I have had the opportunity to enjoy more. Enjoying more tobacco is always good. A brief perusal of these articles will make it abundantly clear that I am no snob. I simply love simple tobacco. The interesting thing is the over the counter blends, and old American standbys are really not significantly cheaper, pound-for-pound than many "premium blends". That means if you smoke Carter Hall, and I do, then you do it because it is easy on the palate rather than the wallet. Nevertheless, those simple old standbys and classics that never seem to let you down do tend to be a bit monochromatic. The minute I think that I am done going for the more upper-crust blends something happens. I find and old tin that I had cellared, or I get an itch that can only be scratched by a good healthy dose of perique or latakia. So it is...
I was enjoying some smoker friendly cherry blend, and some Captain Black Dark. These blends were very clearly the chemically treated simple experience they always are. They were not amazing, nor were they terrible. The Cherry was the surprise...it smoked cool and long and was not overbearing on the cherry flavoring. Really nice, right over the plate, good tobacco. The Captian Black Dark I think should just be called CB Extra. It is everything that I expect out of the White with just a bit more. More of the vanilla, more of the CB experience, but it did bite me. Almost every time.
All this was going along just fine...until my day off. I found an older cellared tin of the last few bowls of Kajun Kake by C&D's. That started off my smoky day with a reminder that my OTC blends are good...but there is a difference. That bowl got me going onto a Briar Fox. The burley in that blend is something that is absolutely amazing. Then a bowl of the cherry, just to be sure that I wasn't hallucinating the difference of depth. I was not. Heading into the evening, after the kids went down, I had a long chat with a friend and had not less than four bowls (smaller, clay pipe bowls) of Rattray's Black Mallory. There is something magical about ending the day with Latakia...and a lotta Latakia is the best. This caused me to order some Old Tartan (H&H) and Star of the East (C&D) because I clearly need some variety in my pipe world.
The moral of the story. I love to smoke my pipe. I really enjoy each tobacco for what it offers. I read a lovely review of an aromatic tobacco on Tobacco Reviews.com. It was pointing out how unfair it is that the English smokers will criticize a blend just because it is an aromatic. They knew what it was when they ordered it, and it is fine not to like a blend, but you have to be even-handed enough to criticize a blend for what it is trying to accomplish. That is where each blend shines - once you know what the blend is for you can know how to enjoy it...and if it was even made for you! Fortunately, I find that most tobaccos were made for me to enjoy and that makes me very glad.
