Bustin' Out the Briar

Discussion in 'The Good Life' started by 1OldGI, Feb 23, 2010.

  1. 1OldGI

    1OldGI New Member

    So since about the age of 14, my need for the insidious Vitamin N (nicotine) has been a constant companion. What hasn't been constant is delivery methods. I'm not a cigarette smoker at all and will smoke 2 cigars a decade whether I need to or not. Typically, I swing (in no predictable fashion) between full time snuff dipper, to snuff dipper that occassionally smokes a pipe, to pipe smoker who occassionally dips snuff, and finally, full time pipe smoker. A year or so ago, after a couple years of full time pipe smoker status, for no apparent reason whatsoever, I quit smoking a pipe and became a full time snuff dipper. Just didn't feel like smoking.

    Today it happened again. For no apparent reason I suddenly had a taste for the pipe so I packed up my gear and made it a pipe day (but I did dip a little snuff in between breaks :D). So in SOTD Format here it goes:

    Pipe: 5182 (Triangle Shank Bulldog) Kaywoodie Super Grain pre-1938 very nice
    Lighter: El Cheapo Bic Disposable
    Tool: Chinese Aluminum Pipe Nail
    Tobacco: 2:1 Mix of Prince Albert (the National Joy smoke) and blenders Perique (Codger Burley with a bit of spice) a bit cigary with a monster vitamin N hit.

    It may be a good weekend to pull 5 or 6 out of mothballs and get a small rotation of pipes going.
     
  2. orpheus42

    orpheus42 New Member

    I'm a pipe guy all the way, though I've considered the occasional dip. All I have right now are 2 old Kaywoodies (a Dubliner and a bulldog) with the old stinger "drinkless" system due to a house fire in December that took a couple of nice Bjarne Vikings and my meerschaum, plus an assortment of basically no-name briars that were breaking in very nicely. My all-time favorite tobacco is a blend called Gentleman Jack that, so far as I know, is a house specialty of Briar and Bean in Evansville, Indiana, where I lived for 10 years. I believe the tobacco is sprayed down with GJ whiskey before curing, hence the name. I smoke in the evenings, usually after dinner, with a good beer (currently working my way through a case of Bass) to wind myself down at the end of the day.

    In addition to GJ I was experimenting with some of my own blending using McClelland Red Cake and Burley Lite Without Bite as main ingredients, but alas that all went up in smoke (and not in the good way) before I could get any really satisfying formulas down.
     
  3. 1OldGI

    1OldGI New Member

    I feel your pain, Brother, a couple years back I dropped an absolutely beautiful Laughing Bacchus Meershaum and it was irreparably broken. I bought it on my last rotation to Turkey before I retired. It cost me all of $45 (I've seen smaller pipes approaching the $300 mark) I was pissed off and very sad at the same time.

    Sounds like you'd get along fine with Pennington Gap from Cornell and Diehl
    http://www.cornellanddiehl.com/tinned_blends.html
    Great pipe weed and real nice folks to do business with. I myself lean toward very stout, somewhat cigary burlies (especially perique laced blends). Oddly enough, even though I grew up in the cigar city (Tampa, Florida) I never took much to the dog rockets. I'll smoke a couple cigars a decade whether I need to or not. Other than that, I'm a pipe and dip guy.
     
  4. orpheus42

    orpheus42 New Member

    Once my wallet has recovered from my initial foray into straight razor shaving I will have to check that out. I really haven't experimented as much with new tastes as I'd like, apart from an initial foray into aromatics before realizing that wasn't really my thing. Took me forever to get the damned flavor ghost out of my pipes. Had one that had a cherry ghost so bad I never could use it again, even after thoroughly cleaning it twice. Scraped the cake down to the wood and everything. Of course, it's gone now...
     
  5. otherstar

    otherstar Rodney Dangerfield of TSD

    I used to be a daily pipe smoker, but now I just have a few bowls a year. I have a varied collection including a few no-name churchwardens, a Dunhill, a Peterson, a GBD, a Nording, and several no-name briars that I have smoked over the last 20 years. I prefer a nice burley or a cavendish myself, but I have tried a few tins, with Dark Star being my favorite (sorry, but I can't remember the company who makes it and I'm too lazy to go look it up online--and I'm not at home to go look on the tin).
     
  6. moviemaniac

    moviemaniac Tool Time

    While I consider myself a non-smoker (never smoked cigarettes) I am a man of leisure. What's better for relaxation than sitting out in the garden (or being in good company) and enjoying a good pipe? I enjoy GOOD tobacco for the sake of enjoyment and never for the effects of the nicotine. I'm now 24 and I have been smoking pipes for nearly 8 years now since I was 16 (the legal age for smoking and drinkig here in Austria). I've never smoked regularly and I've gone by months and even years without lighting up because the occasion didn't present itself. I've got four pipes now, a very nice classic Vauen, one no-name from my starter kit, a Jean Claude (which wasn't such a great buy when I didn't know much about pipe smoking) and since today a churchwarden by Vauen from the LOTR series (the Gandalf one). As far as tobacco is concerned I once liked the ones with aroma (cherry, vanilla - you name it) but for a few months now I'm much more into the natural stuff like dunhill early morning/nightcap. This year I'll even grow my own tobacco (Virginia and Burley) and am planning on more or less only smoking the homegrown stuff next year because I know what I put into my baccy ;)
    My 18 year old brother also got a pipe now and we will certainly enjoy many evenings this year out in our garden in the grass enjoying life while puffing on our pipes :)
     
  7. johnmrson

    johnmrson Member

    I recently picked up 3 nice Estate pipes of ebay. I've managed to pick up a packet of cherry pipe tobbacco and I plan to give it a run tomorrow. I'm on occassional smoker. I've got a humidor and enjoy a cigar once or twice a week. I don't smoke cigarettes but after smoking a pipe for a year along time ago I've decided to give it another go. I expect to still smoke the one or two cigars and now perhaps two or three pipes a week.
     
  8. 1OldGI

    1OldGI New Member

    Burning some Half and Half in a Missouri Meershaum Corn Cob pipe. This is a wonderful combination, Half and Half seems to smoke better in a cob than anything else. This is the Gillette Tech and Aqua Velva of the pipe smoking world. Certainly no list of cheap stuff that rocks would be complete without the cob/Half and Half duet.
     
  9. 1OldGI

    1OldGI New Member

    Over the last week or so, I seem to have abandoned Grizzly snuff altogether in favor of taking a turn at being a full time pipester. This morning's smoke was Cornell and Diehl's Green River Vanilla in an old Kaywoodie Large Apple (8733). I don't normally go in for aromatics but this one is the exception. Not only is there an ample dose of vitamin N but a very nice vanilla room note that seems to lack the soapy, synthetic, Black and Mild, smell of most vanilla pipe tobacco. Don't know if this would ever work as my all day every day smoke as I normally favor much stouter blends but it's tough to beat GRV for a pleasant, mild sweet, dessert blend for a casual smoke. It's also politically good for smoking around people. Most folks these days have been brainwashed that tobacco in any form is the devil's work. With GRV however, I often get, "Gee your pipe smells good!" From people who look like they would normally scorn anyone smoking out in public.
     
  10. StephenDE

    StephenDE New Member

    corn cobber

    I got into pipe smoking b/c I didn't want to pay for cigarettes anymore. I've been down the tabacco road about as far as you can go, even rolling my own cigs in college.

    My current favorite pipe is a Missouri corn cob because it burns well and if I burn it up I'm out $5.00, plus its not as strong as my Grabow briar. Broke out the Grabow briar yesterday with a blend I get from my local shop (The Shamrock, Johnson City, TN) and really enjoyed it.

    Glad to see some pipe smokers here!
     
  11. Kojak

    Kojak New Member

    Pipes rule! So many wonderful varieties in gear and taste
     
  12. smokelaw1

    smokelaw1 Member

    I've been a 2 pack a day smoker, a snuff addict, a 2 cigar a day guy, and a casual pipe smoker, and lately, a complete non-smoker. For sheer smoking pleasure, I never found anything that could compete with a pipe. Maybe I'll go get some tobacco today and bring my old pipe with me camping this weekend.
     
  13. TMDE Dan

    TMDE Dan Member

    Tonight's smoke will be Frog Morton while watching LOTR of course. Which pipe will be a tougher decision. Think I'll grab my Falcon bent.
     
  14. Olivier

    Olivier New Member

    In honour of OldGI and all the other pipe smokers here I'm packing a MM cob with some Wesley's Perique blend.

    Have a good one.
     
  15. Kojak

    Kojak New Member

    This is my favorite pipe.

    [​IMG]
    STANWELL - Pipe Of the Year 1989, SHAPE 183

    This is my best smoker.

    [​IMG]
    Peterson Rustic Kinsale, XL20 from Ireland

    I love my meerschaums too.

    [​IMG]
     
  16. 1OldGI

    1OldGI New Member

    Great lookin pipes Kojak, I really like that Meerschaum. Just got back from burning some C&D Dark Chocolate in an old Kaywoodie. A quick PBR then it's off to bed.
     
  17. DesertTime

    DesertTime Well-Known Member

    Dark Star is a McClelland blend. Nice tasting stuff. I like The M. tobaccos. Blackwoods Flake is about my favorite VA. And if you like a touch of Latakia, the Frog Mortons are very decent.
     
  18. Adeptus_Minor

    Adeptus_Minor Active Member

    We just had our first cold snap of the season... I'm starting to feel the tobaccky bug biting again
     
  19. saturnine

    saturnine Member

    I have a corncob I bought last year but have yet to put fire to it. Whenever the chance arises I always gloss over it & reach for the cigars. One of these days...I know it sounds ridiculous but half of my reasoning for delay is I don't have a pipe lighter, only matches & torches. I only smoke outside so I can rarely use matches.

    I know there are various guides out there, but do you have some quick, easy tips for a neophyte piper? The packing & lighting seem a bit daunting.

    A shame is it not? I simply cannot understand the mindset.
     
  20. StephenDE

    StephenDE New Member

    Pack with your thumb, twist it a little as you go. Don't push down too hard, the leaf should still feel springy when its packed. Test draw...if your face gets red and you get out of breath, repack a little more loosely...otherwise...continue to phase 2:

    Phase 2:

    Light the pipe with a torch or match, or any lighter you have, though a regular bic can burn you if you're not quick about it. Draw on the pipe a time or two.

    Relight.

    Smoke. Enjoy.

    I'm a dedicated corn cob pipe guy. You shouldn't have much trouble out of it. They're not a fickle as a briar pipe. It should stay lit pretty easily and it should not flavor your tobacco too strongly. If you're into cigars you might want to go with something strong, ie not a drug store tobacco, but something you get from a tobacconist. I'll leave the recommendations to the pipe smokers in the forum as I'm a drugstore kind of guy and tend to smoke lighter more aromatic blends.

    Enjoy!
     

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