Humidity is a click or two lower than I'd prefer after about 5 months of being empty, so I've just hit my humidifier sponge with a bit of distilled water.

Good smoke for cooling fall days.

This is a dark fired burley with some kick to it. Paired with a black tea with honey.

Whittled a tamper this afternoon. Nice hand feel but next one I’ll probably make a thorn for the top end for utility sake.

https://www.tobaccoreviews.com/blend/9571/mac-baren-hh-bold-kentucky/

Weather pretty abruptly went from summer to fall last week.

Smoking Autumn Evening in this poker. Med-dark roast arabica cappuccino. Balcony garden.

Nice fall ambiance. Happier with this tobacco blend than in previous moments. It’s got several years of age on it if that makes the difference. Has some voluminous body and tobacco core now instead of just aroma. Maybe the weather. Maybe me. Anyway, nice chill time visiting with an ancient medicine.

Best to you all.

I ordered from SmokingPipes.com in the US. They carry a lot of different tobaccos.

These are some ideas around blending, but include thoughts around the individual blends. All of these are bulk tobacco rather than tinned. You can you can probably tell that I prefer Virginia tobaccos. 🙂

Tobacco tasting notes

Stoved Virginia

Smooth and brown-sugar-like on the retrohale, with a hint of smokiness. Like a sweet barbecue sauce with none of the sour campfire flavor some blends have. Very tasty on it's own. Should blend well with some of my hot-pressed favorites, or as a base for something with a bit of citrus or tartness to balance the heavy mouth-feel. Maybe a bit of lemon peel?

Yorktown blend

It looks like a very light Virginia, but tastes slightly darker than that. Mostly light and smooth with a little bit of sweetness and hay. This might blend well with a hot-pressed Virginia, to sweeten it without adding too much complexity.

Mac Baren rustica ready rubbed

I found th

Anyone else enjoying a cigar in the snow?

I've been barely getting by with 2 Xikar travel humidors, that for their size don't really hold a lot, once you factor room for the foam and humidity packets.

So I went wild and picked up this Yeti GoBox 15 on sale, then stuck a humidifier unit to the inside of the lid.

I'm currently waiting on 2 stackable cedar trays for the bottom, so that the lower cigars stay more organized and contained while in movement.

Price: ~$0.30 (from 1964 to 1990)

Production began in 1964 and was Czechoslovakia's highest quality cigarette.

smoking kills on the bottom

20 filtered cigarettes

Treinta Robusto

I often like the interviews on this YT channel. This particular interview isn’t notable to me except for this snippet where neuroscientist Carl Friston pauses, mid a long clinical discussion about how we perhaps interpret reality to respond to Curt, the interviewer, asking for guidance on feelings of existential crisis.

The expert response: “have a cup of tea and a cigarette my boy, I smoke a pipe myself“

For me that was the most profound and meaningful comment of the episode.

I hope most of you are headed into a joyful holiday. But I know it’s troubled waters for some. So I wish you all peace and patience, and the comfort of your trusty teacup and tobacco.

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Gonna be too cold (for me) to smoke outside soon.

I’ve considered getting some type of air filter for my office to use in the winter months.

What’s your winter tobacco solution?

Cooler days settling in. Sunny afternoon with a brief tantrum of hail.

Smoking a virginia flake with couple years on it. Fragrant plum fruity nose in the jar. Lightly sweet, a touch of pepper, and hint perhaps of woodsmoke.

Happy fall weekend to you all.

Felt inspired to break out a well known maple flavored pipe tobacco in honor of autumn. I was quickly reminded that while it smells nice, it just has no ‘oomph’ - which probably equals nicotine.

Conversely a virginia and/or burley blend has subtle natural fermented sweetness but also a kind of deep presence in the experience. Feels more meditative and substantial to me. Whereas aros give me the impression I may just be wasting time.

To each their own of course. Think I’ll work on breaking in my new pipe with some Carter Hall (va/bur).

What’s in your fall pipe / cigar rotation out there?

I saw some pipe vids on YT talking about which 5 you'd choose if that's all you could smoke. This week my answer would be:

• Balkan: C&D Star of the East, H&H Marquee Magnum Opus, Sutliffe English Oriental Supreme
• Codger: Sir Walter Raleigh
• Aromatic: C&D Epiphany

Why? If you open your tin or pouch it’s going to begin drying out over a few days and taste and flavor will eventually suffer.

You can store pipe tobacco in most any airtight container almost indefinitely. The tobacco taste can develop over time. A blend that you find over strong or pungent when fresh may become smoother and nuanced with a year or two in the closet.

The generally recommended solution is some kind of canning jar with a good seal. Remember to label what it is and when you put it in there!

Pipe tobaccos age in usually positive ways over time. How long is useful? Depends on the tobacco type. Virginias benefit the most - mellowing and sweetening. A year or two is likely enough to see benefits. Beyond 5-10 years you may do more harm than good.

Some more comments by blender GL Pease and others here: https://pipe-club.com/tobacco_aging_faq/eng/aging.php

Your pipe tobacco should NOT live in a humidor. Just air tight, stable temperature, and dark.

Watch out for mould -

A newer favorite in my rotation. A little lighter bodied than most sticks I smoke, but a real flavor bomb. One that I always want to smoke to the nub. Smells excellent as well, always gets a compliment or two.

Never had a Flathead in a lancero-ish size, I usually keep a few of their Sparkplugs in stock though. So far it's got a bit of a restricted draw on it, rolled super tight. We'll see.

SOL chelada is best chelada, just FYI.

Please excuse my dusty desk!

I'm telling you, everyone needs a cigar knife in their toolkit.

Please downvote once if all you smoke are Rocky Patels.

Another sampler. A new favorite!

First let me explain "sampler". Whenever I stop by a local shop in person, I like to pick up 3 cigars I haven't tried before, that either the tobacconist or another customer recommends.

I picked up one of these in the "natural" wrapper which is a bit oilier. Unburnt, it smelled wonderful and sweet. Very clean presentation. The cap popped right off using my knife, with no unravelling.

Coffee, woodsy, sweet. No bite, but full bodied. Burned evenly and beautifully, requiring no touchups or relights. Had to break out my cigar spear, because I wanted to smoke this one until my nose hairs were gone.

Amazing. Gonna stock up.