aka The Big Holy
Hello All,
Happy Holidays! I'm more or less recently returned to pipe smoking and tobacco enjoyment after a lapse of a decade or three. Thoroughly enjoying and learning from the knowledgeable and congenial threads on BoB. Thanks! I don't exactly lurk on forum sites, but haven't participated as much as I likely should. Like Mr Lennon sang, "Life's what happens while you're busy making other plans."
In the day, my favorite smokes were Balkan Sobranie and 759, Dunhill's Elizabethan, Nightcap, Royal Yacht and Early Morning Pipe. In the '80s I discovered Georgetown Tobacco Co. and added their Byzantium, Experimental "D", Night Owl, Persuasion and Reverie to my liking. Except for my two favorites, Byzantium and the "D" most of those are still available and I even found some of each which I'd totally forgotten about but had cellared in an old, green mason jar (though at the time I didn't realize that was what I was doing.) They survived surprsing well, somewhat "cavendished" but still tasty when dried out a bit.
When I visited my father in California last year, he gifted me his pipe collection. I recall that in the house he used to smoke Amphora Brown and I loved the aroma. That room note with always be with me, though when I started smoking a pipe in college all it took was a puff or two on Cherry Blend and a bowl of Amphora to gravitate me to smoking EMP exclusively during those years. In any case, the my dad had me retrieve a cardboard box with his pipes. Turned out to be some thirty or more specimens! Among them are some Castellos, Savinellis, Dunhills, and seconds from the above, a couple Karl Erik Danish. So far, I've tried about ten of them out and seven of them are excellent smokers! I consider myself very fortunate to have these pipes, otherwise I'd go broke on the beautiful work being done by contemporary artisans and manufacturers. Also, I'm impressed with the myriad of quality blends available these days. Smoke has finally met its ethereal match in the manifest metaphor of the internet! This time around, I'm thoroughly enjoying and rotating between HU-Tobacco's Fayyum Kake & Dockworker, GLP's Six Pence, McClelland's Old Dog, 3 Oaks Syrian, Avenue B, Fairmon's Lancer Slices, and S. Gawith's Skiff.
I intend to begin restoring my father's collection (not sure how, but hope pic attachment works) and have begun learning about the process. I've got a Dremel tool and plan to get a buffing wheel and portable vise to use with my simple Black & Decker drill. I haven't met but a few other local pipe smokers. I understand that there was once a club but it's now defunct and there's really only one shop that caters to pipe smokers but most of their clients are cigar smokers. In any case, if any of you are also in JLM, please give me a shout! Be a pleasure to meet you. All the best, David
Hello All,
Happy Holidays! I'm more or less recently returned to pipe smoking and tobacco enjoyment after a lapse of a decade or three. Thoroughly enjoying and learning from the knowledgeable and congenial threads on BoB. Thanks! I don't exactly lurk on forum sites, but haven't participated as much as I likely should. Like Mr Lennon sang, "Life's what happens while you're busy making other plans."
In the day, my favorite smokes were Balkan Sobranie and 759, Dunhill's Elizabethan, Nightcap, Royal Yacht and Early Morning Pipe. In the '80s I discovered Georgetown Tobacco Co. and added their Byzantium, Experimental "D", Night Owl, Persuasion and Reverie to my liking. Except for my two favorites, Byzantium and the "D" most of those are still available and I even found some of each which I'd totally forgotten about but had cellared in an old, green mason jar (though at the time I didn't realize that was what I was doing.) They survived surprsing well, somewhat "cavendished" but still tasty when dried out a bit.
When I visited my father in California last year, he gifted me his pipe collection. I recall that in the house he used to smoke Amphora Brown and I loved the aroma. That room note with always be with me, though when I started smoking a pipe in college all it took was a puff or two on Cherry Blend and a bowl of Amphora to gravitate me to smoking EMP exclusively during those years. In any case, the my dad had me retrieve a cardboard box with his pipes. Turned out to be some thirty or more specimens! Among them are some Castellos, Savinellis, Dunhills, and seconds from the above, a couple Karl Erik Danish. So far, I've tried about ten of them out and seven of them are excellent smokers! I consider myself very fortunate to have these pipes, otherwise I'd go broke on the beautiful work being done by contemporary artisans and manufacturers. Also, I'm impressed with the myriad of quality blends available these days. Smoke has finally met its ethereal match in the manifest metaphor of the internet! This time around, I'm thoroughly enjoying and rotating between HU-Tobacco's Fayyum Kake & Dockworker, GLP's Six Pence, McClelland's Old Dog, 3 Oaks Syrian, Avenue B, Fairmon's Lancer Slices, and S. Gawith's Skiff.
I intend to begin restoring my father's collection (not sure how, but hope pic attachment works) and have begun learning about the process. I've got a Dremel tool and plan to get a buffing wheel and portable vise to use with my simple Black & Decker drill. I haven't met but a few other local pipe smokers. I understand that there was once a club but it's now defunct and there's really only one shop that caters to pipe smokers but most of their clients are cigar smokers. In any case, if any of you are also in JLM, please give me a shout! Be a pleasure to meet you. All the best, David
