Okay, I've gotten to the point where I can't remember what it is like to feel warm and smoke a pipe at the same time. I think back to the days when I would sit on my back porch and smoke a bowl to the bottom and sing softly to myself, and I wonder if I made the up. I think of the times smoking outside with my dear brothers of the briar and I wonder if they weren't part of some wonderful novel that I read myself into being fully unwilling to accept the reality that I will never again be able to enjoy a bowl in my life. Ah, me. I want to time capsule this moment so that I will remember when comfortable smoking has returned, not to take it for granted!
That being said, I have tried one new tobacco recently. That being G.L. Pease's Haddo's Delight. And, for my tastes, it is DELIGHTFUL. I love this blend because it can actually stand up to a stiff cup of coffee. I also like this blend because it doesn't have a Je n'sait quoi. I know exactly what makes it great. You don't have to read the back to feel it all the way down: virginia, perique. Delicious. I obtained this in a trade with Givensdroid on Youtube (great pipe channel...check him out!). In which I shipped off a tin of Early Morning Pipe, which I was not wild about. Haddo's Delight is a perfect contrast to EMP. Full bodied and delicious, all the way down to the bottom of the bowl.
I have to admit, the weather has made be a bit smoking lethargic. I have been going back to basics (Black Watch, Black Gold, Nightcap, Black Mallory). I haven't been compelled to try much new. I think because my smoking time is so precious that I don't want to risk disappointment. I love how the change in seasons reveals my relationship to the pipe weed I love. I will still go out for it, but not nearly so frequently. I do enjoy it, but I don't miss it in the sense of addiction. A week or two, even three, without a pipe doesn't bring any physiological effects. This was never the case when I was smoking cigarettes, but then a cigarette was never enjoyed so thoroughly.
As I write I am longing for another bowl full of MacClelland's Christmas Cheer 2009. I have it downstairs, but, alas it is late and it is cold, so I shall go to sleep instead. Happy puffing to all, and to all a good night!
