So, last week I gave in and ordered a few things from 4noggins, which arrived a couple days ago.
Some background - I do have a large size "tupperdor" and do smoke cigars on occasion. far from everyday. normally at the right time, and most often when I'm wandering around in the backcountry and want a reward at the end of a long walk. As a canuck I have a bunch of cubans - and I like a variety of them.
I had been introduced to a pipe a little while ago on a backcountry trip. A friend had one along and something he called frog morton, and he shared. I remember enjoying it a lot. figured I try sometime. So... not knowing which frog morton or
anything else, I did a little reading here, and ended up getting a basic Missouri Meerschaum cob, pipe tool, cleaners and two tins of tobacco from 4noggins. My concern was I was a bit to "ambitious" on the tobacco. Since I new I enjoyed the frog morton on the trail and I enjoy more robust cigars, (and dark beer, and good espresso, and nice peaty dirty old man scotches) I thought I'd just get frog, and something else similar. Everything said it's an english blend but some people seemed very cautious of this. I threw caution to the wind, and not knowing what frog I had had, got Frog morton Cellar (based on reccomendations here) and Squadron leader.
This morning I have at home to myself, working from home, so I took a paper plate and spread out some Frog Morton Cellar on it while checking my mail and morning computer BS. After a little while (toast and a coffee and stuff) returned to the plate and got out the pipe. I loosely filled it by gravity and then pondered the frank method vids.. "take enough to fill the pipe.." yeah sure.. how do I do that when I don't *know* how much to fill the pipe.. lol.. well, look a few times at how much he uses and grab a blob about that size.. hold down gently and pick off the hangers, then push in from the sides.. repeatedly.. doesn't seem to hard but surely I did this wrong.. turn upside down.. nope.. stays in.. spongy to the
touch.. ok.. ponder a bit.. well, I don't know any better so may as well try..
Return with loaded pipe, tool, cleaner, and plate to the espresso machine, and throw another long double.
retire to the puttering chair in the garage. have a sit.. sip of coffee. and try the "charring light.." with a bic. hmm.. well it chars, but certainly doesn't light up like a cigar.. nice enough smell.. tamp a bit.. flat and black. flick the big and round and round.. large clouds of smoke, and an ember starts to build.. ok. a few puffs, have a look. looks good. sip my coffee. few more puffs and settle into it. ok, *very* nice.. I don't feel any danger of bite like I do with a strong cigar near the end, even though there's not a lot of tobacco in there (compared to a robusto!) love the smell of this stuff.
I keep remembering "keep it near going out" - and surprisingly, this is very nice. I don't like the taste of a cigar that's "nearly out" but this is nice this way. sip coffee.. sip pipe.. not bad at all in combination. I do smell a bit of whiskey
in this tobbaco, and it would probably be nice in the evening with a scotch, but it's amazingly good in the morning with
a coffee. (I'd probably never smoke a cigar in the morning).
I made it through about the top third of the bowl before it went out. I fiddled a bit with the tool, knocked a bit of ash
out, and retamped, and relit. second relight was good, and sat a while longer with it.. Unlike cigars which I do *not* enjoy leaving hanging in my mouth, I could leave the pipe there with an ever gentle waft of scent up into my nose and
the occasional puff.. that was pretty nice. continued along for a while with my brain in my "nothing box" for a bit.. pipe
went out about 2/3 of the way down.
I repeated the "fiddle with it, knock a bit of ash out, retamp and relight" procedure.. I hit it a bit harder on the relight and got the tinyest sensation of a bite and backed off. My coffee was gone by this time. so just took my time and no, more sips on the pipe don't bite, so fine.. continue.. This light lasted a little while and went out. so I took another look.
I did retamp but I was almost at the bottom. I did a quick relight, and a few puffs, but it did go out again. decided that
since I was pretty much at the bottom of the bowl, I didn't feel like relighting it and smoking wood (the pipe stem that
sticks into it) so I tapped it out.. a bunch of ash and about the tip of my thumb worth of tobacco left that was around where the stem sticks into the bowl.
Anyway, the frog morton is as I remember it. very pleasant to be around. I kinda like this.... seems not to difficult
if you don't overthink it. Probably a good thing I normally don't have time to do this with a morning coffee.. Next one
will probably be around the firepit with a whiskey
Some background - I do have a large size "tupperdor" and do smoke cigars on occasion. far from everyday. normally at the right time, and most often when I'm wandering around in the backcountry and want a reward at the end of a long walk. As a canuck I have a bunch of cubans - and I like a variety of them.
I had been introduced to a pipe a little while ago on a backcountry trip. A friend had one along and something he called frog morton, and he shared. I remember enjoying it a lot. figured I try sometime. So... not knowing which frog morton or
anything else, I did a little reading here, and ended up getting a basic Missouri Meerschaum cob, pipe tool, cleaners and two tins of tobacco from 4noggins. My concern was I was a bit to "ambitious" on the tobacco. Since I new I enjoyed the frog morton on the trail and I enjoy more robust cigars, (and dark beer, and good espresso, and nice peaty dirty old man scotches) I thought I'd just get frog, and something else similar. Everything said it's an english blend but some people seemed very cautious of this. I threw caution to the wind, and not knowing what frog I had had, got Frog morton Cellar (based on reccomendations here) and Squadron leader.
This morning I have at home to myself, working from home, so I took a paper plate and spread out some Frog Morton Cellar on it while checking my mail and morning computer BS. After a little while (toast and a coffee and stuff) returned to the plate and got out the pipe. I loosely filled it by gravity and then pondered the frank method vids.. "take enough to fill the pipe.." yeah sure.. how do I do that when I don't *know* how much to fill the pipe.. lol.. well, look a few times at how much he uses and grab a blob about that size.. hold down gently and pick off the hangers, then push in from the sides.. repeatedly.. doesn't seem to hard but surely I did this wrong.. turn upside down.. nope.. stays in.. spongy to the
touch.. ok.. ponder a bit.. well, I don't know any better so may as well try..
Return with loaded pipe, tool, cleaner, and plate to the espresso machine, and throw another long double.
retire to the puttering chair in the garage. have a sit.. sip of coffee. and try the "charring light.." with a bic. hmm.. well it chars, but certainly doesn't light up like a cigar.. nice enough smell.. tamp a bit.. flat and black. flick the big and round and round.. large clouds of smoke, and an ember starts to build.. ok. a few puffs, have a look. looks good. sip my coffee. few more puffs and settle into it. ok, *very* nice.. I don't feel any danger of bite like I do with a strong cigar near the end, even though there's not a lot of tobacco in there (compared to a robusto!) love the smell of this stuff.
I keep remembering "keep it near going out" - and surprisingly, this is very nice. I don't like the taste of a cigar that's "nearly out" but this is nice this way. sip coffee.. sip pipe.. not bad at all in combination. I do smell a bit of whiskey
in this tobbaco, and it would probably be nice in the evening with a scotch, but it's amazingly good in the morning with
a coffee. (I'd probably never smoke a cigar in the morning).
I made it through about the top third of the bowl before it went out. I fiddled a bit with the tool, knocked a bit of ash
out, and retamped, and relit. second relight was good, and sat a while longer with it.. Unlike cigars which I do *not* enjoy leaving hanging in my mouth, I could leave the pipe there with an ever gentle waft of scent up into my nose and
the occasional puff.. that was pretty nice. continued along for a while with my brain in my "nothing box" for a bit.. pipe
went out about 2/3 of the way down.
I repeated the "fiddle with it, knock a bit of ash out, retamp and relight" procedure.. I hit it a bit harder on the relight and got the tinyest sensation of a bite and backed off. My coffee was gone by this time. so just took my time and no, more sips on the pipe don't bite, so fine.. continue.. This light lasted a little while and went out. so I took another look.
I did retamp but I was almost at the bottom. I did a quick relight, and a few puffs, but it did go out again. decided that
since I was pretty much at the bottom of the bowl, I didn't feel like relighting it and smoking wood (the pipe stem that
sticks into it) so I tapped it out.. a bunch of ash and about the tip of my thumb worth of tobacco left that was around where the stem sticks into the bowl.
Anyway, the frog morton is as I remember it. very pleasant to be around. I kinda like this.... seems not to difficult
if you don't overthink it. Probably a good thing I normally don't have time to do this with a morning coffee.. Next one
will probably be around the firepit with a whiskey
