Yep pipe tobacco nowdays is an investment, especially if you know you will be smoking what you buy. With all the money I saved buying the tobacco today I can buy more pipes. It’s like getting them done free!
Yep pipe tobacco nowdays is an investment, especially if you know you will be smoking what you buy. With all the money I saved buying the tobacco today I can buy more pipes. It’s like getting them done free!
Well, I buy bulk in quantities simply to amass pipe weed suitable to my simple tastes. The future has become quite uncertain and I want to have certainly that I have plenty of stash should worse come to worse. Average but plentiful beats the hell out of scarcity or nothing.
That is the dilemma, isn't it? I wish I could help, except for this. You're still on the hunt for a sitting zulu, correct? Some of that quid that could go to tempting tobacco blends might instead go towards splurging/ treating yourself/ to the rare perfect pipe should it show itself.
FWIW: I've a Nording Compass that is a very good smoking pipe. I especially enjoy it while working in the yard or shed; it is robust and light at the same time. It is also easy to clean. The bowl is no overly large but it smokes to the bottom quite well. You just might enjoy it!
I thought you said you didn’t like kippers.Halfway through February, and still smoking the samples from last year. With around 100g of the samples left, and another 250g or so of pouched tobacco unopened, the chances of me opening any tins this year are pretty slim. The temptation to buy any more before the expected tax hike in three weeks, has also fizzled out. I'm not short of other things to direct my limited funds towards
This month, the funds have gone on freezer stocking. I placed a couple of decent sized orders with an online butcher and online fishmonger, which stocks me up for about 120 meals. 3kg of Manx Kippers (oak smoked herring), 5kg of tilapia fillets, 3kg of beef, 7kg of chicken, and another couple of kilos of other meat and fish. The next "pay day" will be directed towards some replacement kitchenalia and other houseware. All stuff I won't have to wait several more years to get enjoyment/benefit from.
In other pipe news, I had an interesting time wrestling with the Mr Brog Chocla earlier today, while trying to get a bowl of GH Balkan Mixture fired up. The draw seemed very restricted, and I couldn't figure out why. The stem seemed clear, and the stummel seemed clear, but together, it required too effort to draw.
Eventually I figured out that the 9mm reducer that I'd put in the stem in place of a filter, projected out of the stem far enough to butt up to the bottom of the mortice, partially blocking the draught hole. I simply removed the adapter, and it everything freed up. I'm not sure now whether to shorten the adapter, go back to filters, or just smoke it with the open void.
I thought you said you didn’t like kippers.
I have them with eggs at breakfast. Get them by the 18 pack I believe. A traditional breakfast in Virginia is fried salted (brined) herring with breakfast. Have never found salt herring anywhere else though - . Perhaps you could get a two gallon jar, fill it with brine, toss in fresh herring and start something new in England and they would love you for it and remember you forever. Just a thought.I haven't had them for years, and for some reason got the urge to revisit them. I'm fully aware that buying a box full might be a BIG mistake. I'll probably be using them for kedgeree and other similar dishes, rather than just eating them on their own. If it's still a big mistake, I have an old friend who'll gladly take them off my hands.
I have them with eggs at breakfast. Get them by the 18 pack I believe. A traditional breakfast in Virginia is fried salted (brined) herring with breakfast. Have never found salt herring anywhere else though - . Perhaps you could get a two gallon jar, fill it with brine, toss in fresh herring and start something new in England and they would love you for it and remember you forever. Just a thought.
It seems my humble stash might last me even longer than I thought.
Inspired by @brandaves and @steveclarkus talking about gravity filling occasionally, I decided to give it a try. Didn't work for me. However,packingloading smaller pinches, and just pushing each down lightly to gently nestle on the pinch before, has been working very well indeed. Somewhere inbetween gravity loading and what I was doing before.
The bowl doesn't last quite as long, and I do need to tamp ash more frequently, but I seem to be using a lot less tobacco. Maybe half to two-thirds of what I was using before, per bowl. Ipackedloaded a bowl of GH Broken Scotch Cake in a Pony Express cob earlier this evening, and probably only used about a gram of tobacco. That's 50 smokes per <2oz tin!
Not lasting as long, and therefore not necessarily having half a bowl left for later when I've had enough, I may end up loading a few more bowls a week. That said, I still think each pouch/tin might last even longer than it was doing before. This year's project is likely going to be finding best practice to stop my tobacco drying out before I've finished a tin/pouch. 30 to 50 smokes per factory container (subject to bowl size), with five blends open, at my low rate of consumption, is a loooong time from the first smoke to the last.
Short of jarring them, one basic way to keep them fresher longer once that vacuum breaks is putting the open tins in ziplock bags. And especially where the tin is non-circular, a couple sheets of saran wrap between can and lid will often create an additional seal. If you are going further out than 6-8 months on an open container, then depending on ambients, a mason jar might be needed.
The good news is most pipe tobacco is packed too wet to begin with. Tins especially. Some of my best smokes have been with stuff that I thought had dried out to the point of becoming a fire hazard.
Unless it’s a heavily topped aromatic, I wouldn’t overthink it.
The other good news is dryer blends tend to smoke a little cooler. That is almost always a plus. Loading a little lighter will definitely help with something that is burning too hot for you. Packing a bowl is an acquired habit. The Internet and some kids with videos have given it an unwarranted gestalt in recent years. There’s no ritual or science to it whatsoever. Know what you’re smoking and what you’re smoking it in, and it eventually becomes automatic. Half the time, my mind is elsewhere when I do it. If it seems hard to start, finger-mill a little ‘kindling’ on top. If it takes three matches, you won’t go to pipe purgatory.
Happy puffs to you!