Best Blend of 2024: The Epilogue Part

[jbfrady]

In the event that my sleuthing was all mere and complete coincidence, repeated over and over by a sheer stroke of lightning striking in the same spot thrice, then I rescind my former arguments and resign to the fact that I went to a fight the other night and a hockey game broke out.

In broad strokes… If you look for conspiracy, you’ll find it. If you look for some idiot who can’t always count, you’ll find that too. The only difference between the two is intent. There’s nothing I can do to prove intent or the lack thereof, but I’d hope that if nothing else, the responses made here by others should assuage that concern.

 

[spearheadbill]

In broad strokes… If you look for conspiracy, you’ll find it. If you look for some idiot who can’t always count, you’ll find that too. The only difference between the two is intent. There’s nothing I can do to prove intent or the lack thereof, but I’d hope that if nothing else, the responses made here by others should assuage that concern.

Well i dunno man. With forensics to see if you have received funds from Mr. Escudo directly this will remain an open case!!

 

[jbfrady]

Well i dunno man. With forensics to see if you have received funds from Mr. Escudo directly this will remain an open case!!

They did but the payoffs have gone up in smoke

 

[dottlejockey]

Taking it a step further, I only nominate blends that won’t win. Last year I nominated Sutliff’s Anomalous and it was handily trounced. The same was bound to happen this year to Aus dem Krater.

F'ing sacrilege!

 

[metalheadycigarguy]

Not sure how much of the back and forth you actually read before adding your 2 cents here. This wasn’t just a simple error. That’s not what lead to this. I joined a game and played for weeks thinking that it was a fair game. When I started to notice discrepancies I brought it up and it was met with attitude. I then went back and not only found further discrepancies, but the discrepancies were in favor of certain blends and a consistent detriment to others. All 3 daily tallies that were checked had additional minuses to one blend in particular and boosts to a couple blends in particular. This indicates a pattern, a pattern that could only be described as cheating. I returned the attitude that was posted with the same attitude in return. For me and many others, games are fun only when there are rules in place. What this became was what I can only describe as a self aggrandizing story time by the poster/gamemaker, adding and subtracting at his whim and making it up ridiculously as he went along. I was frustrated that I joined a game and played for weeks in what I assumed was be fair. I made the posts I made so that others could see what was going on. If you like, the original posts are still there where you can see the evidence of the extra pluses to a couple blends and the extra minuses to a couple other blends. It was consistent across the board and I would be willing to bet if I went back to the beginning I would find even more evidence. Perhaps you should do a little research into what’s going on actually before adding your 2 cents.

Man, I had no idea I needed to do research before commenting on a thread in a pipe forum. Who would have thought! I figured I was good after reading through all the posts, but I better go back to check to see where the idiocracy began. Good lord.

 

[Grangerous]

The game was fun. A lot of fun.

The Journey is often better than the destination.

It was advanced age and treachery pitted against youth and skill.

I was having a blast as were many others, accurate count or not.

The end result would’ve been a few more weeks of fun.

 

[geoffs]

I have no idea what happened.
I'm smoking a bowl of Doblone D'Oro right now.
Resurrected from the dead.
Blend of the Year, 2024.

 

[Grangerous]

-1 Doblone D’Oro
+2 Winchester

 

[Skippy Piper]

The game was fun. A lot of fun.

The Journey is often better than the destination.

It was advanced age and treachery pitted against youth and skill.

I was having a blast as were many others, accurate count or not.

The end result would’ve been a few more weeks of fun.

In honor of the game I'm smoking a special custom blend in a Country Gentleman cob right now.

The top half of the bowl is Pegasus, and the bottom half is Merde de Cheval.

 

[jbfrady]

In honor of the game I'm smoking a special custom blend in a Country Gentleman cob right now.

The top half of the bowl is Pegasus, and the bottom half is Merde de Cheval.

View attachment 367499

In honor of the game (or dishonor if you ask @Servant King) I just bought a pound of Pegasus on that current smokingpipes.com bulk deal. Soon I’ll know what all the fuss is about.

 

[Skippy Piper]

In honor of the game (or dishonor if you ask @Servant King) I just bought a pound of Pegasus on that current smokingpipes.com bulk deal. Soon I’ll know what all the fuss is about.

I hope you enjoy it very much! If you're a fan of Haunted Bookshop then you'll definitely like Pegasus, since it's basically just Haunted Bookshop with the Perique swapped out for unsweetened Black Cavendish and a touch less dark Burley.

My only bit of advice for Pegasus would be to jar it up for 2 weeks before trying it, since for some reason the bulk Pegasus straight out of the bag just doesn't taste quite the same as the tinned version and can be rather bland until you jar it up for a couple weeks. Two weeks in a jar will bring out the flavors and aromas nicely though.

 

[jbfrady]

I hope you enjoy it very much! If you're a fan of Haunted Bookshop then you'll definitely like Pegasus, since it's basically just Haunted Bookshop with the Perique swapped out for unsweetened Black Cavendish and a touch less dark Burley.

My only bit of advice for Pegasus would be to jar it up for 2 weeks before trying it, since for some reason the bulk Pegasus straight out of the bag just doesn't taste quite the same as the tinned version and can be rather bland until you jar it up for a couple weeks. Two weeks in a jar will bring out the flavors and aromas nicely though.

I appreciate the heads up. Ultimately I bought it with the intention of blending it. I’ve got several jars at the ready and I snagged some Pegasus, Founding Fathers, Granby Station, Engine 611, and a tad bit of Green River Vanilla.

I like to keep something accessible at home that’s got an aromatic flair to it without burning like the Palisades . I’ll experiment a bit and see what works best, as I’ve never had any of the aforementioned blends.

 

[Servant King]

In honor of the game (or dishonor if you ask @Servant King) I just bought a pound of Pegasus on that current smokingpipes.com bulk deal. Soon I’ll know what all the fuss is about.

Assuming the experience doesn't kill you or, worse yet, cause you to quit pipe smoking entirely. I admire your optimism!

 

[VDL_Piper]

In honor of the game I'm smoking a special custom blend in a Country Gentleman cob right now.

The top half of the bowl is Pegasus, and the bottom half is Merde de Cheval 179Spew

View attachment 367499

Fixed it for ya..........

 

[andrew]

Not sure how much of the back and forth you actually read before adding your 2 cents here. This wasn’t just a simple error. That’s not what lead to this. I joined a game and played for weeks thinking that it was a fair game. When I started to notice discrepancies I brought it up and it was met with attitude. I then went back and not only found further discrepancies, but the discrepancies were in favor of certain blends and a consistent detriment to others. All 3 daily tallies that were checked had additional minuses to one blend in particular and boosts to a couple blends in particular. This indicates a pattern, a pattern that could only be described as cheating. I returned the attitude that was posted with the same attitude in return. For me and many others, games are fun only when there are rules in place. What this became was what I can only describe as a self aggrandizing story time by the poster/gamemaker, adding and subtracting at his whim and making it up ridiculously as he went along. I was frustrated that I joined a game and played for weeks in what I assumed was be fair. I made the posts I made so that others could see what was going on. If you like, the original posts are still there where you can see the evidence of the extra pluses to a couple blends and the extra minuses to a couple other blends. It was consistent across the board and I would be willing to bet if I went back to the beginning I would find even more evidence. Perhaps you should do a little research into what’s going on actually before adding your 2 cents.

You should be on the new DOGE department so you can hold government agencies accountable.

 

[Servant King]

You should be on the new DOGE department so you can hold government agencies accountable.

They renamed it to Committee of Departmental Government Efficiency Regulation (CODGER). More efficient that way, I guess. Or less. A toss-up, really.

 

[jbfrady]

They renamed it to Committee of Departmental Government Efficiency Regulation (CODGER). More efficient that way, I guess. Or less. A toss-up, really.

A tad less efficient, as they’re always whining about how they just don’t make government departments like they used to.

 

[Skippy Piper]

Fixed it for ya..........

I'm pretty sure if I smoked a whole Country Gentleman full of 179Whew I'd be on the floor! The bathroom floor, specifically. It is definitely a "small bowls only" blend!

At the moment though I'm actually smoking...

 

[Sandblast]

In honor of the game I'm smoking a special custom blend in a Country Gentleman cob right now.
The top half of the bowl is Pegasus, and the bottom half is Merde de Cheval.

View attachment 367499

A parfait ... oh yeah! I'm currently enjoying:
Top Half = Winchester
Bottom Half = Royal Cajun Special
And in a cob as well ... an MM Missouri Pride (straight).

 

[jbfrady]

Update: I received my pound of Pegasus today. Whole solid, I’d describe this blend as amiably nondescript. The retrohale note is overwhelming, though the blend is young and the VA notes are still spicy.

As not-quite described above, this blend is like Haunted Bookshop if the Bookshop was pleasant, but passersby would surely be put off by the straight tobacco in the room note.

I’m glad that I got several other blends to serve as mixers and aromatic pleasers for House-Blend room notes, as they’ll slowly serve well when mixed with this platonic ideal.

At this point I’d like to say… I accidentally discovered a Diehl diamond in the rough: Founding Fathers. It’s a burley + cavendish that claims flavoring by some obscure fruity sauce popular in the 18th century and this is surely some apothecary’s magic.

This is my prominent problem with C&D: of their nearly 150 blends, 90% aren’t worth a revisit, if they’re worth the initial traipsing. But this shit is an immediate aromatic go-to. Do yourself a favor and snag a tin.