Seattle B+M.

[jonasclark]

Title edited. Please use capitals judiciously! Original:

I don't know most pipe tobacco, but these are in a local shop that...

Name? Do they do phone orders?

...has a lot of old stock just lying around. I've bought a few pipes I'm quite sure have been sitting there since the mid-1980s. It's not a place I think sees many pipe smokers. Is anything in these photos older or hard-to-obtain? I hadn't really paid attention to this side of the room until recently, but when I saw these, I thought others would surely know better than I what's here.

Lots of MacBaren. Some Peterson. One tin of Three Nuns (I have a vague idea that there;'s older Three Nuns that's special, but not how to identify it).

 

[ThermionicScott]

Wish I had a tobacco store with that much selection in my area!

 

[tklee]

They have Mixture No.79! Hugh Hefner's favorite tobacco!

 

[olkofri]

Wish I had a tobacco store with that much selection in my area!

Ditto!

 

[olkofri]

They have Mixture No.79! Hugh Hefner's favorite tobacco!

Yeah, the shitty man had shitty tastes.

 

[jonasclark]

Is Mixture No. 79 indeed terrible? What's that tobacco people say tastes like soap and perfume?
They used to have a few mouthpieces for Kirsten cigar holders, which were gone the next time I visited. They have several not-very-good 80s meerschaums and a Goede Waagen-ish porcelain pipe, all missing their stems, a box full of random stems and very cheap-looking briar-ish bowls with narrow screw threads (look like lamp pipe, probably for some odd system pipe), and some nice but not super-fancy briars, some basket pipe-quality briars, and a few other odds & ends. I bought the last nice, complete meerschaum they had.

 

[pipingfool]

Is Mixture No. 79 indeed terrible? What's that tobacco people say tastes like soap and perfume?
They used to have a few mouthpieces for Kirsten cigar holders, which were gone the next time I visited. They have several not-very-good 80s meerschaums and a Goede Waagen-ish porcelain pipe, all missing their stems, a box full of random stems and very cheap-looking briar-ish bowls with narrow screw threads (look like lamp pipe, probably for some odd system pipe), and some nice but not super-fancy briars, some basket pipe-quality briars, and a few other odds & ends. I bought the last nice, complete meerschaum they had.

The "soap & perfume" blends would the the Gawith blends from Lakeland. But not all of the Gawith blends have that topping. They're either a love it or hate type of blend. I personally like them, but in small doses. But they will ghost a pipe something fierce, so it's better to either dedicate a pipe to them or smoke them out of a cob.

There's nothing there that would be too difficult to find online, but the Samuel Gawith Springtime is a nice surprise since I rarely see that one anymore. I thoroughly enjoyed that one. A Va/Per that is matured in Sherry Barrels.

 

[fireground_piper]

I thought the Sam gawith seasonal blends never made it to the states.

 

[jndyer]

Not a bad selection of pipe tobacco. It would be interesting to know just how long some of the tins had been on the shelf.

 

[pipingfool]

I thought the Sam gawith seasonal blends never made it to the states.

They made it, but I don't think they were very popular. I believe I got my tin of Spring Time from SPC.

If not there, then it was P&C, but I'm pretty sure I had switched to SPC at that time.

 

[pipingfool]

Not a bad selection of pipe tobacco. It would be interesting to know just how long some of the tins had been on the shelf.

Looks like there's an older tin of one of the Comoy's blends in the case. Can't make out which blend, but they're not that easy to come by these days.

 

[jonasclark]

Anything I really ought to grab? I'm 90% just a pipe collector and only smoke occasionally, so I usually just buy something mildly sweet by the ounce from the Tinder Box an hour south and that lasts me for a while. I don't typically smoke the heavy "pure, natural tobacco"-ish English stuff, I also avoid cherry-vanilla-type stuff with heavy casing, but I'm happy to try new things, and I don't really have much knowledge. Three Nuns, Peterson, Dunhill, Comoy's, Gawith, MacBaren are names I either know tangentially from hanging around on pipe smoking boards or by the associated pipes, but further than that, I don't know.

 

[ThermionicScott]

Judging by seeing certain blends in round tins (the Peterson, Orlik, and Erinmore flakes), there might be more product turnover than you think. I'm not an expert on Three Nuns, but I think the changeover in formula was a couple of decades ago now. You might get lucky, though!

 

[pipingfool]

It really depends on your individual tastes. I don't think there's anything there that would be that hard to get elsewhere.

If you normally smoke an aromatic and want to try something different, I would suggest Erinmore Flake. It's a "semi-aromatic" but not overly sweet. Lots going on in that blend.

Also, if you want to wade into the waters of Virginia blends, you can't really go wrong with Orlik Golden Sliced. It's bright and slightly sweet when fresh, but it also ages wonderfully into something a little darker and creamier.

Good Luck!

 

[americaman]

Anything I really ought to grab? I'm 90% just a pipe collector and only smoke occasionally, so I usually just buy something mildly sweet by the ounce from the Tinder Box an hour south and that lasts me for a while. I don't typically smoke the heavy "pure, natural tobacco"-ish English stuff, I also avoid cherry-vanilla-type stuff with heavy casing, but I'm happy to try new things, and I don't really have much knowledge. Three Nuns, Peterson, Dunhill, Comoy's, Gawith, MacBaren are names I either know tangentially from hanging around on pipe smoking boards or by the associated pipes, but further than that, I don't know.

MacBaren Vanilla Cream
Erinmore
Capstan Blue

That should give you some variety to try.

 

[alexnc]

Is Mixture No. 79 indeed terrible? What's that tobacco people say tastes like soap and perfume?
They used to have a few mouthpieces for Kirsten cigar holders, which were gone the next time I visited. They have several not-very-good 80s meerschaums and a Goede Waagen-ish porcelain pipe, all missing their stems, a box full of random stems and very cheap-looking briar-ish bowls with narrow screw threads (look like lamp pipe, probably for some odd system pipe), and some nice but not super-fancy briars, some basket pipe-quality briars, and a few other odds & ends. I bought the last nice, complete meerschaum they had.

It’s probably the only blend I ever threw in the trash immediately- well not immediately. I kept a month or so and tried it again- yuck. It’s pretty nasty.

 

[anotherbob]

mixture 79 is a favorite of mine. I don't really get the hate for it. I also don't know why some people think it's Hugh Hefners favorite blend. That keeps coming up but never with anything otherwise then it's just a fact.

 

[jonasclark]

MacBaren Vanilla Cream
Erinmore
Capstan Blue

That should give you some variety to try.

Thanks for the advice! What are reasonable prices for things like those three?

 

[anotherbob]

the red sky isn't made anymore and I don't think orliks is or at least has been harder to get. Otherwise then the S.G. Seasonal blends nothing jumps out as hard to get.

 

[jonasclark]

Just so moderators know: there's a good reason I left out the shop's name & location. They used to have a big remaining stock of Nat Shermans. I told one person (a local), and days later, when I returned to buy a bunch, they were all sold out. I've also recently missed several items whose sellers sold them but neglected to remove the ads (those ads are still up, incidentally). So I'm slightly wary; if there's something I should buy, I'd really like to hope I can get first crack at it this time.

However, I trust the posters here quite a bit. I'm going to go purchase one tin, and then I'll say which shop, where. Do they sell by phone/mail? I don't really know.

Erinmore reviews hint at something akin to the super-super-super-sugary cased stuff. Is it really not that intense? A little sweetness is wonderful. Too much always ends up gurgling, no matter what pipe I use (I tend to puff slightly fast, and I smoke outdoors in a windy city).