roogles
Well-known member
- Joined
- Dec 13, 2011
- Messages
- 200
- Reaction score
- 0
There was a rabbit-trail/tangent in a thread in the Tobacco Jar about journaling, note-keeping, and fountain pens…
Rather than continue to derail that thread, I'm quoting the pertinent parts of the tangent here and picking up where they left off…
The original posts were in Pipes & Tobacco::The Tobacco Jar::Balkan/English/Sublime Tobaccos to Order?
Rather than continue to derail that thread, I'm quoting the pertinent parts of the tangent here and picking up where they left off…
The original posts were in Pipes & Tobacco::The Tobacco Jar::Balkan/English/Sublime Tobaccos to Order?
Kyle Weiss":4wa6cgv4 said:One thing I've been doing is keeping a journal and list, along with space for notes as I go along. I have kind of a scattered, non-alphabetical list that's organized by type (English, Balkan, Other Lat Blends, Perique Blends, etc), and sometimes I learn more and switch one tobacco to another as I see it fitting better. I color-code by text things I like a lot, stuff that is just "Meh," and light gray stuff that I'm probably going to avoid for now.
What this does for me is keeps the names, makers, tobacco makeup and whether or not I have it on hand to try, in a way I can refer back to it, see if there's any patterns, and remember sometimes who gave them to me to eventually ask suggestions of those who might have similar taste.
It has grown to about 100 tobaccos. That seems overwhelming, but it's a small percentage of what is out there. It's a small price to pay in work to make sure I'm approaching this with some rationale and see where my tastes are going.
Might be worth doing. *shrug* 8)
Nonsailor":4wa6cgv4 said:Yeah! Now we're getting somewhere! Indexing and cross-referencing! :cheers:
I've been using Evernote to keep track of pipes, tobacco, techniques, tastes, a list of things to try, etc. Each tobacco I'm smoking has its own note and I add observations. It's a cool program because it runs on Android as well as PC, does web clipping, and supports tagging, so I can sit on the porch and type on my phone while smoking (writing about smoking while smoking). In a notebook, I keep a dated list of what I smoke and in which pipe and add a couple of words on how it was. I anticipate moving toward a spreadsheet in the future, but I'm very fond of fountain pens.
Your idea of color-coding seems a terrific idea. /hadntthoughtofthat
I seriously think that the bookkeeping qualities of pipe smoking is part of what I enjoy about it. As you note, there's so much out there that some rationale is necessary to keep track. Thanks for sharing your research and notekeeping.
roogles":4wa6cgv4 said:Continuing along this thread might be considered thread derailment (or hijacking) - but I had to pipe up here.
<geek>
I'm a HUGE note taker, love writing, and echo that I am very fond of fountain pens. I burn through moleskine notebooks and Pilot varsity disposable fountain pens way faster then I burn through pipe tobacco. I find writing and note taking relaxing, cathartic, and often have often been accused that I use note-taking as a coping mechanism (pffff).
My brother got me a really cool leather journal for Christmas, as well as a large box of disposable fountain pens and I've decided to make it my pipe and tobacco journal. I'm taking notes on what I smoke, tastes, thoughts about packing, lighting, etc. Hoping that it will be a good resource as I learn about and try more tobacco.
Just since early December I took the time to catalog my small pipe collection, make notes about where they came from, how they smoke, what I like/don't like about them, etc... I'm keeping that in the back part of this same notebook.
This aspect of pipe smoking - the note taking, research, almost scientific aspect of it - has huge appeal for me.
</geek>
Nonsailor":4wa6cgv4 said:Derailment? Hijacking? Perish the thought. Let's call it a pleasant digression.
If you haven't, you owe it to yourself to step up from disposable fountains to refillable ones. The Lamy Safari line is very affordable (around $30) and offers a fine writing experience. While they're sold with cartridges, they convert readily to refill. A Safari, the refill thingie, and a bottle of Noodler's and you're set for the price of a used Peterson. Don't get me wrong, I like the Pilot Varsity pens, but there's just no comparison. Especially if you're writing on that nice Moleskine paper.
I think the note taking is the Robinson Crusoe aspect of pipe smoking, rather than the Sherlock Holmes part. Crusoe was quite the book-keeper.