Life is a learning experience. When a person is a teenager or in their twenties they think they know everything and they don't know shit. Then when you get into your 60's + years and have acquired a small amount of knowledge, nobody wants to listen to you. Two things that I have learned through the years are 1) as you get older the floor gets farther away and everything ends up there and 2) the taste of tobacco many times depends on me. There are two many variables when it comes to pipe smoking. The taste of tobacco can depend on what pipe I'm smoking (briar or cob), how it is packed, is it dry or moist, do I sip or smoke rapid fire, am I congested or have a cold, weather conditions and on and on and on. Tobaccos that I wasn't wild about at first when done differently ended up being much better and even a favorite. Of course, there are some tobaccos that just don't meet our requirements. I guess the gist to this rambling is DON'T THROW AWAY THAT TOBACCO! Tobacco needs to be learned and understood before it can be evaluated. I know I'm preaching to the choir with most Pipe Forum members, but there may be some newbies that can appreciate some lessons from this man's life.
