Not smoking anything right now - final day of my last "break in" session madness. But here's the lineup for tomorrow, as I'll be back to the pipe after the 3 day hiatus.
First up, on the left, is my morning smoke. The "Acorn" McQueen miniature. It has taken to a particular tobacco, one of my favorite morning puffs, Bengal Slices. So it is now a dedicated pipe to that tobacco. The tiny bowl usually gives me about 12-15 minutes, but for some reason, this pipe gives me about 25 minutes with Bengal Slices. Don't know why but I'm not complaining. If you look closely, it also has a meer chip over the draft hole. Doesn't seem to bother the time in the least.
In the middle, is the little Ropp J05, which is also one of my dedicated pipes, and it'll be used in my hands down favorite mid-day smoke, Black Frigate. This pipe is the subject of my thread on "tall bowls," and since then, I've implemented all of the solutions that work, especially looser packing. I've gotten over an hour from this amazing little fellow, but with looser packing and the techniques that I'm still working on, I get slightly less - between 40 and 45 minutes, but the smoke is much better, only one relight usually, and much more enjoyable. This length of smoke suites my favourite Beethoven Symphony, #7 in A, which lasts about 40 minutes, so this dynamic duo will be employed in musical meditation tomorrow afternoon.
Up last is my Brigham Tundra 047S, which will be filled with something mild to end the day with a couple of friends, probably Amphora Dark Cavendish. We'll probably watch a flick, Can't say for sure. Mike'll be over and he likes Wagner, and has been talking in terms of this. I will try to discourage him and go for some cheesy sci-fi.
After years and years of hardly ever listening to music after I retired from the profession, a half dozen or so new students have arrived this September. Didn't plan it, but a few extra bucks will help with rising expenses. So I'm listening again as a result of this gaggle of new (two violin, three keyboard and one cello) young musicians, and only two of them are beginners. We'll see if this scenario kills me off or not.