Just got some Capstan Ready Rubbed from Cup of Joes. I know that Tolkien smoked Capstan Blue, but this was close as I could get. I smoked it in my churchwarden pipe and imagined I was a wizard.
Tolkien's tobacco( almost)
- Thread starter bogfire
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Capstan Blue Flake is one of my staples. Consistently good virginia blend. Probably has some topping, very mild, maybe a bit of tonquin and some sugar.
I believe it was more of an aromatic back then, according to the little I've read about it.
I believe it was more of an aromatic back then, according to the little I've read about it.
I've often thought of trying Capstan Blue. Tolkien has fueled my imagination since I was a child. I bet Capstan Blue was his Old Toby from the books.
Capstan Blue is one of my favorite Virginia tobaccos. I never fail to smoke when I read something of Tolkien. Here is some more information about Capstan: https://dutchpipesmoker.wordpress.com/2013/06/12/oh-capstan-my-capstan/
I love Capstan Blue flake and have it cellared deep. I love it because it has no tonquin, no grassy notes, no hey notes, no citrus. It does have a nice sweet honey, bready, fig thing going on. I smoke the 2013 version on a regular basis.
I find it hard to believe that Tolkien only ever smoked one tobacco. When folks use pictures and writings to determine what Lewis smoked, we get Erinmore, Capstan, Three Nuns, and various other blends. I imagine that smoking back then was as it is today, with guys more interested in exploring tobaccos than in just using one brand to subdue an addiction, as cigarette smokers do, being enslaved to just one brand of cigarette.
I know that my uncles would have their one brand, one of only a few they would have carried at the rural General Mercantile in town. But, I do know that they were more like cigarette smokers, but even then, they were known to try new things when offered or when they would go into the city with more options.
I know that my uncles would have their one brand, one of only a few they would have carried at the rural General Mercantile in town. But, I do know that they were more like cigarette smokers, but even then, they were known to try new things when offered or when they would go into the city with more options.
As far as I know, it is documented to some certainty that Tolkien smoked Capstan Blue. Whether it was flake or not, I don't know. It is also believed that he smoked other tobaccos, but nobody seems to know which ones. So Tolkien fans stick to Capstan. Lucky them, cause it's a fine blend. He could have smoked Lucky Strikes between bowls, who knows?
This is one of those questions I wonder about: It wouldn't surprise me at all to find out that (many) the-timers tended to stick to one blend.
For one thing, I doubt the people on this forum are really representative of contemporary pipe-smokers as a whole; we are the ones who care enough about pipe smoking to spend time reading about it, seeking out more information on it, comparing notes with other, and so on; whereas the guy who just buys a tin of Half-and-Half or PA or Carter Hall and happily smokes it over the month, probably isn't gonna be here.
It isn't just cigarette smokers who tend to find something they both like and can afford and then stick to it: beer, coffee, tea, whiskey drinkers often do the same thing. Sure there are always the people who would rather try something new than have something tried and true, but they tend to be the minority who show up on online forums to talk about their habit in their free time.
I wouldn't be surprised either, I guess. I just see Lewis and Tolkien setting around talking about gods and goddesses, and at least discussing tobaccos occasionally. And, it's hard to talk about flavor and blends with someone who is a one tobacco guy. Lewis tended to have more diversity in his tobaccos, maybe Tolk was always giving Lewis flack for not being devout. Lewis did tend to flirt between paganism and Christianity quite a lot, among other things. :
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Also, with as many new movies and series that have included pipe smoking, I would guess that it will be left in also. Now, if it were going to be geared towards kids, maybe.
From the trailers I've watched, the pipe smoking is going to be left out.
Edit: Found this on most on the websites describing the movie:
In my opinion, they will not address his pipe smoking because of the time period covered. I read somewhere - and I may be incorrect - that he didn't start smoking until after the war started.
The one scathing review I read made it sound like the movie isn't all that serious as a work of biography:
"Tolkien’s defining love of language never comes into focus in a memorably cinematic way. . . . Unhappily, among the omissions is all but the barest mention of the role of Catholicism in Tolkien’s life — as it happens, a source of significant drama. . . . I find it hard to imagine the real Tolkien using such a clichéd phrase as 'the biggest mistake of my life,' or for that matter saying 'jealous' if he meant 'envious.' . . .Perhaps this is digging too deeply for a movie review. Still, Tolkien has always invited and even demanded such digging. Tolkien isn’t without its pleasures, but they’re mostly on the surface."
I don't know what this would imply about its inclusion of pipes. It wouldn't shock me that they are largely left out.
"Tolkien’s defining love of language never comes into focus in a memorably cinematic way. . . . Unhappily, among the omissions is all but the barest mention of the role of Catholicism in Tolkien’s life — as it happens, a source of significant drama. . . . I find it hard to imagine the real Tolkien using such a clichéd phrase as 'the biggest mistake of my life,' or for that matter saying 'jealous' if he meant 'envious.' . . .Perhaps this is digging too deeply for a movie review. Still, Tolkien has always invited and even demanded such digging. Tolkien isn’t without its pleasures, but they’re mostly on the surface."
I don't know what this would imply about its inclusion of pipes. It wouldn't shock me that they are largely left out.
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