What are You Smoking? July 2024

  I'm glad you asked...last night I removed a few flakes and chunks from the jar, and proceeded to break em down: no fold & stuff for me, my flakes wind up looking like cube cut, that way all those layers of flavor blast me at one instant.
  The flakes are dark and almost oily, and as I work with them, beef jerky comes to mind, not just from texture, but aroma also, and I'm reminded of the old Open Pit bar-B-que sauce aroma...at this point I remember thinking I get as much enjoyment from prepping this tobacco as I do smoking it, as I just hovered over the table and let the aroma drift up my nose...some folks hate that sour tomatoish smell, but it makes my mouth water!
  I used an old business card to scoop up the little cubes, and fill the two pipes last night, it's the best way I know to use a business card, just gravity filling each pipe, tapping on the outside as I went, to settle the cubes...
  Now filled I added a light press of my thumb, and ran a wood kitchen match across the surface, tamped and fired it again...my reward was that little chill where the hair on your forearm stands up, and I thought of all the " first times " McCelland tobaccos have given me. first taste of Blackwoods flake, first taste of Virginias 24, 25 and 27, of St James Woods and indeed. Christmas Cheer...
  I said to the wife, across the table at her sewing machine, " this is why I smoke a pipe ", and the look she returned was that of a mother watching her child try strawberry ice cream for the first time, like I was charming but a bit silly...
  Now, I am a bit charming and a bit silly too, but I can tell you that the flavor from that pipe was all Virginias should be, grassy and bready, and layored with aged spices and dark fruits that can't be had in todays world...the stuff is just blissful, Dan, just blissful!