Seeking Information

KABUL07

Hello Pipe and Tobacco Aficionados, hope all is well out there. Can anyone share any knowledge on a tobacco blend, "Caledonia Superior Mixture Melange # 421". I believe it was an Aromatic on the sweet side and may no longer be in production. If you buy chance tried this blend how would you rate it ? In addition it's a possibility that the manufacture may no longer be in operation. I thank you and remember, smoke what you like and like what you smoke. Take some time to contemplate and be safe.  :-) 

Montecristo

@KABUL07

https://www.tobaccoreviews.com/blend/4/a-c-petersen-caledonian-melange-no421-superior-mixture

Also

PappyJoe

I'm pretty sure A&C Petersen tobacco are no longer in production. At least I couldn't find it at any online shops including the ones I buy from in Germany.

Montecristo

@KABUL07

I asked one of the new AI’s to write a review:

KABUL07

Thank you Montecristo for the information. I found a tin from the 80’s that I kept, the question is can I now smoke it ? 😬

Whoispra

Unsure if this is the right “folder”. I’d like to get a sense of what this community thinks is the quintessential pipe tobacco that fits a blend type I.e. burley, Latakia, aromatic, viriginia, VaPers etc. So what do think? Give me your list of blends that you should try among these types and those that I’ve missed. Suggestions could be based on your taste or because it’s seems like a right if passage (Must be in production)

 Example:
Aromatic: C&D autumn evening
English: jm boswell country side
VaPer: C&D Kajun kake
burley: Carter hall 
Virginia: hh pure Virginia
etc

thanks In advance

Montecristo

@Whoispra

VaPer: Escudo
Burley: Carter Hall
Aromatic: Boswell Piper’s Pleasure
Balkan: Sasieni
English: Quiet Nights

RockyMountainBriar

If you are looking for any consensus, I doubt you will get it🙂

Aromatic: Captain Black Original (White Label), Lane 1-Q, Lane RLP-6, Lane BCA

Burley: Five Brothers

Balkan: No Idea, but I have seen the Sasieni mentioned numerous times.

VaPer: Escudo, Orlik Golden Sliced, Peterson/Dunhill Elizabethan, Three Nuns

Straight Virginia: Sam Gawith Full Virginia Flake, Newminster No. 400 Superior Navy Flake, Peter Stokkebye Luxury Twist, Capstan Blue: Peterson/Dunhill Royal Yacht

Latakia: I have no idea, it’s all nasty😉, but these always pop up.
Peterson/Dunhill Early Morning Pipe, Peterson/Dunhill Nightcap, Presbyterian

Whoispra

@Montecristo thanks for the input. All blends i've heard good things about. @RockyMountainBriar quite the opposite! it would be horribly boring if you all liked exactly the same thing. Is five brothers a codger blend?

RockyMountainBriar

@Whoispra
Yes, it would be a codger blend.

I had to add a few more blends to the list.

Oh, and by the way. They are not necessarily all my top choices.  I have smoked all of them except the Latakia tobaccos, and the Peterson/Dunhill Royal Yacht and sadly (because I always miss out) the SG Full Virginia Flake.
Hmm, now that I am thinking about it, I may have acquired some awhile back…I guess I’m going to have to look through my “stash”.🤔. So, if I have smoked the SG FVF, I have forgot….old age may be creeping up on me😳

Zouave

@Whoispra
I am pretty predictable with what I smoke. I stick pretty religiously to the blends that I like. 
Aromatic: Country Squire Figgy pudding

English: G.L. Pease Westminster
VaPer: This inst exactly a classic VaPer but I think it still falls into that category, it's Peterson Irish Cask. There are a few more I love, Davidoff Danish blend and CS Rivendell come to mind. 

PappyJoe

@Whoispra

I'll play!
Aromatic: The Untouchables (HU/MA/DTM) 
English: Bengal Slices
VaPer: Vauen Jubilee 150
burley: C&D Crooner
Virginia: Carolina Red Flake

Whoispra

@Zouave @PappyJoe @RockyMountainBriar I appreciate you all humoring me. I'm always interested to hear what people like. There are some names that i've grown quite familiar with just based on the pipe community at large. As someone new i take it all with a grain of salt because your pallet is much more defined or perhaps refined than mine. i have an extensive list of manufacturers and blends i want to try based on all things but sometimes you just want to take a recommendation and try something just for trying's sake. Maybe you haven't done that recently and should. Just a thought.

PappyJoe

@Whoispra
Do it all the time. 

KABUL07

Hello "Whoispra", hope all is well. If you have not tried a tobacco blend called "Glass Slipper" from the Watch City Cigar & Pipe, maybe you should give it a try. As you well know every pipe and tobacco enthusiast has their own enjoyable blend(s). It appears that there is some sort of mystery to individual taste buds in the world of P&T.  :-) :-). Enjoy your Day, pipes and blends. Remember, smoke what you like and like what you smoke.

Whoispra

@KABUL07 thanks for the recommendation. yes we are all different when it comes to taste no doubt. I've been doing a deep dive on all things pipe tobacco since I started my journey but haven't really had an opportunity to talk shop with anyone who has been smoking for awhile. I have one friend that I brought into the fold but he looks to me for information and it's just barely better than the blind leading the blind. The YTPC has been invaluable but many recommend similar blends, pipes, etc. So this has been my avenue for the opinions of the people who've been smoking a pipe for a long time and for no other reason than they enjoy it thoroughly and not just for views. Cheers.

KABUL07

I agree, I come here to discuss pipe and tobacco issues only. It appears that there are plenty of veteran P&T members here and they always seem to be very helpful. Enjoy.

RockyMountainBriar

@Whoispra
I am always buying new tobacco’s.  As I think I mentioned previously, my “cellar” is wide, not deep.  There are very few tobacco’s that I really dislike in all the ones I have tried…except Latakia’s, and maybe most Sutliff tobaccos, not because of the flavor, just because they are so dang wet, and torch my tongue. 

KABUL07

Have you tried filters and or meerschaum stones inside your pipes for the moisture issues ?

vtgrad2003

@RockyMountainBriar
"wide but not deep" sounds like a blond woman I knew from Arkansas!

vtgrad2003

@KABUL07
I use balsa filters. I did switch to charcoal for a period of time but switched back. If you want to adequately control for moisture, balsa is the only way to go in my opinion, and you have to replace them no more than every couple of bowls. 

RockyMountainBriar

@vtgrad2003
I knew that was coming <notice the spelling😬.  Trying to head you off at the pass this time🤔

PappyJoe

@vtgrad2003
Hey! I knew her… at least two or three times. 

RockyMountainBriar

Balsa “filters” are better at soaking up moisture and still leaving some flavor.  Charcoal filters suck up everything and if they get used multiple times, they get exceptionally nasty.  The cartridge disintegrates like a paper “filter” (another “soaker-upper”, not really a filter).  I have an old Zest estate pipe that I could not get clean with a million pipe cleaners…..ultimately I took a drill to it, and low and behold, there were the remnants of a nasty paper filter wadded in it🤢.   I had a Savinelli estate that had been “cleaned and sanitized” by the seller🤢🤢….not!  It had the remnants of a 9mm charcoal filter in it.  I’m sure it was smoked until wet, let dry, at least partially to where it stuck in the shank, then was ripped apart leaving the bottom part of the filter in the shank🤢🤢.  It too had me confounded for awhile as to why I could not get a pipe cleaner to come out clean after using a bazillion of them.  I think I finally drilled it out as well and used my retort to really loosen the nastiness.

Whoispra

And this is the kind of story that keeps me hesitant from buying "wild" estate pipes. I have a buddy with a knick knack shop down the road with a pile of old kaywoodies and other estates. but I don't have half the tools to clean one up good and I have the kind of luck that would get me a pipe with an ancient rotten filter in it!

RockyMountainBriar

@Whoispra
Make sure you don’t pass up any Dunhill’s, Charatan’s Make, Comoy’s, Castello’s….oh, and especially Paulo Becker’s, Eltang’s, Tao’s, S.Bang  and the like😬. Unless they are complete firewood, which, for some reason, there seem to be a lot of “firewood” Dunhill estates…It must be because people think they are worth more,  they’ll try to sell a junker Dunhill, when they would just throw most any other pipe in the trash.  Man I see a bunch of burned out/cracked Dunhill’s that people try to sell.  Quite a few Charatan and Savinelli (especially autographs) with the beginnings of a burnout showing through the sides as well.  Interestingly, they seem to be the bent dublins.

vtgrad2003

@RockyMountainBriar
I switched out of charcoal because I inhale every once in a while...I know that sounds odd. With the charcoal filters I was noticing my throat becoming somewhat raw feeling which I thought was odd because they are supposed to catch more crap than balsa. One day I performed an experiment where I took some bright white paper and blew through 'em onto the paper then simply tapped the charcoal filters onto the paper as well and you could see small amounts of charcoal powder on the paper if you looked closely enough. So, I guess what was happening was I was sucking in charcoal every time I inhaled which probably isn't a good thing to do. Apparently, these places don't wash their charcoal before they load it into the tubes. 

Whoispra

@RockyMountainBriar I'll keep that list in mind. I haven't been able to go see them because it isn't local to me but i'll make a mental chekckist for when I go out looking.

PappyJoe

@Whoispra
Your buddy should be able to give you a list of the pipes. Most of them should have some name stamped on them.

Montecristo

Does anyone have experience with the pipe maker J.D. Allred?

KA9FFJ

@Montecristo
Sorry, no.