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JimK

Lifer
Feb 11, 2021
1,361
26,647
Good day all and prayers for my fellow Floridians (of all sexes)! Waiting for a break in the rain bands pushing through our area to put fire to a bowl of Peterson Royal Yacht in a storm-worthy Tilshead smooth Billiard with saddle stem. Am hunkered down in my smoking lounge/aka garage hurricane-prepped for the approaching apocalypse sitting here in running shoes, lifevest, bike helmet, a prayer in my heart and a Bhagavad Gita in a waterproof bag along with a phone. May have to "fine tune" the prep a bit more seeing this is only my fourth hurricane since moving down here.
 

JimInks

Sultan of Smoke
Aug 31, 2012
64,382
643,557
Just passing the half way mark on this bowl of year 2014 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. Ice water and bergs is my drink.
Basil_squashed_ tomato copy.jpg
 
Aug 11, 2022
2,627
20,690
Cedar Rapids, IA
Finishing up a bowl of cube-cut Capstan Blue in my mystery mini-briar that I had started last night.

mini_briar_capstan_928.jpg

After years of not quite knowing what to do with this little guy, I'm thinking it might make a good straight-Virginia pipe. The bowl is small enough that there's no guarantee I'd get all of a half-dozen components packed in there, let alone combusting at the same time! But it draws well, and its shortness helps keep bowl aroma/room note closer at hand.
 

JimInks

Sultan of Smoke
Aug 31, 2012
64,382
643,557
Did a set of walking reps, and am close to finishing this bowl of year 2016 D&R Three Sails in an undated straight brush etched black Molina apple with a nickel band and a black tapered vulcanite stem. Ice water and bergs is my drink.
Molina_Apple.jpg
 

Chaukisch

Part of the Furniture Now
Aug 31, 2021
535
3,572
35
Northern Germany
My Virginia twists had time to rest for about 45 hours and I was eager to taste them.
When I opened the jar and took a whiff I was pretty surprised, it smells exactly and intensely like hay.
And look at that color!!! For comparison look at page 150 of this thread and scroll halfway down.
It doesn't just look different on the photos!
I've read about the hay smell before and wasn't discouraged at all so I packed it down my clay
and gave it some heat. If I didn't know better I'd swear that it's some kind of Oriental.

I can't taste any earthy notes anymore, now it's just a really spicy smoke with a decent sweetness in the background. Although the spice can really burn on the tongue, I figure that it should be left to settle down some more.
Another weird thing is that it all really mellowed out during smoking. I'm used to a harsh last third and with this hot spiciness I expected a real burn but it got much softer and slightly sweeter.

20220928_190909 - Copy.jpg
(Open the picture in a new tab and zoom in on the tobac (CTRL+ScrollwheelUP) - Look at that texture!)

What you see is what I got left. I'll leave it in the jar for a while and kinda untwist it before I pack it down the chamber next time, From what I experienced it should give additional sweetness and less sharpness.

I could go on and on about how astonished and happy I am with it. It takes good time to make a good batch of this and I wonder if it's a common procedure. I have heard of twists but not this. It's definitely worth it.
And this was just one Virginia, what's going to happen to other VAs or Burley and all our other friends?
What other little procedures can one come up with?

This is a vast and deep sea, me lads!
And being able to share all this with fellow pipers really completes the whole experience.
 
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