Autumn for me as well, followed by winter, spring, and summer as my least favorite. I smoke outside exclusively, so my ability to do it, or lack thereof, is largely dependent on the weather.
Summer is my least favorite season in general; to me, it's just a time to get through, and my favorite season, fall, is the reward for doing so. Summers in Southern California (this part anyway) have changed noticeably; used to be hot and dry without exception, and now they are more humid, cooler (hard to tell when it's so humid) and even feature some rain here and there. Summer smokes, for me, are usually relegated to the VA/VAPer realm, with an occasional light aromatic.
For me, autumn is when smoking becomes pure joy. There's a chill and a crispness in the air, and the coming coldness carries an energy with it that just screams, "Balkan Sasieni time, muthaf***ah!" (think Jules from
Pulp Fiction) It is also my favorite season in general, which only amplifies the enjoyment gleaned from smoking a pipe.
Winter in the mountains? Good luck! If I bundle up real nice and it happens to be between snows, I'll go out and puff on a strong English or an earthy Burley blend, but remember, I'm SoCal born and raised; a few minutes' exposure is about all I can take, and I'm prone to faster puffing just as a means to finishing quickly and getting myself back to the warm living room. Call me a wuss if you must, but wusses don't get frostbite.
Spring smokes are nice too. I love heavier aromatics, VaBurs and VaOrs during this time, but the heavy precipitation California has been receiving these past seven or eight years (I've just about had it with the media and their stupid drought propaganda) brings heavy plant growth, which brings pollen. That necessarily limits the amount of time I can spend outside, and I'm not one to rely on a Benadryl band-aid all the time. Still, it's a lovely time of year, even though the abomination of summer looms ahead.
Alright, I'm done with my novel now. Time for some innocuous, ubiquitous VA flake now...
