About a decade ago, I designed a personal pipe tobacco blend. It used a lot of dark fired Kentucky Burley, layered Virginias favoring the blonde variant, mucho dark burley, a pinch of cigar leaf, and a dusting of Latakia.
3 CommentsPeter Stokkebye – Amsterdam Shag
Pipe tobacco emerges from a weird uneven topography much like death metal. There are niche blending houses, big ones, and a few outliers that make no sense but delight those who resonate to their outlook. Today we look at one of the big blending houses and one of its exceptional products.
1 CommentTags: peter stokkebye, pipe smoking, pipe tobacco, tobacco
Massacra 2.0
Times are tough, and tobacco prices are going up, so again people turn to the idea of making homebrews because depending on what you need, these can be mostly as good as the commercial versions for often half of the cost.
16 CommentsTags: pipe smoking, pipe tobacco, pipe tobacco smoking, tobacco
Experiments in Home Pressing
It probably ranks as one of the most enjoyable smokes of my life, but it started with primitive origins as many good things do. Some pipe-smokers noted that you could use a pasta press to make cake presses of your favorite tobaccos, so one was acquired and testing commenced.
21 CommentsTags: pipe, pipe smoking, pipe tobacco, pipe tobacco smoking, tobacco
Tin Star Pipe Tobacco
HEB stores serve as a kind of Texas landmark like Buc-ees, Whataburger, and those old Eckerd pharmacies. Get lost in Texas, look up at a light, and there it will be, offering roughly the same experience anywhere. HEB also stocks pipe tobacco and has recently added “Tin Star.”
14 CommentsTags: pipe, pipe smoking, pipe tobacco, pipe tobacco smoking, tobacco
Fruit McBullshit: Or How I Learned to Stop Hating Aromatics and Love the Bomb
Sometimes it makes sense to mix up a bit of the most unprocessed tobacco out there with a pleasant aromatic, producing a mixture labeled “Fruit McBullshit” on the jars here which is equal parts Savinelli Armonia and a blend of Cotton Boll Twist and Black Twist Sliced.
88 CommentsTags: aromatics, pipe smoking, pipe tobacco, pipe tobacco smoking, tobacco
Introducing the Stevens Method of Packing Flake Pipe Tobacco
Reputable sources tell me that the best way to get popular on the social media and catalog search engine driven internet is to be a dumpster fire of a human who wails about problems and attracts drama. This post tries the opposite: an easy solution to a long-term problem.
99 CommentsTags: flake pipe tobacco, pipe smoking, pipe tobacco, pipe tobacco smoking, the stevens method
Smoking Outside the Box
They always tell you to “think outside the box,” as if having everyone focused on non-conformity will result in anything but a new variety of conformity. So much of life comes back to the mirror image, where we are staring at a representation of ourselves, and trying to change how it looks, despite everything happening in reverse since left is right and right left.
2 CommentsTags: gawith hoggarth & co., pipe smoking, pipe tobacco, pipes, tobacco
Mac Baren – Royal Twist (2021)
As more people flee the world of vapes and cigarettes, pipes and cigars — but mostly cigars — show the signs of experiencing a renaissance. If you can work from home, why not enjoy a leisurely two-hour relaxing smoke instead of hurriedly wolfing down a nicotine jolt in the parking lot?
42 CommentsTags: dark fired kentucky burley, mac baren, pipe smoking, pipe tobacco, royal twist, tobacco
Gawith Hoggarth – Kendal Gold
Back during the primordial 1980s, which really seem like a different world compared to the post-millennial era, stores sold a wider variety of tobaccos including an English import named Three Castles, a light gold Virginia which came in a thin ribbon cut.
2 CommentsTags: kendal gold, pipe smokers, pipe smoking, pipe tobacco, pipes, tobacco
