Now I Know How Many Holes ...
it takes to fill the Albert Hall.
Waaaaaay back when CD players were new, I bought a Beatles CD Abbey Road before ever owning a CD Player.
CD Player purchased, I bought "Pink Floyd Dark Side of the Moon" and "Wish YOu Were Here". An ALBUM I'd listen to a million times. Dark Side of The Moon remains in the top five best selling albums everrrrr.
Roger Waters included bits of dialogue from interviews he conducted on none other than Abbey Road. I was amazed at the clarity.
Man! you could even here David Gilmore smoking a cigarette in the background. How could I have missed this for over a decade. Static, that's how.
Similarly, I've been missing the subtleties of Prince Albert, Carter Hall, Sir Walter Raleigh until this experiment:
Just finishing a bowl of Carter Hall in a Dr. Grabow Adjustomatic, with filter, I feel I've experienced the same sort revelation. I was amazed at the clarity. It tasted different to me. Still mild but absurdly more flavorful. Its no wonder Grabows are among the top five best selling pipes ever.
I'm not suggesting that they are better than high grades (of course), but I am suggesting if you started out with Dr. Grabow as the "my first pipe ever" thread suggests, you might want to consider getting back to your roots. And, this time try actually using the filter.
Just a Thought.
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Thomas
Done with style! Great article.
Fume in pace, ckr
Well Played Tom, Bravo
As you may have noticed on the site, the pedestrian burlies and retro pipe brands of our grandfathers tend to sometimes be the target of some good natured ribbing. In point of fact the Dr. G was where many of us, myself included got our pipe smoking start. It's been years since I smoked a Dr. G but I do have my own proclivities in the drug store pipe genre. Want a filterless Grabow?...they're called Kaywoodies and that's how I roll. Dr Grabow, Kaywoodie, or Yello Bole, there is of course only one kind of tobacco to be smoked in these American icons. You picked up on this fact wonderfully with your selection of Carter Hall as a break in tobacco for your Dr. G. This truly is a match made in heaven, these old working man briars and the venerable codger burley. I've done a bit of experimentation lately with some of the highbrow tin tobaccos (my first trip ever into this realm). I really have smoked some very remarkable tobaccos BUT honestly I can't see any of them being more than the occassional mood tobacco, diversion from the norm. My bread and butter has been, is and always shall be the codger burley. Good Show Tom, well written, a great read.
Edgeworth RR'd from a 60 year old Flame Grain Kaywoodie, now there's a night cap for ya!
"Our greatest fear is not that we are inadequate but that we are powerful beyond measure."
It's a fine piece of work,
It's a fine piece of work, Thomas. I have been advocating something similar for a long time. A pipe doesn't have to cost an arm and a leg to provide a fantastic smoke.
My name: Lars Wiberg | My alias: slartie
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Pink Floyd, Burley, or Grabows...
I'm not sure which one to address first! Dark Side Of The Moon and Wish You Were Here were also two of my had to haves when I started getting CD's.
My pipe collection has about a dozen Grabows, mostly that I picked up at junk shops. These are well used excellent smokers with signs of being knocked around in days gone by.
My taste in tobacco leans towards burley, but I can smoke just about anything. Burley in a Grabow...that's Americana!
"If you can't send money, send tobacco." -George Washington to the Continental Congress, 1776
Great read Tom
You almost made me want to run out to buy a Grabow and fill it with my Carter Hall!
Rick Piatt
thanks folks
Somehow I believe Rick was being "all too kind" but if he/you do venture out and give it a go, regret it or not you won't be out a whole lot of cash. Should you dislike after giving it a fair shake I'll buy the remnants of an experiment gone bad and you can out the money toward a dunnie (well, at least the sales tax!)
Again thanks for reading everybody. ckr did this a while back and I notice he's still smoking his.
I gotta be honest...
I still have a handful of Grabows that my uncle gave me, and they are great smokers. Granted, I use them as work pipes, but, no gurgles, good flavor, easy cake building, etc. They are an American classic, and I think everyone should have at least one.
"The pipe draws wisdom from the lips of the philosopher, and shuts up the mouth of the foolish; it generates a style of conversation, contemplative, thoughtful, benevolent, and unaffected..." - William Makepeace Thackeray
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Almost ................
Somehow I believe Rick was being "all too kind" but if he/you do venture out and give it a go, regret it or not you won't be out a whole lot of cash. Should you dislike after giving it a fair shake I'll buy the remnants of an experiment gone bad and you can out the money toward a dunnie (well, at least the sales tax!)
Again thanks for reading everybody. ckr did this a while back and I notice he's still smoking his.
I'm tempted ... but damn, first I'm smoking Kaywoodies full of codger burleys and now you want me to buy a Dr. Grabow too! Aaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! LOL. (but I really am thinking about it!)
Ckr ... thats not the pipe with the small radiator clamp is it? OMG, I forgot all about that. ROTFLMAO.
Rick Piatt
This post made me try something...
I bought a really cheap pipe while I was in Stockholm...because I had managed to forget to bring a couple with me...and well...I was using it with the filter to no filter converter...and lets just say it was the worst smoker I have ever had...but then today...I bought some stanwell 9mm filters...lo and behold...this thing is ok...the briar gets hot because it is thin...but the smoke tastes just fine, and it doesn't seem to bite anymore...
Cheers,
Josh