Kramer's Father Dempsey

[BROBS]

Extra Smooth is a huge sleeper

 

[burleybreath]

Hmm...I have them all, in my cache. Maybe I should try them one of these days.

 

[JOHN72]

I bought to try. I think I have about 5 ounces. I prefer other tobaccoes. But it's good decent smoke......................

 

[Aomalley27]

I’d put Father Dempsey in the same class of tobacco as Edward G Robinson; they have a weird, almost stinky cheese character to them. By that, I mean you’re simultaneously repulsed and enamored at the same time.
A strange blend of elements that shouldn’t work, but somehow manage. It’s definitely a blend that is a take it or leave type (You either love it or toss it, no meh, or middle ground with this blend)

 

[jpmcwjr]

I like Fr. D a lot, but not enamored and certainly not repulsed!

What is strange about its components?

 

[Etipton]

Smokingpipes.com had stock as of last week. I got mine!!!

 

[Aomalley27]

I like Fr. D a lot, but not enamored and certainly not repulsed!

What is strange about its components?

They use some exceptionally sweet Orientals, and Im convinced (though I’m not certain/have no information confirming) that they use a fruit essence topping.
I smoke plenty of English blends, and the Virginia/Latakia play in this blend is world’s different than say 965, EMP, Presbyterian, Maltese Falcon, Westminster, etc. heck, even the Gaiwith & Hogarth And Samuel Gawith blends with their Lakeland sauce don’t give that weird sweetness to their Turkish. It’s not full on strangeness like Edward G, but it’s not a typical English either.

 

[danimalia]

I’d put Father Dempsey in the same class of tobacco as Edward G Robinson; they have a weird, almost stinky cheese character to them. By that, I mean you’re simultaneously repulsed and enamored at the same time.
A strange blend of elements that shouldn’t work, but somehow manage. It’s definitely a blend that is a take it or leave type (You either love it or toss it, no meh, or middle ground with this blend)

Interesting. That funky, cheesy odor is something I have encountered in blends made by Cornell & Diehl before. Really, just in the tin note, so it's not a big deal, IMO. Burley Flake #4 is probably the biggest example, so I wonder if it has something to do with their Latakia? I love the taste of their Latakia, though.

 

[saltedplug]

Makes me wish I were still smoking!

After reading this thread again, let me renew my wish that I had smoked it when I was smoking or that this be my return to active smoke should I return; although it would have formidable competition for the honor from my venerable stalwart DF, that smoke of the ages.

And additionally, a partial list of its adherents, the smoke of William the Conquerer, Oliver Cromwell, Christopher Marlowe, T'ien T'ai and Longchenpa (and yes, the rumors that the Divinity smokes DF are true, though he does so rarely).

 

[saltedplug]

Adding to the list of DF smokers, Erasmus, Rommel, Patton, Neem Karoli Baba, Meher Baba, Ramakrishna, Ram Das, Krishna Das, Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury, Henry VIII, Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Paine, Henry David Thoreau and Abraham Lincoln.

 

[Adebisi's hat]

I've lost count of how many pipes I have but my favorite is a oda paneled dunhill from the 60s. It is dedicated to father Dempsey

 

[saltedplug]

Captain Kangaroo, Mr. Green Jeans, Oscar the Grouch, Kermit the Frog, Cardinal Richelieu, Buzz Aldrin, Lawrence Olivier, Shakespeare, Boris Karloff, Bela Lugosi, Greta Garbo, Claude Rains, Lauren Bacall, Humphrey Bogart, A. J. P. Taylor, the Creature from the Black Lagoon, Guillermo del Toro, the Mummy, the Wolfman, Frankenstein and his doctor, Dr. Who, Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, Bernard Arnault, Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, Warren Buffett, Larry Ellison, Larry Page, G.L. Pease, Harald Halberg, Henrik Halberg, Per Buch, Kevin, Moe, Larry and Curly.

 

[vosBghos]

Solid blend ,smokes good, cheap and plentiful , bust out the big jar for this one.

 

[scloyd]

Father Dempsey was my Father's Day smoke yesterday. I don't smoke it often, but when I do, I enjoy it.

 

[vosBghos]

I’d put Father Dempsey in the same class of tobacco as Edward G Robinson; they have a weird, almost stinky cheese character to them. By that, I mean you’re simultaneously repulsed and enamored at the same time.
A strange blend of elements that shouldn’t work, but somehow manage. It’s definitely a blend that is a take it or leave type (You either love it or toss it, no meh, or middle ground with this blend)

Yeah I feel this way it’s got some blue cheese going on for me too but I like it. For me Nightcap has that going on too but too much so I replaced it with FD when I want a strange English later in the day…

 

[gastro]

Father Dempsey is one of the few tobaccos I've smoked where there are some reminiscent aromas of Frog Morton, similar to Boswell Northwoods.

But overall I've been impressed with all of the Kramers blends as a whole. I really like the New Mix and will be popping some more tins of their other mixtures soon. So glad this is available in bulk.

 

[CoffeeAndBourbon]

I just ordered some to try. Thanks guys....

 

[maker]

From Dec. 2017​

THANK YOU TO OUR FRIENDS AND LOYAL CUSTOMERS​

With saddened hearts, we want to let you know that, after 68 years in the same Beverly Hills location, our family owned business, Kramer's Pipe & Tobacco Shop, will be closing its doors December 31. It is bitter-sweet for Jim and me, but times change and we are looking forward.
We are forever grateful to the Glassell and the Tronstein families, our landlords for 65 years, their care and friendship meant the world to my parents and to us. They were an important part of building and preserving the village of Beverly Hills, which was referred to in a recent Beverly Hills Courier editorial, ending with "Despite all the rhetoric, about Beverly Hills being a 'village', there is very little 'village' left."

Our decision was made, and made easier for us to accept, due to many factors:

1) CA state Tobacco Taxes (now 67% - which lumps together pipe tobacco & cigars with cigarettes. What other legal product do we tax so high?) causing people to buy out of state - over the internet. (It appears that marijuana will be taxed at a lower rate in CA come January!)
2) new pending FDA regulations which would make it nearly impossible for small shops to blend pipe tobacco,
3) both city and state restrictions/legislations – that, in our opinion, unfortunately have gone way overboard in their rulings regarding, again, a legal product,
4) the city deeming it necessary for construction purposes, and seemingly their only choice, to remove our on-street metered parking since the beginning of this year - turning Little Santa Monica into a virtual freeway - to the total dismay of small businesses lining our street,
and mostly
5) the end of our lease.

One saving grace is my father's 7 private house pipe tobacco blends (from the early 1950's) now having a new life (with our exact formulas and same blending tobaccos) on-line at smokingpipes.com under Kramer's Pipe and Tobacco. Sykes Wilford, Rick Newcombe, and Brian Levine - you gave my father's legacy a chance to live on.

Good-byes are too hard. I know we will see many of you. And we are keeping our website (kramerstobaccoshop.com), email (kramerstobaccoshop@prodigy.net), and our Facebook page
(Kramers Pipe & Tobacco Shop) going. Thank you from the depths of our hearts - and my parents' hearts - for your support and loyalty. With a flood of warm memories of our neighbors, salespeople, customers, and friends throughout the years ~

Big Thanks,

Marsha Kramer Keller and Jim Keller
12/31/17

 

[maker]

Sad. I used to go there after work in the 90s. One of the last old school Tobacconists left in LA

 

[FLDRD]

I do believe that I've discovered my favorite blend. This is a medium to full blend with a wonderfully complex aroma with a lot going on. Not too smoky with lots of dried fruit notes from the perique and Virginias and something more that's difficult to pin down. Smokes well in a variety of pipes, lights well and needs surprisingly few relights. As for flavor, not too far from Nightcap and even 965 with a bit of age. Actually, this bend's flavors are more like that of a nicely aged and well kept tin. Father Dempsey burns cool and has no bite. Nice and smooth with abundant flavor in every draw. This is one blend that I can never tell when the end of the bowl is near - just seems to stop. Not a lot of ash and little, if any moisture. This is an unbelievable well behaved and delicious smoke. I've passed on the latest & greatest limited offerings in leu of stocking up on this pleasure. Oh, and I recommend this treat highly !

So out of curiosity, how many blends would you say you have tried?

When I first fired up I went through a process of migrating through B&M aromatics of a few different flavors, a few codger blends, and eventually some "quality" tins in various families of blends that finally assured me I would find something I could pleasantly and truly enjoy.

Now that I've pushed onward and tried a few (30?), not only am I expanding my palate to different styles, I'm finding that overall, there are truly many, many blends I seem to like.

It's been very rare for me to truly dislike something, and multiple times I've opened a tin and soon thereafter declared that this one might be my favorite, or should at least be in my rotation. But as I've purchased quite wide, when I open another new-to-me tin, it's not that rare for me to declare another absolute winner; starting the process all over again. At least certainly not leading to a conclusive winner, not even 3, 5 or 10 of them.

Is this common? I truly find more fantastic blends than bad ones. I would say that all of my choices are very popular and among the readily available, so nothing unique and no outliers.

I've certainly no complaints at being able to enjoy a plethora of mixes, just wonder if most of us end up enjoying "a few", or "most all" of the blends available to us.

Cheers