Kyle Weiss
Well-known member
- Joined
- Sep 18, 2011
- Messages
- 11,988
- Reaction score
- 7
This time of year is the most dynamic of the seasons for my pipe smoking. Hell, it's this way for tasting in general. Food and drink included.
Something happens with us as the seasons change. My father, normally a quasi health-nut, starts talking about getting a giant bucket of Kentucky Friend Chicken and wanting to wallow on his couch, in the dark, watching football. Not his style, but every year, it's the same. :lol:
Me, I start taking inventory of my cookware. I clean the oven. I start checking the seals on the windows and door. I throw out old spices and get new ones, take inventory of my whiskey, clean the house and get ready for winter.
My palate goes through its own checklist. Noticing this, I find tobacco to be on the list of things to pay attention to. Nicotine is much less important (even when I prefer lower nicotine tobacco in the summer), and it can even react with me a little funny... my head will spin with things that I considered "weak." Flavors of things start to go from divine to "meh," and at times, chemistry gets a little prickly bite from otherwise silky-smooth standbys. Yep, it's time to experiment a little, dust off a few familiars...
...the new one in this case was C&D's Opening Night. I love Red Virginia and well...almost any Virginia (done properly), and by all rights, this one should have been the one. Foreshadowing, anyone?
It wasn't the one. What smelled lovely in the 2007 tin of the stuff, what looked ideal in perfect flakes, took me for a ride that was unexpected.
I don't like disparaging reviews of tobacco, especially with how subjective smoking is for all of us. Usually keep notes and thoughts to myself when something isn't quite right, because of so many factors. Season being a big one. I try to stick with brands that have done me right in the past, stick with contents that are similar if not the same, and bonus points for leaf with some age.
What I got from this tobacco was smoke that ruined my rye (bitter, salty aftertastes with a tried-and-true that works with my go-to tobaccos), a rowdy, almost tongue-biting edge, and even when I took the care to load it into a pipe that is known for its performance. It's a good idea with new tobacco to give it the best chance possible. Nuances, were dull, and thus, so was I. Add to that the uncomfortable nature, it was not to be had. I never want to walk inside after a pipeful (and a glass empty) and feel like I wasted my time. I hate that. I really, really hate that. I'm spoiled by so many sit-down sessions when I resume my day/evening and say, "...and that's why I do this," with a smile.
C&D has a history with me, I will say. I either love it, or I hate it. It's worth the risk with something new, though. Unlike my unfortunate dealings with blenders like McClelland, which always seems leave me with a mediocre, never offensive, but never "it's it" kind of experience, I never hated any McC. C&D is all-or-nothing for me. Same with Greg Pease's stuff, who goes through C&D, but seems to fine-tune many things to a degree where I either learn it or discover a component/method that doesn't mesh.
Maybe I hate this tobacco, maybe it hates me.
I cannot fully blame the tobacco, I am more apt to blame myself. More to the point, I blame the season, and specifically, my chemistry at the moment. My choice was educated. My smoking was slow. My setup was perfect. My attitude was ideal.
Sometimes you get the bear, sometimes the bear gets you. Sometimes, it isn't a bear at all.
Perhaps I am the bear, and this bear is interested in the future of hibernating. In kind, the tobacco was quickly jarred, labeled, and left to sit for its own hibernation for another awakening for when our paths will cross again. Although I expect it may be the tobacco, I cannot say for sure.
8)
Something happens with us as the seasons change. My father, normally a quasi health-nut, starts talking about getting a giant bucket of Kentucky Friend Chicken and wanting to wallow on his couch, in the dark, watching football. Not his style, but every year, it's the same. :lol:
Me, I start taking inventory of my cookware. I clean the oven. I start checking the seals on the windows and door. I throw out old spices and get new ones, take inventory of my whiskey, clean the house and get ready for winter.
My palate goes through its own checklist. Noticing this, I find tobacco to be on the list of things to pay attention to. Nicotine is much less important (even when I prefer lower nicotine tobacco in the summer), and it can even react with me a little funny... my head will spin with things that I considered "weak." Flavors of things start to go from divine to "meh," and at times, chemistry gets a little prickly bite from otherwise silky-smooth standbys. Yep, it's time to experiment a little, dust off a few familiars...
...the new one in this case was C&D's Opening Night. I love Red Virginia and well...almost any Virginia (done properly), and by all rights, this one should have been the one. Foreshadowing, anyone?
It wasn't the one. What smelled lovely in the 2007 tin of the stuff, what looked ideal in perfect flakes, took me for a ride that was unexpected.
I don't like disparaging reviews of tobacco, especially with how subjective smoking is for all of us. Usually keep notes and thoughts to myself when something isn't quite right, because of so many factors. Season being a big one. I try to stick with brands that have done me right in the past, stick with contents that are similar if not the same, and bonus points for leaf with some age.
What I got from this tobacco was smoke that ruined my rye (bitter, salty aftertastes with a tried-and-true that works with my go-to tobaccos), a rowdy, almost tongue-biting edge, and even when I took the care to load it into a pipe that is known for its performance. It's a good idea with new tobacco to give it the best chance possible. Nuances, were dull, and thus, so was I. Add to that the uncomfortable nature, it was not to be had. I never want to walk inside after a pipeful (and a glass empty) and feel like I wasted my time. I hate that. I really, really hate that. I'm spoiled by so many sit-down sessions when I resume my day/evening and say, "...and that's why I do this," with a smile.
C&D has a history with me, I will say. I either love it, or I hate it. It's worth the risk with something new, though. Unlike my unfortunate dealings with blenders like McClelland, which always seems leave me with a mediocre, never offensive, but never "it's it" kind of experience, I never hated any McC. C&D is all-or-nothing for me. Same with Greg Pease's stuff, who goes through C&D, but seems to fine-tune many things to a degree where I either learn it or discover a component/method that doesn't mesh.
Maybe I hate this tobacco, maybe it hates me.
I cannot fully blame the tobacco, I am more apt to blame myself. More to the point, I blame the season, and specifically, my chemistry at the moment. My choice was educated. My smoking was slow. My setup was perfect. My attitude was ideal.
Sometimes you get the bear, sometimes the bear gets you. Sometimes, it isn't a bear at all.
Perhaps I am the bear, and this bear is interested in the future of hibernating. In kind, the tobacco was quickly jarred, labeled, and left to sit for its own hibernation for another awakening for when our paths will cross again. Although I expect it may be the tobacco, I cannot say for sure.
8)
