Firing up some Peter Stokkebye Luxury Bulleye Flake (2013) in a Nording semi rusticated billiard (The Hunter?), with a cafe au lait. (Oops, this pipe is for straight Virginia’s…)
***What Are You Smoking, August 2025?***
- Thread starter JimInks
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Starting my morning off as per usual with Cornell and Deal Haunted Bookshop in my HB dedicated Savinelli 673KS Roma Lucite with coffee to pair. Still battling congestion. I can breathe a lot better but not too much flavor coming through. Each day I can taste a little better though. 
Don't tempted me! I need to be cutting back on the hobby as it is!
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Took the day off work today to finish culling the cellar and trimming the stable, as well as coordinate some movers before I start renovations on my place next week. It's about to get HECTIC this afternoon, but for now I'm just slowly enjoying a bowl of KBV Byronic Slices in this Tsuge Ikebana I've dubbed the 'Minokasago" (a Japanese variant of lionfish):
Aside from the obvious grain and live edge spine, it's the 'lips' of the bowl that most resemble a fish for me:
Haunted Bookshop Cake in a Jirsa 210.
Had a bowl of EMP in the new HS Studio tomato bamboo this a.m., I was hesitant about this pipe at first but I didn’t have a tomato shape and I like the smooth with bamboo so I gave it a sho, will post pics later
Solani Silver Flake in my custom-stemmed Merchant Service Short Dark Cutty, with morning coffee.
Blend 255 in the first pipe my wife bought me. My birthday 17 years ago. Savinelli Logo 606KS. Iced tea. Made a run to Publix for wings. FSU vs Alabama tomorrow! Big doings and lots of grilling! Go Noles!
Smoking some Blockade Runner in a Savinelli 673.
Slept in a bit, but had to attend to the feathered vermin since mama’s away. They’re all fighting to stand on the tin of frozen HOH we put out every morning.
Derringer in a Ropp blasted J07.
Derringer in a Ropp blasted J07.
The stem looks to be holding up well, that’s awesome!
2020 Mad Fiddler Flake in my Viprati Sabbiata
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MF Flake has such a wonderfully RICH and aromatic tin note! Opened this in Feb 2025, about half gone. Not jarred, still "perfect."
Looks like you picked the perfect pipe for the perfect tobacco! Double whammy!
Thank you @gord . I was thinking about you when I got out the Mad Fiddler!
Quiet Nights in a Peterson SH Strand. 
LJ Peretti #52 in a Peterson Irish Harp X105 Sandblasted Billard with a short, black moka.
OJK in the Fratelli Righini Vencia meerschaum.
I really like this pipe.
I did, and I enjoyed the smoke as well as could be expected. Yah, the situation has an element of tragi-comedy to it, and I hope it induced a smile or two from guys who read it. Was meant to - we're all victims of our own nature at times, and this was one of them. I expect results too quickly too often . . . as a lifelong teacher and musician, I keep forgetting that when dealing with students there is a considerable amount of "un-teaching" that has to be done before a he can advance. I'm still a student at this pipe game, and am beginning to see the light, but not always. Still lots to learn.
Re the opera situation, evenmost of the general concert-going audience, don't appreciate opera. It's a niche thing. Different crowd. Very passionate crowd.
Back in the 1980s, during a stint of teaching/mentoring at the National Youth Orchestra session (NYO is basically a training ground for young professional musicians; it's a very high standard camp and those students who are there audition, and are at a professional already. My assignment that summer was to take the Concertmaster position of the opera orchestra (there are 4 or 5 orchestras there each summer, made up of a combination of faculty and students, faculty usually taking principal positions) and we were staging Mozart's "Marriage of Figaro", 4 hour three intermission ordeal for the 1st violinists especially. We play difficult parts in every number - no break at all. (Composers usually write, in the various numbers, substantial rest breaks in the parts - not so in Figaro)
We were performing with the Royal Opera of Canada for this performance, which we took on tour across Canada after the NYO session was finished. Was one of the great experiences of my life, and professionally, and I always looked forward to the opera - any orchestra I played in usually did one a year. Other musicians did, as well - the best operas combine everything into one package.
Bizet's "Carmen" is a good place to start if you want a recommendation - great music, great plot and everybody dies.
I haven't heard "Gentleman's Guide . . . ." Musicals are a different discipline, usually popular oriented, but I had my share of them as a student. Again, not the same crowd as the symphony, opera, or pops-series afficionados, and there's not really much cross-over in the audience either. Sorry for the long winded reply. Would go on longer but i'ts apple picking time.
Briar Fox in a Savinelli Tortuga 673KS.
Mix of D&R Windsail & C&D Derringer in an Abe Herbaugh Apple Nosewarmer.
My usual Friday smoke, Haunted Bookshop in its dedicated small briar. Hope y'all have a great weekend.
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