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Know anything about Lacroix Pipes? I like a natural looking, rugged finish, and Lacroix seems to specialize in that. I haven’t been successful in finding any info on the stampings. Lacroix stamping includes stars which might / might not be indicative of quality. I’ve looked in the usual...

There used to be a recurring debate in my extended Irish family about which pipe tobacco was favored by my very Irish grandfather. Today I was informed by a usually reliable source that Gramp didn’t smoke pipe tobacco. He favored Mail Pouch chewing tobacco as his smoke. You may recall back in...

Curiosity got the better of me after reading reviews of St. Bruno. Many reviews reported a bracing, robust, tasty, satisfying smoke and compared it favorably to the now unavailable Condor. St. B is expensive, but in the great scheme of things, I decided to give it a try. Well, I’ve been...

. . . by Diana Henrique of the NYT. This is the book on which the HBO movie about Bernie Madoff and history's biggest Ponzi scheme is based. Henrique does a great job of explaining the financial shenanigans without getting all bogged down. Her telling of the tale gives credibility to how Mrs...

If you haven't read anything by Annie Proulx you have a treat awaiting. She's best known for The Shipping News and Brokeback Mountain, though her short stories are gems. (Brokeback is actually a short story that was turned into a movie.)  In an interview she remarked that she finds short stories...

I received a message on FB today from Pipeworks and Wilke in which Carol Burns said she plans to leave the tobacco blending business, though P&W will continue selling pipes and associated hardware. Carol said she is looking for a buyer for the tobacco blending piece of P&W, but gave no reason in...

You know how tobacco reviews often struggle to ID the topping on Granger? Usually it's described as berry something. In a serendipitous moment, I lit up a bowl of Mac B Plumcake on the same day I had some Granger. I'd say it's the same topping on both tobaccos, though considerably lighter on the...

A page turner for sure. Slav was captured by the Russians before the outbreak of WWII. He was sent to a Siberian labor camp. He and half a dozen other prisoners hatched a plan to escape the camp by walking to freedom -- to India. (Just look at your globe.) They figured that the Russians would...

i'm happy (over the moon is more like it) to report that my first grandchild came aboard on Monday, April 25. Bradley Peter is 8 lbs 2 oz and measured 22".  Mom had promised everyone throughout April that she would delay delivery until after the premiere of Game of Thrones. She narrowly made it...

I've been puffing a pouch of the Amphora Original, brown wrapper. I like the packaging. Open the pouch, and it smells like burley, mostly, don't notice anything conspiculously chocolatey. Cut is long ribbons. My preferred way to handle such a cut is to lightly rub it into the shape of the bowl...

What's with the super annoying Candy Crush ads? We're all getting the steenkin things, I assume.

There's another thread I didn't want to hijack asking why Dunnies cost so much. I'd welcome your particular and collective wisdom on the practical and oft-encountered question -- Here's a new pipe for a price that The Missus will never miss. (Let's say $100-$150) What might an experienced piper...

While back, I had left maybe a couple bowls of Prince Albert, some Mac B Va #1 and Uhle's 255 (cube cut burley with anise topping.) I decided to put these leftovers in a handy little jar and let them sit for a week. Wow! What I got was a tasty, mild, all-day smoke that is smooth, tasty, has no...

I was gifted awhile back with a cube of Condor. It was a bit of a puzzle at first, because it looks like a small, very hard lump of tobak, and it took visits tio You Tube to figure how to reduce this item to smokable form. But I persevered and found it interesting, quite tasty and very s t r o n...

So after two weeks, a trip to the ER, a 20-day antibiotic regimen, poking and prodding with instruments of torture and various X-Rays, the diagnosis is the mystery traveling pain in my jaw is caused by a fractured molar. Bah! It's the last molar on the lower left. And the space beside has been...

Recently I've noticed more comments that Latakia more than five years old is beyond its aging x-date. Beg to differ. I currently have an open 2001 tin of Duhill Durbar that is just fine. I bought it myself and it has been stored for the last fourteen years in a box under my bed. When I opened...

Yr Humble Servant, always alert for less expensive ways to store tobacco, has a better (or at least cheaper) tobacco trap for you -- Kretscher Wheat Germ jars. KWG is available in the cereal section of your local supermarekt. I was introduced to it by My Daughter the Nurse who has kindly...

Martel is best known as the author of Life of Pi, which was made into a terrific movie, which you've probably seen already. But if not, do so. It's the best. (Or read the book, it might be even better than the movie) If you enjoyed Life of Pi, another Martel novel -- I just finished it -- is...

Say, do any of yinz visit explore dot org? It has a number of links to Web cams, but two I've enjoyed visiting while puffing a pipe are -- "Brown Bears and Salmon" and "Lower River." Both are located on the Brooks River (I think) in Alaska's Kitmai National Park. In both the scenery is...

. . . in my new-to-me blast prince-like Parker. Type casting, I guess. Nice and smooth with tasty smoke aplenty.