***What Are You Smoking, March 2025?***
- Thread starter JimInks
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G&H aniseed twist in the Falcon. New to me taste very sweet .
The coloring goes well with the mouthpiece! Great looking pipe.
Savinelli 111 KS and Uhle’s Crushed White Burley.
Been preparing this post for a few days for reasons explained before. I've been simultaneously resetting a half dozen or so pipes, and analysing the results, and three month study of my pistol shooting activity. For those of you who haven't heard this before, I'm was as bad with a pistol as I'm good with a rifle. I know there are some other gunnies in this forum-within-a-forum, and will get what I'm talking about.
And my goal was to combine all of the above into one post and then settle down to normalcy, whatever that is. Here's the pic, and the explanation of all of this below, which you can avoid if you wish, because I'm perfectly aware of my penchant for verbosity.
PIPES: Success in my resetting adventure. When these two pipes, the Mad Fiddler dedicated miniature Barrel on the left, and the genre-dedicated miniature Seafarer (both McQueens) went a bit off, I "reset" them with SM Whiskey, my go-to for breaking in. Then had a couple of good smokes, and they are now functioning as well as they ever did. I was not surprised at the Barrel which always was superstellar with MF. But the real surprise was how good Pirate Kake tasted in the Seafarer. I was also pleased that, in spite of their interior bowl dimensions of 3/4" deep and 14mm in diameter, like, tiny - I was able to get a full 35+ minutes of smoking out of both of them. Thanks to all in the forum who helped me out in this regard.
The other stuff in the picture, especially the 10-shot target 10 yard target, is what has been consuming me for the past couple of months . . . first my problem. I'm virtually blind in my right eye, and my left eye ain't so hot. I'm very nearsighted and have to wear glasses. Now, if I shoot with iron sights, I have to wear my readers to clearly see the sights at arms extension. Then the target is so blurry as to be useless. If I wear my distance glasses. I can't focus on the iron sights. The solution for the iron sights is to use a big target, partially pictured on the right. Then I can aim (with my readers) at the bottom of the blur 10 yards away. Works. Can hold a 1" group now on a regular basis with my Alpha Venturi. Good, but not medal stuff. And not sanctioned for competition.
Now look at the target on the left. Olympic Target, and USRA and CFA target as well. Shot 2 - handed, resting my elbows on the bench. I shoot these targets vertical rather than horizontal because I use a pellet-trap at 10 yards, and the aspect ratio of the target and trap allow me to, if I fold or cut the target into vertical strips, shoot 5 targets rather than 3 before I walk down and re-post fresh targets. Helps, believe me, a lot after 2-3 hours of shooting with a hernia.
If you can see the holes, there are 7 in the center bullseye, and 3 just outside. One of them would be a black because it touches, depending on the adjudicator, but the final result is very good for me at this point. Shot with my Crosman Silloute PCP, at 2600 psi. Used a scoped pistol at 10 yards, two-handed, elbow rest. Never too old to learn! Old dogs can be taught new tricks if they are willing to listen to those who know, eh?
I'll be mounting a red dot sight on the Crosman, for sure. It's a ne plus ultra tack driver as you can see. I know I have a red dot somewhere in the house, but you know what's gonna happen when I look for it, eh? Next on the list? Learning to shoot Olympic style with both my Alpha Venturi and Crossman. I'll keep y'all posted lol, but only occasionally.
And my goal was to combine all of the above into one post and then settle down to normalcy, whatever that is. Here's the pic, and the explanation of all of this below, which you can avoid if you wish, because I'm perfectly aware of my penchant for verbosity.
The other stuff in the picture, especially the 10-shot target 10 yard target, is what has been consuming me for the past couple of months . . . first my problem. I'm virtually blind in my right eye, and my left eye ain't so hot. I'm very nearsighted and have to wear glasses. Now, if I shoot with iron sights, I have to wear my readers to clearly see the sights at arms extension. Then the target is so blurry as to be useless. If I wear my distance glasses. I can't focus on the iron sights. The solution for the iron sights is to use a big target, partially pictured on the right. Then I can aim (with my readers) at the bottom of the blur 10 yards away. Works. Can hold a 1" group now on a regular basis with my Alpha Venturi. Good, but not medal stuff. And not sanctioned for competition.
Now look at the target on the left. Olympic Target, and USRA and CFA target as well. Shot 2 - handed, resting my elbows on the bench. I shoot these targets vertical rather than horizontal because I use a pellet-trap at 10 yards, and the aspect ratio of the target and trap allow me to, if I fold or cut the target into vertical strips, shoot 5 targets rather than 3 before I walk down and re-post fresh targets. Helps, believe me, a lot after 2-3 hours of shooting with a hernia.
If you can see the holes, there are 7 in the center bullseye, and 3 just outside. One of them would be a black because it touches, depending on the adjudicator, but the final result is very good for me at this point. Shot with my Crosman Silloute PCP, at 2600 psi. Used a scoped pistol at 10 yards, two-handed, elbow rest. Never too old to learn! Old dogs can be taught new tricks if they are willing to listen to those who know, eh?
I'll be mounting a red dot sight on the Crosman, for sure. It's a ne plus ultra tack driver as you can see. I know I have a red dot somewhere in the house, but you know what's gonna happen when I look for it, eh? Next on the list? Learning to shoot Olympic style with both my Alpha Venturi and Crossman. I'll keep y'all posted lol, but only occasionally.
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Close to finishing this bowl of year 2020 Mac Baren Scottish Mixture in a straight, smooth brown 1960s Lane era Charatan Special 38 bulldog with a black vulcanite saddle stem. Been busy changing the light and fan fixture in the den with plenty of help from my neighbor. Ice water and bergs is my drink.
Now smoking year 2021 Erik Stokkebye 4th Generation Evening Flake in a smooth medium bend 2021 Peterson Ebony POTY 4AB No. 422/500 military mount with a silver cap and a tapered black vulcanite AB stem.
Smoking the Deluxe System Barley 9s again. This time with C&D St. Patrick's Day Reserve. I seem to be smoking a lot of aros lately, and this one is stellar. I'd buy it in bulk if it was available for purchase.
I, too am nearly blind in my right eye. The optic nerve is hyperactive, a lifelong problem that is only getting worse. I’m left eye dominant, and use that for the camera, and have been struggling to transition the pistol similarly. For my carry gun, I’ve moved to a SIG P365 SAS with the fiber optic dot, and sunglasses. I was once very good with iron sights on the rifle, winning gold and silver numerous times at Camp Perry, but have moved to optics and red dots now. The house shotgun has a good red dot on it. I can hit “minute of head” at reasonable engagement distances now, and keep in practice for the moment I hope never happens. Next step will be strapping a Claymore to my chest!Been preparing this post for a few days for reasons explained before. I've been simultaneously resetting a half dozen or so pipes, and analysing the results, and three month study of my pistol shooting activity. For those of you who haven't heard this before, I'm was as bad with a pistol as I'm good with a rifle. I know there are some other gunnies in this forum-within-a-forum, and will get what I'm talking about.
And my goal was to combine all of the above into one post and then settle down to normalcy, whatever that is. Here's the pic, and the explanation of all of this below, which you can avoid if you wish, because I'm perfectly aware of my penchant for verbosity.
View attachment 376535
PIPES: Success in my resetting adventure. When these two pipes, the Mad Fiddler dedicated miniature Barrel on the left, and the genre-dedicated miniature Seafarer (both McQueens) went a bit off, I "reset" them with SM Whiskey, my go-to for breaking in. Then had a couple of good smokes, and they are now functioning as well as they ever did. I was not surprised at the Barrel which always was superstellar with MF. But the real surprise was how good Pirate Kake tasted in the Seafarer. I was also pleased that, in spite of their interior bowl dimensions of 3/4" deep and 14mm in diameter, like, tiny - I was able to get a full 35+ minutes of smoking out of both of them. Thanks to all in the forum who helped me out in this regard.
The other stuff in the picture, especially the 10-shot target 10 yard target, is what has been consuming me for the past couple of months . . . first my problem. I'm virtually blind in my right eye, and my left eye ain't so hot. I'm very nearsighted and have to wear glasses. Now, if I shoot with iron sights, I have to wear my readers to clearly see the sights at arms extension. Then the target is so blurry as to be useless. If I wear my distance glasses. I can't focus on the iron sights. The solution for the iron sights is to use a big target, partially pictured on the right. Then I can aim (with my readers) at the bottom of the blur 10 yards away. Works. Can hold a 1" group now on a regular basis with my Alpha Venturi. Good, but not medal stuff. And not sanctioned for competition.
Now look at the target on the left. Olympic Target, and USRA and CFA target as well. Shot 2 - handed, resting my elbows on the bench. I shoot these targets vertical rather than horizontal because I use a pellet-trap at 10 yards, and the aspect ratio of the target and trap allow me to, if I fold or cut the target into vertical strips, shoot 5 targets rather than 3 before I walk down and re-post fresh targets. Helps, believe me, a lot after 2-3 hours of shooting with a hernia.
If you can see the holes, there are 7 in the center bullseye, and 3 just outside. One of them would be a black because it touches, depending on the adjudicator, but the final result is very good for me at this point. Shot with my Crosman Silloute PCP, at 2600 psi. Used a scoped pistol at 10 yards, two-handed, elbow rest. Never too old to learn! Old dogs can be taught new tricks if they are willing to listen to those who know, eh?
I'll be mounting a red dot sight on the Crosman, for sure. It's a ne plus ultra tack driver as you can see. I know I have a red dot somewhere in the house, but you know what's gonna happen when I look for it, eh? Next on the list? Learning to shoot Olympic style with both my Alpha Venturi and Crossman. I'll keep y'all posted lol, but only occasionally.
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Thank you. The stem came with the pipe and is of good quality. Mr Altinay makes a really good stem, best of any Meer Carver I've experienced. The 3 Meers I post on here are my only 3. I enjoy seeing them color and the more they're smoked, the more they color. So it doesn't make sense to me to have a large quantity of Meers. If I saw one that really caught my eye, I'd probably buy it. But I'm not actively looking to add any.Question here - we see so many wonderful pipes here it's hard to keep track. Now I know you have a few (probably many) meers, but I'm not sure I've seen this one before. It's the stem, which is a beautiful wine red, but the bowl looks familiar. Is it the lighting, interchangeable with another, or what? Enquiring minds want to know. Whatever the case, certainly a handsome outfit!
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Second bowl of Sir John's Flake Virginia bring smoked in an Altinay.
On Saturday evenings, I like to pay homage to my dear departed Uncle’s by smoking their favorite blend, Half and Half. I’m honestly starting to see what they loved about it. The pipe is a billiard by Tim Beaumont, Papa Bear Briars of Youngstown, Ohio.
To me, that doesn’t look like a tin of Sir John’s Flake.
A friend needs resume help, so I had a Falcon snifter full of Granger while talking on Zoom
She needed a LOT of help, so I followed up with a snifter of Winchester.
After that, I switched to the Plymouth bowls and Reserve du Patron.
She needed a LOT of help, so I followed up with a snifter of Winchester.
After that, I switched to the Plymouth bowls and Reserve du Patron.
Mac Baren Mixture in an SMS meerschaum.
Some gifted Watch City Cigar Rouxgaroux in the Mastro Geppetto in the shed with a barrel aged micro. Boy - I can't wait for the spring! An impressive tobacco - love those floral notes. I'm going to have to put this one on my list! 
Bowl of S.G. Best Brown in a Barling1815 Marylebone Fossil
Nørding Pointer in a Pete PSB Milverton
