I hate making intro posts, but a fella has to start somewhere.
Joined this place about a month ago, and have been lurking, just getting the lay of the land, so now I’ve seen and read enough to know that it’s a place that has retained enough interest for me to visit several times each week since. In fact, I’ve found the frequency of my visits on a steady rise.
I have been a regular pipe smoker since 1993, but not a “daily” smoker for the last 5 years or so. That changed a couple of months ago, sort of out of the blue. Never got rid of my pipes or cellared tobacco, so one day in September I was blowing the dust off of a couple of my pipe racks, and got this sudden urge to smoke a bowl of Wessex red label Tradition, which was one of my daily go-to blends back when I was a daily smoker.
Well, one thing led to another, and before I knew it, I had added several new blends to the cache within the span of a two months. My local tobacconist almost didn’t recognize me when I walked into his shop, as I hadn’t set foot in the place in nearly 3 years. While I somewhat lament the loss of many older tobaccos due to much of the industry consolidation, I try to look on the bright side, in that I do possess a reasonably sized cellar already, and there is also quite a bit of “new stuff” out there waiting to be sampled.
And yet here I am, reading reviews, opinions, and small talk, and quite enjoying it!
A bit about myself—
you won’t find me on any of the usual ”social” media haunts, as I’ve never had an account on any of those sites. My social media presence consists primarily of long-time participation in a few specialized forums, namely a forum for Gretsch guitars, a forum for collectors of classic comics (not the “new” stuff of the last 30 years), a forum for mandolin players, and a general musician’s forum. While I’ve had the same career day job for the last 25 years, I‘ve also moonlighted as a semi-pro musician and songwriter for over 30 years. My regular job allows me the financial stability to pursue music as I please without worrying about keeping the lights on.
Although I have well over a hundred pipes and plenty of tobacco, I’ve always viewed them as more of a vice than a hobby, and still look at it that way. While you’ll find some Preben Holm, Ben Wade, Mark Tinsky, Nording and other similar pipes in my collection, the bulk of my arsenal primarily consists of mid-century and earlier workhorse pipes from Comoy, Sasieni, Peterson, Amphora, Barling and the like. There are a few outliers in the mix too, like Kirsten, Falcon and other curiosities. While I love the beauty and creative craftsmanship of high end artisan pipes, I have a hard time justifying the cost of many of them. However, to each his own… I’m sure that many folks who would gladly spend upwards of $600 on a fine bespoke briar would possibly choke at the thought of me spending upwards of $4000 on a guitar.
In the tobacco department, I’ll smoke almost anything that will take a match, but have a solid love for Balkans and Virginia blends. I don’t dislike flavored aromatics, but generally don’t reach for them on a daily basis, so they are a little further down in the pecking order.
Other areas of interest not previously mentioned: whisky (Scotch in particular), firearms, collecting music in just about any recorded format, getting a good walk in here and there, and too many other hobbies which lie on the dust heap of not having enough hours in a day.
Joined this place about a month ago, and have been lurking, just getting the lay of the land, so now I’ve seen and read enough to know that it’s a place that has retained enough interest for me to visit several times each week since. In fact, I’ve found the frequency of my visits on a steady rise.
I have been a regular pipe smoker since 1993, but not a “daily” smoker for the last 5 years or so. That changed a couple of months ago, sort of out of the blue. Never got rid of my pipes or cellared tobacco, so one day in September I was blowing the dust off of a couple of my pipe racks, and got this sudden urge to smoke a bowl of Wessex red label Tradition, which was one of my daily go-to blends back when I was a daily smoker.
Well, one thing led to another, and before I knew it, I had added several new blends to the cache within the span of a two months. My local tobacconist almost didn’t recognize me when I walked into his shop, as I hadn’t set foot in the place in nearly 3 years. While I somewhat lament the loss of many older tobaccos due to much of the industry consolidation, I try to look on the bright side, in that I do possess a reasonably sized cellar already, and there is also quite a bit of “new stuff” out there waiting to be sampled.
And yet here I am, reading reviews, opinions, and small talk, and quite enjoying it!
A bit about myself—
you won’t find me on any of the usual ”social” media haunts, as I’ve never had an account on any of those sites. My social media presence consists primarily of long-time participation in a few specialized forums, namely a forum for Gretsch guitars, a forum for collectors of classic comics (not the “new” stuff of the last 30 years), a forum for mandolin players, and a general musician’s forum. While I’ve had the same career day job for the last 25 years, I‘ve also moonlighted as a semi-pro musician and songwriter for over 30 years. My regular job allows me the financial stability to pursue music as I please without worrying about keeping the lights on.
Although I have well over a hundred pipes and plenty of tobacco, I’ve always viewed them as more of a vice than a hobby, and still look at it that way. While you’ll find some Preben Holm, Ben Wade, Mark Tinsky, Nording and other similar pipes in my collection, the bulk of my arsenal primarily consists of mid-century and earlier workhorse pipes from Comoy, Sasieni, Peterson, Amphora, Barling and the like. There are a few outliers in the mix too, like Kirsten, Falcon and other curiosities. While I love the beauty and creative craftsmanship of high end artisan pipes, I have a hard time justifying the cost of many of them. However, to each his own… I’m sure that many folks who would gladly spend upwards of $600 on a fine bespoke briar would possibly choke at the thought of me spending upwards of $4000 on a guitar.
In the tobacco department, I’ll smoke almost anything that will take a match, but have a solid love for Balkans and Virginia blends. I don’t dislike flavored aromatics, but generally don’t reach for them on a daily basis, so they are a little further down in the pecking order.
Other areas of interest not previously mentioned: whisky (Scotch in particular), firearms, collecting music in just about any recorded format, getting a good walk in here and there, and too many other hobbies which lie on the dust heap of not having enough hours in a day.
Last edited:
