Hi all
This afternoon I was lighting up a bowl of my current 'my mixture' blend (2/3 Old Ironsides, 1/3 Squadron Leader) and reflecting on the taste. It suddenly occurred to me that it was not unlike the very first tobacco I ever really loved.
The story: when I started I smoked various otc blends - none of which were very distinguished. I used to buy it at a real pipe shop run by a wise old guy who knew all his customers and was always ready with sage advice and encouragement. One day I went in and asked for my usual pouch. He looked at me a moment, and with a little smile said 'Try some of this instead - I think you'll like it'.
I did like it! I did! It was love at first puff. It was my very first taste of latakia - quite a coarsely cut blend with, I think, a pretty high latakia content. It was called 'Colonel Bogey' and it was smooth as silk. No bite at all, and the creamiest taste in the mouth you could imagine. I do not know if it was one of his own blends or if it was one of those blends sold in bulk to tobacconists to rename what they wished. All I knew was that I was smoking something a million miles from the pouches that had satisfied me up to then.
Please understand that I am not denigrating otc blends - there are many smokers who are content with them and good for them. I can only speak to my own experience - and, to me, it was like being satisfied with a three year old supermarket scotch, and then being introduced to a 16 year old single malt from Islay! It was an epiphany moment, like my first kiss (Oh Kathy, where are you today I wonder??)
As I smoked my own mixture I remembered Colonel Bogey. All that was a long time ago. But still I find myself wedded irrevocably to English and Oriental tobaccos, especially in rich mixtures with a smooth and creamy smoke.
I owe that wise old bird a great deal - had he not sized me up and suggested Colonel Bogey I very probably would have persisted for a while with the pouches and then given it up. Instead, he introduced me to a life time of smoking pleasure. God bless him!
I wonder if others recall their first tobacco love as fondly as I do?
And, if any of you happen to have any Squadron Leader and Old Ironsides knocking about, give it a try!
Mike
This afternoon I was lighting up a bowl of my current 'my mixture' blend (2/3 Old Ironsides, 1/3 Squadron Leader) and reflecting on the taste. It suddenly occurred to me that it was not unlike the very first tobacco I ever really loved.
The story: when I started I smoked various otc blends - none of which were very distinguished. I used to buy it at a real pipe shop run by a wise old guy who knew all his customers and was always ready with sage advice and encouragement. One day I went in and asked for my usual pouch. He looked at me a moment, and with a little smile said 'Try some of this instead - I think you'll like it'.
I did like it! I did! It was love at first puff. It was my very first taste of latakia - quite a coarsely cut blend with, I think, a pretty high latakia content. It was called 'Colonel Bogey' and it was smooth as silk. No bite at all, and the creamiest taste in the mouth you could imagine. I do not know if it was one of his own blends or if it was one of those blends sold in bulk to tobacconists to rename what they wished. All I knew was that I was smoking something a million miles from the pouches that had satisfied me up to then.
Please understand that I am not denigrating otc blends - there are many smokers who are content with them and good for them. I can only speak to my own experience - and, to me, it was like being satisfied with a three year old supermarket scotch, and then being introduced to a 16 year old single malt from Islay! It was an epiphany moment, like my first kiss (Oh Kathy, where are you today I wonder??)
As I smoked my own mixture I remembered Colonel Bogey. All that was a long time ago. But still I find myself wedded irrevocably to English and Oriental tobaccos, especially in rich mixtures with a smooth and creamy smoke.
I owe that wise old bird a great deal - had he not sized me up and suggested Colonel Bogey I very probably would have persisted for a while with the pouches and then given it up. Instead, he introduced me to a life time of smoking pleasure. God bless him!
I wonder if others recall their first tobacco love as fondly as I do?
And, if any of you happen to have any Squadron Leader and Old Ironsides knocking about, give it a try!
Mike
My biggest tobacco moment to date)SPC and forum member Anglophile got a tin of tobacco from the 50's and was kind enough to share a bowl with me. I WISH I could remember the name of that stuff. It had the floral scent to it, but wasn't a Gawith thing at all. It just slayed me. The subtleness of the flowery note with the magic of that tobacco. Oh my goodness.
