My first bowl today is Barking Dog in my Octo no name sitter/billiard/bucket. (older picture)
***What Are You Smoking, May 2024?***
- Thread starter JimInks
- Start date
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I haven't been on the forum for a week or two, but I'm still smoking my pipes every day! The past week or so all I've been smoking is pure Virginias, alternating between Mac Baren HH Pure Virginia, Capstan Blue, Capstan Gold, and the ounce or so of Samuel Gawith Full Virginia Flake that was generously donated to me by a fellow forum member.
HH Pure Virginia has long been a favorite of mine, with it's dark bready flavor and little bit of grassiness, and I've found Full Virginia Flake to be a surprisingly similar smoke! Full Virginia Flake smells a bit like Play-Doh in the tin, but when smoked it's got a wonderful dark bready flavor with stronger bright grassy and black tea notes than HH Pure Virginia. It's a really astoundingly tasty blend, though it seems to require a much longer than typical dry time after rubbing out a flake and quite a few relights. The rich and complex flavor is definitely worth the trouble though!
As far as the Capstans go, I really wanted to like Capstan Blue since I know it was a favorite of Tolkien and I'm quite the fan of Middle Earth, but whatever topping Mac Baren puts on it just doesn't agree with my palate. I get that they're trying to accentuate the vegetal notes of the particular variety of Virginia used, but I'll be darned if that topping doesn't taste like moldy bread to me. Capstan Gold is much the same, but with a very light citrus topping added to the vegetal (or moldy bread, if it hits your palate like it does mine) topping. I've had the Capstans probably a dozen or so times at this point and in a variety of shapes and sizes of pipes as well as at different dryness levels ranging from straight out of the tin to bone dry, and no matter how I smoke them I always get Virginia + vegetables + moldy bread every time. Just not for me I suppose!
Anyway, that's enough of my Virginia ramblings. For tonight I'm taking a break from the Virginias and having some HH Old Dark Fired in the Dr. Grabow Lark. I really like Mac Baren's Dark Fired Kentucky, though I wish it had a bit more Virginia in it so I think I'll pick up a tin of the current Mac Baren produced Three Nuns next week to try out. Two nuns sounds like too few but four nuns would definitely be too many, so maybe Three Nuns will be just right!
HH Pure Virginia has long been a favorite of mine, with it's dark bready flavor and little bit of grassiness, and I've found Full Virginia Flake to be a surprisingly similar smoke! Full Virginia Flake smells a bit like Play-Doh in the tin, but when smoked it's got a wonderful dark bready flavor with stronger bright grassy and black tea notes than HH Pure Virginia. It's a really astoundingly tasty blend, though it seems to require a much longer than typical dry time after rubbing out a flake and quite a few relights. The rich and complex flavor is definitely worth the trouble though!
As far as the Capstans go, I really wanted to like Capstan Blue since I know it was a favorite of Tolkien and I'm quite the fan of Middle Earth, but whatever topping Mac Baren puts on it just doesn't agree with my palate. I get that they're trying to accentuate the vegetal notes of the particular variety of Virginia used, but I'll be darned if that topping doesn't taste like moldy bread to me. Capstan Gold is much the same, but with a very light citrus topping added to the vegetal (or moldy bread, if it hits your palate like it does mine) topping. I've had the Capstans probably a dozen or so times at this point and in a variety of shapes and sizes of pipes as well as at different dryness levels ranging from straight out of the tin to bone dry, and no matter how I smoke them I always get Virginia + vegetables + moldy bread every time. Just not for me I suppose!
Anyway, that's enough of my Virginia ramblings. For tonight I'm taking a break from the Virginias and having some HH Old Dark Fired in the Dr. Grabow Lark. I really like Mac Baren's Dark Fired Kentucky, though I wish it had a bit more Virginia in it so I think I'll pick up a tin of the current Mac Baren produced Three Nuns next week to try out. Two nuns sounds like too few but four nuns would definitely be too many, so maybe Three Nuns will be just right!
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Doing some reading while smoking some krater plug. J05 I think. This is my least clenchable ropp, still smokes great!
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Time for Some White Horses plus perique and a cup of tea. Smoking a Ser Jacopo.
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Here and there, a few people still smoke tobacco. Enjoy it while you have it. I can't get any more, in well-stocked stores in town they say Peterson has stopped producing the University Flake.