What I really want in my pipe is......

Been longer than it should have, but here is another installment of the musings of the late, great, Bob Runowski. Enjoy!

On Bob's recommendation I got a copy of Barrie's "My Lady Nicotine". It is a really funny read. British funny like as would be a sketch by John Cleese. Relentless sarcastic tone. I really enjoyed it. You have to be ready from the beginning, as the entire thing front to back is tongue in cheek sarcastic, and I wasn't warned. Now you are. Very much worth reading.

I find the assignment of identifying my Arcadia is impossible. "My blend" doesn't mean the same thing as it used to.

Back in Barrie's day, and indeed in my own fathers day, smokers would be on a quest to find their own blend. Once found they would not deviate except for very extreme circumstances. My Dad smoked Brindley's Mixture. The house I grew up in was littered with the orange "paint cans" and orange pouches. I don't ever remember him buying or smoking any other blend, ever. My uncle, Dad's brother, smokes Sutliff Mixture 79. Only that. When you say pipe and tobacco, it could any of several wonderful pipes, but tobacco can only be Mixture 79. It is not surprising then, that for the first whole lot of years of pipe smoking, before the internet, I searched for "my blend".

The last 20 years or so things have changed dramatically. One thing is that smokers talk about their choices incessantly. My Dad would never talk about his choice of tobacco, or pipe, or even talk about smoking. It was just something he did. Like wearing socks - you don't talk about your socks, you buy them and you wear them. Sure there were many who would have had specific recipes that they discuss and customize with their tobacconist, would might keep track on index cards, but outside of the tobacconist, it was just tobacco. Something you smoked while you did something else, think, type, drive, fix, build, whatever.

At the same time, the recent past has seen an absolute explosion of first rate tobacco blends available to us. Our time is a kind of golden age of pipe tobacco as regards choice, quality, availability, price, and abundant and easily acquired information and reviews.

So today, a singular obsession blend means something different, I think. I think it would be foolish not to take advantage of the present golden age and try a lot of blends. Your Arcadia would be the blend you always come home to, after enjoying excursions into new tastes. Not something you smoke exclusively, but your comfort blend. The one that is always a safe choice, the blend you smoke when you seek to be free of choosing what to smoke. Like that old terry cloth bathrobe, or that old overstuffed chair, that which makes you feel at home.

And for me, at least right now, that is easy to identify. It is Cornell & Deihl's Billy Budd Blonde. For sure I keep other blends on hand that I like or love or get a hankering for. And certain types of smoking, certain pipes, certain days, certain special circumstances, call for their own particular blend. For example, when I am driving, I like Carter Hall, because it is well behaved, and tastes good enough, minimum of tamping and relighting and sopping up moisture with a pipe cleaner, and other fiddling around while I try to keep the jeep between the lines. But when I get home, to my comfy chair and terry cloth bathrobe, I grab my Beloved Billy Budd Blonde.

He certainly sounds like an incredible gentleman! I’d wish I’ve gotten into pipes sooner and had the chance to correspond with this gentleman. As I still consider myself a newbie I’m not qualified to throw my two cents worth into this discussion although I’m extremely partial to SG St.James flake. Having said that my taste buds are still developing and my journey continues. Guess I’ll take a backseat to our “experts” on this forum to weigh in. Thanks for starting this post Sparks!

I wish I could say some cool, little known blend like Renaissance, but I really miss Cesare Borgia by Amphora.

When I came back to pipes in '07 after 43 years with cigars, Bob Runowski found me on Smokers Forum and brought me into the Christopher Morley Pipe Club. I recognized how much there was to learn from him and at meetings I always made sure I sat close to him so I could hear what he was saying.

hp
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My "Arcadia" blend would be "The Flying Dutchman" from Theodorus Niemeyer. My first introduction to the Dutchman was whenI was 16. I had just begun my lifetime love affair with the pipe and the Dutchman was the first proper "tin" tobacco I had smoked. Up til; them I had smoked only smoked the OTC blends of Half/Half, Carter Hall and Prince Albert, in the can. Back in the day it was plentiful and readily available. When it went away it was just like the mythical "Flying Dutchman". You could find a tin here and there. Now it's like hens teeth if you can fine one online.

Several years ago I had a friend in one of the forums that gifted me the contents of a tin that his father had when he died. I had been smoking the Match Flying Dutchman I would get from Pipes and Cigars and he knew I liked the blend and sent me the contents and kept the tin. When it arrived it was dry as tinder. I used a tupperware container and placed the baggie it came in inside it with paper towels soaked in distilled water. One hour later the baccy was good as new!

 Since this is no longer made I went to the dark side. Ropes, flakes and cakes were for me! I was in heaven with eh opening of the internet commerce. The only problem now is the FDA!!! The new rules have stopped the flow of the tobaccos I have come tho love made by the likes GQ Tobacco, Samuel Gawith, Gawith and Hogarth and Motzek. With the closure of GQ and Motzek and restrictions on the rest it's been hard to find replacements. Now the quest begins anew for something to replace them.

The Dunhill to Peterson merge was a great result for the pipe world. Others can learn from this decision and continue the blends and imports we are all missing! 

for mother's day,,,,,,a youtube movie that is full and free,,,,,and of course you have ad blockers,,,,,FACE TO FACE.....a made for tv movie about a amboselli meershaum miner in masai country,,,,,,robert foxworth and his archaeologist nemsis,,,,elizabeth montgomery.,,,,and their battles......great family viewing. i remember when the kiko amboselli meers were hot back in the late 60's...advertized in esquire and playboy,,,,,,as an affordable alternative to turkish meers...almost got one from the alamo pipe and tobacco shop in san antonio....but then a sergeant came back with a suitcase full of block carved and standard meers for about 10 bux each in 1969.......i bought 7 and am looking at them right now....they got creamy but never really colored up.,,,,,,that's all folks for now.

Welcome to the Patch, meerandcharatan...brought up a necrothread.

Calling all mods...

Troll?

Some times the old timers give me the wrong impression, that is a good reason I am not a mod.

I can’t disagree, the musings of Morley (or rumblings of Runowski) are pipe smoking gold.

I think you’re correct. And anything that reminds me of my dad can’t be all bad.

I have been sober for roughly four years now. I don't regret my choice in walking away from alcohol, as I am just not suited for its effects and call. However, there is a scotch whisky that I enjoyed more than any beverage I've ever drank, and would consume it weekly, if not daily when available. That scotch whiskey is Laphroaig. 

Laphroaig hits the palate in the same way that a Hemingway novel hits the imagination. A sharp smokiness with a lot of leather notes, the flavor stays with you and has a hint of sweetness at the end almost a cedar finish. I am always looking for a tobacco that inspires the senses in this way. But I wish for a bit of florals in this flavor.

My favorite tobacco as of yet is Black House, which is the closest i've had in terms of the feeling that Laphroaig inspired within me. While it does have some slight floral taste to it, I feel that it is missing something that I can quite put my finger on. Something that the peat smoke drove in the scotch that just isn't apparent in the tobacco. 

I am still looking for that perfect blend, one that inspires thoughts of quiet, calmness, and feels as if you are in the most inner depths of a library filled with only your most cherished novels, and the books you have yet to realize you cherish.