Again, NAF1138 has given a lot of good information. I’ll add that if you find your tobacco is getting a little too dry for your liking, you can try to rehumidify it. I’ve had great success with a chunk of potato about the size of the last joint on my little finger. That’s perfect for a two-ounce tin, IME. Put the potato chunk in the tin for a few days, then open the tin and discard the now-dessicated potato chunk. Repeat as necessary.
Why potato? Because it is neutral, with no flavour to speak of. I’ve heard of people using chunks of apple, carrot, and melon; but these all have their own flavours. Tobacco is sensitive; it will pick up whatever aromas and flavours it is exposed to, so if you put a chunk of apple in your tobacco, you’ll have apple-flavoured tobacco. Not a great situation if you really enjoy that blend as the blender designed it. (This is also why you don’t store your vanilla pipe tobacco in the same humidor as your Cuban cigars.) A potato has little to no flavour to speak of, so by using potato, you get the benefit of the potato’s natural moistness without any of the flavour.
This is one that I have. Well, actually, I have one from the same series, but mine is just like this one, only with nicer grain. Why the long stem? Because the long “churchwarden” stem allows the smoke to cool before you taste it. It is a different smoking experience than when the hot bowl is only a couple of inches away. This is a Brigham, made in France, and it uses the Brigham filter system that I referred to above.
I love my Nørding pipes! I have one on the lower-end rusticated ones, i.e. it had surface problems so they covered it with carvings, and even it is a pleasure.
This site is great for finding potential tobaccos: http://tobaccoreviews.com/index.cfm
I really don’t like aromatics but would recommend you to find a nice, neutral virginia to begin with and work your way out from that point. MacBaren and Orlik both make nice, plain no-nonsense virginias.
And Early Morning Pipe is still made - it is quite easy to find here in Denmark, anyway. Smoking it as I type. Aah. Perhaps you can find something similar, like King Frederiks Full?
See, and I would recommend the opposite. Firstly, I don’t like MacBaren. I know I am in a minority here, but all their blends bite me hard, and I have learned to just stay away. Secondly, I think virginia’s are a bad starting place for a new smoker because they smoke hotter, have a flavor that is more readily destroyed by heat, and it’s hard to find a quality virginia in ready rubbed form (not that they don’t exist. McCrainie’s Red Ribbon and McClelland 5100 are two of my favorites and both are ribbon cut.)
IF the new pipe smoker was going to try a virginia, I would recommend they go with a vaper (virginia and perique) first, because with the perique they won’t have to have perfect smoking technique to taste something. Perique isn’t to everyone’s taste though and I am having a hard time coming up with a straight vaper that isn’t in flake form off the top of my head, though I know they exist.
BTW there isn’t a single online retailer that has been mentioned in this thread that will steer you wrong, and I should also post a link to my personal favoite online pipe smoking community
Not necessarily. I find MacBaren is like McDonald’s: you wouldn’t eat (or smoke) it daily, and it may not be the best, but it’s oddly satisfying on occasion. It’s also pretty consistent from batch to batch, so if you don’t like surprises or experimenting with new things, it’s perfect. But if you want to expand your horizons and try new things that you may like better, you’re going to want to eat somewhere else. Or smoke something else.
That said, I will add that MacBaren’s Navy Flake is my preferred Navy right now, but I’m open to suggestions.
I like the Sam Gawith variety myself, but I have an appreciation for the MacBaren (even though it also bites). I don’t know that Navy’s will ever be for me though. I just don’t love any of the rum topped blends I have tried, and there is too much good stuff out there for me to mess around with stuff I don’t love.
Which is sort of a flake, but not really, and might be the best way to learn about how to smoke flake tobacco on the market. It also makes a good intro to virginia’s because the cavendish and perique up the flavor quotient and make it harder to get the smoke to bite. I haven’t had this in years, but it was a favorite of mine when I was first starting out.
Hal O’ The Wind by Rattray Readily available, in tin form, and a VA that a new smoker *might *be able to enjoy because the flavor is full and dark but still simple. I have a personal fondness for Red VA blends, and this is one of the very best. Tangy, sweet, dark, flavorful and not a flake. If you can smoke it slowly and cooly enough it becomes very very sweet. (Like a ripe apple) If you aren’t getting the sweetness then you are smoking it too hot, so it makes for a good test of your smoking rhythm.
Also, I would like to say how glad I am that this thread is getting a bit of activity and apologize if I am monopolizing it a bit. Like I said in my first post I am on a hiatus until the little one gets a bit older, so it’s fun to get to talk about stuff. The talking about pipes and tobacco was always my favorite part of the hobby.
Thanks for the tip; I’ll give it a try. Not sure why I haven’t tried it yet; I generally like Samuel Gawith flakes. Oh well, something to look forward to trying. Thanks again!
No worries on the monopolization; at least, not from me. I’m enjoying the fact that the thread is getting some activity, glad to read the contributions from all, and glad to contribute what I can.
NAF1138, I’ve just been plowing through tobaccoreviews.com. First of all, I will have to get some of the Samuel Gawith’s Navy Flake; the reviewers make it sound like something I’d really enjoy.
Secondly, given your previous comments on Virginias, I just wondered if you had any thoughts on Samuel Gawith’s Full Virginia Flake (FVF). It’s one of my favourites; certainly the nicest and fullest Virginia Flake I’ve ever had. (FVF is not for the raw beginner, Randy; but I’m going to backtrack slightly on what I said above about No. 111 and Blend 633 and state that when you’re ready to try Virginia Flakes, you cannot go wrong with this one, IMHO.) Anyway, NAF1138, any comments on FVF?
And again to Randy: Thank you for starting this thread. As noted, a lot of the fun of pipe smoking is talking about pipes and pipe smoking with others who enjoy the same thing.
I have not been a tobacco smoker for many many years (circa 1983 to be precise) but from memory I will recommend Revelation, a somewhat obscure but very very pleasant pipe tobacco.
Sadly, I believe that Revelation is no longer with us. If I remember correctly it was the blend that Einstein preferred when it was being made by Phillip Morris. When they sold off their pipe tobacco recipes (sometime in the 60s, again I am going from memory so don’t quote me) it went to House of Windsor (eventually, I think it landed with someone else in between) and then they went under just recently.
On the other hand C&D who I linked to earlier make a “tribute blend” called epiphany. I haven’t tried it myself, but people love the stuff.
There are still some great old drugstore blends available though. Most anything made by Middleton is fairly good. I am a fan of Walnut and Cater Hall. Also, Sir Walter Raleigh and Prince Albert are both good staple smokes. All of these are double good because a giant tub can be bought for about $12 at your local Wallgreens and the tubs (and preservatives) keep things fresh indefinitely so you don’t need to transfer to a mason jar.
@ Spoons, I still haven’t had a chance to try FVF. I have a tin that I was going to age a bit, and then my wife got pregnant and everything went into the deep cellar for later tasting. So when I get to it, it should have a solid age on it. It’s something to look forward to. I hear nothing but great things about it though.
I just wanted to echo the sentiment from the other non-pipe smokers here that this is a great thread; I don’t think I’ll ever take up the habit but I’ve learned a lot of interesting stuff from the experts here. Thanks!
Also, I don’t know exactly what you were trying to say here, but
