Capstan Blue

Most of my pipe pleasure has been found in Carter Hall of late. So simple, so satisfying. I never seem to tire of this magnificent all-day smoke. But there are those times when one wants a bit more complexity and distraction. 

For this I have been turning to the blue tin of Capstan which sat on my shelf for the last two years or so. It is a lovely flake that fits in well with all of those good, honest tobaccos that offers a purity and goodness that I love in a pipe tobacco. It burns well and has a satisfying sweetness that draws me in beautifully. 

Progressing into the bowl both weight and complexity increase. The blend gets more intense just as you would want a blend to become more intense. Like a casual acquaintance who becomes more interesting the longer you know him, this blend is not gaudy or insecure. It keeps me masterfully entertained throughout the smoke. 

It finishes with a lovely flourish in which I always wind up trying a bit to hard to light the dottle. It is too satisfying to want another bowl but to satisfied to want to see the bowl end. This tobacco is lovely.  

What are you enjoying now?

Why, thank you for asking! I have had some wonderful opportunities to enjoy several bowls of good pipe tobacco these past weeks. This time, historically, had been a time of looking with a jealous eye toward spring. This year is no exception. I long for the warm summer afternoon pipes and late night conversations over endlessly burning bowls of tobacco.  Yet, as Graham Green so well writes in The Power and the Glory: "One of the Fathers has told us that joy always depends on pain. Pain is part joy. We are hungry and then think how we enjoy our food at last."

So my anticipatory celebration in the pain of the cold has consisted of several in my regular rotation.  First, plenty of Edwards Special Balkan. This is a blend that is simply synonymous with satisfaction for me. On situations where it is better for me not to smell like a walking Latakia bomb I have been favoring C and D's Nutty Irishman.  I have been poking through this bag for about a year now.  I bought it loving the smell of the topping, but have found it to be a bit bitey. This was a surprise because the time I had it before there was little or no bite.  I suppose our tastes do change.

Another C and D blend I have been enjoying is Morning Drive Time. I bought this for purely romantic reasons.  The idea of blends that honor the working man was too attractive to pass up.  This VA/perique blend lived up to its high calling marvelously. While Dunhill's EarlyMorning Pipe never lived up to the hype for me, Morning Drive Time fits my breakfast smoke profile.

On the over the over the counter side I have been lusting after another package of Carter Hall, which I love so dearly.  However I cannot indulge in it because I still have a package of Sir Walter Raleigh to get through. While satisfying for that burley fix, it simply is not Carter Hall.  Which I recognize is like saying, "This cup of tea simply is not a cup of coffee!"  Yet in pure preference Mmy mouth remembers something lovely about the simplicity of Carter Hall burley.

Finally, my other old standby, Black Watch from Edwards in Denver. It is the first pipe tobacco I remember smoking. I smoked it too quickly and too hot. It bit my tongue, but at the time I knew no better. The vanilla aroma brings back those first beautiful bowls. Then When I learned how to smoke slowly and enjoy the true flavor of the tobacco in sweet sips this tobacco came alive in new and exciting ways.  

But what have you been smoking, dear reader?

Waiting Game

The introduction of our fourth beautiful and wonderful child has slowed my smoking a great deal. However, something exciting has occured and that will lead to a soon return to pipe writing as well as a review. I have found my local grocery store has begun to cary Velvet over the counter tobacco. I have more than a small fascination with over the counter blends, and I am not sure why. They really are not in any way cost effective, and with the internet a specialty or "boutique" blend can come about easier and even cheaper than the typical price one would pay for an OTC blend. Nevertheless, I love them. I think they connect me to an earlier generation of pipe smokers: those who didn't smoke pipes like we do, feeling like we are a minority, but those who smoked pipes because men just smoke pipes. What did they smoke? Likely one of the dozens of blends that were sold at every corner drug store! There are those I have liked less (Capt. Black, Bjokum Riff, Paladin). But I have also gotten a great amount of satisfaction from such classic american blends as Prince Albert, Carter Hall and Half and Half. Even some that I have been a bit indifferent towards like Sir Walter Ralleigh. I won't go so far as to say that I prefer OTC blends over my specialty blends (I have been smoking a great deal of Hartenstein Trail from Edwards in Denver lately), but I do know that as long as I cointinue to smoke a pipe I will always have one of my trusty old OTC blends on hand. How about you? Any dirty little sectrets in your enjoyment of cheap tobaccos?

plumcake and a joyful reunion

Before starting, I have to say that I LOVE MacBaren's Navy Flake. It is perfect, slow burning, delicious and wonderful. It is my understanding that this blend is based on that one, plus a bit minus a bit. I have been read that there is latakia in this, I haven't tasted it, but so it goes. This is supposed to have a bit of rum flavor. The MacBaren aromatics are preportedly not the "overpowering and goopy" aromatics that give aromatics such a bad name. This is true. This blend is nice and dry. I would put this in my list of thoroughly mediocre smokes. It is nice and has a great smell all around, it certainly falls in the baby bear category ("just right") in many respects. I enjoy all types of pipe tobacco, and have no prejudice against any one or the other. Even still there the Rum thing never really came off, that is to say, I never really tasted it. That wasn't terribly disappointing, it just left me with a sort of "did I miss it?" type of feeling. One review that I read claimed that the smoke was actually better after the topping sort of "burned off." It is a good smoke and a good tobacco. I think what made me feel somewhat ambivalent about it is that I paid quite a bit for the tin. Call me crazy, when I pay more I expect more. I suppose I would try it again if I weren't in a place where every purchase has to count. There is only so much money I can justify spending on the hobby. ("Sorry kids, no meat this month, it's a MacBeran month!) I would like to reiterate, however, the Navy Flake delivers every single time. So this is by no means a bash on MacBaren, just that this one isn't for me. I'm pretty excited to try the "mixture modern" but all in good time.

And now, given what was written before, something that may stun, amaze and discredit me to my entire readership. I have recently had a reunion that has warmed my heart tremendously. Anyone who has been estranged from a friend for an extended period of time and then sees them on the street may have this sensation. The moment of disbelief. The doubt and wonder, if it could really be them. Then the moment of courage, on the possibility that it was just how the light fell on a perfect stranger, reminding you of the loved one, when you go and tap them on the shoulder...Then the joyous meeting commences. This is the moment I have just had.

Upon moving to a new city I have been able to find a smoke shop, order most of my other premium tobaccos from Cornell and Deihl, and mama brings me up some treasured favorites when she comes up from the home town. Nevertheless, I have not been able to find a single walgreens or supermarket that sells Prince Albert, Carter Hall, or even Half and Half. I have been able to find one that has old packages of Captain Black, which has never been my favorite over the counter blend. And have actually had a pouch of Bjorkum Riff (whiskey) which was...okay. All of this changed when I went to go pick up some milk for my wife after work. Stopping off at a different grocery store I saw it. The beautiful Red and white box, and even the beautiful big circular tin. Delicious, wonderful, Prince Albert. I almost wondered if I had built it up too much.

Surely, this is not a high fallootin' complicated mix of fruits and oriental magic. This is tobacco. This isn't the Mocha-Yemen-Java Dark Roast Bean from the big green monster that comes in individually wrapped packages of snottyness. This is the honest, straightforward red can that says "COFFEE" on it and delivers exactly what it claims. I used to start my day with the floral cup of complex, individually roasted, overpriced bean drink. But I have now come to appreciate "COFFEE". And that is why I love Prince Albert. It is nutty, sweet, not complex, or overpowering. But it is just tobacco. I have been told that it has chemicals in it. Perhaps. I don't really notice it. Besides. I like a little cancer with my cancer. I feel like I met up with an old friend. The one who you don't necessarily have out for a "night on the town", but the one who tells you the truth, doesn't dress things up, and just enjoys your company.

I know you are wondering. And yes, I also have grown to appreciate PBR. Sue me.