Hey, Anyone Heard of C&Ds "Mad Fiddler"
- Thread starter gord
- Start date
I really like Mad Fiddler, but it took a couple of bowls for it to hit home. It's a delight. In that series I also really, really like Awakened Elder - a super English - and am stocking it deep in my cellar. The rest I'm not too torqued about but I've only got so much mental and physical space for all these blends.
It's the Kasturi in this blend that interests me most. I wish C&D sold kasturi as a straight blender. Maybe a whole leaf order one day....
I've got a couple of tins of Mad Fiddler on the way, but you've piqued my interest in Awakened Elder . . . I'm looking for another English to add to my stable. Thanks :D !!
Lovecraftian theme, it would be Erich Zann.
A mute violinist who lived in... Zurich, iirc? Who played like a madman to keep some sort of unknowable alien monster(s) from stealing him away in the night.
Edit - woops, I saw "Inspired by" and jumped to "Correct the origin of the blend's name" rather than "Oh, talking about an actual weirdo violinist about whom that song was inspired"
"The Music of Erich Zann" by H. P. Lovecraft
'The Music of Erich Zann' by H. P. Lovecraft
hplovecraft.com
I haven't tried that. Good to know of alternatives.
Perique, personally I'm a bit tired of its overuse. It's amazing by all standards; but is hardly a selling point to me anymore.
another forum member in this post said that I should try each individual tobacco by itself, ie straight perique, straight burley, straight cavendish . . . most available as blending components.
That's going to be my next adventure! Makes perfect sense.
Paganini knew his way around a guitar too! I dig his violin + guitar duets.That was rumoured by many because of his phenomenal technique and Paganini himself fostered that legend, probably to the rue of the Catholic culture in Italy. But he was heir to that technique via Vivaldi, through the Frenchman Leclair, and into the late Romantic virtuosos like Pablo de Sarasate, the Pole Wieniawski, and into our own century with the violinist-composer Fritz Kriesler. Their techniques were derived from certain finger patterns that are above the discipline of prodiies and intuitives, who play primarily by instinct. They almost always disappear because they have neither the discipline or desire to work at the cerebral and physical side of performance. VERY few top virtuosos were prodigies.
Think NHL hockey players . . . . I know several, and they were not major talents in Junior or PeeWee, but had the desire and discipline. Very few prodigies, like Gretzky, had the desire to work hard and perfect their physical skills. This is the short answer. I have, in my teaching duties, put about a dozen students in professional orchestras, and they are NOT the ones that the soccer moms (they exist in the violin world too, believe me lol) pushed into destructive music festivals.
The difference between a violinist and a fiddler is similar. Very few fiddlers have developed technique. They play by instinct. In the guitar world, think of the "guitar bore" that entertains at parties and Segovia. The gap is that large. There are a few crossovers, but very few. This is the short answer as well.
BTW my good friend (now deceased) and NHL star Greg Polis, was a fine pianist. He was also one of the best checking centers in the league, and won the Rookie of the Year award in the Pittsburgh Penguin's team awards back in the 60's. God rest his soul. Greg was not a major talent in Junior, but wanted it and was tremendously disciplined.
I'll shut up and go away now
Mad Fiddler Flake smells like a cherry spice cake. It's a bit stronger than the aroma might suggest. I like it in a small cob, since C&D perique ghosts pipes for me (and fingers! they end up smelling like parmesan).
People who are sensitive to perique say it tastes like "red hots" (cinnamon candy), in a bad way. I don't seem to experience perique as peppery; I only get the stone fruit / chocolate / stinky cheese notes.
Postscript:
After smoking Mad Fiddler for several months, it has become a staple in my larder. Bold, full and goes great with cold coffee first thing in the morning! Love it!! Thanks for the input!
After smoking Mad Fiddler for several months, it has become a staple in my larder. Bold, full and goes great with cold coffee first thing in the morning! Love it!! Thanks for the input!
I've had several tins of that one, and didn't find anything musical about it.
On another note, my wife is a fiddle player... and she can get very mad... at me. Ha ha.
On another note, my wife is a fiddle player... and she can get very mad... at me. Ha ha.
I don't play any instruments, but I have a sister who fiddles around.
Glad you like it! : - )
I'll also add a postscript that after a couple years sealed in jar with lots of air space, Mad Fiddler Flake has lost some of the cherry spice cake note and has become a bit more "generic C&D smoothed-out perique-heavy blend," comparable to a less-topped Haddo's Delight.
Mad Fiddler taught me that different people experience perique very differently. I perceive the nicotine building throughout the bowl, but I don't find it spicy at all. Some people taste cilantro a.k.a. coriander leaves as soapy. Perique makes me wonder how many different kinds of "wacky taste genes" human beings have.
As a retired ex-professional violinist, and somewhat mad myself, this one was just a natural for me. It's one tobacco I think is perfectly named
O/T: Violin question: How much variation in decibel output is there in the hands of a pro?As a retired ex-professional violinist, and somewhat mad myself, this one was just a natural for me. It's one tobacco I think is perfectly named
I ask cause recently there was a quartet playing here- a room about 50 x 50, 25 feet tall. He was excessively loud, so I wonder if he was in concert hall mode vs. small chamber music mode.