A
Anonymous
Guest
Less is More here.
Having settled into the (YMMV) optimum groove, nearly every smoke is in a pipe that's been dedicated to what's in it for -- literally -- years. In consequence, Embarcadero really tastes like Embarcadero, since the pipes involved have smoked nothing else for six years. Ditto FVF (even longer) and Union Square (albeit only one year -- that having been a late discovery). (It goes without saying that the pipe and the tobacco have to really like each other to begin with. Repeating what doesn't work accomplishes nothing worthwhile).
That being the case, it came as a shock today to decide, on a whim, to try some Embarcadero in an old (1950s) Comoy apple that gets along well with everything -- FVF especially, but equally, also stuff people have sent me to try.
No two ways about it : those old guys knew how to make a pipe when they put their minds to it. Not only is the (un-modified) airway ideal (it easily takes a cleaner held at the opposite end) but, (as LL noted several times in years past was one hallmark of a great pipe), it has an uncanny ability to stay lit. It breathes perfectly.
The shock ? I could hardly tell what I was smoking. While it will get decidedly b*tchy if not handled properly, Embarcadero, properly packed and smoked, is a mild-flavoured, subtle-tasting tobacco. (Diaphanous !). But in the Comoy this afternoon . . . meh. :no:
Thinking back through its recent history, the reason dawned. Being the utility pipe, it's had FVF, Union Square, and everything else that either people have wanted me to try or I've opened out of curiosity (Robusto, Virginia Memories, Kyle's Burley-Virginia stuff, etc.). As a result, it's one of the few pipes here in which the whole is less than the sum of its (previous) parts. With Embarcadero in it, they're actually canceling each other out.
Why bother pointing this out ?
Because how many times do people fall into this unwittingly ? My guess would be, more often than they perhaps suspect.
Great Pipe + Great Tobacco = < Wow !
Not exactly operator error, but easy to draw unfounded conclusions from.
GLP maintains that it takes a minimum of three or four different pipes to form an accurate appraisal of any tobacco. (Compound this by the "New Kid on the Block" syndrome, in which just-released tobaccos that have had next to no tin time are getting judged on the basis of where they're starting from). (Ever notice how many people here over the years have smoked FVF with less than two years' aging time and wondered what the fuss was about ?).
FWIW
:face:
Having settled into the (YMMV) optimum groove, nearly every smoke is in a pipe that's been dedicated to what's in it for -- literally -- years. In consequence, Embarcadero really tastes like Embarcadero, since the pipes involved have smoked nothing else for six years. Ditto FVF (even longer) and Union Square (albeit only one year -- that having been a late discovery). (It goes without saying that the pipe and the tobacco have to really like each other to begin with. Repeating what doesn't work accomplishes nothing worthwhile).
That being the case, it came as a shock today to decide, on a whim, to try some Embarcadero in an old (1950s) Comoy apple that gets along well with everything -- FVF especially, but equally, also stuff people have sent me to try.
No two ways about it : those old guys knew how to make a pipe when they put their minds to it. Not only is the (un-modified) airway ideal (it easily takes a cleaner held at the opposite end) but, (as LL noted several times in years past was one hallmark of a great pipe), it has an uncanny ability to stay lit. It breathes perfectly.
The shock ? I could hardly tell what I was smoking. While it will get decidedly b*tchy if not handled properly, Embarcadero, properly packed and smoked, is a mild-flavoured, subtle-tasting tobacco. (Diaphanous !). But in the Comoy this afternoon . . . meh. :no:
Thinking back through its recent history, the reason dawned. Being the utility pipe, it's had FVF, Union Square, and everything else that either people have wanted me to try or I've opened out of curiosity (Robusto, Virginia Memories, Kyle's Burley-Virginia stuff, etc.). As a result, it's one of the few pipes here in which the whole is less than the sum of its (previous) parts. With Embarcadero in it, they're actually canceling each other out.
Why bother pointing this out ?
Because how many times do people fall into this unwittingly ? My guess would be, more often than they perhaps suspect.
Great Pipe + Great Tobacco = < Wow !
Not exactly operator error, but easy to draw unfounded conclusions from.
GLP maintains that it takes a minimum of three or four different pipes to form an accurate appraisal of any tobacco. (Compound this by the "New Kid on the Block" syndrome, in which just-released tobaccos that have had next to no tin time are getting judged on the basis of where they're starting from). (Ever notice how many people here over the years have smoked FVF with less than two years' aging time and wondered what the fuss was about ?).
FWIW
:face:
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