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Productive visit to the brick and mortar.
I was surprised. They had 2 tins of May drop Steamworks. And a real live tin of Sam's Best Brown? I'll be damned.
What's this mean?
I get it's an August 2023 date. Have there only been 2 productions?
Now you can compare the '23 batch to the '24 batch side-by-side, (if you get some of this year's, too). 🙃
I would like to know what you guys think about this blend:
I'm not a perique guy but this one seems interesting to try but i wanna hear something about first ✌️
I have a can or two, haven’t got around to trying it. Maybe I will now so I can give an answer.
It would be really nice. Even though i'm quite convinced that i'll give it a try buying this one, your oppinion about any tobacco is always handy!
My brother has a tin, it's ok, nothing special in my opinion.
Stuff & Things has made two reviews of it. The tin has the old graphics, these have changed to a more "cartoon" look.
His First Impression:
Later Full Review:
His description is exactly how I find it to be.
For me personally, it's ok, but too expensive for what it is (where I am, it is €22 the tin).
Here is even more expensive ... i'm paying around $35 Dollar per tin and this price is a good price, believe or not. Crazy aye?
Aie... yes, those are the prices in France too, but no sales are allowed by the internet in France, you can only get tobacco (pipe tobacco, cigars, cigarettes etc) from a local store that specializes in tobacco.
Luckily, Germany and Switzerland are less expensive and do allow the sale online.
France is kind of a pipe tobacco desert, almost nothing available, all very expensive. It's a very, very sad place for pipe smokers...
I was in France last summer for two weeks. I was completely unable to find a tobacconist that stored quality pipe tobacco.
I've smoked more C&D than anything else. I'm a big fan. But I've never tried the rooster. Not sure why. The description is definitely my jam.
100% influenced by you guys i ordered a tin of Capstan Blue and a tin of SG 1792. I ordered also the Exhausted Hooster cuz i was curious and the price was good enough. Let see how they work for me. Can't wait to add something new to my rotation.
Great selection! Even if the Exhausted Rooster doesn’t light you up, you’ve still got Capstan and 1792. Good stuff.
Capstan and 1792 are both in the shelf of "everyone should try at least once" so i'm doing my homework buying them for the first time.
I have a tin of HH pure Virginia that was supposed to be opened when i finish my Peterson Flake but..... i'll change it and put the Capstan in this spot.
Found this old tin while cleaning up my mother in laws attic it has been opened but I think I can still smoke it after re humidifying it a bit.
wow, the tin is nice by itself ... even if the tobacco is not smokable that still a nice thing to find out!!
Okay… did a small mail order.
Sutliff 507c Virginia Slices
Orlik Golden Slices
Peter Stokkebye Luxury Navy Flake
And on the way home from work stopped to buy the girlfriend a bottle. Whatddya know they had Captain Black for $6 even. Okay… took that home again, too.
A little thread drift here, but here goes… Ted, you’re an oracle of piping experience, so I’ll ask you and maybe others have some experience with it……
The original white pouch Captain Black has a heavy toasted marshmallow taste. At least, that’s how I’ve heard people describe it. But I think it tastes like bananas! Am I crazy? (Yes, probably) What do you think?
Interesting question/experience. I can’t be much help in this case. The last time I smoked Captain Black was, I believe, 1983 or 1984. It’s not in the category of tobaccos that I prefer. My memory of it then is mostly sweet and vanilla flavored hot air. But not having smoked it in so long, I can’t accurately say anything about it. But banana sounds like a good thing 😃.
Wise man.
Well, I can happily report that since 1984 not a whole lots changed with the vanilla flavored hot air! I’ve bought exactly two pouches because I swear I’ll do most things at least twice to see if there’s anything to it. Just not my cup of tea as I’m halfway through this second pouch.
Couldn’t wait for the mail to arrive so I stopped on the way home and bought some supplements.
Man! This Rattray’s Marlin Flake is just delicious from the top of the bowl to the bottom.
A great smoke, isn’t it? The only reason I don’t smoke it more often is because of the abundance of other great smokes I’ve accumulated 😊 It’s a blend I always enjoy though.
I must try it, but here I can only find the 100gr tin, socI have to be sure. At the same time it's the same with Orlik, I bought the 100gr tin without a first try and I'm quite happy with it!
You’ll like Evening Flake quite a bit, I would think, if you enjoyed Orlik GS. The price of Evening Flake seems like very good value. I’d say Evening Flake has a bit more depth that Golden Sliced… there’s a whallop of grassy Virginia citrus up front that’s kind of musty, and very nice. The smoke is a slightly different color, has a different mouthfeel, and plenty of sweetness. These are all subjective terms to describe but there’s actual stuff going on that’s different and I like it a lot. I could pass on Goldeb Slices in the future in lieu of the ten million other Virginias to try, but I’ll definitely be ordering a sizable quantity of Evening Flake and sticking it in a jar in my cupboard. Right next to all the emergency canned goods. I mean, this is tornado country. What if there’s a disaster? I’ll need it.
I just ordered a tin of Stirling flake.
- I’ll definitely be exploring the Rattray’s range more thoroughly in the future. This flavor profile is right up my alley but the balance is something to marvel at. Stirling Flake is next.
Finaly, they arrived!! 🥳😎🙏
Big fan of the Capstan Navy Flake, here. It tastes a smidge darker to me than Erik Stokkebye Evening Flake, if you’ve ever tried that one. Top note of the Capstan rings like tangerine but has great body and a little more depth. Good stuff!
I have to control myself not to opening all of them intantly as soon they arrived.
I'll buy more jars tomorrow. Hahahaha
All those 3 are new for me and i'm quite excited to smoke them! 🍻
They could at least make an effort and put a Navy Captain emptying his pipe in the ocean 😜
📦 parcel arrived… Reason for order was Steamworks small batch drop, but where I ordered was because I decided to do tobacco pipes.com May compare-n-share. How much other stuff I got was because - well, free shipping, (…a convenient excuse to get some of the things in my wish list anyway.) 🙄
Nice. That free shipping minimum order has definitely helped enable overstocking my cellar many times.
This morning I visited one of the very best Spanish tobacconists, despite it is located in a small city.
I got:
Rattay´s Red Rapparee
Tim´s London Blend 1000
Old Ironsides
and... Thanks @Lee to introduce me to this great weed
Hit one of my favourite tobacco haunts on the weekend. Restocked Autumn Evening and Scottish Mixture and figured I'd try Amphora Rich. Looky what else I found. Yes I'm in the land of generic tobacco packaging but I spotted this and it was a bargain too. Don't want to say where so I don't bring them grief but if it's good as everyone says I might have to go back and clean them out.
Can't wait to try it. Problem is I can't stop reaching for the Amphora Rich I bought at the same time. Really liking this one.
Oh.
Especially when you're r subject to 50% excise tax.
With Ted’s kind help, I’ve acquired a veritable bounty of tobacco! 😊
Pictured:
Plum Pudding Special Reserve cigars.
Plum Pudding Special Reserve.
The Mallard Flake - Plus Perique.
Savinelli Doblone d’Oro.
Three Nuns (Green, Yellow & Original) - aged 5 years.
Hand of Gotz.
Steamworks.
Luxury Bullseye Flake.
St. James Parish 2021 Perique.
Oh, and some meerschaum spacers 😊
Yes, because cellophane degrades with time and can transmit extrange flavors. Cellophane acts as a temporary protection. But if you are going to smoke them in a reasonable time period, you can leave it intact. I don't know if without the wrapper can transmit flavors to the rest of cigars. I never had an humidor. I use the cigar box and I keep cigar boxes in the wine cellar.
They'll be more stable in the wrapper. I always take them off but then they're more subject to any ups and downs of humidity. There's no wrong answer.
It seems many of us have been helped by Ted. He's a great guy.
Don´t forget to tell us your impressions about Hand of Götz. I imagine it won´t have too many things in common with Davidoff Royalty.
I’ve only tried it the once, as soon as I got it. I’m going to try it again when it’s been jarred a few weeks (soon). I enjoyed it. I think it’s going to be a blend I smoke regularly in the summer evenings. I’d want to be smoking it when I wrote some kind of review. But, for now, I can say I’d be confident recommending it, due to the quality of the leaf and the somewhat complex flavour profile.
I’m not saying it’s a copy, but it’s in the vein of the pre-Mac Baren Three Nuns, which is kind of funny since it’s made by Mac Baren. I think it’s a nice smoke and I have quite a stock of it, but for some reason I don’t reach for it that often.
Incoming
I've got 4 more (Newminster Superior Round, Sutliff Stoved x2, and Sutliff BS match). I dare CO to stop me. 😂
The last 4 tins of Samuel Gawith I could find:
2 Balkan Flake and 2 Commonwealth
I wasn't a fan of Commonwealth and I never even tried Balkan Flake, but I was frustrated that I couldn't find no more FVF, Squadron Leader and Skiff, so here is.
Then the summer and all year stuff:
Two tins of Orlik GoldenSliced (100 gr per tin 😬), two tins of Capstan blue and, of course, Cairo!
I'm good for a long time 🤣
Is it common to buy a tin that already has some age or did I have a lucky hand?
I don´t have the slightest doubt. Have a look at one of mine. This weed ages beautifully.
Here in Brazil is really rare get a tin from the current year. Which is not bad =]
Skiff can be replaced by G.L. Pease Westminster or Rattray´s Red Rapparee, but both of them have a bit more Latakia than Skiff.
Westminster is my favorite english mixture, red rapparee is also one I appreciate. I think all my despair with Samuel Gawith was about the souvenirs I had with this blend and my affection for these mixtures that were my first memorable smokes 😊
{{{Edith Bunker singing "Thoooose were the days" }}}
This is the Bob's Chocolate Flake I'm still smoking.
Oh, to be able to pop back for one more order. Knowing what I know now I’d drop about $30K on mostly McClelland just to have for resale 😃.
People collecting high end pipes on spec when they could've been buying Esoterica.
Speaking of McClelland I got some Watch Cutty 558 Flake. Has a mouthwatering rich malt vinegary smell to it. I can't wait to try it.
Ernie Q claims that he got some of his training in blending from the owners of McClellands. I can see the influence in some of his blends.
How people spend their money it's their own business and I'm far from judging that, but personally I think it's a bit crazy to spend all that money for a tin of tobacco...
It's absolutely crazy. What makes it even crazier is Stonehaven isn't that great. It's good. But there are a half dozen flakes readily available in bulk that I enjoy just as much or more.
Scarcity drives pipe smokers into a frenzy. It's like McClelland. Sure there were people who loved it. But there were more people who derided it as "vinegar and ketchup". Now that it's not around everybody has declared it irreplaceable best stuff ever.
A pound of Peter Stokkebye ps301 Natural Cavendish,2 tins mac baren Virginia No.1,a tin of Casbah from Drucquer & son ( Gregory Pease)
Found the last tin of Squadron Leader available in a cigar shop I profoundly despise and BBBB.
I despise that shop cause they completely destroyed its old tradition in pipe smoking and blending to become a place for millionaires with rolex who smoke cubans...
Anyway a happy finding in a shop I'll never visit again, I named the tin THE LAST SQUADRON LEADER cause it will go to the cellar and I pass on to other brands.
I had a similar experience with my old favorite tobacconist. It’s now an upscale “Bistro, wine and cigar bar”, pipes and pipe tobacco disappeared except for a few tins left in the cigar humidor twenty years ago. I loved that place when it was a pipe shop. No reason to ever return now.
There's a large part of cigar culture I just can't stand. So many poseurs.
When I lived in KC I went to a local shop to smoke a pipe or cigar and would always judge the dudebros who bought cigars as big as their arm and were sure to leave the band(s) on so everybody could see they overpaid for a cigar. 😂
Same guys who try to smoke their cigar down to the last 1/4 inch like it's a joint back in the days before pot was legal.
I've never understood people bragging about how much they spent on something. I'd rather brag about how LITTLE I spent.
Because they do. And to complete the experience:BBBB it's not distributed by the two swiss majors (Synjeco and Oettinger), I asked kindly who's the distributor and they didn't want to tell me saying "Anyway you'll have to pass through us to buy this.".
Nope.
A Harley Davidson? That’s tacky, the city they’re in wouldn’t go for that at all.
This is part of their cigar lounge.
I'm a little surprised pipe smoking hasn't caught on more with the "hipster" crowd. It's sort of nostalgic, steampunky, and contrarian. Right up their alley.
I also saw that Smoking Pipes added like 300 Peterson pipes yesterday. Who's buying all these pipes?
I think it will.
Hipsters are flocking to flip phones again, so maybe pipes will come around. But, I’d just as soon they didn’t to keep demand/prices down. They’re high enough as it is 🤨
Then again, a boost to the industry overall….
Locally, I found a cigar boutique that has a single wall of pipes and a few quality tins. They have a house blend pipe tobacco. They also host a monthly meeting of the local pipe club.
So, I support them as best I can to encourage owners to dedicate more to the pipe!
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