rastewart
Junior Member
Posts: 360
First Name: Rich
Favorite Pipe: Freehands, bent bulldogs, and the incomparable Peterson 303
Favorite Tobacco: Mac Baren's Scottish Blend (Mixture), C&D Mountain Camp, C&D Bayou Morning
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Post by rastewart on Dec 10, 2021 18:47:19 GMT -5
I used to buy a tin of McClelland's Christmas Cheer some years, not knowing the company would be closed some day; and I've tried a few tins of C&D's Christmas blends in years past, but I don't really like aromatics. Now I just smoke whatever is at hand during the season; or I might open a tin of something that is not specifically holiday-themed, but a bit of a special treat. How about my fellow smokers of the Patch? Any special blends or holiday piping traditions you like to observe?
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Post by darktater on Dec 10, 2021 18:49:32 GMT -5
I haven't come up with any holiday traditions pipe-wise, who knows what the future holds?
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Zach
Pro Member
If you can't send money, send tobacco.
Posts: 4,360
First Name: Zach
Favorite Pipe: Too many currently, bound to change
Favorite Tobacco: Haunted Bookshop, Big 'N' Burley, Pegasus, Habana Daydream, OJK, Rum Twist, FVF, Escudo, Orlik Golden Sliced, Kendal Flake, Ennerdale
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Post by Zach on Dec 10, 2021 19:14:43 GMT -5
For a decade I opened a tin of Christmas Cheer for the month of December and smoked it often. I was also caught in a bad spot when McClelland went out of business at the wrong time for me to be able to stock up before it was all gone. That being said, I like the C&D Golden Days of Yore blend and I also just smoke my favorite blends around the holidays. I like Gawith Hoggarth Rum Flake as a Christmas rum cake tobacco.
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Post by Darin on Dec 10, 2021 19:36:47 GMT -5
There's some aged Motzek Strang I opened at Thanksgiving time that is still being smoked. Also, several limited and special production cigars such as the Ezra Zion Snowman I recently posted. While there is plenty of McClelland Xmas Cheer in my cellar, it's not a favorite and will mostly go out as gifts.
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Post by Gandalf on Dec 10, 2021 19:39:07 GMT -5
I got some Wenceslas from Straus Tobacco recently and I'm enjoying it.
And Sutliff Christmas Spice.
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Post by username on Dec 10, 2021 19:45:19 GMT -5
I’ve been really enjoying the cringle flake releases sutliff has done over the last 3 years. Sadly I’ve never tried the 2019 release that was a straight Virginia the last two have been vapers.
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Post by just ol ed on Dec 11, 2021 9:56:51 GMT -5
not to be a spoil-sport, but no. Whatever happens to be next in rotation. At our age, all holidays not "special" in general anyhow
Ed Duncan, Batavia, NY
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Post by Baboo on Dec 11, 2021 15:48:56 GMT -5
I may go with Wilke's Peanut Butter and Chocolate blend... very tasty and festive.
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rastewart
Junior Member
Posts: 360
First Name: Rich
Favorite Pipe: Freehands, bent bulldogs, and the incomparable Peterson 303
Favorite Tobacco: Mac Baren's Scottish Blend (Mixture), C&D Mountain Camp, C&D Bayou Morning
Location:
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Post by rastewart on Dec 13, 2021 16:29:09 GMT -5
Do I contradict myself?
Very well then I contradict myself,
(I am large, I contain multitudes.)
--as our old friend Walt Whitman said.
In due course, after my original post, I bethought myself of a tin of Cornell & Diehl Jolly Old St. Nicholas that has been unsealed in my cellar for at least a year, but I think more likely two. On checking, I found it still moist. (Does this say something about what's in this blend? Is this analogous to the eternal shelf-life of a Twinkie? Never mind. I trust C&D more than whatever mega-conglomerate now owns the legendary deathless snack food.) Now this definitely qualifies, I would say, as a Yuletide aromatic, with (quoting the tin) "golden Virginias, black Cavendish, and a hint of perique, imbued with a generous touch of orange liqueur and hints of ginger, hearkening back to an old legend of Kris Kringle secretly giving gold to a family in need." So I lit up a bowl, last Thursday I think it was. By rights I should have broken it out on the 6th, that being the good old gentleman's feast day, but one does what one can with the mind one has.
I actually find that I like it. It's not going to become a perennial favorite, or my main blend for the season; as with, say, eggnog or Christmas cookies, I can imagine it cloying with overindulgence, but taken a bowl or two at a time, it's quite enjoyable. Maybe it has more Virginia and less Cavendish than the typical aro, or that dash of perique, like the bitters in a Manhattan, may be just what it needs. And I have to admit the smell is delicious. So I guess I have ended up with a holiday tobacco after all.
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jack9211
New Member
Posts: 63 
First Name: Jack
Favorite Pipe: My Stanwells
Favorite Tobacco: To many
Location:
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Post by jack9211 on Dec 13, 2021 19:12:27 GMT -5
Just ordered some Sutliff Christmas spice...hope it gets here in time
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Post by rdpipes on Dec 14, 2021 8:36:20 GMT -5
Yeah, the same one I have all the other days........Escudo.
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Post by dervis on Dec 14, 2021 10:10:25 GMT -5
I usually do , but so far this year it has skipped my mind. Will have to think it over and see what is in the cellar.
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Post by sperrytops on Dec 14, 2021 12:08:38 GMT -5
Actually, until a couple of years ago I ordered Rattray's, Kohlhasse and Kopp, Peterson and Larsen Winter or Christmas Editions with the special tins. Now these aren't available in the US anymore. So I do get Straus Wenceslaus, and maybe a C&D winter tobacco. I do smoke other tobaccos as well in the holidays, especially English blends.
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Post by Ronv69 on Dec 14, 2021 12:12:11 GMT -5
McClelland's Holiday Spirit is still the best holiday blend. Sorry.
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rastewart
Junior Member
Posts: 360
First Name: Rich
Favorite Pipe: Freehands, bent bulldogs, and the incomparable Peterson 303
Favorite Tobacco: Mac Baren's Scottish Blend (Mixture), C&D Mountain Camp, C&D Bayou Morning
Location:
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Post by rastewart on Dec 14, 2021 12:44:04 GMT -5
Actually, until a couple of years ago I ordered Rattray's, Kohlhasse and Kopp, Peterson and Larsen Winter or Christmas Editions with the special tins. Now these aren't available in the US anymore. So I do get Straus Wenceslaus, and maybe a C&D winter tobacco. I do smoke other tobaccos as well in the holidays, especially English blends. |
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Post by sperrytops on Dec 14, 2021 13:16:20 GMT -5
Actually, until a couple of years ago I ordered Rattray's, Kohlhasse and Kopp, Peterson and Larsen Winter or Christmas Editions with the special tins. Now these aren't available in the US anymore. So I do get Straus Wenceslaus, and maybe a C&D winter tobacco. I do smoke other tobaccos as well in the holidays, especially English blends. Yes, sadly tobacco stores in Europe can no longer ship tobacco outside the EU. I think the only way you can get it is if you know someone there who can pick it up for you and ship it. |
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Post by Legend Lover on Dec 14, 2021 17:34:29 GMT -5
Actually, until a couple of years ago I ordered Rattray's, Kohlhasse and Kopp, Peterson and Larsen Winter or Christmas Editions with the special tins. Now these aren't available in the US anymore. So I do get Straus Wenceslaus, and maybe a C&D winter tobacco. I do smoke other tobaccos as well in the holidays, especially English blends. I pass them up every year too. If I was able to smoke inside, I'd certainly have a holiday blend...at the minute though, I don't. Maybe some day. |
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Post by trailboss on Dec 14, 2021 18:33:08 GMT -5
If you do get some Peterson holiday tins don't cellar them away. If they are still the same as the past, they are not vacuum sealed.
I bought some in the past but wasn't a fan, but that is just the way it is with me in regards to most aromatics, more refined palates will disagree with me though.
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Post by Ronv69 on Dec 14, 2021 23:22:19 GMT -5
I remember being tempted by those Peterson special tins, but I passed them up. If won't repeat that mistake if they ever become available again. I pass them up every year too. If I was able to smoke inside, I'd certainly have a holiday blend...at the minute though, I don't. Maybe some day. The Peterson holiday blends I've had were unsmokeable for me. Nice tin though. I will NEVER buy anything in a fancy tin again. Orange Passion comes to mind. |
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Post by johnlawitzke on Dec 16, 2021 18:26:32 GMT -5
I used to have a tradition of opening a can of 5+ year old Christmas Cheer sometime between Thanksgiving and Christmas. I still have plenty in the cellar*, but have moved to opening one whenever the feeling grabs me.
Maybe I’ll pop open a Cringle Flake 2020.
Not specifically related to the holiday, but for some unknown reason, I do have an annual habit of pulling a can of SPS Court of St. James out of the cellar either in Dec or Jan.
*: I was a hard core McC fan boy and had an impressive McC cellar long before the end times.
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calabash
Full Member
Posts: 560
Favorite Pipe: Baki meerschaum, 1972 Dunhill
Favorite Tobacco: C & D Yorktown, Stokkebye Luxury Bullseye Flake, Gawith St James Flake
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Post by calabash on Dec 16, 2021 19:35:50 GMT -5
I may open a tin the 2020 Cringle Flake as well. I have been smoking the hell out of the Watch City Double Barrel this week.
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Post by Ronv69 on Dec 16, 2021 22:19:38 GMT -5
A thoroughly disgusting bowl of Peterson Holiday Season in the Slowroll stack. This is to remind me not to buy anything for the fancy tin.
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Post by trailboss on Dec 20, 2021 23:26:58 GMT -5
A thoroughly disgusting bowl of Peterson Holiday Season in the Slowroll stack. This is to remind me not to buy anything for the fancy tin. Yeah, None of the seasonal/ holiday blends ever jazzed me. |
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Post by Ronv69 on Dec 20, 2021 23:33:19 GMT -5
I just had a big bowl of Sutliff Christmas Spice. Not awful.
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chasingembers
Senior Member
Posts: 1,909
First Name: Duane
Favorite Pipe: My Growing J. Everett Collection, Fifteen Day Bruce Weaver Set, Meerschaums, Oguz Simsek Skulls
Favorite Tobacco: Black Frigate,Solani Silver Flake, Yenidje Highlander, Angler's Dream, Watch City Slices, Salty Dogs, Mephisto, Ennerdale Flake, Rich Dark Honeydew, 1792 Flake
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Post by chasingembers on Dec 20, 2021 23:45:19 GMT -5
Yep ![]()  |
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Post by urbino on Dec 20, 2021 23:51:02 GMT -5
Yep ![]() Clearly not yours. There's no 4-lb. meer in there. |
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chasingembers
Senior Member
Posts: 1,909
First Name: Duane
Favorite Pipe: My Growing J. Everett Collection, Fifteen Day Bruce Weaver Set, Meerschaums, Oguz Simsek Skulls
Favorite Tobacco: Black Frigate,Solani Silver Flake, Yenidje Highlander, Angler's Dream, Watch City Slices, Salty Dogs, Mephisto, Ennerdale Flake, Rich Dark Honeydew, 1792 Flake
Location:
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Post by chasingembers on Dec 21, 2021 3:25:53 GMT -5
Yep ![]() Clearly not yours. There's no 4-lb. meer in there. Meerschaum's much lighter than it appears. My largest one is 7 ounces.   Bruce Weaver made me this big fellow in 2016 just for Christmas Cheer. It has a two inch chamber depth with a vintage bakelite and ivory stem.  Big collector of my buddy Bruce's work.  |
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Post by Ronv69 on Dec 21, 2021 10:26:33 GMT -5
At the going price of Christmas Cheer that Bruce Weaver could be the world's most expensive pipe.
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Zach
Pro Member
If you can't send money, send tobacco.
Posts: 4,360
First Name: Zach
Favorite Pipe: Too many currently, bound to change
Favorite Tobacco: Haunted Bookshop, Big 'N' Burley, Pegasus, Habana Daydream, OJK, Rum Twist, FVF, Escudo, Orlik Golden Sliced, Kendal Flake, Ennerdale
Location:
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Post by Zach on Dec 21, 2021 10:50:54 GMT -5
A very nice collection of Bruce Weaver's and Christmas Cheer, chasingembers |
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