Anyone Here Tried Norman Rockwell Portrait?

[smokingwizard]

Pipes & Cigars magazine plugged it so much that I got a tin and tried it. Luv the way it smells in the tin & so does my wife, a chocolate smelling delight. But when I smoked it, it fell short of such delight- just for my own taste. So I really cleaned up one of my good pipes & tried it again. It was a bit better & the empty pipe was left with a coco hint at the draw. Not saying it’s bad or good, but maybe some of you guys had a better experience. I still see my wife taking a sniff now and then lol. I really want to like this tobacco but maybe I’m missing something?

 

[danimalia]

I literally just laughed out loud when I read the first line of copy on P&C's website:

Introducing a collection of new pipe tobacco from the great Norman Rockwell.

Oh really?
I always feel a bit bummed out when a blend I expected to like falls short. Sounds like you've given it a fair shot. Maybe re-visit it in a few months, see if you like it any better then?

 

[smokingwizard]

Yes, I can see your point now. I guess my newbie self is a bit gullible lol

 

[cosmicfolklore]

Marketing. It is like the LOTR tobaccos. Take a cherry vanilla and call it Hobbit Weed and the suckers line up. I prefer the Star Trek tobaccos myself. ::

 

[mso489]

I can't remember the wording, but something about the text describing the blend made me think it was not for an experienced pipe smoker. I like Norman Rockwell's artwork, and I've gone to good gallery showings that illustrated some of his work beyond the nostalgic Americana, but borrowing his name and art work for the tin seemed a little iffy. Russ O. has reminded us that well over ninety percent of pipe tobacco sales are aromatic, so likely this blend will find a clientele. I'd have to learn something more about it that appealed to me.

 

[logs]

Take a cherry vanilla and call it Hobbit Weed and the suckers line up.

Haha.. call me a skeptic but that's how I feel about the "small batch" fad. Take a bunch of leaf you already have in storage, blend something you've made a million times before but adding a different topping or other minor condiment. And then for the final touch, put it in a numbered tin with fancy art. Now stand back and watch collectors go crazy over your amazing "artisinal" release. ::

 

[alaskanpiper]

Haha.. call me a skeptic but that's how I feel about the "small batch" fad. Take a bunch of leaf you already have in storage, blend something you've made a million times before but adding a different topping or other minor condiment. And then for the final touch, put it in a numbered tin with fancy art. Now stand back and watch collectors go crazy over your amazing "artisinal" release.

This happens in craft beer all the time as well. That being said, sometimes it can take something ok and make it extraordinary. Some of the best beers I ever brewed were, to quote Bob Ross, "Happy Accidents" made out of shit I had leftover and some funky adjuncts.
Just wait until they start renaming the same product and having a "new release" like Rogue Brewing loves to do.

 

[haparnold]

Haha.. call me a skeptic but that's how I feel about the "small batch" fad. Take a bunch of leaf you already have in storage, blend something you've made a million times before but adding a different topping or other minor condiment. And then for the final touch, put it in a numbered tin with fancy art. Now stand back and watch collectors go crazy over your amazing "artisinal" release.

If you're referring to Cornell & Diehl's small batch blends, I think you're wrong. How different do you want it to be exactly? Much like baseball, blending tobacco is "a game of inches", and new blends are almost always incrementally different from previous ones. To my mind it's a really good way to give people a taste of something that isn't grown in significant enough volume for continuous production.
And, they are generally the same price as C&D's regular offerings, so it's not like anyone's being suckered here, at least on the primary market.

 

[danimalia]

I didn't mean for my post to make you feel gullible. It sounds like a blend I might have been keen to try, as I like that kind of semi-aromatic burley blend. I was just laughing at the "new line of pipe tobaccos from Norman Rockwell" which is, well, hilarious.
One of the worst "Special/Limited/Small Batch" things I've seen was actually sort of a boutique/prestige project. Caldwell cigars "Lost & Found" line. Basically, a bunch of cigars would be sitting in some factory's storage, would get re-branded as a trendy Caldwell release, and then sold for a fair chunk of change. Incredible. For the factories, I guess it beat bundling them up and selling them as a discount "exclusive" for one of the big retailers?
As for C&D, I think that's a different deal. Those are supposed to be blends made with components that don't exist in enough quantity to support an ongoing release. Like the red VAs in Carolina Red Flake or the Italian dark--fired in Sansepolcro. That strikes me as a true small batch/limited release kind of deal.

 

[danimalia]

Marketing. It is like the LOTR tobaccos. Take a cherry vanilla and call it Hobbit Weed and the suckers line up. I prefer the Star Trek tobaccos myself. ::

That is because apparently the venn diagram of pipe smokers and LOTR fans is just a damn circle. When I start my pipe tobacco company, you'll have to try my new line of Sherlock Holmes in Middle Earth crossover series.

 

[brooklynpiper]

hat is because apparently the venn diagram of pipe smokers and LOTR fans is just a damn circle.

hahahahahahha

 

[logs]

the venn diagram of pipe smokers and LOTR fans is just a damn circle

True enough. Still, I miss the days when pipe smoking was considered the domain of intellectuals and philosophers wearing neckties and tweed jackets. The wizard crowd may be sustaining the pipe market at this point but they don't have style.

I guess my newbie self is a bit gullible

Man, don't worry at all. There's no shame in trying out a new blend you're all excited about and then not liking it. It happens to us all. I recently bought three 8oz tins of Potlatch because it had good reviews and bargain pricing at Pipes & Cigars, only to discover I find the stuff revolting. Typically I don't buy that kind of quantity of a blend I haven't personally tested but it had a JimInks four star review so I figured it was golden!

Oh well.. these things happen.

 

[pappymac]

Marketing. It is like the LOTR tobaccos. Take a cherry vanilla and call it Hobbit Weed and the suckers line up. I prefer the Star Trek tobaccos myself.

Now you know there is no smoking in the Star Trek universe. They have even outlawed eating red meat. Surely you meant that you prefer the Star Wars tobacco blends sold in places like the Cantina or possibly stolen from Jabba the Hut's cellar.

 

[danimalia]

True enough. Still, I miss the days when pipe smoking was considered the domain of intellectuals and philosophers wearing neckties and tweed jackets. The wizard crowd may be sustaining the pipe market at this point but they don't have style.

For every professor in a tweed jacket, you had a sailor, farmer or blue-collar working man. It is interesting what the mind comes up with when we imagine the past, though. Besides, (stuffs greasy rag into bottle, lights it) you saying Hobbit fans can't be intellectuals (throws it, scampers away)?

 

[danimalia]

Now you know there is no smoking in the Star Trek universe.

I just happened to be catch this old episode of Star Trek where Data becomes fascinated with Sherlock Holmes and takes on his persona, and you're right, the pipe is definitely frowned upon by his shipmates and captain. It's pretty funny. :puffpipe:

 

[smokingwizard]

To danimalia- being gullible is all part of being a newbie lol it’s all good I know you ment well, and it’s good for my newbie self to hear such things. :D

 

[billjohnso20]

For every professor in a tweed jacket, you had a sailor, farmer or blue-collar working man. It is interesting what the mind comes up with when we imagine the past, though. Besides, (stuffs greasy rag into bottle, lights it) you saying Hobbit fans can't be intellectuals (throws it, scampers away)?

My great grandfather was a coal miner who smoked a pipe exclusively. I smoked a pipe as well BEFORE I became an intellectual when I was still a blue collar grunt. Following the accident that disabled me and led to my education and academic successes, I actually moved away from pipes and smoked cigars almost exclusively for two plus decades. I am now single once again and smoking a pipe fits my new lifestyle much better than cigars do. (I have found few women that are not jealous of the time I spend smoking a pipe. Of course, it could just be that I'm not good at picking women.) In fact, I have only had one cigar in the past six months. All that said, my preferred attire for smoking a pipe is still blue collar---jeans or cargo pants and a t-shirt.

 

[BROBS]

My grandfather was a welder and then foundryman at John Deere ... smoked a pipe at work.

 

[billjohnso20]

Cool. I worked in a foundry for several years until I had my accident. It's hot, hard work.

 

[logs]

For every professor in a tweed jacket, you had a sailor, farmer or blue-collar working man. It is interesting what the mind comes up with when we imagine the past, though.

I come from a family of pipe-smoking academics and marine zoologists, so that's where my nostalgia lies.