Lane 125 Anniversary in a Northern Briar Canadian pipe. The rustication and longer wooden stem both contribute to a cooler smoke.
Nice find on the acrylic humidor; for cigars I much prefer those to cedar humidors. Personally I wouldn’t use the sponge as a humidity control. Boveda 2 way humidity packs are far superior. The acrylic jar will also work well for pipe tobacco, although I usually use pint mason jars and reserve my acrylic jars for cigars.
Borkum Riff Bourbon Whisky is horrid. Worst I've tried yet, makes latakia seem almost pleasant. If anyone wants it, pm me.
Peter Stokkebye 24 Nougat arrived today. Very mild flavor, zero bite, burned well, and it got the most positive comment yet on the smell.
They smoked pounds of the stuff on the set of Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings. It's easy to see why; it's a mild mannered, affable smoke that offends no one and tastes pleasant.
Tried the Cult Blood Red Moon on the way to work today. Not quite the cherry cough drop bomb that most reviews would lead you to expect (that's fine by me). Extremely smooth, no bite, mildly flavorful, nice fragrance, and it took most of my 30 minute drive to smoke right to the bottom of the bowl with 1 tamp and no relight. I see the appeal.
Sacrilege, I know...2 parts Autumn Evening plus 1 part BR Bourbon isn't bad at all. Interesting flavor and an unusual but nice room note. I hate wasting anything so mixing it seems better than tossing it, if it works. I'll use it for experiments.
Mystery tobacco, smoked in a morta wood pipe. I had some jarred tobacco that I didn’t label several years ago. It’s a very pleasant smoke, some Virginia with a little burley, and maybe a very lightly applied flavoring or casing. Morta wood is partially fossilized wood buried in peat bogs, and can be thousands of years old. A very hard, light wood. I love the stem treatment and half bent stem. If you have the opportunity to pick up a Morta pipe, I think you would enjoy it. Tamp is acrylic; those aren’t rare, but this one was made by and given to me by Peder Jeppenson, who makes Neerup and 4th Generation pipes, so it is special to me!
Half & Half on the way to work today in a newly seasoned bent cob with no filter. Decent but pretty basic smoke, would probably go with SWR first. Haven't really tried the Captain Blacks yet. Granger inbound...I just gotta know. Tried Peterson's Sherlock Holmes last night. Interesting, an English style aromatic, I guess. Several reviews say it mellows after being stored for a year or so, so I will. Sweet Killarney is a lot better to me. Another review says BK bourbon improves with time too, so it'll probably be stowed. Molto Dolce is good but not quite as I recall it from about 20 years ago. Will try it again some other time. Still working through the 20+ tobaccos I've acquired but dang if my taste doesn't keep me reaching for the old VIP. Probably because the can is from the 1990s at the latest so it's well aged. Wanting to see how the Match is, they say it's close. Technique is improving, that helps a lot.
That the burgundy pouch stuff? It's a good lawn mowing blend, or work blend. When you just want to smoke and not have to think about anything or be distracted by flavors. Although, come to think of it, Sir Walter Raleigh is a similar type of smoke, made with (imo) better tobaccos. I'm finding that I prefer mild, uncomplicated pipe tobaccos. Vacationing in Maui at the moment, and grabbed five tobaccos to bring along. Four of them happened to be over the counter codger blends. The fifth, Missouri Meerschaum Co.'s 150th Anniversary is very nearly a codger blend itself. Found a pouch of Sir Walter Raleigh Aromatic in this piper's wasteland and gave it a try as well. Prefer the original, but the Aromatic isn't bad at all, especially mixed 50/50 with Captain Black Royal.
Enjoy the island! Had straight VIP on the way in. That woody incense aroma is baffling but it's grown on me. Nothing I've yet tried is anything like it. Very, very mild taste, uncomplicated, nothing distracting, and relaxing. Flavor roughens up a bit towards the end but that's not uncommon. No bite even when I tried to make it bite. I'm glad I found it. The only word I can fit to the Amphora Full is harsh. Definitely not relaxing for me. If either of you guys would like it, it's yours. I've already got enough mixers to play with.
Haven't tried Full, only Original. I understand it's the same flavorings but heavier topping. Maybe try doing the initial light, then let it sit for an hour or two before smoking it again? I've found that tends to dissipate some of the aromatic elements in tobaccos. If you still don't like it, feel free to send it my way. Edit: View near the hotel.
Light & Wait sounds like a good idea. Question: didn't care for SWR regular the first few times, but yesterday tried it in a smaller bowl (Starfire) and it made a positive difference. I'm not sure why...decreased air volume on the draw maybe? Packed tighter?
"Smaller bowl" probably has the most to do with it. Something about small bowls tends to bring out flavor more. I've tried a few blends that are downright nasty in a big bowled pipe. I don't ascribe to the belief that certain 'types' of blends do better in certain bowl shapes and sizes (e.g. English blends should be smoked in narrow conical bowls); but I have noticed that some blends do taste and smoke better in different pipes. There doesn't seem to be much rhyme nor reason between a tobacco's flavor and a pipe bowl's shape or size.
