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  1. mso489

    How Many Blends in Your Cellar?

    I'd guess about sixty, about a third of them open and in rotation. Because I only smoke a bowl or so a day, that could last me for years, but blends accumulate nonetheless.
  2. mso489

    Tobacco Globalism

    Tobacco as a market has always been globalist. The first tobacco was shipped to the world from North America and became a cash crop on other continents wherever it could be grown, and then was shipped around from all the different tobacco growing regions. Like tea, coffee, and various...
  3. mso489

    Chacom Montmarte 17 - a new addition to my collection

    As I routinely say, French pipes are usually beyond their price point in quality. Factory made pipes are a staple industry in France, and the industry is longstanding, competitive and also has a European feel for design and dash, even though many pipes are traditional in concept. You just...
  4. mso489

    4noggins order stuck for 12 days

    Under previous management, 4noggins was routinely prompt and had a reputation for getting orders shipped out of the U.S. without delay. Apparently, those skills left with the previous owner, according to the grumbling I've heard. I am not frantic to get orders, but an email saying they have...
  5. mso489

    Clench Drool

    I surmise saliva build-up is the body's mistaken idea that oral stimulation usually means food, hence the moisture. I don't clench for long periods, usually just to light up and moments when I am smoking and need both hands. I find it more relaxing to have the pipe in hand quite a bit. More...
  6. mso489

    Conventional Wisdom

    In the sciences, conventional wisdom is formalized with peer reviewed publications where the reviewing process weeds out dubious claims and bad data and bad data analysis. Nonetheless, it is surprising the process regularly fails. Many Nobel laureates went through long careers being the jokes...
  7. mso489

    Quick Sunday Morning Cob Mod.

    You made it your own. The original owners of the Forever stem franchise used to offer cutting any of their stems to suit the buyer. You couldn't make them longer beyond their given length, but you could shorten to suit. I'm not sure what the current Forever stem people do. I've taken to...
  8. mso489

    Finally Understanding Some Women.

    Being online lures many people into exhibiting themselves in unappealing ways, whether undressing for the camera or pushing their extreme opinions. Everyone has a fantasy life, and it is a matter of character to know where the fantasies end and your real life begins. Much violence and misery...
  9. mso489

    Meer Conundrum

    That is a beautifully carved Meer for sure. Just do what brings you the most joy. I'd smoke it, but if you prefer to admire it while smoking one of your other pipes that is entirely understandable. Coloring of Meers is one of their satisfactions, enjoyable to experience and a pleasure to...
  10. mso489

    American Pipes

    For new or aspiring pipe smokers, American factory pipes like Dr. Grabow or Kaywoodie provide a solid start. No need to spend two or three hundred dollars to find out if pipe smoking is for you. I have some higher end pipes that I treasure, but I still savor some of the basic pipes turned out...
  11. mso489

    Yup, It's Real (and legal) --- Women's Bare Knuckle Fighting

    Women used to be stereotyped as a civilizing influence on their men. I guess I'm an old fogey and disapprove of their battering each other bloody for "sport." Looks like a win for the dark side.
  12. mso489

    Jim's C&D Steamworks (Small Batch) Review.

    What, a C&D blend with no burley? But seriously, sounds like a tour de force.
  13. mso489

    Disco-Era Pipes Were Actually a Thing

    I admit, I don't see much of a connection of the pipes and the disco culture. Pipes seem a different world from the glitzy nightlife full of kinetic dancers, strobe lights, and stimulants, but since I didn't make that scene, there may have been something I missed. The pipes, however, are...
  14. mso489

    Old Joe Krantz: Not Enough Praise!

    The original blend is strong indeed, but it has been central to my rotation from time to time. Now it comes in different strengths and proportions, so if you want something milder, you can have that too. C&D is the blender that rediscovered burley as something other than a codger or...
  15. mso489

    This Ain't Tobacco. I'm Done.

    I've not noticed this, though I have been smoking, with intermissions, for about 40 years. A few lauded blends that have been hard to keep lit I have run through a hand grater which improved their burn. But I would agree that a nice even burn without too many relights really makes a pipe...
  16. mso489

    Smoke rings.

    I blow smoke rings without a conscious effort. They just float out there. The cats really like and react to them much more than they do to regular pipe smoke.
  17. mso489

    Custom Blends at Home

    The simplest recipe that can be done with a wide variety of tobaccos is a Virginia or burley base, with the other of those as a condiment, and a pinch of unflavored or flavored black Cavendish. You can adjust proportions to get a surprising variety of different blends that can adjusted from day...
  18. mso489

    Recommendations for Moving Away from Aromatics.

    As I've probably said too often, don't buy too much of anything even if you love it. Your tastes will change. Buy in small quantities for a few years, an ounce or two of bulk, one tin, one pouch. All this will give you a range on what you like, and when it ceases to please, or just for an...
  19. mso489

    Where to buy?

    I second Pipes by George in Raleigh. It's not a big shop, but it has character and a real pipe man as proprietor. Last time I was there, his neighbors were a tattoo shop and a bike shop, though the neighborhood has gentrified and gone from big old family homes subdivided into student...
  20. mso489

    Country Squire's Middle Earth Series to be Renamed.

    I'm no legal scholar, but I have been told that titles cannot be copyrighted. So if I want to publish a book titled "War and Peace," or some modern title already in use, that is not a copyright offense. I've seen duplicative titles that seem to illustrate the point. There are lawyers and...