One of the weird local stereotypes is that Saint Mary's people are loose with the truth. I always thought that was b.s. because well being loose with the truth is a pretty spread out affliction. I wonder if that might be part of it. Often they bring it up when we talk about how much of a PA thing Yuengling is. Might be a miscommunication thing to.
It's hard to know why people say what they say. You would have to ask them where they got their information from exactly. Theoretically whoever gave them the info could have been either confused or telling a tall tale. There are a bunch of places in the US calling themselves the first in the same category. Yuengling claims to be the oldest continuous US brewery because they were selling beer supposedly medicinally during Prohibition. But it seems like the concept itself is questionable. Maybe you could find people some place who were operating illegally prohibition whose operation went back further.
And have done a fine job with the brand. Since they took over the complaints have become less common.
I do want to visit that store so much. I just imagine they should actually know their shit.
If you go, they have two walls with almost 100 25 cent sample jars, and a once a month pipe club. The clerk was knowledgeable, maybe mid range in knowledgeability within the pipe market. I also saw they had a coffee machine and non-alcohol fridge.
An example of people who don't know their stuff is some clerks at some Discount stores. They can sell you cheap nonbriar wood pipes, RYO leaf, tell you torch lighters work great. That might be the worst combination:
Torch light RYO in a thick varnished ebony wood pipe. Then switch to overly goopy aromatics with the same pipe and torch. Yes I have done this kind of thing as a beginning level piper and many others have too. A couple youtube pipers tell people to use torchlights and cheap mystery wood. It's so bad it's entertaining.
If you go to the Smoking Pipes store it's a great trip for a few days because Myrtle Beach is nearby with great seafood and beaches.
I agree so much about preferences. Heck my own preferences change over the years. I don't know the alcohol levels of mead but I have liked what I've had from pro made to home made.
Mead just means honey drink, so it can have anywhere from practically no alcohol to like 20%. Above that it becomes more like liquor. At a low percent it's like a honey version of root beer or fizzy apple cider, so it's my favorite.
My favorites though are the ones where it's almost hard to believe it was made from honey.
I like rum. Honestly I have found rum and brandy seem to agree with pipes the best.
Truly.
Never tried the Collins mixture. I have made hot buttered rum and turbinado sugar gave me the best results. Never tried molasses with it.
The "Bottles" wine store in SC carries liquor mixes like Collins rum. I think that the product includes molasses. At least the jar has a thick brown goo.
I still need to try that one. I try not to jump around from pipe tobaccos too much. I find they're like talking to people at a party. If you talk to everyone nothing wrong with that, but if you talk too a few people you're more likely to really get to know them a little bit.
I can't say you need to try FVF Plug.
Everyone has their own preferences, so I could telling that an aromatic is amazing like your favorite drink, and you could try it and say it's like a bad version of your drink.
CRBM is like that. It's like cherry juice for me and I like it. But some people think it's like cough syrup.
It seems worth trying a variety though.
The category that I think Americans and Westerners tend to miss the most is non-Latakia Orientals, or what we could say a lot of people actually have smoked in the Balkans and Black Sea region.
Probably the best known example of what I mean would be Camels cigarettes, Cherokee Black, and Turkish export.
Less common would be pure leaf Katerini, pure leaf Samsun, and D and R's Bulgarian Blend.
Usually when Americans smoke Orientals, they have it with Latakia, and while it's understandable and a lot of people like Lat blends, there's a non Latakia Oriental genre that they don't pay as much attention to.
Never had a Grabow. I just never really liked their aesthetic. It's one of those stupid it feels off to me somehow.
I love my fill bent Grabow.
It looks good to me, very classic, like a grandpa pipe. They are reliable quality too.
Reasons why people might not be impressed with them is that they are simple looking and very affordable. But for me those are fine qualities.
I am guessing that it's the best of the standard mass produced classic pipe brands.
www.jtexpress.tokyo
www.interestingpennsylvania.com
