along with a bit of a leathery afternote. The smoke itself improved a hundredfold. Where the first bowl had been a bit acrid, sharp on the tongue and far too abrasive on the retrohale, this second bowl said it was a blend ready for all-day smoking. The balance was there now; on the light there was just a burst of the peppery note very characteristic of red Virginia and Perique, and it quickly settled into a smooth sweet and savory ride through to the heel. Complexity is one of those difficult-to-qualify characteristics in blends, as Greg Pease discussed in last month’s mailbag. 1849 Seems to have it in just the right amount. The flavors display excellent clarity and enough separation to be distinct, while working well together and creating an interesting interplay on the palate.
The tin description reads, "In 1849 Henry Sutliff Opened his first shop in San Francisco on Kearny St. This fine mixture of Sweet Virginia, Spicy Perique is commemorating the founding of America’s oldest pipe tobacco Co. This Unique blend is a mixture of Bright Virginia, Sweet Red Virginia, and two cuts of Perique. Aesthetically this is the perfect VaPer Blend." [sic] While their copy editor may have been snoozing when the label was printed, the heart of the message is certainly adequate to describe the blend. Visually it’s a lovely blend, with broad ribbons of bright and red Virginia mingled through with a well-balanced proportion of black Perique in coarse and granulated cuts.
"Summer afternoon—summer afternoon;
to me those have always been the two most beautiful words in the English language." ― Henry James
Enjoying a pipe with drinks and friends is where this column started, and where it shall end. Paired with the aforementioned gin and tonic, this is a wonderful hazy days of summer VaPer. In the nexus of the citrusy sweetness and earthy pungency, there are notes of leather and parchment, and a phenolic tinge that complements quinine quite well. Overall the smoke is slightly more savory than sweet, with a dry spiciness that complements sweet drinks perfectly. It’s easy on the tongue, and has an almost burley-like quality of palate feel, even after several bowls. My companions remark that it has a lightly woodsy and chocolaty aroma that they find appealing and "very summery". The nicotine is on the mild side, and a bowl paces around 35 minutes in a group 3 with few relights, which allows for plenty of drinks and conversation to flow along with it. And for me, that’s what the summertime is all about.
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, now I have another blend to put on order next time. I’m a Sutliff fan so I have no doubt this is a good offering as well.
Nice write up on the new blend.
Excellent review, I did not struggle as much as you did to open my first tin. However. I do agree that it needs some time either tinned or opened to mellow. The first whiff I got was that of dill pickles,but, a week later the citrus and spice did come out.
Brian
Thanks for another well written, informative, and enticing review — not to mention the great pix! I’ll have to try this soon, if for no other reason than to figure out what you mean by a phenolic tinge! 🙂
Another gem! (the writing). And that durn Becker of yours from N’awlins is what led me to start picking up Beckers.
hp
les
Will be looking to see if they carry this at my local B&M. They already have sutliff there, so I hope so. It’s been my experience that sutliff blends need some time to mellow, although this could just be the aros that I’ve tried.
I will need to check this tobacco out. But a Va/Per with a gin and tonic? NO! G&T with a Lat, fair enough. VP with a sherry, port, pinotage or whiskey sour.
A VaPer with a gin and tonic should be quite presentable, as long as you find gin fine 12 months a year; which I do- and summer is the best for a G&T. I’m enjoying a White Lady right now, along with my last particles of St. James Woods. Gin is a great reaction for those of us in protest of the relentless marketing of all-things-high-end- particularly now that Bourbon’s been moving into that camp.
My point however is that 1849 should warrant a try, especially since Sutliff is so aro-dominated. The tin is nothing short of gorgeous, and for those of us in love with antiquities, we’ve got a very strong invitation, even if its just been formulated.
I’m looking forward to trying this new blend; I’ve found more than a few of Sutliff’s blends to be enjoyable. Thanks for the review.
Defiantly going to have to add to my wish list based on this review. Well writen and very helpful.
Vaper’s alot of them out their not many great ones looking forward to trying it.
Les–Beckers are MADE for smoking VaPers. And this has become my favorite Sutliff offering by far, perhaps seconded by Taste of Summer’s peachy delightfulness–and I can recommend mixing the two in equal portion as a hearty summer treat.