Einstein’s Revelation

[Briar Lee]

Although not prone to rumination as much as revelations of pure genius, the most famous genius of the twentieth century was photographed smoking Revelation pipe tobacco, a product of Phillip Morris.

In a market full of “codger burley” blends, Revelation was one of the few popularly priced OTC blends that advertised it was made from five different tobaccos, Burley, Virginia, Carolina, Latika, and Perique, and of different cuts, so it packed for smoking better.

I remember seeing Revelation for sale as a kid fifty years ago, but I don’t think at the Humansville drug store or grocery stores. It was for sale at larger drug stores in Springfield.

There are match blends today, and mine from online is delicious. Whether it matches the original I have no way of knowing.

When I took up the leaf in the early 1970’s every brand of popular American OTC pipe tobacco was 25 cents for 1 1/2 ounces, including Revelation.

Was Einstein enough of a genius to buy the fanciest blend of drug store tobacco, or was there enough Latika and Perique to make it equal a pipe shop blend?

Id appreciate more history about Revelation, and other American OTC blends that tried to be better, as well as different than the competition.

 

[mso489]

Walnut is well-remembered and matched by Hearth and Home Midtown series Chestnut. I admire Sir Walter Raleigh Aromatic that is burley based with Virginia as a condiment and flavored with three liqueurs, which is more elaborate than most codger aromatics. Granger is often sold as a non-aromatic because it is a Kentucky rough cut burley, but it is memorably flavored with molasses, and Mixture No. 79 has its anisette. Most of the old time U.S. blends have a little something extra awaiting you, if you give them a chance. Not to mention, the prices are comparatively moderate, so far, and these blends burn well without time-consuming preparation. These blends having been around for ninety years or more is not inexplicable. The old gents of yore were not as unknowing as we sometimes think. Yes, one of them was Einstein.

 

[anotherbob]

Although not prone to rumination as much as revelations of pure genius, the most famous genius of the twentieth century was photographed smoking Revelation pipe tobacco, a product of Phillip Morris.

In a market full of “codger burley” blends, Revelation was one of the few popularly priced OTC blends that advertised it was made from five different tobaccos, Burley, Virginia, Carolina, Latika, and Perique, and of different cuts, so it packed for smoking better.

I remember seeing Revelation for sale as a kid fifty years ago, but I don’t think at the Humansville drug store or grocery stores. It was for sale at larger drug stores in Springfield.

There are match blends today, and mine from online is delicious. Whether it matches the original I have no way of knowing.

When I took up the leaf in the early 1970’s every brand of popular American OTC pipe tobacco was 25 cents for 1 1/2 ounces, including Revelation.

Was Einstein enough of a genius to buy the fanciest blend of drug store tobacco, or was there enough Latika and Perique to make it equal a pipe shop blend?

Id appreciate more history about Revelation, and other American OTC blends that tried to be better, as well as different than the competition.

View attachment 102425

Bite free funny how every single blend from back then was bite free.

 

[Chasing Embers]

Was Einstein enough of a genius to buy the fanciest blend of drug store tobacco, or was there enough Latika and Perique to make it equal a pipe shop blend?

Could've just been an impulse buy during a drug induced hallucination.

 

[didimauw]

Could've just been an impulse buy during a drug induced hallucination.

I think we've all been there before....

 

[Chasing Embers]

I think we've all been there before....

Yep

 

[Briar Lee]

Bite free funny how every single blend from back then was bite free.

Prince Albert was likely the first pocket tinned, moist and sweetened burley blend that started the others.

Here’s a guide to dating Prince Albert cans.

Do You Have Prince Albert in a Can?: A Chronology of Pocket Tobacco Tins (Dating Guide)

This is a general dating guide to the changes and evolution of Prince Albert pocket tobacco tins from their first development 1909 to when the brand was sold in 1987.

www.academia.edu

When I was a kid every work bench area of every old red barn (this was long before modern “shops”) had a few old pocket tins of tobacco and lots of the old one pound tobacco cans, plus three pound coffee cans for bolt and screw storage.

The big tobacco companies back in the day paid maybe ten cents a pound for the burley and sold the manufactured and canned product for over ten times that.

I can remember getting free little booklets of cigarette papers with Prince Albert and Velvet marked with the brand. Those seemed to be the favorites of the RYO smokers.

I’ve finished a bowl of Revelation match and it’s wonderful tobacco. I could taste the Latika and there’s a bit of Perique for spice, and yet I think there’s some aromatic burley also in the blend.

Very important, when every pipe smoker had to think of how the ladies would react to his pipe.

 

[didimauw]

I wish they still made tobaccos in those old style pocket tins.

And I see a lot of those thrift shopping too. My mother in law tried to get me to buy one. I told her I don't smoke it, so I wouldn't want it. But now that this thread is up, I'm going to try to find the oldest can I'm able to! And then my MIL will think I'm smart by knowing the dates of the tins hehehe.

 

[judcole]

When I picked up my pipe again, after a number of years on cigars, House of Windsor was still making a few of the American Classics - not only Revelation, but Barking Dog, Country Doctor, Union Leader, Model, and some of the others. I smoked a few of 'em, but at that time in my pipe smoking career, they were not what I was looking for. Some of the Sutliff Match blends are definitely tasty.

There is a lot to be said for good all-day blends.

 

[pappymac]

I still have about 5 or 6 ounces of George Washington tucked away in the darkest corner of my cellar. It's a burley/virginia blend with a molasses flavor. It was my step-grandfather's favorite blend until they stopped making it in the mid-1970s.

Interesting story I was told was that R.J. Reynolds was reducing the number of blends it was selling and they had to make a decision between Prince Albert and George Washington. Rumor was the decision basically came down to a coin flip and Prince Albert won.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

I always see these blends associated with different famous people, CS Lewis and Erinmore and Capstan, Stalin and his Royal Yacht, Einstein and this one, I will bet that they weren't that different in the way they do brands from the way we smoke today, trying new things all of the time, swapping it up. But, these blends stick with the smokers because we have written evidence of it. But the old saying, "put that in your pipe and smoke it," most likely came from the way pipe smokers explored new things all of the time, and being open minded to swapping tobaccos. It's just a guess, but I can't imagine being a slave to one brand of pipe tobacco like one would be to cigarettes. IMO

 

[telescopes]

But the old saying, "put that in your pipe and smoke it,"

Hmmm. Not sure about that one, Cosmic. I'm a confirmed Midwesterner and we are an idiomatic people, just like people from West Texas. I think that saying really a polite way of saying,

"Stick that up your a#$."

 

[cosmicfolklore]

Hmmm. Not sure about that one, Cosmic. I'm a confirmed Midwesterner and we are an idiomatic people, just like people from West Texas. I think that saying really a polite way of saying,

"Stick that up your a#$."

Oh, I am sure that is what it means also. But like other idioms or cliches, "hot potato issue," "Devil's advocate," and "can of worms," they have had to of come from a basic understanding to begin with, or else they would make no sense.

If hot potatoes didn't elicit a tossing about of the pain inducing heat, then it would make no sense to use the phrase.

 

[didimauw]

Am I the only one that wants to read it as "Relevation"?

I used to work with a guy on the railroad, that would always say " oh I reNember this, or I reNember that".

But I sometimes have Relevations that I can't renember.

To keep this on topic, that blend has way too much going on, for me to want to try it.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

Am I the only one that wants to read it as "Relevation"?

I used to work with a guy on the railroad, that would always say " oh I reNember this, or I reNember that".

But I sometimes have Relevations that I can't renember.

To keep this on topic, that blend has way too much going on, for me to want to try it.

revolution, rumination, ramification... I'm not sure what a relevation is though.

I love the idea of a latakia OTC. Were there others that had latakia also?

 

[telescopes]

.

To keep this on topic, that blend has way too much going on, for me to want to try it.

Are you talking about the tobacco choices are the women pictured in the ad?

 

[JimInks]

@Briar Lee , the burley in Revelation Match is not aromatic. What you are tasting is a rum topping, which the original had as well.

 

[kcghost]

Jiminks has spoken!!

 

[Chasing Embers]

revolution, rumination, ramification... I'm not sure what a relevation is though.

I love the idea of a latakia OTC. Were there others that had latakia also?

Masterpiece

I've seen several pouches come and go on ebay.

 

[Streeper541]

Prince Albert was likely the first pocket tinned, moist and sweetened burley blend that started the others.

Here’s a guide to dating Prince Albert cans.

Do You Have Prince Albert in a Can?: A Chronology of Pocket Tobacco Tins (Dating Guide)

This is a general dating guide to the changes and evolution of Prince Albert pocket tobacco tins from their first development 1909 to when the brand was sold in 1987.

www.academia.edu

When I was a kid every work bench area of every old red barn (this was long before modern “shops”) had a few old pocket tins of tobacco and lots of the old one pound tobacco cans, plus three pound coffee cans for bolt and screw storage.

The big tobacco companies back in the day paid maybe ten cents a pound for the burley and sold the manufactured and canned product for over ten times that.

I can remember getting free little booklets of cigarette papers with Prince Albert and Velvet marked with the brand. Those seemed to be the favorites of the RYO smokers.

I’ve finished a bowl of Revelation match and it’s wonderful tobacco. I could taste the Latika and there’s a bit of Perique for spice, and yet I think there’s some aromatic burley also in the blend.

Very important, when every pipe smoker had to think of how the ladies would react to his pipe.

View attachment 102452View attachment 102453

You sure don't see advertising like that anymore. ?