I Finally "GET IT" After 12 Years

[smokenscotch]

Good morning. My pipe smoking journey started about 12 years ago, and although I enjoyed the pipe thoroughly throughout the years (and have been active on this site on and off) I finally “get it”. For the first five years or so I made the (common) terrible error (out of excitement) of purchasing so many different pipes that had no meaning to me and so many different types of tobacco, I could never get through them all if I lived to 300. I was so excited, I was trying to take it all in at once instead of taking in the moment with the tobacco I had. I had a terrible time with aromatics, not because I did not enjoy them but because I have a sensitivity to the casing/toppings that they use or what they used to stick on the tobacco and my throat felt terrible. I sold everything I had except a few pipes that had a lot of meaning to me. I stuck with cigars the entire time. Last fall I realized how much I missed it and I decided to focus on specific tobaccos-burley blends and Virginias/Vapers mainly. What a difference! I sipped through a fantastic tin of Solani aged Burley flake as well as a tin of Irish flake by Peterson. I FINALLY GOT IT! Fast forward to this year, I am right back into the pipe journey, and I have also fallen in love with orientals which I had no idea of 12 years ago.

For the first time in my pipe smoking journey, I really get it. When I sit down with my pipe now and focus on the tobacco at hand, I am in a sublime state and the flavours are intense.

I am currently working my way through some H&H Blackhouse that is magic to me since I never had experimented with orientals before. I stay away from aromatics and although some Virginias might have a slight topping of some sort, it does not seem to bother me like pure aromatics. I am on this site quite frequently and I really enjoy the camaraderie and the advice and suggestions regarding pipes and tobaccos.

Of course now I am on the search for more oriental style blends and the best ribbon/shag cut burley (I like flakes, but I also enjoy ribbon) and I have been reading tobacco reviews and checking in with friends around the globe that smoke a pipe. From my research and advice, I believe I have found some fantastic oriental forward blends and burleys and I am wondering if there are any more suggestions for a very oriental forward blend that I am missing and burley blends that really hit the spot? I am also working my way through some haunted bookshop right now, but looking for something more like Aged Burley Flake but not in a flake. I am reading that C&D Pegasus is a really great burley. I have never tried the numbered Burley blends from C&D (I think they are all flakes?)

Any advice on top oriental blends and burley would be so appreciated!

The picture below is me taking in Vancouver Island while smoking Dunhill 965 with my Stanwell Brushed.

This is what I have been advised to so far..

Hearth and Home Blackhouse

C&D Red Stag and Bijou

White Knight

GL Pease Abington and Cairo

Perettis Royal and Tashkent


Wishing everyone a wonderful pipe smoking autumn and I hope to be more active once again on this site. Cheers

 

[didimauw]

It's exciting isn't it? I remember when I finally truly "got it". Took me about 5 years or so. Nice pic by the way, could be framed!

 

[hawky454]

McConnell’s The Original Oriental is a great oriental forward blend.

Skiff Mixture is another favorite.

I’m not the biggest burley guy but I would add 3P’s to the list.

 

[TheIronMonkey]

Welcome from Pennsylvania and New York.

It's interesting, the stages one sometimes has to go through to get to where he or she only imagined. Had you not sold off your pipes, you probably wouldn't have missed them.

It'll be interesting to witness your journey from here on out in the forum.

 

[dunnyboy]

Two Drucquer & Sons oriental blends you might like are Levant and Trafalgar. I agree, pipe smoking is a journey of discovery.

 

[smokenscotch]

It's exciting isn't it? I remember when I finally truly "got it". Took me about 5 years or so. Nice pic by the way, could be framed!

Thank you kindly! It truly is exciting!

 

[smokenscotch]

McConnell’s The Original Oriental is a great oriental forward blend.

Skiff Mixture is another favorite.

I’m not the biggest burley guy but I would add 3P’s to the list.

I will for sure add these to my list, thank you!

 

[smokenscotch]

Welcome from Pennsylvania and New York.

It's interesting, the stages one sometimes has to go through to get to where he or she only imagined. Had you not sold off your pipes, you probably wouldn't have missed them.

It'll be interesting to witness your journey from here on out in the forum.

Totally agree, this journey has taught me exactly that. Selling them off made me realize how much I missed it. Now I I focus on specific pipes for my collection. Cheers

 

[smokenscotch]

Two Drucquer & Sons oriental blends you might like are Levant and Trafalgar. I agree, pipe smoking is a journey of discovery.

Thank you for these excellent suggestions, I will for sure add them to my list of "must try".

 

[Sam Gamgee]

Good morning. My pipe smoking journey started about 12 years ago, and although I enjoyed the pipe thoroughly throughout the years (and have been active on this site on and off) I finally “get it”. For the first five years or so I made the (common) terrible error (out of excitement) of purchasing so many different pipes that had no meaning to me and so many different types of tobacco, I could never get through them all if I lived to 300. I was so excited, I was trying to take it all in at once instead of taking in the moment with the tobacco I had. I had a terrible time with aromatics, not because I did not enjoy them but because I have a sensitivity to the casing/toppings that they use or what they used to stick on the tobacco and my throat felt terrible. I sold everything I had except a few pipes that had a lot of meaning to me. I stuck with cigars the entire time. Last fall I realized how much I missed it and I decided to focus on specific tobaccos-burley blends and Virginias/Vapers mainly. What a difference! I sipped through a fantastic tin of Solani aged Burley flake as well as a tin of Irish flake by Peterson. I FINALLY GOT IT! Fast forward to this year, I am right back into the pipe journey, and I have also fallen in love with orientals which I had no idea of 12 years ago.

For the first time in my pipe smoking journey, I really get it. When I sit down with my pipe now and focus on the tobacco at hand, I am in a sublime state and the flavours are intense.

I am currently working my way through some H&H Blackhouse that is magic to me since I never had experimented with orientals before. I stay away from aromatics and although some Virginias might have a slight topping of some sort, it does not seem to bother me like pure aromatics. I am on this site quite frequently and I really enjoy the camaraderie and the advice and suggestions regarding pipes and tobaccos.

Of course now I am on the search for more oriental style blends and the best ribbon/shag cut burley (I like flakes, but I also enjoy ribbon) and I have been reading tobacco reviews and checking in with friends around the globe that smoke a pipe. From my research and advice, I believe I have found some fantastic oriental forward blends and burleys and I am wondering if there are any more suggestions for a very oriental forward blend that I am missing and burley blends that really hit the spot? I am also working my way through some haunted bookshop right now, but looking for something more like Aged Burley Flake but not in a flake. I am reading that C&D Pegasus is a really great burley. I have never tried the numbered Burley blends from C&D (I think they are all flakes?)

Any advice on top oriental blends and burley would be so appreciated!

The picture below is me taking in Vancouver Island while smoking Dunhill 965 with my Stanwell Brushed.

This is what I have been advised to so far..

Hearth and Home Blackhouse

C&D Red Stag and Bijou

White Knight

GL Pease Abington and Cairo

Perettis Royal and Tashkent


View attachment 171158Wishing everyone a wonderful pipe smoking autumn and I hope to be more active once again on this site. Cheers

Excellent photo!

 

[cigrmaster]

Well it is about damn time you figured it out, who are you Rain Man?

Seriously I love hearing stories like this as I know all of your best information came from me. heeheh

Now it is time for your big boy pants my friend. First up is a tin of Capstan Blue Flake, next Peterson Navy Rolls and Peterson Irish Flake.
You need to use a group 4 -5 sized pipe with some decent wall thickness. If you can find a couple around 45-55 grams that is a place where you can still clench. Start doing your due diligence and begin your journey of how to smoke flake tobacco. I would recommend learning to cube cut first then on to fold and stuff. It will take time but will be worth it. I wish you good luck on your next journey. I almost forgot if you have pipes with shank dimensions of 4.0-4.5 use those.

 

[jndyer]

I totally get where you are coming from. I was a consistent pipe smoker for several years and like you enjoyed it; however, I was not enjoying it to the extent of having a transcendent experience. So, about two years ago I just quit smoking my pipes. Then about six months ago, I picked up my pipes again and in the last three months I finally hit the level of just getting it. I am fully immersed in flavors, flavors and even more flavors. I now understand what it means to smoke slow and keep the heat down.

 

[sablebrush52]

The Peretti suggestions are particularly good.

You might also consider the following, based on your preferences. Savinelli Brunello Flake is a particularly well balanced Oriental forward flake.

Another maker who you might like is Watch City. Ernie has consistently turned out some of the most popular blends and actual, real, small batch releases being made today. Right now he has a rarity available in the oriental department, Glass Slipper, which he only releases when he can get the exact components. Watch City's Burley crumbles and flakes have been much loved for years, Watch City Slices, Deluxe Crumb Cut, Original Crumb Cut, orientals like Rhythm and Blues, Persian Slipper and Glass Slipper. And he makes some of the most popular and sought after Va/Pers, particularly Rougaroux, that is released twice a year and sells out in an hour. Get on his mailing list and you'll get advance notice of release dates for all of the limited run releases.

Ernie gets my respect for a couple of reasons. He sits in the grand old tradition of really talented tobacconist/proprietors who produced their own store blends, something that was more common when I started smoking a pipe 50 years ago and is practically extinct today. If the components for making a blend are not available, that blend goes out of stock until the components become available again. There's no pretending, and secretly making substitutions. There's no bullshit. That's pretty rare today as well.

Bottom line. Watch City produces some really great and unique blends.

And since you're interested in Burleys you might check out Uhle's, which is much loved by Burley fans. Their offerings are largely the more traditional tobacconist sort, lots of aromatics and Burley/Cavendish, but they offer some Burley blends that get deep love and respect and which have for decades.

 

[bullet08]

I get it.

 

[anotherbob]

that I get it moment is great. Not that you don't enjoy it before that. But that moment you realize how sublime the joy of a good smoke really can be. It's a little magic if you ask me.

 

[crusader]

I have been on a similar journey as well. I mostly put it aside through the Rona yrs and primarily stuck to cigars.

For some reason I picked up my pipes again at the beginning of thos year. And now rarely go for a cigar.

I have gotten into making my own blends with whole leaf and really prefer it now as it seemed a lot of the factory blends had at least some bite.

The ones that i really do like are from particular houses like Peretti, the Gawiths and Peterson that treat me well.
A burley that hasn't been mentioned is Peretti's 333.

Think about maybe picking up some leaf from wholeleaftobacco.com and experiment with your own, you can dial in on exactly what fits you.

 

[Searock Fan]

I'll repeat myself for those who may have missed it. Never, repeat "never", throw out a blend you find too rough. Try what I do. Get your self a nice calabash... a real one, with a meerschaum bowl. I think you will find it will smooth out even the roughest aromatic or Virginia and make it smokable. And it will preserve the flavor but without the harshness. Works for me.

 

[smokenscotch]

Well it is about damn time you figured it out, who are you Rain Man?

Seriously I love hearing stories like this as I know all of your best information came from me. heeheh

Now it is time for your big boy pants my friend. First up is a tin of Capstan Blue Flake, next Peterson Navy Rolls and Peterson Irish Flake.
You need to use a group 4 -5 sized pipe with some decent wall thickness. If you can find a couple around 45-55 grams that is a place where you can still clench. Start doing your due diligence and begin your journey of how to smoke flake tobacco. I would recommend learning to cube cut first then on to fold and stuff. It will take time but will be worth it. I wish you good luck on your next journey. I almost forgot if you have pipes with shank dimensions of 4.0-4.5 use those.

Thanks for the message! I actually am going through some Capstan Blue right now as well and I've had many tins of Irish Flake over the years. I am fine tuning my likes these days. Cheers

 

[mso489]

I'll get in the zone, sometimes for a while, and then things somewhat come apart, and I might have a bowl or three that just don't work, and then I'll drift back into the zone. Many variables at play -- mostly my many variables, and the weather, and the pipes, and the blends. It sure is nice when things work together.

 

[Chasing Embers]

I am currently working my way through some H&H Blackhouse that is magic to me since I never had experimented with orientals before.

If you want to stock up on that one it's sold in bulk as Sutliff Balkan Sobranie Match 759. That one is a bit heavy on the latakia so if you want to explore Orientals further, some options would be C&D Oriental Silk, GL Pease Temple Bar, GL Pease Cairo, C&D Orion's Arrow, and GL Pease Embarcadero.