Becoming A Codger

[mordy18]

I’m not quite sure what a codger is. It connotes an older, perhaps curmudgeonly person, but in the pipe smoking world it seems to be defined as a person of any age who is not overly particular about his tobacco and keeps things simple.
I think I’m becoming one. Roughly two years into serious pipe smoking, with almost 20 pipes and around 50 blends in my “cellar” and rotation, I’ve grown tired of chasing hard to obtain and sometimes finicky blends and looking for the next and ever better pipe. I find that my most enjoyable smokes are often the various sutliff “codger” match blends I’ve bought - country doctor (smoking some as i type this), revelation, walnut, holiday, field and stream, briggs, brindley. Generally well behaved, cool burning, tasty enough and simply enjoyable.
So I don’t think I will be waiting months for a shipment from germany, or worrying about email alerts for blends that sell out in thirty seconds, and certainly will never pay 80 or 90 dollars for a tin of buterra pelican as i recently saw listed on this site. And do I really need to plan for a tobaccopalypse by buying 10x the amount of tobacco I will smoke in my lifetime? And I certainly dont need another pipe.
For me at least the KISS principle is generally a good one to follow. Certainly when it comes to pipe smoking.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

While I still lack the appreciation of those nasty codger blends, I have been smoking mostly Stokkebye's Cube Cut, which is a simple half burley, half Virginia blend. I have an estimated 400 lbs in the cellar aging. I could, and sometimes still do pull out some of the 2013 blends to smoke. But, in all honesty, I really don't think aging tobaccos is as fantastic as it has been reported. Maybe they all just need a few more decades to age, ha ha.

But, meanwhile I can easily find a few pounds of a simple, enjoyable burley blend, and smoke it while these fine, expensive, hard to find Virginias and VaPers age more.

I had thought about making a post about how we've all been duped, but the forum is full of bright-eyed younger pipe smokers, intent that a few years makes their tobacco like nirvana, a transcendental experience. I was once one of them. I actually stopped posting for a while this year, because I just felt the forum was mainly a brainwashing tool for manufacturers to push out this idea that aging makes their products 100xs better, which it doesn't. Then add in the bullshit about the FDA putting a stop to new blends, which it didn't.

I have my stockpile. And, I am not about to go chasing after new crap that is exactly the same as everything else out there, like a 14 year old girls after a new boy band. It's absurd.

So, I just smoke, sometimes an aged blend, which is no better than the new stuff, but mostly these easy to get delicious blends. I'll let someone else go about shouting that "The Emperor Wears Has No Clothes." I also feel no debt or mandatory gratitude for tobacco manufacturers. I give them my money, they've got a LOT of my money, and that's it. I will let the bootlickers suck up to these companies THAT return absolutely no loyalty to us.

So yeh, even without smoking those crappy, aromatic, nasty codger blends, I am an old codger. Let the suckers chase the unicorns.

 

[mordy18]

While I still lack the appreciation of those nasty codger blends, I have been smoking mostly Stokkebye's Cube Cut, which is a simple half burley, half Virginia blend. I have an estimated 400 lbs in the cellar aging. I could, and sometimes still do pull out some of the 2013 blends to smoke. But, in all honesty, I really don't think aging tobaccos is as fantastic as it has been reported. Maybe they all just need a few more decades to age, ha ha.

But, meanwhile I can easily find a few pounds of a simple, enjoyable burley blend, and smoke it while these fine, expensive, hard to find Virginias and VaPers age more.

I had thought about making a post about how we've all been duped, but the forum is full of bright-eyed younger pipe smokers, intent that a few years makes their tobacco like nirvana, a transcendental experience. I was once one of them. I actually stopped posting for a while this year, because I just felt the forum was mainly a brainwashing tool for manufacturers to push out this idea that aging makes their products 100xs better, which it doesn't. Then add in the bullshit about the FDA putting a stop to new blends, which it didn't.

I have my stockpile. And, I am not about to go chasing after new crap that is exactly the same as everything else out there, like a 14 year old girls after a new boy band. It's absurd.

So, I just smoke, sometimes an aged blend, which is no better than the new stuff, but mostly these easy to get delicious blends. I'll let someone else go about shouting that "The Emperor Wears Has No Clothes." I also feel no debt or mandatory gratitude for tobacco manufacturers. I give them my money, they've got a LOT of my money, and that's it. I will let the bootlickers suck up to these companies THAT return absolutely no loyalty to us.

So yeh, even without smoking those crappy, aromatic, nasty codger blends, I am an old codger. Let the suckers chase the unicorns.

You are the codger I aspire to be. But I do enjoy those nasty codger blends -- I don't find them to be like some of the goopy aromatics, but rather more burley forward blends with a little something extra.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

But I do enjoy those nasty codger blends

I am envious, because it's so easy to find them. I am just spoiled. But, I am slowly getting over it.

 

[ray47]

Definition of CODGER

an often mildly eccentric and usually elderly fellow… See the full definition

www.merriam-webster.com

 

[karam]

Meanwhile I can easily find a few pounds of a simple, enjoyable burley blend, and smoke it while these fine, expensive, hard to find Virginias and VaPers age more.

I had thought about making a post about how we've all been duped, but the forum is full of bright-eyed younger pipe smokers, intent that a few years makes their tobacco like nirvana, a transcendental experience. I was once one of them. I actually stopped posting for a while this year, because I just felt the forum was mainly a brainwashing tool for manufacturers to push out this idea that aging makes their products 100xs better, which it doesn't. Then add in the bullshit about the FDA putting a stop to new blends, which it didn't.

I have my stockpile. And, I am not about to go chasing after new crap that is exactly the same as everything else out there, like a 14 year old girls after a new boy band. It's absurd.

So, I just smoke, sometimes an aged blend, which is no better than the new stuff, but mostly these easy to get delicious blends. I'll let someone else go about shouting that "The Emperor Wears Has No Clothes." I also feel no debt or mandatory gratitude for tobacco manufacturers. I give them my money, they've got a LOT of my money, and that's it. I will let the bootlickers suck up to these companies THAT return absolutely no loyalty to us.

So yeh, even without smoking those crappy, aromatic, nasty codger blends, I am an old codger. Let the suckers chase the unicorns.

Should be stickied.

 

[pappymac]

I'm a codger by age.
However, I find one of the things which gives me enjoyment these days is exploring tobacco blends I've never had before. For example, I have fallen in love with HU Tillerman flake, HU Best Irish and Vauen Himalayan.

That being said, every now and then I need a palate cleaning bowl of Carter Hall or Prince Albert. And for pure enjoyment, I will occasionally load a pipe of a really old codger blend, George Washington.

 

[didimauw]

ONE OF US, ONE OF US!

 

[seanv]

Sometimes simple is best.

 

[Country Bladesmith]

I’m not elderly yet, but apparently I do have some codger tendencies. Not just as it pertains to pipes, though I do enjoy a few codger blends, especially in a cob. I’ve always been told I act like an old man, even when I was in my 20s. I think it might be my music tastes, my hobbies, and my attitude that give that impression. My wife tells me I’m “old” even though I’m only 40, and younger than her by a few years. ?‍

 

[prairiedruid]

'Tis the gift to be simple....

 

[mso489]

Codger proudly.

 

[spicy_boiii]

I'm a huge fan of many codger-style blends. I've opened a pouch of SWRA and can't put it down.

But I have too much great stuff in the cellar that needs to be smoked, and I believe that some of Sutliff's matches (like Elizabethan match), and D&R blends give quality smokes at "Codger" prices.

I looked up the price of a can of SWRA and thought, "That's gonna be a no from me dawg."

We're spoiled with options that's for sure.

 

[Sonorisis]

I think one is officially a Codger when there is more hair in one's ears than on one's head. Eyebrow length is also an important factor.

 

[Chasing Embers]

I looked up the price of a can of SWRA and thought, "That's gonna be a no from me dawg."

Check cigarette stores. Around here those cans are $35.

 

[Chasing Embers]

I think one is officially a Codger when there is more hair in one's ears than on one's head. Eyebrow length is also an important factor.

No loss of head hair, but my ear and nose hair has grown faster than my facial hair since I was a teenager. My paternal grandfather was Scottish so my eyebrows have always been wild

 

[tbradsim1]

Get off my lawn and take off those jean shorts, you hippy dippy want a be.

 

[edger]

No loss of head hair, but my ear and nose hair has grown faster than my facial hair since I was a teenager. My paternal grandfather was Scottish so my eyebrows have always been wild

I can identify with that. My Dad's eyebrows looked like Sam Elliot's moustache!

 

[kurtbob]

Oh hell, been in the codger zone for years! Not such a bad place to be

 

[mordy18]

Not to overthink things - a true codger wouldn’t do that - but to sum up my view of what a pipe codger generally should be: older (ear and nose hair a plus), or at least have an old soul; be a bit cranky maybe?; not be overly particular about his (sorry, but I think only men can be codgers) tobacco but not necessarily love what are considered codger blends; have an affinity for burley; perhaps not be overly focused on high end pipes; use the stuff and puff packing method (that just seems codgerish); prefer lighting with matches; tamp with a nail or small piece of wood; own at least one tweed jacket and a fishing hat or newsboy cap; be signed up for zero email alerts on smoking pipes.