Awesome story!Quote:
Originally Posted by JustTroItIn
Glad I have been able to enabl...I mean assist you in a new hobby :D
Great bike BTW!
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Awesome story!Quote:
Originally Posted by JustTroItIn
Glad I have been able to enabl...I mean assist you in a new hobby :D
Great bike BTW!
Hi Chris,Quote:
Originally Posted by Chris0673
Anything you want to do is appreciated!
Pipe story #6 (I think).
Allow me to tell you about the physical harm pipe smoking does to the human body. I’ll admit I’m no doctor - far from it. Nor did I stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night. What I do have, is the testament my body tells of the damage done by pipe smoking. Wait, I may be presenting this poorly. This is no medical dissertation on the dangers of tobacco. It would more closely resemble a story one my tell to his doctor upon an unexpected visit to his place of business.
I’ll set the stage. About a year ago, I was celebrating the cessation of a rather long rainy spell by burning a bowl on our back steps late at night. I was sharing this time with my faithful dog, who enjoys exploring the back yard (and trying to eat my dumped ash and dottle!). She is both inquisitive and protective, so she perks up and utters a short “gruff” at each intruding sound.
As I was deeply pondering the meaning of the universe, or wondering how to avoid burns while tamping with my finger (who can remember, really), my dog perked up and let out a low growl toward the front of the house. We sometimes have neighborhood kids cut through our backyard, so I stood up to make sure she didn’t go after some unsuspecting night rambler. Look as hard as I might, I saw no one. Yet the dog’s hackles were now up, and I could tell she was about to escalate things. Thankfully, she is obedient and sat on my command while I went to explore.
As I rounded the corner of our house, I spotted movement out of the corner of my eye, over by our fence. Perhaps someone had ducked around the other side or perhaps it was our neighbor walking along the edge of their yard. As I focused on the movement, I realized what I was seeing was a huge possum walking along the top of our fence. I’ve dealt with my fair share of possums. They are a pest in our area, and I had no problem dispatching another one. He was moving pretty quick, though, and I didn’t want him to get away. A quick survey of this portion of the yard only revealed a long branch that the boys had been playing with that afternoon. This branch was about ten feet long, and was of significant thickness.
I quickly picked up the branch, clenching my pipe in my teeth, and raised it over my head. The plan was to bring the end of the branch crashing down on the possum with as much power as I could muster. Just crush him, right there on top of the fence! I have a pretty good feel for such “tools of opportunity,” and I was confident this would go off without a hitch.
I mustered up my strength, and snapped the limb forward as hard as I could. Well, snapped is right. The massive amount of torque produced by my thick, powerful arms literally snapped the branch right over my head.
At this moment, my brain slowed things down and contemplated all the parts currently in motion. I had a possum in front of me, a dog behind me, part of a branch above me, and a much-shorter-than-expected branch arcing down in front of me. As this series of conditions processed, I also discovered the wet ground had relinquished its grasp on my feet. This, of course, sparked a whole new series of calculations in that frozen moment. As these instantaneous calculations completed, I distinctly remembered thinking, “Well, here we go!”
As time returned to normal speed, the following events unfolded.
My body quickly became parallel to the ground, and then fell to meet it.
The branch in my hand continued its path, and connected with my shin.
The now-free portion of the branch obeyed gravity’s call, and met my face at the end of it’s journey.
The possum, who I can only assume thought the most ferocious beast on earth was preparing to attack, stopped and snarled at me.
This was too much for my until-now obedient dog to handle, and she plowed right over me (somehow expertly trampling on my neck and then my groin) on her way to drive off the possum.
“What about the pipe?”, you may ask. Don’t worry. It remained unscathed. I lost grasp of it somewhere in the air, releasing it to it’s own recognizance. Not wanting to be far from it’s beloved caretaker, the pipe aimed for home. Sometimes , the coincidental aim of an inanimate object can be supernaturally true, and it hit me square in the chin and then fell to the ground. I’m not sure where in the sequence of events this happened, but I became aware of the outcome with the delightful sizzle of tobacco embers nestled in my beard near the corner of my mouth. To rectify this fire hazard, I quickly extinguished my face in the muddy ground beside me.
Thankfully, my warrior’s pride was more damaged than I was. I survived with no more than some scrapes and bruises.
After my dog came to inform me she had successfully scared off the intruder, I crawled back to my feet and made my way back inside…
To refill my pipe.
I fixed the spelling.Quote:
Originally Posted by BryGuySC
Great story and told very well.
Lol! Yeah. That is probably more accurate.Quote:
Originally Posted by GWBowman
Apropos of nothing, am I the only one who keeps seeing this thread and parsing the title as a Captain Black review?
Oh nooo..the end of that story has that "aww, honey.." factor haha. She was just trying to be a good woman.Quote:
Originally Posted by NeverBend
but still, that's hilarious.
Janice is a good woman. I haven't seen her in a long time and I hope that she's still alive and well. Wayne, sadly is not.Quote:
Originally Posted by LandonColby
Stories are about to close up. Some great tales told here, I am impressed.
To give a few more minutes for entries to be finalized, I'll post another Wayne story.
(Story something or other) Wayne never told me if this was before or after Janice 'cleaned' his pipes.
Wayne learned to smoke a pipe from his father, Walter but it wasn't long before he went from the student to critic, often chastising Walter for smoking too fast and too hot.
Their best times together was when they fished on the lake, in the early pre-dawn hours, each smoking their pipe and the water and air were still and there was no sound. It was dead quiet.
Wayne noticed it first, nothing more than a whisper in the dark. For a few minutes he wasn't even sure that he'd heard it but it was there now, like a pulse every few seconds. It was coming from Walter's direction.
"Dad", even his whisper cut into the night, "do you hear that?"
"What!?", Walter boomed.
"Sshh!", Wayne held up a finger that neither of them could see.
"There's a noise coming from behind you dad, do you hear it?"
"No", his father's whisper now faint.
"Okay, it's probably me"
They fished in silence and Wayne tried to scan the water beyond his father each time he heard the noise but it was too dark. "Damn, old man. Get your hearing checked.", he thought. He puffed on the pungent Sobranie and wondered if that was giving away their location, but to whom, or what?
And then the glow appeared, disembodied but close to the sizzle and somewhere near Walter. Wayne's heart seemed to freeze and his eyes fixed on where the glow was or had been because it was moving. It was behind them, Wayne was sure, because it was getting brighter and that mean that it was coming closer and it was getting a a little louder with time that it appeared. The lake was deep, very deep. What could it possibly hold? They'd never heard of any beast, any leviathan that anyone had ever reported seeing but people had gone missing on the lake. Maybe the witnesses had become the entree? "Nonsense! Stop!" he tried to will his mind to another subject. What creature from the deep glowed and sizzled when it was near the surface?
This time the glow was distinct and close to Walter, so close that it reflected off his face.
"Dad!", Wayne's voice snapped sharp and insistent, "It's right next to you!"
In the shimmer he saw his father's face spinning and the light moved violently as if knocked back and in a second it faded and disappeared with pop and a hiss and then there was nothing again. Absolutely nothing.
"Wayne, I don't see a thing, I don't hear a thing.", Walter whispered, "I lost my damn tobacco with you making that scare. I'm going pack another bowl."
Wayne breathed deeply, sighed and responded in a normal voice, "Don't bother dad, you burned out your pipe."
This is the current list (I believe). Still time to sigh on or to add/amend strength, MILD, MEDIUM or STRONG.
1. Alligator Gar
2. JustTroItIn - Strong
3. Branzig- Strong
4. Tobias Lutz
5. LandonColby
6. Lostmason
7. Bluenoser
8. BryBuySC - Strong
9. GWBowman - Strong
10. MrMotoyoshi - Strong
11. Chris0673 - Mild
12. Horsefeathers - Strong
13. cbr310-mild
14. Emperor Zurg
15. cpmcdill
Alright gentlemen...
The poll for Pete's story contest is now open- go vote for the winner!
1. Alligator Gar
2. JustTroItIn - Strong
3. Branzig- Strong
4. Tobias Lutz
5. LandonColby
6. Lostmason
7. Bluenoser
8. BryBuySC - Strong
9. GWBowman - Strong
10. MrMotoyoshi - Strong
11. Chris0673 - Mild
12. Horsefeathers - Strong
13. cbr310-mild
14. Emperor Zurg
15. cpmcdill
16. SeanTheEvans - Mild Plz (New to Pipes)
Let's close it out with 17 nominations.
Tobias, I have Madbricky's contact info, please send the others when you can.
I've started packing tobacco and I expect mailing materials by tomorrow so I hope that samples will arrive by next week, if not sooner. Cross your fingers that the we don't get to know how much the Post Office Cares anymore.
I owe some people items, whether they're aware of this or not, that will be included with packages. Clearing all accounts.
Canadian and Japan based friends, hope that it will make it to you.
Hope that you all enjoy the baccy, remember that there are two prize pipes, Barling's, that will be awarded to the two (2) best reviews. I'll try to find the Review Outline that was posted earlier in this thread and post it again.
If you've not yet voted for the Story winner, please do so. There's a separate thread for that:
The poll for Pete's story contest is now open
Winner will be determined tomorrow (sometime) by vote. In case of a tie, Tobias will declare the winner.
Thanks for participating.
1. Alligator Gar
2. JustTroItIn - Strong
3. Branzig- Strong
4. Tobias Lutz
5. LandonColby
6. Lostmason
7. Bluenoser
8. BryBuySC - Strong
9. GWBowman - Strong
10. MrMotoyoshi - Strong
11. Chris0673 - Mild
12. Horsefeathers - Strong
13. cbr310-mild
14. Emperor Zurg
15. cpmcdill
16. SeanTheEvans - Mild Plz (New to Pipes)
17. Madbricky - Mild
Sent :)Quote:
Originally Posted by NeverBend
My back gave out but not until I'd gotten the tobacco ready.
Some of the tobaccos are vacuum sealed, others just sealed according to need or fancy. There'll be a letter on a color coded label on each tobacco pack.
I'm hopeful that everything will be mailed on Friday.
@BryGuySC , congratulations on winning the story contest, your pipe will accompany the tobacco. As noted, the pipe will be reamed and in need of a cleaning (or resto should you wish).
Looking forward to this in a big way. If you have a chance to post up the review template that would be helpful to this old noob.Quote:
Originally Posted by NeverBend
I'm super-excited!Quote:
Originally Posted by NeverBend
Thank you for the generosity with this contest!
Glad to hear it's ready. Hope your back gets well quickly, Pete.
Congratulations Bryan. It is fantastic story.
Thanks George.Quote:
Originally Posted by GWBowman
I'm fortunate not to have back problems but I think I was leaning too much for several hours...slaving away for you guys! It's a bit of work getting everything right but it's fun and I hope that you guys will enjoy the tobacco.
I'm glad it is not serious back problems! I have the same problem after working on my bike for several hours.Quote:
Originally Posted by NeverBend
I'm' sure I speak for everyone when I say we appreciate the pain on our behalf!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Alligator Gar
This is the requested format for reviews:
Details
Date
Name
Tobacco
Pipe
Indoor / Outdoor
Observations
Examination (how it looked, felt and smelled).
Preparation (how did you prepare and pack it).
Burn
Flavor
Comments and conclusion
Everything is packed and ready for the Post Office tomorrow AM.
Samples are in a plain white plastic mailing bag with the exception of 3 boxes (accounts settled). Each bag should have four (4) blind samples marked with a color coded label and a letter. Choose whichever sample you wish to review and review as many as you like but we won't reveal the identities until each person has submitted at least one review.
I used the blind sampling to test my vacuum sealer and the differences between the types of seal. It's possible that you'll have vacuum or non-vacuum sealed bags and I apologize if the samples vary in weight. There are eight (8) highly aged tobaccos scattered among he samples. These vary in age from 15 years to 33 years and they were randomly selected with one exception. There are 19 other samples that have a little age (> 6 months) and otherwise they're recently received.
Please 'register' when you receive your samples by posting the label color and letter code of your samples, and if you know the one that you'll review mention it. You only need to identify the samples that are vacuum packed.
For example:
RegularFellow
received
A - Magenta (vac)
C - Yellow
F - Green (vac)
Z - Magenta
Reviewing C - Yellow
Hope that the Post Office stops 'Caring' and just delivers the stuff. @MrMotoyoshi and @bluenoser, anything I should know before mailing (customs declaration, etc.).
Start your engines....
Should we attempt a guess as to what the blend is or simply review the samples?Quote:
Originally Posted by NeverBend
Whatever you like Landon. I'd imagine that a preconception might cloud a review but that's the way that we look at tobacco anyway, with some expectation based on the visual.Quote:
Originally Posted by LandonColby
My mind will automatically start trying to deduce what it is the second I lay eyes on them anyway haha. I'll try my best to just ignore it and give as objective review as possible.Quote:
Originally Posted by NeverBend
Git 'er done!
I have a fresh tongue and a full fountain pen. Show me the samples!
I got my samples along with the tins of Presbyterian that I purchased off pete! Thanks for doing this, reviews to come! Attachment 1720
1. orange H (vac) reviewing this first
2. pink E (vac)
3. pink V (vac)
Perfect Matt, thanks for posting them.Quote:
Originally Posted by cbr310
How come the post office delivers your samples promptly, and either delays or destroys mine? :(Quote:
Originally Posted by cbr310
Details
Date: 4/6/15
Name: cbr310 (Matt)
Tobacco: Orange H G&H Scotch Flake Aromatic
Pipe: mm Cob
Indoor / Outdoor: Indoor
Observations
Examination (how it looked, felt and smelled): Vacuum packed, looks like beef jerkey in the pouch, making me hungry!
Preparation (how did you prepare and pack it): Rubbed out,gravity 1/3rds till full. Opened pack up and it grew, pretty good aroma of chocolate at first smell of package
Burn: Took some flame to get going
Flavor: Chocalte, some nuttiness, mild spice
Comments and conclusion:
A nice sweet smell of chocolate right out of the gate. Rubbed the tobacco out and the smell was still there, very enjoyable. Took some flame to get it started. I taste chocolate, some nuttiness and mild level of spice. Couldnt quit taking puffs cause the flavors where there. Good amount of smoke came along with them.Thinking it might be stronger than what im used to cause after about 10 mins of puffing I could feel a head change coming on, not over powering but just what the dr. ordered for a stressful morning! with the retro-hale I feel the spiciness, and with regular ex-haul I get the chocolaty-sweet nuttiness i crave with this smoke. I cant quit puffing away like a locomotive cause the flavor rolling across my tongue is more intense with every hit. Last third of bowl the chocolate got stronger, I liked it more! My cob never really got hot just warm. All in all a great smoke with tastes I havent had before in a tobacco. Thanks for this sample and will have another few bowls before going on to the next sample. I think sample "H" meant hell yeah its a good 1!http://tapatalk.imageshack.com/v2/15...c4a35f4a04.jpg
Nice job, Matt. I think I need to try this one. Can't wait for the reveal.Quote:
Thanks for this sample and will have another few bowls before going on to the next sample. I think sample "H" meant hell yeah is a good 1!
Thanks Jim, that was my first review ever. Hate to say it but was nerve racking but fun, Im not a man of many words and not very good at descriptions.Quote:
Originally Posted by Alligator Gar
My samples came in today. They are:
Yellow E
Green G (vac)
Pink H (vac)
Orange Z
I do believe I will try the Yellow E first and then the Green G
4.6.2015
Lostmason
Sample Yellow E Stokkebye Luxury Navy Flake
Short Snorter imported briar
indoors
Loose flake or partially rubbed,mostly dark with a few light strands running thru.
In the pouch has a distinct "fresh hay" odor, Reminded me more of natural untreated
tobacco,but sweeter.The feel is dry, almost twiggy.
I probably should have let this sit for a bit and air some,but it felt fairly dry so
I didn't do much for prep other than to make sure there wasn't any dottle left in my
pipe.I used the fold and stuff method and was quite pleased with the draw and the
taste before lighting,tasted like clover.
It did take a bit to light hence the above comment about letting it air,but after
a charring and a quick tamp it stayed lit fairly well.I did have to relight once
but that was to be expected.
The sweetness came out more in the room note than in the taste after lighting,the
smoke was dry but full.There was a refreshing cleanness to this tobacco,a no frills
easy draw, a simple country taste that carried me to fields and hunting.It reminded my of
chewing clover or grass stands,a sweet clean taste that refreshes you.
I didn't notice any tongue bite and the retro-hale was smooth and pleasing.Using my
Short Snorter doesn't take a lot to fill the bowl so with this tobacco it makes for
a pleasant 25-30 minute break from reality.
This afternoon's mail brought:
Yellow E
Pink i (vac)
Green J (vac)
Pink U
Impressed by the quantity. These'll keep me busy for a long time. I have not smoked any yet, so I guess I'll randomly pick Yellow E to review first. I hope to get to it by tomorrow evening.
Great packaging, Pete! :pipe:
Got a chance to do my first review sooner than I planned. Maybe I'll do "Pink U" tomorrow.
Details-
Date: April 06, 2015
Name: cpmcdill
Tobacco: Yellow E Stokkebye Luxury Navy Flake
Pipe: BBB Superfine straight lovat
Site: Indoors
Observations-
Examination: (how it looked, felt and smelled).
Tobacco was short pressed intact flakes (tin-size, none broken or rubbed out), of a medium reddish brown color flecked with yellow. flakes are flexible and seem to have a good moisture level for smoking. The aroma of the blend was the grass/hay of Virginia and another subtly floral note which makes me wonder if this is a Lakeland. I do not suspect the presence of perique or burley. After a bit of airing the floral note seemed to fade a bit, so it may not have been a significant topping.
Preparation: (how did you prepare and pack it).
Rubbed it out and allowed it to air a few minutes before packing. Stuffed in two generous pinches and got it nicely packed while still allowing a good draw. Didn't feel like using Frank or air pocket methods.
Burn: Matches were used to light the tobacco. Took on a nice burn after the initial light-tamp-relight. Stayed lit most of the way through and burned cool with no tongue bite. Had to relight once about 85% through, when I had to dump some ashes off. After that, smoked all the way down, with minimal dottle at the end and no residual "juice" to deal with.
Flavor: Starts off with a toasty-bready flavors which broadens into a semi-sweet and complex mix of flavors I associate with Virginias, but not monochromatic. Still plenty of grass/hay, so I suspect at most a blend of several Virginia varietals and no other tobaccos. Picking up that other note again, which reminds me of tobacco in the Gawith family.
Halfway, the flavor remains much the same, but in the last quarter some bitter notes creep in. Was I being unmindful and puffing too hard? I wouldn't know, as it's still smoking rather cool. It does sort of remind me of the faint garlic chives flavor I've noticed with Bosun Cut Plug. No criticism there, as I'm still enjoying it. Toward the end that Lakeland-y character gets more pronounced, but subtle and in a good way.
Comments and conclusion:
From the very first puffs, what a delightful first impression. The taste from the first light conveyed a tobacco of high quality. Have I had this before? It's not something I have in my cellar presently, but might have gotten as a bomblet sample long ago. This was a fine smoke, and I'm thrilled I was given enough to carry me through many more enjoyable pipe sessions. I'm grateful to have this opportunity to have such a focused smoking experience, where I can put all my attention on the nuances of the tobacco.
Gents,
You only need to review one tobacco but as many as you can will be appreciated.
I think that it would be an excellent resource to have as many blind reviews to post as possible that would then be mated with their identity. First reviews are impressive.
Pete
I don't mind singing for my supper. Just wish it would get here. Also would love to see pictures of the reviewed tobaccos in order to learn what the various tobaccos look like in each blend.Quote:
Originally Posted by NeverBend