Granpa's Tobacco

[RookieGuy80]

I just found out my maternal grandfather's preferred tobacco brand. Middleton Cherry. This is great news! I knew he smoked a pipe. Nobody could remember what the blend was though. He quit long before I was born. Looking through some old photos of him, I saw in the background several tins of Middleton Cherry. He was using then to hold nuts and screws the way my father used baby food jars. It's great to finally figure that out.

The bad news is it's Middleton Cherry. If there's one class of flavor I hate enough to refuse to smoke, it's cherry. I have a single small jar of cherry cavendish for whenever Mrs. Rookie decides to have some, but that is strictly hers. I wish it were different, I wish that either I liked cherry or Grandpa liked Carter Hall or Field and Stream. But it's not meant to be. I'll smoke my codger blends and think of him, but it won't be his favorite.

 

[Mrs. Pickles]

Always fun to discover a connection like this.

Middleton Cherry was the favorite of my own maternal granddaddy too.

 

[Servant King]

Regardless of preferences, consider yourself lucky just to have had a pipe smoking grandfather! I never saw either of mine with anything other than Chesterfields or Winston Reds respectively. They both passed long before I even thought about trying a pipe myself, so I never would've had a pipe collection forthcoming anyway...

 

[kcghost]

Sometimes you look back and think "What were they thinking?". But, you remember they would probably look at some of the blends we smoke and think the same thing about us.

 

[Roach1]

My grandfather smoked Half and Half.

 

[Briarcutter]

If you never smoked Middleton Cherry you may want to try it just for old times sake. It's not as "cherry" as the name implies. It's actually pretty good. I find very little cherry flavor in it.

 

[RookieGuy80]

Regardless of preferences, consider yourself lucky just to have had a pipe smoking grandfather! I never saw either of mine with anything other than Chesterfields or Winston Reds respectively. They both passed long before I even thought about trying a pipe myself, so I never would've had a pipe collection forthcoming anyway...

I never saw mine with anything. He was very careful not to let his grandchildren see him smoking.

 

[RookieGuy80]

Sometimes you look back and think "What were they thinking?". But, you remember they would probably look at some of the blends we smoke and think the same thing about us.

His dad called us all soft for shaving with safety razors instead of cutthroats. I think we weren't too far from each other though. He was smoking the best he had easy access to, just like the rest of us. We just have access to a bigger store on the internet.

 

[RookieGuy80]

If you never smoked Middleton Cherry you may want to try it just for old times sake. It's not as "cherry" as the name implies. It's actually pretty good. I find very little cherry flavor in it.

Maybe. I guess if I really don't like it, I can smoke it in a latakia or Lakeland dedicated pipe. Let the ghosts work for me. I might check out WVSmokeshop in the not distant future and see if I can get an ounce. Very little cherry flavor is promising.

 

[Briarcutter]

Maybe. I guess if I really don't like it, I can smoke it in a latakia or Lakeland dedicated pipe. Let the ghosts work for me. I might check out WVSmokeshop in the not distant future and see if I can get an ounce. Very little cherry flavor is promising.

Unfortunately it's no longer available. I wish it we're though, I'd be smoking it regular. Has a faint cherry tin note but that's about it for the cherry. Not sure of this but I heard it was named after a street, not the fruit. More knowledgeable folks can confirm/deny that fact.

 

[MattRVA]

That’s awesome that you found his tobacco of choice. I bet my grandfather smoked some Middleton Cherry in his day.

 

[krizzose]

The bad news is it's Middleton Cherry.

I tried it once. Once

 

[filmguerilla]

My grandfather smoked Velvet religiously. The scent of it is pure nostalgia for me, but can barely tolerate smoking it.

 

[pappymac]

My step-grandfather was a George Washington smoker. He switched to Carter Hall after they stopped making it.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

I have been told that Middleton Cherry is not an aromatic. The only thing I remember about trying it is that it will scorch the hell out of your tongue. The name Cherry is not the flavor, but the street it is made on, or something like that. I will not be trying it again.

 

[RookieGuy80]

Thanks everyone! I'm glad to hear Grampa wasn't puffing away on a cough syrup flavored junk. Of course, now I'm wondering why the old man smoked that. Maybe it was the cheapest in his neck of the woods, or the most available, or Grammy just like that one. I do know those Greatest Generation guys (and gals, to be sure) were just built different, what with growing up in the Great Depression (which I later learned wasn't great for that many people) and fighting Hitler and the Japanese and building the greatest economy of the nation. Mindlessly smoking what his grandchildren would go on to describe as subpar tobacco wouldn't have phased him.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

Middleton Cherry is one of those blends that I occasionally see older guys complain about how the blend has changed. It is too bad that you'll have no idea what he found pleasurable about it with what we have left on the shelves. Likely the only thing left similar to what your granddad smoked is the packaging.

 

[RookieGuy80]

Middleton Cherry is one of those blends that I occasionally see older guys complain about how the blend has changed. It is too bad that you'll have no idea what he found pleasurable about it with what we have left on the shelves. Likely the only thing left similar to what your granddad smoked is the packaging.

That and finding a Grabow that looked like his.

That makes a lot of sense. That's something I never thought of. Thank you.