GLP Haddos Delight and the Ramblings of a Madman

[mrenglish]

Interesting, thanks Cosmic. I will have to look that book up and give it a read.
I was also thinking of the perique and rum in Haddo's Delight as paying homage to Mr. Crowley.

 

[saltedplug]

Aged Haddos is very hard for me to turn down.

 

[planetary]

Eric - you got it right. This is a relevant ASP post from Greg, circa 2004, quoted here for simplicity:

On Wed, 8 Dec 2004 12:22:06 -0800, Old Vagabond wrote
> Oliver Haddo was the main character in William Sommerset Maugham's novel

> 'The Magician'. The character was based on the English satanist

> Aleister Crowley.
[the REAL post - not the incomplete one that may show up as well...]
The novel was based rather loosely on Maugham's not very fond impressions

of Crowley, despite Crowley's hospitality toward Maugham. In fact,

Crowley made his extensive library available to Maugham, who turned round

and bit Crowley's backside with his "novel." Crowley responded, in his

own inimitable style, by publishing a small treatise demonstrating

Maugham's plagiarism throughout "The Magician." Crowley's vindictive

streak was legendary....
To call Crowley a satanist is somewhat misrepresentative. He was the most

infamous occultist of the 19th and early 20th centuries, certainly, as

well as an accomlished mountaineer, a scholar of eastern and western

philosophies, fluent in several languages, a master of several forms of

yoga practise, and a very vociferous and opinionated fellow. He was also

a dreaful poet...
He sought freedom of thought as the highest ideal, and fought against the

dominant paradigm of the time, which was quite oppressive.
Crowley was known to smoke straight perique, soaked in rum. Back in the

early F&P days, I tried this, and found it truly horrible. (No wonder he

was referred to as "The Great Beast.") But, it was the germ of an idea,

and became the inspiration for the blend "Aleister." It became quite a

popular blend.
When I reformed the business as GLPease, I couldn't let this blend simply

go to the grave, so I reformulated it, and gave it the name Haddo's

Delight. Maugham's Oliver Haddo was a despicable fellow, and probably

doesn't deserve to have a tobacco named for him, but the story was

amusing, and something about the connection seemed to be somewhat poetic.
Haddo's has taken on something of a life of its own. I was thrilled when

Bohemian Scandal began to take over the limelight, to some extent. I

wonder if it was Haddo himself who set that fire...
-glp

Link: https://groups.google.com/forum/#!msg/alt.smokers.pipes/xXWTthUQVa8/P1N7J-6pAmsJ

 

[escioe]

Jason: such a pleasure to see you back around on the forums. I thought you might have given us up! I'm still sipping away at your gifts, trying to ration them out over time. And thanks for finding that post. I guess if anyone knows how to find something in a google group, it would be you.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

Who is Eric? Ahhh so, I got it right. It only took a few searches to find this, but it did feel like I was discovering something that I wasn't sure whether it was common knowledge or not. Cool. Who is Eric?

 

[escioe]

I am. Planetary and I go way back.*
*Like three months, but the guy is an absolute gem.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

Cool, it's good to get some confirmation on the name Haddo. I think I left the author's last name off William Somerset "Maugham", but so did Amazon, when I went looking for the novel. I imagine that selling a product named after Crowley directly would be tough, with so much notoriety surrounding the man. At least it wasn't named after a cat, ha ha!

 

[planetary]

Jason: such a pleasure to see you back around on the forums. I thought you might have given us up! I'm still sipping away at your gifts, trying to ration them out over time. And thanks for finding that post. I guess if anyone knows how to find something in a google group, it would be you.

Certainly not! Just busy with home and work. And I'm glad you're enjoying the care package.
Yeah, I have a bit of experience with Groups.
I must admit, all this talk of Haddo's is prompting me to go out to the cellar and hunt down a tin. Such a remarkable, delicious mixture... And, of course, one's got to enjoy it in a Tinsky for the proper fin de siecle experience!

 

[brian64]

It’s amazing how many connections there are to Crowley and how often his name seems to come up...often in the unlikeliest of places, such as here. Of interest to Americans would be the fact that Jack Parsons was one of Crowley’s top disciples. Parsons was one of the founders of JPL. The below article on the subject is quite interesting.
Sex and Rockets

http://www.salon.com/2000/02/15/parsons_3/

No, it wasn’t as disturbing as a real life dinner I had with Bob Dylan

I suspect I’m not the only one here who wouldn’t mind if you were to elaborate a little on that one.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

brian64, it relates back to another thread where fadingdaylight and I were in a discussion about having dinner with someone that we;d always wanted to meet. My experience with meeting bob Dylan via long story, lessened my enjoyment of his music. I still respect his work, but... Through a friend who was instrumental in restoring and managing one of our landmark old theaters, I've had the opportunity to meet a few musicians. Some were a pleasure to meet, and some were jerks. Sometimes meeting someone you admire isn't going to be the same as you'd imagined ...and then sometimes you realize they're just well marketed people :wink:

 

[escioe]

I must admit, all this talk of Haddo's is prompting me to go out to the cellar and hunt down a tin. Such a remarkable, delicious mixture... And, of course, one's got to enjoy it in a Tinsky for the proper fin de siecle experience!

Haddo's has never been a blend I've reached for, though I've been tempted over the years. The nicotine used to scare me, but I suppose it's got to be somewhat south of Jackknife. And Tinsky's right down the road from me, and one of my good friends is one of his good friends. There has been talk of a trip to Wolf Creek to do some pipe stuff. We'll see.
But you really did hit on it: I was all of 12 in 1999, but a few nights a year I'll dig back through the archives for a few hours' reading. There is some really informative stuff, and some really funny stuff, too. The community seemed pretty close-knit for the first few years. But by the time I started smoking in 2005, most of the traffic had left, and I wouldn't have appreciated it anyway. Thank Odin we have it all archived and easily searchable.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

I think of Crowley as being a part of the Art Nouveau movement. With modern travel the world was becoming a "smaller" place. Ideas from other cultures were becoming like a "new age" infusing the interest in ancient Egypt, American Indians, Norse mythology, Ancient Greece, etc... and then there were those who were making a show of it, like Crowley. He was a magician of the times. And, as our own resident magician pointed out, magic is like pro-wrestling, the audience and the magician knows that it's fake, but they all set that aside to make an illusion.

I don't think it's a coincidence that when the 60's counter culture movement started making posters and pulling from imagery, that their symbols and icons were from the Art Nouveau era. The world was split between Beatles and Rolling Stones. You had two kinds of Crazy, Dr Seuss crazy and Charles Manson crazy, a light side and a dark side. So, when Black Sabbath painted themself an image, they pulled from Crowley of the previous era.
It is a strong blend, but I don't think of it as Nightcap strong. I wouldn't smoke it all day or anything, but it makes a nice zesty and tangy pick me up for the middle of the day, IMO.

 

[fadingdaylight]

I wouldn't mind picking Crowley's brain over a bowl of Haddos. With all of his knowledge, whether arcane or mundane, I imagine he knew far more of the worlds mythos than I do, and that stuff fascinates me. I've spent the better part of my life learning what I could about various religious and spiritual cultures, and I keep the Poetic Edda close at hand and all times. But, all perceptions of him aside, I am quite sure he knew more than I ever will.

 

[misterlowercase]

I used to think Haddo was an obscure hobbit,

until I eventually looked into it, and then

I found the story behind the name to be fascinating.
brian64 said

It’s amazing how many connections there are to Crowley and how often his name seems to come up...often in the unlikeliest of places, such as here.

"I smoke tobacco, the strongest tobacco, to excess..."

- Aliester Crowley

..yeah it is.
Something really interesting is that he once lived at No. 93 Jermyn St.

Jermyn St. is a pretty important historical avenue for pipesmokers.
Then, the Berkeley connection,

in 1943, Grady Louis McMurtry, US Army Company Commander, met and was hanging out with Crowley:

"I would sit down with Crowley at 93 Jermyn Street, playing chess with him, drinking brandy and smoking perique. The black-out blinds would be on the windows. We could hear the German bombers upstairs with their motors revving up and down. The British anti-aircraft over in Trafalger Square would be blasting away, making sheet lightning in the night."

McMurtry lived in Berkeley after the war, and was working at the Campus Smoke Shop.

The neighborhood he lived in was also where Philip K. Dick (my favorite writer) was living.

Robert Anton Wilson (another great writer) lived around there later on in the early 70's.
Drucquer's was down the street too, at 2201 Shattuck Ave.
http://www.cornelius93.com/photos-berkeleytour.html
All very cool how these things seem to tie together somehow.
What happened to Crowley's pipe collection?

A short thread on the topic:

http://www.lashtal.com/forum/index.php?topic=1703.0

...particularly interesting is this:

"Interesting, just reading Grant's memoirs of Crowley, where it mentions that, at least at the end of his life, Crowley was as much a fan of Latakia as of Perique. Grant mentions that Crowley kept his tobacco tins near his desk (as do I!), and he had one labeled with a Hebrew Lamed for the Latakia, another with the Hebrew Pe for Perique. Grant mentions getting Crowley some Perique at the Dunhill store."

A poem:

Fernando Pessoa

"The Tobacco Shop"

http://www.ronnowpoetry.com/contents/pessoa/TobaccoShop.html

 

[cosmicfolklore]

Wow, great stuff, misterlowercase.

 

[andrew]

Lawrence the moderator smokes straight perique

From what I've read about Crowley I think he was basically just a really intelligent but insane person who scammed alot of rich people.

 

[brian64]

@cosmic: I heard a similar story once from someone else who had met Dylan. I guess it doesn’t surprise me much. I think I would expect him to be on the cranky side based on my impression of him.

and then there were those who were making a show of it, like Crowley. He was a magician of the times. And, as our own resident magician pointed out, magic is like pro-wrestling, the audience and the magician knows that it's fake, but they all set that aside to make an illusion.

It’s certainly true that Crowley was flamboyant, unlike most others who engage in the type of occult practices he pursued. But imo, any comparison with stage magicians is apples and oranges...regardless of whether one believes there is any reality to the metaphysics involved. (BTW, I personally do not condone the things he believed and practiced...morally or spiritually.)
He reportedly was also involved with British Intelligence:
Secret Agent 666: Aleister Crowley, British Intelligence and the Occult
http://www.amazon.com/Secret-Agent-666-Aleister-Intelligence/dp/1932595333/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1395896998&sr=1-1&keywords=secret+agent+666

The neighborhood he lived in was also where Philip K. Dick (my favorite writer) was living.

I too am a huge fan of Dick’s novels. Even most of the movies based on his writings have been very good, such as Blade Runner, A Scanner Darkly and Minority Report.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

Wow, he led a most adventurous life. I have learned a lot about this guy in this thread. The only thing I knew of him before this was that he smoked perique and that I confuse him with Rasputin frequently.
...at least Charles Manson didn't smoke a pipe, lol.

 

[fadingdaylight]

No, Manson did not. However, did you know that when he was 4 years old his mother traded him for a partially drunk glass of beer? True story. And we wonder why he turned out the way he did...

 

[cosmicfolklore]

Obviously, he wasn't worth a full glass of beer. :wink: