***What Are You Smoking, May 2025?***
- Thread starter JimInks
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Peretti 52 in a friend-made custom Lovat and morning coffee. Going to be a full weekend!
Mac Baren Mixture Scottish Blend in my new Peterson Silver Plateau. My favourite aromatic tobacco - but you have to treat it gently, keeping the temperature down, or it will bite. Slow, smooth sips - that's the key.
@Scottmi - Right on. I've seen some great stuff on there as well. 
Waking bowl was Mycroft this morning in an unnamed briar. After-breakfast bowl is now Sun Bear in an HS Studio freehand with coffee on the side. Then back to my painting...coat #3.
Waking bowl was Mycroft this morning in an unnamed briar. After-breakfast bowl is now Sun Bear in an HS Studio freehand with coffee on the side. Then back to my painting...coat #3.
A third of a bowl left of year 2024 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. Fed Sleepy Suzy and Molly Danger before I brought Daisy the Feral Princess and Tomato the Brave in to eat. All four ferals were near the back door ready to eat. I put down dry food outside for Harry the Hairy and Abner the Eager. After Tomato finishes eating, I'll let them in. Ice water and bergs is my drink. It's very cloudy out there. Hope I get a set of walking reps in before the rain comes.
SPC Galloping Gertie in a Peterson Christmas pipe.
Cigar Time: Oliva Serie V Melanio in the 6 x 60 vitola. My messy desk in the background 
2009 briar fox in a Bruno nuttens Rhodesian 
Did a set of walking reps in the high humidity, and smoked a bowl of year 2016 D&R Three Sails in a slight bent black pattern etched 1977 Lorenzo Lorsan Sigma level top billiard with a gray swirl acrylic saddle stem. It's time for some lunch.
Enjoying a Friday evening bowl of Samuel Gawith Full Virginia Plug. I've discovered I much prefer the plug to the flake. Lovely stuff. Smoking my Peterson Ashford 106.
Haunted Bookshop Cake in a Design Berlin Calabash. 
My life is insane right now. Never thought retirement would be busier than "real life" but it is proving perhaps worse lol. A bit of time this morning to post this and catch you up on what's going on. That virus thing (yeah, apparently that's what it was in combination with allergies) is waning fast. Tastebuds back to about 90+% - all but subtleties are detectable now, and that bit of tonguebite is waning too, but I remain a bit undiscplined and it is still there. Two shots to show you with text underneath. Won't have time to post anything but Highlight Smokes and Skippable Drivel for a while, but I've had a lot of these lately. Smoking when I can, chewing when I can't.
Highlight Smoke: (actually, two . . . )
A day or two ago, but for me an important one. I'd mentioned a couple of times that I was thrilled with the performance of my Falon bantam bowl with Navies and Englishes, but not as high on them for aromatics. Realized I hadn't really given them a whirl in my large custom briar bowl, which is fully broken in, I thought I'd give it a try.
Because the Standard Falcon is a key tool in my travel kit, (I'll picture that soon, whenever that is), I gave the remainder of the plastic baggie that buddy Stu gave me of CAO Moontrance in the Falcon Straight, Large Briar Bowl a whirl with most excellent results. A later bowl with TobaccoBarn's "Cimmeron", a wonderful aro in my top ten, proved equally fine. Case closed.
Skippable Drivel
it's getting down to crunch time for my upcoming public participation demo early June in Field Target at the PG Rod and Gun. I'm planning a demo in pistol, rifle, and a new category I'm trying to introduce to CAFTA (Canadian Airgun Field Target Association) as a permanent fixture, Stocked Scoped Pistol. Reason? Although this year I've attained average competence with a handgun, this discipline in any of its forms is really a young mans' game. Us old farts don't have the eyesight and one (or even two) arm strength to hold a heavy 4 pound target pistol steady for very long. I wish I had learned to shoot pistol 25 or 30 years ago, but I didn't, and I don't cry over spilled milk. (That's different than whining, IMHO lol)
Here are the results of two consecutive 5 shot groups I shot at 5 yards in my indoor range 3 nights ago. Technical stuff below the picture.
I shot the bottom group first, and no, it's not larger, but I made a slight one click sight adjustment on the scope. I wanted the group about 2-3mm to the right of the dot, because I'm a left hand shooter and will tend to pull the group to the left minutely if I don't follow through on my trigger pull. The upper group was shot immediately after (and is actually six shots which you can see in the tip impacts if you look closely), and is what I was looking for. Two subsequent almost identical 5 shot groups confirmed. I'll move the target to 10 yards today to check the trajectory - it should impact about at the bottom of the dot (which most Field Target guys, and frankly a lot of hunters, too, prefer shooting at rather than the circular gobbledygook on expensive printed targets. I actually shoot at a pellet hole on a piece of 8.5x11" bond, which accounts for the 6 shots in the top group.
I shot these groups while buddy Mike was over. He's pretty much deaf, and spends a lot of our smoking time watching YouTube stuff with his bluetooth hearing device. When he got up from the couch to get a coffee refill, he looked at the groups and said something that I wouldn't even print. My response was that I could think of at least 4 guys in the club who could better that, and I know of a few guys on this forum who could probably do so as well. My friend Daryl is one of them. He currently holds the NA Airmail Match 1000 yard Muzzle Loader record, a 5 shot sub less than 6" group, He's incredible with an airgun, too.
Competition these days in both airgun and benchrest is measured in 1/1000th of inches. I ain't there.
Next project is establishing the trajectory at 10 yards, which as I said will probably touch the bottom of the dot, and then at 15 and 17 yards, at which the group will be bang on. And no, they won't be much, if any larger. Largest groups will be at about 7 - 8 yards, where the pellet stabilizes.
I'll post again tonight on a highlight smoke, and try to catch up on the emoticon and comment circuit. Cheers and have a great weekend.
Highlight Smoke: (actually, two . . . )
A day or two ago, but for me an important one. I'd mentioned a couple of times that I was thrilled with the performance of my Falon bantam bowl with Navies and Englishes, but not as high on them for aromatics. Realized I hadn't really given them a whirl in my large custom briar bowl, which is fully broken in, I thought I'd give it a try.
Because the Standard Falcon is a key tool in my travel kit, (I'll picture that soon, whenever that is), I gave the remainder of the plastic baggie that buddy Stu gave me of CAO Moontrance in the Falcon Straight, Large Briar Bowl a whirl with most excellent results. A later bowl with TobaccoBarn's "Cimmeron", a wonderful aro in my top ten, proved equally fine. Case closed.
Skippable Drivel
it's getting down to crunch time for my upcoming public participation demo early June in Field Target at the PG Rod and Gun. I'm planning a demo in pistol, rifle, and a new category I'm trying to introduce to CAFTA (Canadian Airgun Field Target Association) as a permanent fixture, Stocked Scoped Pistol. Reason? Although this year I've attained average competence with a handgun, this discipline in any of its forms is really a young mans' game. Us old farts don't have the eyesight and one (or even two) arm strength to hold a heavy 4 pound target pistol steady for very long. I wish I had learned to shoot pistol 25 or 30 years ago, but I didn't, and I don't cry over spilled milk. (That's different than whining, IMHO lol)
Here are the results of two consecutive 5 shot groups I shot at 5 yards in my indoor range 3 nights ago. Technical stuff below the picture.
I shot the bottom group first, and no, it's not larger, but I made a slight one click sight adjustment on the scope. I wanted the group about 2-3mm to the right of the dot, because I'm a left hand shooter and will tend to pull the group to the left minutely if I don't follow through on my trigger pull. The upper group was shot immediately after (and is actually six shots which you can see in the tip impacts if you look closely), and is what I was looking for. Two subsequent almost identical 5 shot groups confirmed. I'll move the target to 10 yards today to check the trajectory - it should impact about at the bottom of the dot (which most Field Target guys, and frankly a lot of hunters, too, prefer shooting at rather than the circular gobbledygook on expensive printed targets. I actually shoot at a pellet hole on a piece of 8.5x11" bond, which accounts for the 6 shots in the top group.
I shot these groups while buddy Mike was over. He's pretty much deaf, and spends a lot of our smoking time watching YouTube stuff with his bluetooth hearing device. When he got up from the couch to get a coffee refill, he looked at the groups and said something that I wouldn't even print. My response was that I could think of at least 4 guys in the club who could better that, and I know of a few guys on this forum who could probably do so as well. My friend Daryl is one of them. He currently holds the NA Airmail Match 1000 yard Muzzle Loader record, a 5 shot sub less than 6" group, He's incredible with an airgun, too.
Competition these days in both airgun and benchrest is measured in 1/1000th of inches. I ain't there.
Next project is establishing the trajectory at 10 yards, which as I said will probably touch the bottom of the dot, and then at 15 and 17 yards, at which the group will be bang on. And no, they won't be much, if any larger. Largest groups will be at about 7 - 8 yards, where the pellet stabilizes.
I'll post again tonight on a highlight smoke, and try to catch up on the emoticon and comment circuit. Cheers and have a great weekend.
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Erinmore Flake in this cob. Pelligrino accompanying.
Working on the deck this afternoon with some Tashkent in a Falcon
Last week I smoked From Beyond for the first time in a year, and mentioned that it has something extra compared to most English blends I’ve tried. I’m still too inexperienced to identify many things, but whatever that extra is in From Beyond, Tashkent has it too. I suspect that I will be buying more when I finish this sample.
Last week I smoked From Beyond for the first time in a year, and mentioned that it has something extra compared to most English blends I’ve tried. I’m still too inexperienced to identify many things, but whatever that extra is in From Beyond, Tashkent has it too. I suspect that I will be buying more when I finish this sample.
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HU Edward G in a Savinelli Punto Oro 101
How did the mixed marriage turn out?
Enjoyed a tall stack of cinnamon raisin French toast with unsalted peanuts and a golden delicious apple lunch. I'm a quarter of the way through this bowl of year 2020 Watch City Rouxgaroux in a smooth medium bend 2021 Peterson POTY Natural 4AB No. 6/500 military mount with a silver cap and a tapered black vulcanite AB stem. Gold Star 50th, neat, is my drink. Abner the Eager is stretched out and snoozin' on m'lady's chair. Everybody else is outside. The sun came out so I know they're enjoying it.
Huber English Perique in an Irish Seconds System 302.
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