Post by morallynomadic on Sept 6, 2018 10:37:04 GMT -5
A little background first. I started smoking a pipe when I was about 22. I started on a whim by walking into a little shop called The Smoking Lamp in Charleston, SC. I picked up a Bjarne Viking Classic out of basket and a small bag of a house blend tobacco to go with it. Being brand spanking new and having no one nearby with any experience to teach me any better, I burned through it in short order trying to find what drew my father to pipes for his whole life. I didn't find it then just a lot of hot smoke.
After I got back home to Ohio I decided that the tobacco I was smoking could be the problem. I looked up The Smoking Lamp and discovered that they had a website. Excellent, I would browse through their selection and choose a tobacco that promised more flavor. Unbeknownst to me, I selected a house blend that was mostly latakia. Lo and behold, the flavor came. Unfortunately for me, I hated it. However, I had purchased quite a bit of it so I felt compelled to continue burning bowl after bowl until I found this magic that I remembered smelling from my father's pipe.
Because I disliked the tobacco so much I rarely smoked my pipe. It wasn't until years later when my father came to visit that I had someone with more experience to talk to. We sat down with our pipes and I began explaining my difficulties. He opened my jar of tobacco, took one whiff, and told me what I had purchased. I had never really understood what latakia was, but he explained it to me and gave me some of his tobacco to try. That was it. My first "Holy mackerel!" moment of pipe smoking. There was that magic smell. I had no idea that there was such a difference in tobaccos. Anyway, he gave me his tobacco and told me where to get more when it was done. That was all I smoked (much more frequently now) for about three years.
Then last Christmas my wife surprised me with a sampler package from EA Carey and some pipes. Included in the sampler was an bit of Carey's 10+ and I fell in love with it. I bought a pound of it shortly after and have been enjoying it ever since.
I've since branched out into many other blends after discovering online communities like this one earlier this year. Recently I've even started dipping my toes into latakia again with varying degrees of success.
However, this morning I dropped the last of my Carey's 10+ into my pouch. The whole pound is gone, most of it smoked, some of it shared. I've fallen out of love with aromatics for the most part but that 10+ was like an old friend and I may buy some more some day.
Anyway, thanks for reading my long post and sharing my bittersweet story with me. Hope you're all having a good day!
(sorry for any typos or formatting errors.. I spent my entire lunch typing this out on mobile while I smoked my second to last bowl of my 10+ and I have to head back to work so I can't proofread the post just now.)
After I got back home to Ohio I decided that the tobacco I was smoking could be the problem. I looked up The Smoking Lamp and discovered that they had a website. Excellent, I would browse through their selection and choose a tobacco that promised more flavor. Unbeknownst to me, I selected a house blend that was mostly latakia. Lo and behold, the flavor came. Unfortunately for me, I hated it. However, I had purchased quite a bit of it so I felt compelled to continue burning bowl after bowl until I found this magic that I remembered smelling from my father's pipe.
Because I disliked the tobacco so much I rarely smoked my pipe. It wasn't until years later when my father came to visit that I had someone with more experience to talk to. We sat down with our pipes and I began explaining my difficulties. He opened my jar of tobacco, took one whiff, and told me what I had purchased. I had never really understood what latakia was, but he explained it to me and gave me some of his tobacco to try. That was it. My first "Holy mackerel!" moment of pipe smoking. There was that magic smell. I had no idea that there was such a difference in tobaccos. Anyway, he gave me his tobacco and told me where to get more when it was done. That was all I smoked (much more frequently now) for about three years.
Then last Christmas my wife surprised me with a sampler package from EA Carey and some pipes. Included in the sampler was an bit of Carey's 10+ and I fell in love with it. I bought a pound of it shortly after and have been enjoying it ever since.
I've since branched out into many other blends after discovering online communities like this one earlier this year. Recently I've even started dipping my toes into latakia again with varying degrees of success.
However, this morning I dropped the last of my Carey's 10+ into my pouch. The whole pound is gone, most of it smoked, some of it shared. I've fallen out of love with aromatics for the most part but that 10+ was like an old friend and I may buy some more some day.
Anyway, thanks for reading my long post and sharing my bittersweet story with me. Hope you're all having a good day!
(sorry for any typos or formatting errors.. I spent my entire lunch typing this out on mobile while I smoked my second to last bowl of my 10+ and I have to head back to work so I can't proofread the post just now.)
