PAD/TAD has been bad lately... I promised my wife this is all for now. (heh heh)
Picked up this interesting little poker I'd been watching for a few weeks, and nobody else wanted it, so I had to get it. At first glance it looked homemade, but because it's stamped Setter, Real Briar on the bottom but nothing else, I felt it wasn't home made. Never seen one like this except for a MM set with 3 bowls and one stem. The vulcanite stem pulls out of the metal fitting in the bowl. Hadn't been smoked much, just dirty and oxidized. The grain is something I don't think I've seen before either. I've seen grain similar to this before, but not one that came to a central point on each side, almost like a section of a small branch. It's small, about a group 1 bowl that's rounded on top, and it's about 6 1/2" long. So far, a nice smoking pipe.
New pipes call for new tobacco, right? So I've order a variety of things, some new to me, and some old favorites.
The one that I found quite interesting is a new flake by Gawith-Hoggarth, called Brown Flake Vanilla. I guess it's basically their usual Brown Flake, with some vanilla and sugar? added somehow. I like GH tobaccos as a rule, and this one didn't disappoint. I've tried a vanilla flake from MacBarens and I quite like it, but it is fairly sweet and grassy with light virginias and vanilla. This has much deeper flavors, because in addition to the virginias it has some burley in it. This has some more pronounced vanilla tin note, and more so in the smoking too. However.... you have to remember that this is a Lakeland tobacco, so I do detect a little of the usual Lakeland floral in the background. This is not a problem for me, and to be honest it's presence is fairly slight, unless you don't like the Lakeland scent, then you might notice it more. It seemed a little damp, but I tried it straight from the bag anyway, cube cutting with a little rub out. Took a few tries to light it, and a few more during the bowl. The next bowl I let it dry about 30 min after cutting and rubbing, and I felt it smoked much better. Overall, it's a pleasant smoke, with a decent room note, and a mid-level nicotine content. I'm going to keep smoking part of this, and age the rest to see what it's like in a year or two.
Here's the flakes after I cut them in two so they would fit in a 8oz. jar.
Picked up this interesting little poker I'd been watching for a few weeks, and nobody else wanted it, so I had to get it. At first glance it looked homemade, but because it's stamped Setter, Real Briar on the bottom but nothing else, I felt it wasn't home made. Never seen one like this except for a MM set with 3 bowls and one stem. The vulcanite stem pulls out of the metal fitting in the bowl. Hadn't been smoked much, just dirty and oxidized. The grain is something I don't think I've seen before either. I've seen grain similar to this before, but not one that came to a central point on each side, almost like a section of a small branch. It's small, about a group 1 bowl that's rounded on top, and it's about 6 1/2" long. So far, a nice smoking pipe.
New pipes call for new tobacco, right? So I've order a variety of things, some new to me, and some old favorites.
The one that I found quite interesting is a new flake by Gawith-Hoggarth, called Brown Flake Vanilla. I guess it's basically their usual Brown Flake, with some vanilla and sugar? added somehow. I like GH tobaccos as a rule, and this one didn't disappoint. I've tried a vanilla flake from MacBarens and I quite like it, but it is fairly sweet and grassy with light virginias and vanilla. This has much deeper flavors, because in addition to the virginias it has some burley in it. This has some more pronounced vanilla tin note, and more so in the smoking too. However.... you have to remember that this is a Lakeland tobacco, so I do detect a little of the usual Lakeland floral in the background. This is not a problem for me, and to be honest it's presence is fairly slight, unless you don't like the Lakeland scent, then you might notice it more. It seemed a little damp, but I tried it straight from the bag anyway, cube cutting with a little rub out. Took a few tries to light it, and a few more during the bowl. The next bowl I let it dry about 30 min after cutting and rubbing, and I felt it smoked much better. Overall, it's a pleasant smoke, with a decent room note, and a mid-level nicotine content. I'm going to keep smoking part of this, and age the rest to see what it's like in a year or two.
Here's the flakes after I cut them in two so they would fit in a 8oz. jar.
