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  1. rmbittner

    Thread Enforcement

    I don't mean to offend anyone here, but I've noticed that it's not unusual for threads to remain in inappropriate categories. I've noticed this particularly in the General Pipe Smoking section, where we've seen entire threads devoted to a topic such as whether someone should get a dog or not...
  2. rmbittner

    My First Bowls of Stonehaven

    I've had a 2007 bag of Stonehaven in my cellar since 2007, and I've been avoiding it. I tend to steer clear of higher-nicotine blends. . . and my experience with Solani's Aged Burley Flake, a blend I'd been assuming was similar, was just "okay." For me, it was too nic-rich, which gave it a...
  3. rmbittner

    Click-through for Ads?

    Just a quick question: On other ad-supported sites, users are always being encouraged to reach the sponsors' sites by clicking from the site, as opposed to just plugging the address into their browser. That way, advertisers can get solid numbers on how well their ads are generating traffic from...
  4. rmbittner

    I Don't Enjoy Aromatics. . . But I Like These

    This just doesn't make sense. I'm a die-hard non-aromatic smoker: English, Balkans, Virginias, VA/burley flakes. But some months back I got curious about some of the old OTC blends that aren't made anymore. And I discovered that Sutliff was making their own versions of some of them. Not to sound...
  5. rmbittner

    EBAY: Would This Be a Turn-Off for You?

    I have a nice pipe I've considered selling on eBay. . . But I don't have the equipment necessary to give the bowl and stem a great shine (and remove some of the scorching on the top of the bowl), and I don't have any experience sanitizing pipes. If you saw a listing for a pipe that required the...
  6. rmbittner

    Pipe Industry News Sources?

    I'm wondering what news sources you turn to for up-to-the-minute coverage of the pipe and pipe-tobacco industries. I'm not so much interested in legislation; I'm primarily interested in company news, retailer news, etc. I've looked at Smoke Shop magazine, and they give very little coverage to...
  7. rmbittner

    If You Like "That," You Might Like "This"

    After going over my tasting notes for the last 30+ years, I've realized that several blends have similarities that remind me of other blends. I thought it might be fun to share a few of those and see what interesting connections the rest of you might have noticed. These aren't duplicates...
  8. rmbittner

    Show Ideas

    Rather than PM this, I thought I'd post it here in case anyone else wanted to give a thumbs-up/thumbs-down to any of these ideas. Interviews with . . . Richard C. Hacker, author of the highly influential 1980s book The Ultimate Pipe Book William Serad, prolific pipe-tobacco reviewer and...
  9. rmbittner

    Any Chance You'll Add Video? Change Ads?

    I would just like to put in my vote for a move from an audio-only podcast (I really do wish you'd stop calling it a "radio show") to a video-based one. Nowadays, it's so easy to set up Skype sessions with interviewees who are outside the production studio. And I think it would add a lot more...
  10. rmbittner

    If You Want a Modern-Day Balkan Sobranie...

    ... then you need to try McClelland's Grand Orientals: Yenidje Highlander. This is the only entry in the Grand Orientals series that features latakia. . . and it's doing it in a blend highlighting the specific oriental varietal that made Balkan Sobranie so enjoyable in its heyday. I think this...
  11. rmbittner

    Heartbreaking...

    I recently pulled a tobacco trade "off the market" when I discovered that an aged tin of GLPease Raven's Wing had faded so much in the last four years that it was no longer representative of what it once was -- or worth what I'd paid for it on eBay. I thought that might be an anomaly. But I just...
  12. rmbittner

    Surprises in the Cellar

    Not long ago, I had a computer crash that caused me to lose my database of cellared tobaccos. (And led me to switch from PCs to an iMac. But that's a different topic...) So I recently re-inventoried my stockpile, which consists entirely of sealed tins stored in storage containers. This time, I...
  13. rmbittner

    Thank you, Carl Weber!

    I never hear his name mentioned in pipe circles, but I just thought it was time to give a shout-out to Carl Weber, a pipe manufacturer and author from the 1950s-1960s, whose book The Pleasures of Pipe Smoking literally changed my life. I had been attracted to pipe smoking before I discovered...
  14. rmbittner

    Recommend a C&D English to Me

    After listening to the Chris Tarler interview in the latest podcast, I realized that I've never tried a Cornell & Diehl blend. I tend to think of them as primarily aromatics (which I don't typically smoke), so I was shocked to hear Chris put the percentage of aromatics-to-English at around 15%...
  15. rmbittner

    Underrated and Recommended

    I've noticed that lots of tobacco blends are mentioned constantly by pipe smokers. But I've also noticed that some of my favorites seem to never crop up in discussions. So I thought I'd start this thread to see if anyone else wanted to give a shout-out to the blends you love that tend to be...
  16. rmbittner

    What's the story of your favorite pipe?

    I own my share of higher-end pipes -- Dunhills, Castellos, Charatans, Radices. But my two favorite pipes were decidedly less expensive. They aren't favorites because of their brand names but because of the stories behind them. My first briar pipe ever was a no-name Tinder Box pipe purchased for...
  17. rmbittner

    Estate Pipe - Any ideas?

    I found this pipe in an antique mall in Nashville for $8. It has absolutely no branding whatsoever, except for a hollow circle on the stem -- which appears to be a replacement stem (or a random stem tacked onto someone's homemade pipe). I'm assuming the pipe is homemade. But it's extremely...
  18. rmbittner

    Familiar with Mello Bowl pipes?

    I came across a collection of Mello Bowl pipes (unsmoked) from the 1940s. But I haven't been able to find out anything about this brand online. Does anyone here have any knowledge of the company. . . or collect these pipes? In the 40s, they were sold in drugstores and featured "blended briar,"...
  19. rmbittner

    Films that feature pipe smoking

    I love old movies (and by "old" I mean 1930s-1950s), and a couple stand out to me for the way they really highlight pipe smoking. Of course, the Basil Rathbone Sherlock Holmes series is an obvious choice. But there are a couple of others I thought folks here might appreciate. "Crossfire" is a...
  20. rmbittner

    Tobacco "Appreciation"

    Back in the mid-80s I spent five years working part-time at a Tinder Box store (now gone) in Chicagoland. It was a typical TB, with tons of those Bradford Exchange collector plates, Hummels, Lladros, etc. But we were also able to bring in any tobacco blends we wanted, to see if they'd sell. So...
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