Searching for Something Different

SERENTIL

My first adventure into pipe tobacco consisted of 'Froggy Went A Courtin' tin sampler and 'King of the Dunhill' tin sampler from P&C.  I immediately fell for the Frog Morton tins (especially the FM Cellar) and tore through them until they were all gone. I moved onto the Dunhill tins and promptly fell for Nightcap.  All of the Dunhill tins were quite good really but Nightcap launched me onto the next crusade of looking for high nicotine blends.  Next came HH Old Dark Fired Ready Rubbed.  HHDFRR has held strong as my #1 tobacco for a while now and probably won't be out of my tobacco rotation anytime soon but I also had purchased a two ropes/twists from GH&C; Sweet Whisky and Happy Bogie, both very good and quite potent in the nic dept.  Sitting in the wings, I have a fairly large amount of 5110-Dark English Full which I find to be quite comparable to a few of the Frog Morten blends.  It's good... but, I think I'm ready to branch out.  Maybe even into aromatics finally.

Any suggestions on what to start with?  I'd prefer bulks since I can buy 1-2oz for a fairly low price but I'd buy a tin of a highly recommended blend as well.

Philip

Wow Serentil, that's a pretty good lineup. Noticed there were no Cornell & Diehl blends. They have a lot of choices in bulk. In their catalog I really like the Blockade Runner which would fit nicely with what you mentioned. It does have a bit of a punch. It's in crumble cake form so it wouldn't fit the bulk criteria, but you may find worth trying. They have an Oriental blend in bulk which is quite nice and, of course, you could go with Old Joe Krantz if you wanted something stronger.

Let us know if you try any and what you think.

ghostsofpompeii

@SERENTIL I'm going to suggest something I've never tried and doubtfully ever will because even though the reviews on the PipeReviews.com site were all over the place - love it or hate it - the one thing they seemed to have in common was the high nicotine hit they got from the blend. Something you seem to prefer. It's from Cornell & Diehl and it's called "Crooner" - supposedly named after the old Crooner himself Bing Crosby who supposedly loved this blend. What makes it intriguing enough for me to suggest is the addition of an herb called Deer Tongue. Haven't got a clue what it taste like and judging by the reviews it could be anything from natural vanilla to mint to floral. But whatever it is, it apparently adds a bit of spice to the blend as well as a nice nic hit. So although I'm not actually recommending this blend ... if you are truly looking for something a little different - this sounds like a possible adventure for your palate.

xDutchx

I'll second Philip's suggestion in the Oriental genre. McClelland has a line of Oriental forward Latakia blends, that can be very appealing to someone who enjoys milder Lat blends. The Orientals tend to lend a sour/sweetness to some blends on my palate, but YMMV.

Also, the McClelland Grand Orientals line could keep you busy for awhile. I really like the Drama Reserve in one of my Olivewood Moretti pipes.

motie2

@ghostsofpompeii -- Dear tongue, a grass also known as Carolina Vanilla, Carphephorus odoratissimus, Feuille de Vanille, Hound's Tongue, Langue de Cerf, Vanilla Leaf, Vanilla Plant, Vanilla Trilisa,  and Wild Vanilla. Folks have used the dried grass to make folk remedy medicine, especially for malaria. Deer tongue extracts are used to flavor tobacco, as a fragrance in cosmetics and soaps, and as a fixative in some products. The active ingredients are coumarins, blood thinning chemicals that misused can cause liver damage. 

ghostsofpompeii

@motie2 Ahhh... liver damage. Nothing like recommending poison to a fellow piper. Kind of curious as to what killed Bing Crosby. The deer tongue mystery deepens. Sorry @SERENYIL ... I really wasn't trying to kill you ... just looking for something a little different. And I guess recommending something to damage you liver is not the type of different you were looking for.

Philip

I've become a huge fan of the McClelland Orientals on Mr. Dutch's recommendation. The Oriental Mixture No. 8 and the No. 14 being my favorites. These sadly do not come in bulk, but are worth a try. 

If I had to guess what Deer tongue tasted like, in my neck of the woods, I'd say it would be similar to what my cherry trees taste like. I had to run off a menacing herd of those [expletive deleted] again early this morning. I don't know why I bother, before the cherries are even ready I have to then fight with the birds. I barely have enough left to top a cupcake. 

motie2

Sounds like last year in northern NJ. Last summer we got a single tomato from six plants. Damn squirrels.

Woodsman

Bird netting is used to discourage our Avian friends. They do work for the commercial growers who use their boom trucks to put them on. If you've got Dwarf Cherries I imagine they would be easy to put on.

RockyMountainBriar

I have some of the C&D Crooner. It has a vanilla-esque aroma and flavor. I would not say it has high nic., more medium maybe. I have not made up my mind about it as far as love it/hate it...well, I know I don't hate it. I looked up the "side effects" of Deer Tongue. I believe you would really have to smoke a $h!+-ton to harm your liver. It would be kind of like Absinthe. The real stuff has Grand Wormwood extracts which are a poison in the right/wrong dose, hence the reason it was banned around 1912-1915? here in the States. The ban was lifted in 2007. It can now be made with Grand Woormwood extract again. The dangerous thujone compound must be limited to 10 parts per million. You would die from alcohol poisoning before the thujone in the wormwood got you. I say try the Crooner, it is unique. Moderation is the key. Another unique smoke is Vauen Black Pepper, I highly recommend it if you like black pepper.

ghostsofpompeii

@RockyMountainBriar Can you better explain the flavor profile of the deer tongue in the Crooner blend. As I stated in my earlier post the reviews suggest everything from vanilla to mint and floral. Now the vanilla and mint are flavors I'm very familiar with as an aromatic smoker, and finding an aromatic without a little vanilla in it would be hard. And I'm hooked on Sutliff Frosty Mint ... it taste like a York Peppermint Patty, and the retro-hale is like packing your nostrils full of Vicks. But when I read about the floral comments it made me think of Lakeland blends and Sutliff Mixture #79 ... something I'm not too fond of. So would you describe the taste more along the lines of a floral Lakeland blend? 

SERENTIL

Thank you all for the great feedback.  I've put 2oz of Crooner in my cart for next order.  I'm a big fan of the McClelland line so I definitely will be trying some of their oriental blends as well.

I'm curious about aromatics.  This maybe a knucklehead question but with aromatics, is there a noticeable flavor difference than regular blends or is it just the room note that is different or both?

motie2

@SERENTIL --A lot of aromatic blends smell better than they taste, and some taste awful. If done right, a good aromatic should have a taste and room note suggestive of the flavor advertised. For example: Snozzberry pipe tobacco should smell and taste like snozzberries. The trick is to find a aromatic blend that does both (taste and smell) equally well. 

I recommend the Sutliff Private Stock aromatics, and especially their Vanilla Custard, Molto Dolce (vanilla, caramel, and God knows what else....), Barbados Plantation (rum), Chocolate Mousse, Maple Street, Creme Brulee, and Taste of Summer (peaches).

BTW, SERENTIL, eh? Powerful medicine.

SERENTIL

@motie2 = +10 points for Willie Wonka reference and +50 points for knowing what serentil is.  Had a relative that was using it.  Seemed to help because, boy you sure could tell when they weren't. 

Those all sound like really interesting aromatics.  Thanks for the feedback.  The very first aromatic that I smelled in a jar was out my local tobacconist and it was a fairly strong cherry aroma which really put me off.  Smelled like cough syrup I guess.  At any rate, I like the aromas that you've listed. 

motie2

So much for tobacco. Here's something different in a pipe:

The Jet Cigar Pipe.

SERENTIL

   And now something completely different...

motie2

.... for something..... And now for something......

Apropos of nothing: The  database  searched  by  apropos  is  updated by the mandb program. Depending on your installation, this may be run by a periodic cron job.

(I hate when Ubuntu happens.)

SERENTIL

Yep, the lack of an Edit feature on this site got me... again.  I noticed the 'for' was missing only after I posted.  Fail...

motie2

You want different? Here's different:

or, perhaps something more.... organic?

Mine? No. I only wish.

SERENTIL

Impressive!!!!  Great design and craftsmanship. 

ghostsofpompeii

There is something about each of those pipes you've just listed that evoke the spirit of Jules Verne. The very first might either be a Victorian airship or a sleek no-frill version of the Nautilus. A deadly sleek torpedo. The steampunk pipes perfectly capture a fanciful look more in keeping with Verne's interpretation of his submarine. And without question that squid or octopus pipe completes the "20,000 Leagues Under The Sea" s motif. Fantastic looking pipes. I wouldn't mind adding one of those steampunk pipes to my collection. 

thebadgerpiper

Those last few pipes are absolutely stunning! I'd be too afraid to keep one in my rotation, though, in fear of dropping it on accident. They look almost too beautiful to smoke.

philwieda

Dang!!!! Nice pipes!!! Who created them?

motie2

@philwieda -- I have files and files of pipe smoking stuff and every now and then I'll stumble upon something I felt was worth keeping, last summer when I mined the data. 

Both pipes are by Stephen Downie, and can be found at http://pipesmagazine.com/forums/topic/an-unusual-pipe

And there's a third Downie pipe there...... A nightmare.   @ghostsofpompeii -- You'll love it.

dbh1950

Serentil, as to new blends, one that was recommended on TPL some months ago, which I tried snd have built a little stock of is Peretti's D-7485 mixture, an English/ American blend. Two others that I have done the same would be Country Squire's Parson's blend. Another being a blend from E. A. Carey called Revolution. I just added another blend to my routine, that being Sutliff's MT 150, a reported reproduction of a Peterson blend which was produced for Mark Twain. Happy sampling.

xDutchx

For any of you who are into the nautical theme, here is the link to Richard Friedman's nautical pipe collection. I hope he doesn't mind me posting the link I found over on SmokersForums. These pics were taken at this years Chicago Pipe Show.

https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipNBv6X_Phd4EF7pdGg1sXuWDRo0ivAJbAo87F8J3gu0ISN297PSud_tgtV6jX9R6A?key=My0xX0ZnYWNRZEhtUGMyUXE1bVlmNHFwblhDRVNB

motie2

@dbh1950 -- I second your recommendation of Carey's Revolution. It's a really nice change of pace for an English blend. I'm currently an aromatic smoker, but I sorta like this tobacco for a change....

From the blender's notes:

<<Carey has 32 tobacco blends and I have access to all of them. I can smoke them with my choice of Carey pipe. Yes, I had an advantage not available to the average pipe smoker…. A big advantage.

As I said, I have been smoking my favorite blend for years, so I didn’t really know anything about the 32 Carey blends on a first hand basis. There was only one solution. I had to smoke each one in a test and make my own notes. I chose to smoke two ounces of each of the 32 blends.

Now, I smoke a pipe a lot but that was not easy. That is four pounds of tobacco. Off and on, it and it took me about three months to finish the project. 

I then divided the 32 blends into categories and rated them as type and preference. My preferences are for a mild tobacco that I can smoke all day, and yet I wanted something different, a bit of a unique taste. It seemed that while many of our Carey tobaccos are high quality, most were just not that unique. It seemed to me that there was not much difference in one blend to the next. 

I finally selected six quality blends that each had a distinct taste. But making the best blend can be elusive: which of the six blends should I use and how much of each one? There are 1,956 possible combinations with six blends. 

This is where it got subjective. I selected the best blend according to my tastes and then modified it with the other five blends. I then used a scale accurate to 0.001 ounces and prepared one ounce samples of various blends, labeling each in plastic pouches. I don’t know the exact number of pouches I consumed as I discarded many of the blends as unacceptable. This step took me about a month.

In the end I had my first two choices, both I thought were great. Then a funny thing happened.

TThe burn rate of one blend was different than the other. The first one burned slow and easy and didn't require re-lighting to the same extent as the other. That’s very handy when I am busy, such as driving a car.

 The first blend changes taste from time to time. That’s because it contains a small percentage of Latakia. When that strand ignites it tastes like a mild English blend. Then it goes back to the basic blend which is mild and smooth.

This whole thing took about six months to complete.>>

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Woodsman

One is reminded of H P Lovecraft's Cthulu.

PappyJoe

@xdutchx - Nice photos and thanks for posting the link.

Now if I could just AFFORD one of those pipes....

xDutchx

@PappyJoe, That is one of the best reasons to attend a pipe show. Some of the unique collections displayed are simply jaw dropping.

motie2

This tobacco makes me uneasy...... but I'm a puss........

https://www.thebackyshop.co.uk/categories/twist-tobacco