***What Are You Smoking, July 2023?***

[AJL67]

Vintage Flake in the Dragon Meer while watching / reading Amazing Detective Di. The Chinese Sherlock Holmes, actually he was the British Detective Di because the detective D novels predate Sherlock Holmes.

 

[jwussow]

Waccamaw in a L’Anatra bent apple.

 

[JTld]

Gawith Bright CR flake in Altinay bent billiard

 

[cshubhra]

HU Edward G purchased February 2020 in a Paykoc Meerschaum Bulldog

 

[Milverton1868]

Match Country Doctor in an Upshaw.

 

[hikeoflife]

First time trying KBV Mycroft in my Pete Short Army X105. There is a lot going on in this blend but not crazy about the shag cut. Might experiment with pressing it

 

[LotusEater]

LJP Cambridge Flake in an Ascorti

 

[RobNYC]

HH Old Dark Fired in an Ardor Urano.

 

[Nevaditude]

Ok, I had an idea, I am gonna try & work through any blend I own that has cherry of some sort in it. Might be a great idea... or it might be one I regret, but I am planning to have a "cherry weekend'. Not sure how many that means, If only a few perhaps I do it twice. To begin, this is a Peterson Sherlock Holmes 'Lestrade' filled with Gawith Hoggarth & Co. American Black Cherry. A good start to this idea, hope it continues.

 

[Ben.R.C]

Eccentric in a Bruce Weaver.

 

[EA/DC]

Dunhill Nightcap in a 'pre- republic' Peterson 265 Deluxe L pipe.



A great blend! I really like it. I have not tried the latest version yet but it must be good aswell...
It only feels a bit strange to me that one can smoke 'Peterson's Nightcap' in a Dunhill pipe nowadays

 

[Steddy]

It doesn’t get better than Louis !!!

He should be required reading for school!

 

[Steddy]

HH Balkan in a Qipeng Wei. Reading my work email outside.

I don’t know about you all, but sometimes I kind of resent these limited edition midnight drop deals. (Not talking about HH Balkan) As much as I like the companies and blenders that make them, they are praying on peoples fear of missing out and promoting hoarding. Also, I have a hard time just buying one tin when shipping is practically the cost of a second tin, so then I wind up getting 10 tins to get free shipping! You see where I’m going with this?

I’d rather see one great blend that sticks around then a series of limited editions.

I LOVE ALL THE HH blends for this reason, I just wish Rustica wasn’t a limited one. I get that if they can only get a small amount of special leaf then it has to be limited, but I can’t help but think this is a marketing gimmick to get people to hoard.

I’m curious on others thoughts on this, I am by no means an industry insider, this is just a novice consumer’s reflections.

PS: HH Balkan is one of the smoothest blends I’ve ever smoked, all the components meld perfectly. Truly an expertly crafted tobacco.

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I don’t resent them at all. Pipe smokers are such a small niche I’m grateful to be marketed towards. I’m somewhat surprised at the amount of choice we have and welcome more.

I especially appreciate manufacturers who take the time to source high quality single crop/vintage tobacco, like C&D does for Carolina Red Flake. One of the big reasons McClelland stopped was because they couldn’t find the quality leaf they wanted. So I am thankful there is still an effort to cultivate relationships with farmers to produce a high quality tobacco, like Jeremy Reeves does with his Perique. Would we rather not have the effort put in?

If there is not enough to make a regular blend I’ll take the limited amount I can. There are soooo many regular blends to choose from. This topic kind of ties in to Cosmic’s post about “premium”.

 

[JimInks]

Half way through this bowl of early 2000s Edward G. Robinson's Pipe Blend in a 2014 Basil Meadows smooth slight bend squashed tomato with an aluminum band and a black pearl acrylic stem in the military mount style.

 

[Sidehatch]

Random day off. Started with burley and coffee. Uhle Crushed White Burley in Stanwell Bent Dublin.

 

[steveg11]

Warped The Red Hunt in this Geiger with brass ring:

 

[Pooh-Bah]

Friend brought me back some tobacco from Mexico, so let's see if it was worth his pesos.
Heavy pouch note of chocolate (dark chocolate). No stickiness to the ribbons, my (illiterate in Spanish) research suggests the stuff is organic and/or minimally processed. Mild, I do get the chocolate taste, especially on a retrohale. I tend to puff fairly fast, and I'm not hearing any gurgling in the Peterson's well, or getting any tongue bite, which is nice. Shouldn't have any problem smoking through the rest of the pouch.

 

[alaskanpiper]

Germain’s Hampton Flake in a bamboo pocket cutty by Adam Davidson.

 

[RobNYC]

Three Friars in a L'Anatra.

 

[doug535]

Lunchtime smoke, KBV Mr Christian's Brown Flek in my own Mil Mount Chubby Apple with my own hand casted stem material. This shape should look familiar @HawkeyeLinus