Still Haunted by my Early Days of Pipe-Smoking...

[Chasing Embers]

making it into a long easy smoke

That's more to do with the smoker than the pipe. The gourd takes MANY smokes to saturate with oils from the tobacco before it stops muting flavors altogether and the meerschaum cups are rarely over an inch deep. As a novelty for a collection they are fine but are functionally less effective than the ability of the smoker.

 

[Chasing Embers]

You guy are braver than me!

How so? I smoked Middleton blends for over 10 years back in the 90s. Just no nonsense old time blends.

 

[anotherbob]

I started smoking a pipe in the Autumn of 2006. I was going through the LOTR via audiobook for the first time (many times since). It was the hobbits that made me want to try pipe-smoking.

I was working the night shift and decided to go downtown to the big library before work. This was a regular practice of mine, to score music CDs and books on CD, etc. This was a great time in my life, a sort of personal Renaissance period where learning and curiosity bloomed like it had not done since early boyhood.

On one of these golden afternoons I left the library and walked to the old tobacco shop downtown called Tobacco Lane (RIP). I walked in and the fellow sells me a MM corncob and something out of one of the big jars with a goofy Irish name. I smoked a bowl of that stuff on the drive in to work that day and knew I'd found something wonderful.

But the trouble is, that particular taste of that particular tobacco from that particular season haunts me still. I've still never found anything that tastes that good or hits me like those first days of pipe-smoking did.

Just yesterday I was taking my lunchtime walk and something about the temp, sunlight, etc, made me think of that time. The faint memory of the taste of that first tobacco hit me with a stab of longing. I so wish I could get that back and find something that tasted like that.

Is anyone else still chasing the ghost of his early days with the pipe?

nah It seems to keep getting better not the other way around.

 

[bullet08]

Don't remember exactly what I smoked. DNR, Bloody Red Moon, or something else. Maybe Guilty Pleasure. I think I smoked Guilty Pleasure a lot. DNR didn't really hit me till four months later after spending that time in a jar. Bloody Red Moon was good too. But the memory always goes back to DNR after that four months. That rich dark fruit note is hard to forget. I should open a tin and let it mellow in a jar for Christmas.

 

[PipeIT]

@Sam Gamgee thinking how you mentioned; ‘out of the big jar’, this might of been a house blend, or a bulk blend of some kind.

But, at least knowing it was named Irish, being stereotypical, a lot of Irish blends follow the same blending, of cream, vanilla, whisky, various fruits, etc.

So, all might not be 100% lost, you might not get all the way there, but I’d simply be on the look out for Classic stereotypical Irish blends is all, and you might just find, something somewhat similar.

Uhle’s has a blend, ‘Irish Aromatic’.

Pipe Tobacco - Out of State

House Blend Pipe Tobacco for Out-of-State Residents. If you live outside of Wisconsin, please purchase off of this page. If you live in Wisconsin, you must purchase off of the Wisconsin Residents collection.

uhles.com

Peterson’s and Dan Tobacco, they have a few Irish blends to try next.

Have fun hunting!

 

[JimPM]

I've been chasing the ghost of Middleton's Apple blend for quite a while. Can't seem to catch it.

 

[obc83]

I was working the night shift and decided to go downtown to the big library before work. This was a regular practice of mine, to score music CDs and books on CD, etc. This was a great time in my life, a sort of personal Renaissance period where learning and curiosity bloomed like it had not done since early boyhood.
.....
Is anyone else still chasing the ghost of his early days with the pipe?

God damn I miss that, it's happened a few times in life where I was onto a new field or something and just felt like an un-fillable sponge for information. Best feeling in the world.

I'm still chasing the taste from the first time I smoked what was my first favorite. Can't seem to enjoy it as much anymore and now I'm chasing analogues all the time.

 

[Sam Gamgee]

God damn I miss that, it's happened a few times in life where I was onto a new field or something and just felt like an un-fillable sponge for information. Best feeling in the world.

I'm still chasing the taste from the first time I smoked what was my first favorite. Can't seem to enjoy it as much anymore and now I'm chasing analogues all the time.

That’s exactly what I was like then: an unfillable sponge for literature, classical music, and many things that weren’t new but were new to me. It makes me sort of numb with nostalgia to think of it all.

It comes back now and then, but it’s usually not as strong as that time it all hit me anew.

I’m rereading a book right now that I discovered during that period of life, and sometimes I’ll catch mental pictures, even smells and tastes, of that phase of life. I’ll even distinctly remember the taste of that first tobacco as I sat in my car on my lunch break and read Robinson Crusoe for the first time. It was like being born again but knowing what to do this time. Wonderful memories. God help us all.

 

[Sam Gamgee]

@Sam Gamgee thinking how you mentioned; ‘out of the big jar’, this might of been a house blend, or a bulk blend of some kind.

But, at least knowing it was named Irish, being stereotypical, a lot of Irish blends follow the same blending, of cream, vanilla, whisky, various fruits, etc.

So, all might not be 100% lost, you might not get all the way there, but I’d simply be on the look out for Classic stereotypical Irish blends is all, and you might just find, something somewhat similar.

Uhle’s has a blend, ‘Irish Aromatic’.

Pipe Tobacco - Out of State

House Blend Pipe Tobacco for Out-of-State Residents. If you live outside of Wisconsin, please purchase off of this page. If you live in Wisconsin, you must purchase off of the Wisconsin Residents collection.

uhles.com

Peterson’s and Dan Tobacco, they have a few Irish blends to try next.

Have fun hunting!

Great idea, thanks for that. I’ll keep it in mind.

Saddest part of the tale to me is that this store reopened a few years later in a different town. That had the old Irish blend in a jar. The fellow assured me it was the same stuff. I bought some and it was not only not the same, but it was terrible stuff.

 

[AroEnglish]

Great idea, thanks for that. I’ll keep it in mind.

Saddest part of the tale to me is that this store reopened a few years later in a different town. That had the old Irish blend in a jar. The fellow assured me it was the same stuff. I bought some and it was not only not the same, but it was terrible stuff.

Maybe the original was an Irish Mist flavor by Sutliff or some other bulk manufacturer and the manufacturer changed the recipe.

 

[Tate]

I just started in September and it's only gotten better since. Got a decent estate and some EMP and loved it ever since and completely dropped cigarettes. Really lucky I found this site and some good youtubers. Made it easy to avoid mistakes and get a head start to really enjoying the hobby.

 

[kcghost]

I remember the Nightcap I tried on the "70's and was just lovely!!

 

[Doctor Chopper]

Whist attending college I bought 3 pipes and tried multiple blends from a local B&M. I still have my Kaywoodie with a spigot which I don't smoke often any longer, not sure where the other 2 pipes are today. One was a mermaid meer that I loved and miss even today. I still vividly recall that they had a blend called "Golden Slice" which I loved and bought regularly. I then moved away for residency and smoked sparingly for a number of years due to long hours (100-120 hour work weeks for 6 years) and had kids, so I pretty much quit smoking as I wanted to be a good influence. After the hiatus the shop and blend were gone. I searched in vain for this blend since moving back and returning to smoking more regularly.

I still wonder if it was Orlik they sold from a jar. I like Orlik Golden Sliced, but it is not as flavorful as I remember. Perhaps it was a different blend, perhaps my tastes changed, or perhaps @Searock Fan is correct, and the tobacco was better back then...

I was much smarter with my first... Ahem... let's leave it at that. I married her and still have her around, she has aged better than any tobacco ever could. If I had to choose, and I think I did have to, I would make the same choice.

 

[JimPM]

Yep, Middleton Apple is my ghost. In hindsight, it probably wasn't that stellar, but I think of it often. Other than that, my very Latakia blend which ultimately progressed me to be a true rounded piper. That would be Stokkebye's English Oriental Supreme. It is still my favorite and I have MANY Latakia blends in my cellar. In fact, I keep a big old honky jar of EOS sitting right on my den desk as my morning ritual. Is a ghost? Well, no, but I am haunted by the attraction, nonetheless.

 

[mso489]

The blends in big jars are usually standard brands re-named to bring you back to that shop. It could have been Lane, Sutliff, etc. Years ago, some shops did blend their own specialties, so it could be something unique.

 

[metalheadycigarguy]

When I was a kid, my Great Uncle used to smoke cigars, and a pipe. I mainly remember him smoking cigars and always liked the smell of his cigar. I didn't start smoking cigars and pipes until after he passed away, so I never found out what kind of cigar's he smoked. I've come across that smell a couple of times over the years since, and the smell took me back to my childhood. On one occasion I asked a man one day smoking a cigar in which the smell reminded me of the cigars my Great Uncle smoked, and the man said it was a Dutch Masters. LOL I've yet to buy a pack of Dutch Masters to verify if it was in-fact Dutch Masters that my Great Uncle was smoking. I think I'm afraid to. LOL