Week Three

[Misanthrope]

I’m three weeks into pipes and some interesting things have happened.

First, I’ve...accumulated a dozen pipes already. Yeah.

• Big Ben Barbados 647
• Big Ben Barbados 648
• Big Ben Bora 576
• Big Ben Ranger
• Al Pascia Curvy 02 (on the way)
• Al Pascia Curvy 03

Two of each, one in polished wood and one in matte black. I’m still on the hunt for a polished wood/matte black pair of Al Pascia Curvy 01s and a wood/matte black pair of Big Ben Barbados 652s. The Curvy 01s are turning out to be a challenge to find together in one place. I found a place in the UK that has the Barbados 652s, but their website seems a little on the sketchy side.

There’s just something I love about Big Ben pipes. I’m also a big fan of the Curvys. They just really suit my tastes and sense of style, and they smoke very nicely.

Second, I’ve also finally started to understand how people are able to pick out nuances in various tobacco blends. Early on, I had to deal with the initial learning curve for proper packing, dealing with tongue bite, and learning how to slow way the hell down. I mean, I was definitely able to tell the difference between PS Norwegian, Amsterdam, and Turkish, yes, but I was also mostly picking up a simplistic “okay, this is burning tobacco and it’s not hideously offensive, I guess” overall taste from each.

Now that I’ve gotten progressively better at packing, slowing down, and sipping, I can pick up hints of different notes. I don’t quite have the hang of breaking down and accurately cataloguing them at a fine level yet, but I can definitely see how people are picking up individual bready, nutty, spicy, vegetal, and floral elements from a single blend. I’ve learned to use that as an indicator for when a bowl is performing well—if it bites or is all hot and muddled together, that’s my cue to back off and slow down, and if that doesn’t work, then I most likely packed it stupid. It’s nice to feel a small bit of progress there!

Third, I’m kind of simultaneously amused and annoyed by the fact that pipe smoking does a fantastic job of making stressful work days tolerable, but my job doesn’t really present many opportunities to step outside and enjoy a leisurely pipe. I haven’t quite figured out what to do to address that yet.

Fourth, Washington is apparently a terrible place to be a pipe smoker. For the fun of it, we spent a whole day trying to find Prince Albert and Carter Hall locally, but hardly anyone sells OTC pipe blends around here, and tobacconists/cigar shops seem to only carry bulk tobaccos. I’m a little shocked at how codger-hostile this place seems. I may have to visit a Tinder Box or something.

Speaking of Tinder Box, I’m told they repackage bulk blends under their own names. Anyone have any recommendations for pleasant-smelling blends from Tinder Box that aren’t too cigarettey or cigarish? I’d like to round out my tobacco collection with some locally available aromatics or semi-aromatics that won’t clear out a room like a dropped grenade or reek like someone firebombed a Sephora.

 

[mortonbriar]

You should probably pick up the pace a bit, 21 days and only 12 pipes??? I'm kidding...

If you go somewhere like tinderbox the staff will no doubt let you smell the various jars, and will also no doubt recommend something. On the tobaccoreviews website you can see a bunch of their blends, and most reviews refer to the Lane bulk blend that they appear to match.
tinderbox reviews

 

[coming to_falling too]

You should probably pick up the pace a bit, 21 days and only 12 pipes??? I'm kidding...

If you go somewhere like tinderbox the staff will no doubt let you smell the various jars, and will also no doubt recommend something. On the tobaccoreviews website you can see a bunch of their blends, and most reviews refer to the Lane bulk blend that they appear to match.
tinderbox reviews

I agree. Twelve pipes in three weeks? I think he's slacking! Hahaha

 

[gervais]

Enjoyed the read, thanks! Nice to hear you are getting enjoyment from your pipes.

 

[Country Bladesmith]

Now that I’ve gotten progressively better at packing, slowing down, and sipping, I can pick up hints of different notes. I don’t quite have the hang of breaking down and accurately cataloguing them at a fine level yet, but I can definitely see how people are picking up individual bready, nutty, spicy, vegetal, and floral elements from a single blend. I’ve learned to use that as an indicator for when a bowl is performing well—if it bites or is all hot and muddled together, that’s my cue to back off and slow down, and if that doesn’t work, then I most likely packed it stupid. It’s nice to feel a small bit of progress there!

I was the same way back when I first started smoking pipe tobacco. I came from cigars and was smoking way too fast and couldn’t really taste anything. A nice continuous smolder is what you’re after. If you go fast, the tobacco gets too hot, and all those flavor compounds get combusted more completely, giving you that uniform, bitter, burnt taste instead of a nuanced smoke. Like you noticed, slowing it down really opens up the tobacco and lets you taste the individual components in a blend.
Something that helped me was to only smoke a couple of blends for a while in only a couple of pipes. Maybe it’s just me, but most pipes are a little different in the way they like to be filled and smoked. Different chamber sizes, different airway diameters, how wet or dry they tend to smoke, all of these things can complicate the mechanics of a good smoke for someone relatively new to pipes. Choosing one or two blends and one or two pipes for a week or so would’ve probably helped me tremendously back when I first picked up a pipe.
I feel your struggle on the tobacco scarcity. You used to be able to walk into any Walgreens, Eckerds (back when we had them), or mom & pop drugstore and see pipe tobacco, cigars (including some decent ones), and accessories. Walgreens is the only one left that carries ANY pipe tobacco around here, but it’s only Captain Black and a Walgreens-branded flavored cavendish. No Sir Walter Raleigh, Carter Hall, or Prince Albert. Only pouches and bags too. No tubs. They do sell Missouri Meerschaum cobs, pipe cleaners, and Zippo flints though.

 

[Misanthrope]

You should probably pick up the pace a bit, 21 days and only 12 pipes??? I'm kidding...

If you go somewhere like tinderbox the staff will no doubt let you smell the various jars, and will also no doubt recommend something. On the tobaccoreviews website you can see a bunch of their blends, and most reviews refer to the Lane bulk blend that they appear to match.
tinderbox reviews

That was very useful, thank you! Now I have a solid idea of what to ask for when we drop by there.

Enjoyed the read, thanks! Nice to hear you are getting enjoyment from your pipes.

Thanks, and yeah, I’m kicking myself for not trying it sooner!

I feel your struggle on the tobacco scarcity. You used to be able to walk into any Walgreens, Eckerds (back when we had them), or mom & pop drugstore and see pipe tobacco, cigars (including some decent ones), and accessories. Walgreens is the only one left that carries ANY pipe tobacco around here, but it’s only Captain Black and a Walgreens-branded flavored cavendish. No Sir Walter Raleigh, Carter Hall, or Prince Albert. Only pouches and bags too. No tubs. They do sell Missouri Meerschaum cobs, pipe cleaners, and Zippo flints though.

Yeah, I mean, I remember making the “Let him out” Prince Albert in a can joke 15 years ago, and now people look at me like I stepped off a flying saucer when I ask if they carry pipe tobacco. Times sure have changed.

 

[mortonbriar]

RLP - 6 is my 'go to' Lane aromatic, tinderbox calls it chartwell, the room note is a real crowd pleaser if that matters.