PS 306 English Oriental Supreme in a MM Country Gentleman on a beautiful Sunday Morning. The birds are active in the early morning and the big bowl of the Country Gentleman makes for about an hour and a half leisurely smoke. The PS 306 is a mild english blend with just enough latakia to know it's there.
Thank you. PM sent. No rush on M part. I still have OGS and captain black gold for nice smokes and the suicide blend if I want to punish myself.
Very nice looking pipe in the P&C monthly drawing, a Moonshine black rusticated poker. I certainly like it, and I bet @Bama Samurai likes it if he hasn't seen it yet. https://www.pipesandcigars.com/sweepstakes/
Mid-afternoon pipe, PS 301 Natural Dutch Cavendish in a Stanwell 2012 POTY with a Shiner Wicked Ram IPA on the side.
I register every month, they give away a pretty nice piece each month. Never had a poker before, but you're right, that would fit my specs!
Just banded. Peder Jepenson of Neerup pipes typically does some pretty nice stem treatments, that's one of his trademarks.
Inside the pipe den... Top drawer is accessories. Slide contains my pipe rotation. Tobacco stored below, coffee stuff and open tobacco in cabinet. About to pack some OGS.
Very nice! My pipe den, as you can see in my pics, is a corner of the unfinished portion of our basement. Plus I have half of my parents' things, plus my son's things in our basement, as he moved back in with us a little while back. I'm glad we could accommodate him, and I've told both our kids, both grown, they can move back anytime rather than suffer financial hardship, if need be. But I'm also ready to reclaim some of my space!
I've posted before about how our tastes in tobacco can evolve over time. I started out with aromatics, then got into Latakia blends. I've been on a Virginia and VaPer kick now for a while, but once again find my tatses changing. I'm starting to not like the amout of Perique in a lot of VaPers, especially the peppery flavor with some of them. Probably my favorite VaPer at the moment is H&H Lousiana Red. I really like straight Virginias, with Peacehaven at the top,of that list, and another blend that is becoming one of my favorites is Newminister Superior Round Slices, with a core of dark fired Kentucky. While it's certainly a medium to full blend, it's not a nic bomb. I still like PS bullseye coin flakes. I'm going to begin trying some burley blends, but staying away from the ones heavy on the vitamin N. I recently bought a pouch of Carter Hall, and I'm thinking of ordering the H&H version that a lot of people seem to prefer in reviews. The only problem is the size container you have to buy. Thinking about this made me wonder about others here, has anyone else's tastes evolved in some similar fashion?
Yes. I was VaPer 100%, but find aged unflavored Burley very intriguing now, and like you have gravitated towards straight Virginia. To this day, I am still not smoking Latakia. Latakia is almost antithesis to aged Virginia Flakes, and probably appeals to those who really like cigars more than it will ever sway me. So no English Aromatics for me. American Burley based aromatics are still way too sweet, they just wear me out after a half bowl or so. My relationship with Cavendish is dubious, only unflavored and in small doses. The only flavoring I tend to like is the traditional Navy treatment of dousing the twist or cake with rum after first pressing and before fermentation or aging. Of anything I'd say my tastes have become more simple, and based around the subtle differences in leaves and treatment, in a manner like one might judge varietal French or Italian D'OC wine.
We are in the house we had when our kid graduated HS. He lives in Denver in a house with some buddies as a college student. My wife took over his bathroom, it freed up some space. My kitchen has a surplus of cabinets, so my wife graciously allows me to occupy a corner. Stuff I am aging is actually in the basement where the temp stays more constantly cool. After smoking and swabbing, the days pipes go atop the fridge, disassembled, to dry in the warm moving air it generates, then back in the slide drawer after a day or two. I have a Humidor on the mantle, but only have a few Rocky Patel and some assorted Fuente and maybe some Puerto Rico private labels from a vacation, but it only holds about 30-40 cigars in the Rothschild size range I prefer. Probably only had two cigars in the last year, neither were from my Humidor, just quick smokes on the beach in Michigan last year.
I am glad I tried it. It was a famed "dusty tin" in my local shop. Tin note is McClelland pickle juice, but after drying and rubbing in the broken Flake, it transforms into a fig and raisin forward slightly spicy (moderate perique) VaPer type smoke. It's coarse and burns well in a wider bowl.
