A Moderate Success!

The concept of "spin" seems to have caused most things to be described in the superlative.  Everything in life seems to have become some kind of perverse sales affair.  Not only is this true on the large commercial scale; but social media seems to have brought that concept down to the point of making it some sort of individual responsibility.  It seems we are compelled by forces beyond our control to try and make all of our efforts and adventures out to be extraordinary.  The trouble with this is quite apparent.

You may ask why I am ranting.  Why it is something trivial, of course!  I just finished my experiment mentioned in a previous post.  This is an experiment I have been working on for a bit over two months.  This experiment involves dedicating a new cob to a new tin of tobacco through the whole tin.  I have done this before and never been disappointed with the results.  Those cobs then go on to be graced by other blends and move through  their life as a happy cob in my collection until they pass their ultimate usefulness.  

So this experiment was absolutely, totally, remarkably and amazingly: fine.  I must admit I will likely not be buying another tin of Durbar.  It claims to be for the "experienced pipe smoker", though it fails to tell us what experiences are required. I found this blend to be on my medium low end of preference.  It was by no means painful to get through the tin, nor was it one I gave up on (as I did with Early Morning Pipe and Sweet Killarney).  But it just didn't make it quite to the place of expectation that I have set with My Mixture 965, London Mixture, and Nightcap.  Those blends never fail to blow me away.  

In contrast to the greats I would say that Durbar is a good blend.  I found that the orientals didn't speak too much, but it had that nice middle or the road experience.  It also took quite some time to really get comfortable with it.  For some reason I often had a mild tongue-bite that started right around the middle of the bowl.  

So try for your self, dear reader.  I don't think you could be too disappointed.  Durbar is a nice blend of quality tobacco and perhaps you will be the pipe expert experienced enough to draw all of the greatness out of Durbar Mixture. 

Picky Pipers?

I would not say that a healthy fear of making money is the average business owners problem. Though perhaps it may be the fear of the unwitting employee. My topic today is one that I would be interested to hear many responses from varied sources. We all, as pipe smokers, have our own way. For some of us it is more about the pipe, for others, about the tobacco. These are both fine and admirable. For some it is about the lore, and feel, for others it is about the experience. We all smoke pipes for different reasons, and may judge a pipe by wholly different standards when the day is done. That being said, how particular are you?

My mother-in-law wanted to buy a pipe for me this year for Christmas. This is actually one of my favorite exercises in life. Two of my favorite pipes, though they may not be my nicest pipes, are the two my wife picked out for me. One is a larger rusticated pipe (Eriksen) and the other is a smooth finish (unbranded). Both 3/4 bent stems. The first large rusticated one reminded her of a teddy bear, thus naturally, was meaningful to me. The second was "more intellectual and academic" and made her think of C.S. Lewis (something of a hero of mine). I like that, I like the idea of people picking out the pipes that they think suit me, or fit my personality.

The checker at the store they went into, however, claimed that "You should NEVER buy a pipe for a pipe smoker! It's FAR too personal!" And thus cost herself a sale. Hmm...This seems silly. Isn't the best thing to do to say, "I would be happy to find a pipe I'm sure he will love, but just in case I would keep the receipt. Pipe smokers can be finicky." Seriously, it's like someone bottled stupidity and anointed this poor clerk's head with it to make sure that no money was made that day. I couldn't understand it if I wanted to.

That being said, how picky of a smoker are you? Every pipe I own has its own character. Certain tobaccos work better in certain pipes. This is just the way of things. I don't even think I can make correlation between nicer pipes and nicer tobaccos working exclusively in them. Could someone buy you a pipe, or would you rather have the money to pick it out on your own? Is the value of a pipe sentimental or is it purely based on quality? Inquiring minds want to know.

Teaser: I just bought a new pipe from Dave at the VSL. It relates to one of my favorite iconic pipe smokers. A free smiley face emoticon goes to the person who can guess who that iconic pipe smoker might be. It should be here in a week or so...

First impression: this guy is top notch. Friendly, helpful and more than fair with pricing. Check it out.

http://www.virtualsmokinglounge.com/index.html

or on his Youtube Channel:

http://www.youtube.com/user/VSLDavid

First Pipe in a While

For the first time in quite some time I got to get outside and have a full bowl. It was a great and wonderful, peaceful and sweet. It was quite cold out and life has been busy, but at long last it was just warm enough to sit out and enjoy the nice taste of some Special Balkan from Edwards. The spicy and rich taste of Latakia and Orientals tantalizes and calls to me. There is a sweetness that comes in and out as the bowl continues.

I enjoyed this bowl in my new pipe, which is still smoking very nicely. I finally broke with an experiment that I have been at for the past three months. For the previous months I had dedicated each pipe to a particular blend. There is a thought that if a pipe is dedicated to a specific blend the smoker will be able to taste new the deeper complexities of the tobacco and thereby enjoy the tobacco more. Results: I'm just not there yet. It was nice, and for a while I wondered if I was tasting more of the subtleties. Then I decided to finish the test by tasting the same familiar tobaccos across the pipes that were dedicated to other blends (even crossing the lines between natural, English and [gasp] aromatics). I decided that there is not much to report for me personally and therefore I'll not bother about it for a while. More to think on...perhaps I will try again later and see.