Usually, when I go out for a couple of hours, I just grab a Group 3 pipe — small, light, and it disappears into my jacket pocket until I need it.
Yesterday, though, I was invited out for dinner and decided to take only my Castello #55. I figured its larger size would be more fitting for the occasion. I packed a pouch with some fairly dry Peterson (formerly Dunhill) Standard Mixture — one of my all-time favorites.
The evening went on for quite a few hours (the Bordeaux wine definitely helped with that). I ended up smoking three bowls back-to-back. Between bowls, I just did a quick clean with a paper towel (corkscrew method) and some pipe cleaners — no rest time in between.
What really surprised me was that even during the third bowl, the flavor held steady. No sourness, no ghosting, no hint of fatigue in the smoke. With pretty much every other brand I own — and I’ve had more than ten over the last two years — the flavor usually starts to go downhill by the second bowl. The worst offenders are Dunhill pipes, the best so far are Castello.
So now I finally understand why people call the Castello #55 a smoking machine.
Yesterday, though, I was invited out for dinner and decided to take only my Castello #55. I figured its larger size would be more fitting for the occasion. I packed a pouch with some fairly dry Peterson (formerly Dunhill) Standard Mixture — one of my all-time favorites.
The evening went on for quite a few hours (the Bordeaux wine definitely helped with that). I ended up smoking three bowls back-to-back. Between bowls, I just did a quick clean with a paper towel (corkscrew method) and some pipe cleaners — no rest time in between.
What really surprised me was that even during the third bowl, the flavor held steady. No sourness, no ghosting, no hint of fatigue in the smoke. With pretty much every other brand I own — and I’ve had more than ten over the last two years — the flavor usually starts to go downhill by the second bowl. The worst offenders are Dunhill pipes, the best so far are Castello.
So now I finally understand why people call the Castello #55 a smoking machine.
