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  1. rmbittner

    McClelland's Royal Cajun Blends. . .?

    Seven years ago, I picked up a tin of McClelland's Royal Cajun Dark. I can't physically tolerate perique, and the Royal Cajun series contained something called Cajun Black, which was touted at the time as a perique substitute. I figured it couldn't hurt to at least sample a tin. But I haven't...
  2. rmbittner

    Happy Birthday, Mr. Pease!

    Thanks to last night's Radio Show, I found out that today is Greg Pease's birthday. If you're friends of his on Facebook, drop him a birthday greeting. Or, hey, just light up a bowl of your favorite Pease blend and smoke it in his honor. Bob
  3. rmbittner

    Esoterica Fans...

    SmokingPipes.com has several of the Esoterica blends in stock. Get 'em while you can! Bob
  4. rmbittner

    Arrusted Development

    I'm currently selling my last tin of Pease's Raven's Wing, and noticed these small reddish dots that had started to form on the label. I dismissed them. . . until this morning, when it occurred to me -- duh! -- that they could be indicating rust underneath. So I removed a small portion of the...
  5. rmbittner

    Mini-Review: Samuel Gawith's Perfection

    Some years ago, I got a 2005 tin of Samuel Gawith's Perfection in a trade. And it's been cellared since then, as I never really knew if I was in the mood for an English blend with the added touch of vanilla. I recently gave in and opened the tin and I've been enjoying it ever since. At the...
  6. rmbittner

    Smoking for Nostalgia

    Because our senses of taste and smell are so closely tied to memory, I thought it would be fun to revisit a tobacco that I first tried 33 years ago: The Tinder Box's North Sea (their branding of Stokkebye's Nougat). North Sea was the second tobacco I ever smoked in my life -- and, after I became...
  7. rmbittner

    Star of the East. . . Flake?

    Just opened a tin of C&D's Star of the East Flake from last year. . . and I was shocked to discover that it's a completely broken flake. Yes, at one time it had been pressed into cakes and cut into flakes. But then it was completely broken up prior to tinning. That's not my definition of a...
  8. rmbittner

    My High School Wins USA Today Contest

    Just thought I'd mention that my high school -- Centralia High School, in Centralia, IL -- just won the USA Today contest for the most unusual high-school sports mascot. Not too hard to believe: The team name is Orphans. (They're the only "Orphans" in the nation.) While you might think "Orphans"...
  9. rmbittner

    Pipe Smoking on "The Amazing Race"!

    I was pleasantly surprised to see that one of the challenges on last night's "Amazing Race" was to learn, from Kalihari bushmen in Botswana, how to start a fire and then use that fire to light the pipe of one of the tribe's chiefs! Nearly every team attempted this challenge, but only one was...
  10. rmbittner

    Choosing a Tobacco (A Poem)

    When choosing blends to fill a pipe One must avoid the PR hype Can every one smoke “smooth” and “cool”? What do they take me for? A fool? We must give thought to what we smoke What some call “smooth” makes others choke What some call “cool” sets tongues aflame Tobacco choice is not a game...
  11. rmbittner

    Bombay Court: Now. . . and Then

    I recently had the opportunity to compare two tins of Bombay Court, one fresh and one from 1999. I'll forego the appearance of the tobacco in the tin; to me, I can't think of anything less helpful than a blend's appearance. Here's McClelland's tin description: "An exotic Oriental mixture spiced...
  12. rmbittner

    HH Old Dark Fired now in-stock at SP

    Just got the email alert that MacBaren's HH Old Dark Fired is now in stock at SmokingPipes.com, if anyone's been looking for it. Bob
  13. rmbittner

    Minor Rant: Website Inventories

    This isn't a big deal, but it does rankle me a little: Three times in the last month, I've run into situations where an Internet pipe/tobacco retailer shows stock on an item, allows you to place an order. . . and then an hour -- or three days! -- later I get a phone call telling me they didn't...
  14. rmbittner

    So, Honestly, When Is "Soon"?

    Every time someone posts about stocking up on tobacco, there are encouraging replies about how important that is because prices will be skyrocketing "soon." So, curious, I searched the forums. These skyrocketing prices have been coming "soon" for the last three years. Don't get me wrong: I don't...
  15. rmbittner

    What Should Be My Next Balkan/Oriental?

    I'm just finishing up a tin of Odyssey, and I'm looking for opinions about what Balkan/Oriental-forward blend should follow it. Every now and then I pull tins from the cellar and move them to a "next-to-be-smoked" stockpile. Here's what's currently in that pile that would fit the...
  16. rmbittner

    Nice surprise

    Just received my latest tobacco order from SmokingPipes.com and was pleasantly surprised to see that all 10 of my tins of Frog Morton on the Town were from 2011. Instant aging! Pretty cool.
  17. rmbittner

    Want a Bigger Nic Hit? Smoke It Fresh.

    Just came across an interesting fact that I hadn't known before (and which was confirmed by three different books on tobacco): Nicotine dissipates in the air. So a blend smoked fresh will have more nicotine content than the same blend dried out for a period of time. Personally, I try to avoid...
  18. rmbittner

    "Duh" Tip for Those Who Use Matches

    I recently dug out an old box of extra-long cigar matches from the bottom of my tobacco drawer. And wouldn't you know it: I discovered that cigar matches make great "first lights" when you're firing up a fresh bowl of tobacco. Now I've gotten into the habit of sticking a couple of cigar matches...
  19. rmbittner

    Odyssey Has Legs!

    GLPease's Odyssey is the most latakia-forward of all of his Balkans. In fact, it might just be the most latakia-heavy of any Pease blend. As a result, it doesn't always smoke like a Balkan, where, ideally, the orientals and latakia are balanced in such a way that you get a rich creaminess in the...
  20. rmbittner

    You Think *Your* Cellar Is Stocked

    I've been reading a history of tobacco and came across this report regarding an auction in June 1843 for the pipes, cigars, and tobaccos of the recently deceased Duke of Sussex. The auction lasted three days. When it was all said and done, the auctioneers had moved: 220 pipes (none of which...
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