H&H Magnum Opus in the little meer. Trying to get done with the day’s adventures before the storms set in. 
***What Are You Smoking, May 2024?***
- Thread starter JimInks
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I had picked up a tin to let age. Decided to order a second to enjoy now. Thanks for the suggestion and nudge
On the road today so I pre packed some 2024 Sansepolcro in my Black Meerschaum full bent billiard with acrylic stem, briar morris and 9mm filter. I’ll be able to enjoy this later during my drive to do errands today.
Now smoking year 2022 unreleased Sutliff Brown Virginia Flake in a 1920s medium bend smooth dark brown BBB Umbra bulldog with a tapered black vulcanite stem with an orific bit.
How is the Sutliff Brown VA Flake? I keep discovering new things from Sutliff. I've only ever seen a Wessex Brown VA Flake.
Dark Fragrant in the Peterson Aran 999 P-Lip
That's a lovely pipe shape, need to get one like that.
Afternoon pipe after processing a TAD drop and really strategizing about doing the lawn... 
A nice VA in the right pipe (Bear's Den Briar Commission Snail).
A nice VA in the right pipe (Bear's Den Briar Commission Snail).
Irish Flake in a Kaywoodie.
Shocker, right?!
Shocker, right?!
Mac Baren HH Pure Virginia in a Dr. Grabow Royalton for my morning walk before breakfast today.
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I really like HH Pure Virginia. As far as dark Virginia flakes go I'd say it's about 80% as tasty as Samuel Gawith's Full Virginia Flake, but doesn't require any dry time or much in the way of relights so it's about 100% more convenient to smoke.
Sutliff 507C Virginia Slices in a SMS meerschaum claw.
That it is. One of the largest he made.
Mac Baren HH Pure Virginia in a Dr. Grabow Royalton for my morning walk before breakfast today.
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I really like HH Pure Virginia. As far as dark Virginia flakes go I'd say it's about 80% as tasty as Samuel Gawith's Full Virginia Flake, but doesn't require any dry time or much in the way of relights so it's about 100% more convenient to smoke.
Since I was comparing my morning smoke of Mac Baren HH Pure Virginia to Samuel Gawith's Full Virginia Flake, for my afternoon pipe I decided to pop open my jar of Full Virginia Flake and give it a smoke for comparison's sake while the HH Pure Virginia was still fresh in my mind. Today I've got it loaded in a Morgan Bones Milan.
Puffing on the Full Virginia Flake right now, it's definitely a very similar blend to HH Pure Virginia. If you like one you'll like the other. The main difference I can find is that HH Pure Virginia's standout note is it's breadiness whereas Full Virginia Flake's most prominent note is green and black teas, but they both have that full range of Virginia flavors with the darker bread, tea, and earthy leaf litter flavors front and center and the bright grassy, hay, citrus, and occasional honey notes bringing up the rear.
It's almost an apples to apples comparison, with the only real deciding factor between the two being whether you prefer bread or tea as the main flavor note and whether or not you mind the half hour or so dry time that Full Virginia Flake tends to require after being rubbed out and the frequent relights it demands. Having now smoked them both today I think I'm rather agnostic on which I prefer.
They're both the finest examples of a dark Virginia flake that I've had the pleasure of smoking, though if I had to pick just one to smoke and forever banish the other from my cellar I think the keeper for me would be... HH Pure Virginia. I like the tin note better (HH Pure Virginia smells like fresh baked bread in the tin, whereas Full Virginia Flake smells a lot like Play-Doh) and how non-fussy HH Pure Virginia is to smoke. You just rub out the flake, pack it, and go. No dry time or extra relights required, and you could probably save yourself a step and just fold and stuff the flake if you were so inclined. It's just an easier and more forgiving smoke, and I retract my previous statement about HH Pure Virginia being 80% as tasty as Full Virginia Flake. It's every bit as good, and well worth a try if you're a fan of Virginia flakes.
GLP Navigator in a Radice Silk Cut
RLP-6 in a MM maple. It may end up being a decent smoker.
Just finishing this bowl of year 2012 Esoterica Dunbar in a smooth straight, dark brown early 1960s Lane era Charatan Selected 43 Dublin with a black vulcanite double comfort saddle stem. This pipe was formerly owned by actor William Conrad.
Morning checks complete and some lovely rain, 31mm in fact. Coffee and some DNR’s in a Le Dune as I remember a good group of men and a fabulous lunch when I received this pipe.
A quarter of the way through this bowl of Ken Byron Ventures Jim’s Special Flake 2023 in a 1984 black rusticated full bend Peterson Mark Twain military mount egg with a silver cap and tapered black vulcanite p-lip stem. Have to type with one finger because I'm cradling the sleeping li'l orange fella on my left arm.
Cobblestone Hiking in a Savinelli Autograph sandblast volcano.
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