Greetings from Southwest Ohio! I'm just YANPS (yet another new pipe smoker) that has been dabbling in the hobby for the last month or so. A couple of neighbor friends introduced me to pipe smoking and as with any great hobby, it started casually and inexpensively with the bare necessities (corn cob pipe, tobacco, Czech tool, matches) and quickly blossomed into something more. I have already splurged a bit and put together a decent little collection of pipes and tobacco. There is so much about pipe smoking and tobacco that meshes with my homebrewing hobby and other interests. It has been an exciting experience so far and I look forward to learning more.
O-HI-O
- Thread starter kschatey
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Greetings and salutation! (It always starts inexpensively, then PAD and TAD finds you.)
Confirmed! I am very fortunate to have a supportive spouse who enabled me to indulge a little bit to start. However, the line has been drawn and there will be no more pipe or tobacco purchases until at least next year!
I can truly relate. I started homebrewing in late 2001 and had actually nearly given it up until I met my wife. She loves beer as well, so I revived the hobby and expanded it with a new kettle, keezer (and later proper faucets), fermentation chamber, induction setup, etc. However, there was about a year or so in there not too long ago that I took off from brewing again when our child was born. As I mentioned in my other response above, I am really lucky to have a supportive spouse that allows me to brew again from time to time.
Easily done, actually. It is truly amazing how many parallels there are between the beer/homebrew and pipe smoking hobbies! Crafting a beer is much like blending tobacco. There are an infinite number of malt, adjuncts, hop, yeast, water combinations that can be used to create a beer with literally any desired flavors. Just considering malts and sugar sources that go into the base beer grist, this list is massive: barley/wheat/rye/oats/spelt/millet/corn/rice/etc., malted vs. unmalted, grain vs extract (liquid or dry), lightly roasted grain (sweet) all of the way to black roasted/nearly burnt (chocolate/coffee/acidic), sugar/syrup/honey/fruit/etc., smoked malts, and on and on. Then there are hundreds of varieties of hops, hundreds of varieties of yeasts that all contribute different characteristics, and endless options on adjuncts: coffee, tea, chocolate, caramel, citrus peel, vanilla, actual tobacco, pumpkin, spices, licorice, herbs, flowers, bark, fruit, and on and on... I've made "standard" beers as well as things such as a Belgian ale made with dates, raisins, and figs, Lapsang Souchong Mile Ale, and even a Parsnip Amber. The possibilities are truly anything imaginable.
Pairing beer with food, or beer with cigars, or beer with anythings uses the same concepts and processes as pairing a pipe tobacco with a beverage/food/etc. I have found that many beers pair really well with pipe tobacco so far. For light and citrusy tobaccos including aromatics, try Pale Ale, IPA, Witbier, fruited wheat beers, some sours. For English and more robust tobacco, try Doppelbock, Porter, Stout. I am a fan of Lagunitas beers and didn't love their new Hazy Memory IPA, but discovered that it actually paired very well with many types of tobacco, even Bengal Slices. A friend an I enjoyed my Pumpkin Ale homebrew with the Autumn Evening tobacco on Monday; it also went well with Plum Pudding. Orlick Golden Sliced seemed to fit well with Great Lakes Raspberry Holy Moses. Just like tobacco flavors, much of beer taste is highly subjective and the two pair together exceedingly well!
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