Can A Pipe & A Tobacco Be Made For Each Other?

[AJ]

Can a pipe and a tobacco be made for each other? You bet! I recently bought 2 GBD pipes from riff raff. Got them at a good price. One was a GBD Seventy Six smooth Bulldog. This morning I opened a tin of McCranie's Red Flake. It was packed in 2008 with tobacco from the 2000 crop. I had smoked a couple of bowls in other pipes and this afternoon I reached for the Seventy Six. Time to find out exactly how good of a deal I got. Al told me it was a supreme smoker so I was expecting a good smoke. Red Flake comes as a broken flake so I rubbed it out some. Then I filled the pipe, packed it down a little, then put the flame to the bowl. Took a couple or three puffs then lightly tamped it down a bit and lit it for the second time. WOW! By the 3rd puff I knew something special was happening. Flavor galore. Sweet Red Va. taste similar to pumpkin pie or maybe sweet potato pie. The draw was free flowing and smooth like sipping a fountain drink through a straw. There was a very slight hint of spiciness. Really subtle but not like Perique. More like the aftertaste of a good bar-b-que sauce. Like the heat of black pepper off in the distance. As I smoked and got about halfway the bowl I noticed that there was no gurgle nor was the bowl getting hot. Of course I know that sipping along slowly helps keep the temperature down but I had to make a conscience effort to control the speed of my puffing because I wanted all the flavor that was in the bowl at once. There were times I found myself really fogging it. OK slow down and enjoy it. So I would back off and let the sweetness come through. The closer I got to the bottom of the bowl I noticed a sweetness on the tip of the stem. This is my favorite characteristic of pipe smoking. It doesn't happen all the time and not with all tobaccos or pipes. Not even with the same tobacco. It might leave a sweet taste on this pipe stem but just as likely not leave it on another. Finally finished the bowl without further relights. All that was left was a little gray and black ash. Nothing wet or gooey left in the bottom. I can't think of any pipe or tobacco that I've smoked that brought all the things I like about smoking together at one time. Sweetness, cool dry smoke, sweet taste on the stem, pipe remains cool, no tongue bite, no relights, and no goo left in the pipe. It seems that this pipe and tobacco were made for each other. The harmony of the two working together gave me one of the best smokes I have ever had. Al I'm sure I got the better end of the bargain. Thanks for offering it to me. I know part of the reason you hated to let it go. Any other members had a similar experience?

AJ

 

[monbla256]

Aj,
I've had this happen at times but the BIG thing is for it to happen EVERY time one does that combination. Given all the variables involved in smoking a pipe and a certain type of 'bac I would venture that it would not be a consistent thing to the level you describe. Don't mean to "rain on your parade" but I've NEVER had it happen repeatedly at the same level EVERY time. I have pipes that smoke one type of 'bac better than others,my Growley Pot for instance just LOOOOVES ALL Flake blends/mixtures, but not EVERY smoke of the same 'bac is always the same. Just my experience :twisted:  :twisted: 

 

[Brewdude]

Isn't it great when those intangible elements come together like that aj?

Thanks for sharing.

8) 


Cheers,

RR

 

[Kyle Weiss]

Todd Harris surprised me with an interesting pipe, one he didn't intend to sell because he was experimenting with a new rustication technique...he thought I'd love it, and he was right.   My mainstay at the point was Union Square, but after a couple of weeks of daily smokes, running the stuff through the new pipe, I wanted a change.   It was about that time Embarcadero came into my life.  

The first bowl threw me because of how good it was. Todd's pipes smoke like no other, but I was a lucky sumb!tch twice. Through legend and personal experience later on, Embarcadero was found to be a tricky leaf.  Aside from not being right for every pipe, Princess 'Barc requires much care, ritual and cleanliness, the latter being what made the just broken-in Harris briar such a perfect match.

That pipe, plus one meerschaum I reserve just for Star of the East, are the only two I dedicate to any single tobacco (rather than subgenres, which is my norm).   That's because they can, every time, replicate a 9+ smoke on a scale of 1-10.

So much to that end, I worry sometimes I've opened Pandora's Box, and I can never go back to lesser-than smokes.  They're out there, that good of pipe/leaf combinations, words cannot describe.

8)