Back to Work Smokes 09/08

O.G.I.M. There used to be a bar in downtown Boston back in the eighties that had a O.G.I.M. night happy hour. The young secretaries outnumbered us young preppies...Ahhh,the memories!
Anyway, I am smoking Riverboat Gambler in a Butz-Choquin Mirage with VA flake #517F for later. A little cool here just north of Long Island Sound.

...in the air this morning in Wisconsin. I Have five briars in my pipe tote ready for the office and a pouch filled with Captain Bob's Blend. Tonight,the Packers play the Vikings so we'll have a little football party here in front of the plazma.

Have a great Monday, everybody.

with one bowl of 1792, followed back to back by a bowl of dark star. Dark star and dark strong coffee is a nice combo.

the morning is dark, so dark....Unscented dark flake in a KW #11. w/ hours old black coffee helps shaping my mood. Monday, one knows it, a return to the black hole of work, where everything and anything one does is truly rewarded w/ derision and comments by knucle-scrapping troglodytes. I reward myself w/ an excuse and a rapid descent outdoors, with the said flake and pipe in hand, deeply inhaling the acrid smoke to fumigate my being. My day has become incrementally better through the intercession of Dr. Nick O' Teen, my favorite Irish psychologist.

Try to have a good day, and avoid the simians.

How would you gentlemen characterize Competition Blend? Is it similar to anything on the market from the other burley blenders?

Have a good day, everyone.

CB was blended based on recommendations of both American and Euro competitors in slow smoking contests. We couldn't get Lane to agree to let ERRd be used in the 2002 UPCA contest in Phila, so Craig Tarler and I assembled the blend, using red VA to sweeten and soften the smoke with the burleys as the base. I like to think of CB as slighter version of ERRd. We had good smoking times with it, too. The winner from Spain clocked at more than 120 minutes for a 3.3 gm sample in a KW shellcraft.

Thanks for that information, Morleysson. How would you describe the cut? I've mentioned I love your Morley's Best but even that amazing blend doesn't have the feeling of pan fried oatmeal I'm looking for. I found such a burley but alas received such atrocious "service" from the maker I'm looking for a replacement when it runs out. What do you recommend in a straight burley cube cut or other very rough cut without any ribbon or broken flake-like pieces in it?

I really had a horrible day. My all day everyday blend seems to have turned sour overnight. Don't ask me how this could have happened. Yesterday it still tasted fine but this morning suddenly it tasted like sulphur. Even after a change of pipes it still didn't taste right so I spent most of the morning shopping for something decent to smoke. There's no tobacconist in town so I scouted all the supermarkets and eventually found a blend totally unknown to me. It's called Mc Lintock Wild cherry, an aromatic from the EU and also cost me an arm and a leg. I'm not too fond of aromatics but after the sulphur taste this went down quite well.

It was a very hot, dry, windy and dusty day and great conditions for runaway fires. At around 14:00 I decided to call it a day and met with some great friends at my favourite pub and had a few Pilsner Urquells. This was the only enjoyable part of the day.

Right now I'm having a superslow connection and it's frustrating the hell out of me. I think it's time to get a new service provider because this happens almost every Sunday and Monday.

Hope everybody else had a great day.

Let's hope it's just your tastebuds needing a break and not that your blend soured. Have a scotch and think about better days. They always come again.

This has happened to me as well...

try to get your hands on some revor plug, or something similar, strong, scented, that smokes cool... perhaps some of that strong local stuff ?

For that cut, I recommend Uhle's Perfection Plug Cut. Chunky pieces, burns well, tastes great. Actually SWR regular may also fit the bill for you, and it's cheaper than Uhle's. Uhle's tastes better, IMO.

CB has a variety of cuts, so that each component tobacco adds to the overall burn. We were looking for the quality of taste and burn, equally.

Thanks again. My wallet is still spinning around from the ransom I had to pay to the customs department on my last order, but when I recover I'll see if Uhle is willing to throw a few pounds in this direction. I'll keep an eye out for SWR, too.

Sounds like you got the burn just right on CB! 2 hours of smoke from 3 grams sounds like a lot to me, but then again I've been known to empty a box of matches on one bowl of anything!

All the best,

Israel

Very Good, Very Smokable, Very Burley, the cut and the burn is great and there's a strange fullness which peacefully coexists with the hint of VA sweetness. Although, IMHO not a great imitation of ERRd it does share some of the same very desirable characteristics. CB need not imitate anything as it is a fine blend and a fine smoke in its own right. A must try for the real burleyphile.

As it began. With some 1792 flake.

in my next C&D order as well as Crooner,Bayou Morning,Three Friars, and #525 Virginia.
Finishing the day with Haunted Bookshop in a Stanwell billiard.

Thanks for the additional descriptions, OLDGI. Always interested in peoples impressions of various burleys and burley blends.

The particular blend is made up of local tobacco's. I've been smoking this mixture for a while now and it was really nice, until now. Most local tobacco's are too light for my taste and the stronger variants doesn't taste good so I mix them and add 10% latakia. The closest proper tobacconist is a 200km round trip from me and I'm completely out of stock on any real good stuff.
Seems like I will have to make the trip after all otherwise I might go crazy before the end of the week.

That either of these to SA tobaccos are quite overwhelming: Assegai Export and Boxer

ah well, teh interwebs, they sometimes tell you some tobacco is strong as #¤"% when it is just sweet and round, I might very well be misstaken

http://www.wesleys.c...

The web and any advertisement can be very deceiving but I guess that's what good advertising is about. My everyday smoke consists of a mixture of 50 grams Boxer, 100 grams of Jock,50 grams of Rum and maple (blend no 53) and 20 grams of pure Latakia. Sometimes I will substitute the Jock with Fox or Dinglers 1904 Original, or the Rum and maple with Dinglers 1904 Cherry.

IMO the poor quality of our local tobaccos is killing the pipesmoking tradition here. Most are either too light and spiced up to a point where it stings the tongue or too harsh too be enjoyed as it is. I can't remember when last I saw Assegai on a shelve. Boxer is really harsh and doesn't taste well. BB (Best blend) in my opinion tastes and smells like Horse dung. Dinglers 1904 original, Jock and Fox are heavily spiced with cinnamon (and who knows what else) and burns the mickey out of my tongue.

There seems to be only 2 tobacco companies here, namely Van Erkoms and Dinglers. Fox, Jock,Rum and maple and BB are all Van Erkoms products while the rest are produced by Dinglers. Dinglers has something like 12 aromatics on the market of wich you are lucky to find more than three variants in any shop.

I am quite fond of the Wesley's house blends such as their Three quarter flake, Old gold, Whiskey blend, Dark cherry and Cavendish. They are also my only source for Latakia. The only problem is that the closest Wesley's shop is 100 km away from where I live.

I have already spoken to Colin Wesley, the owner to discuss plans to open a Wesley's franchise right here in Lydenburg. Hope to have some news about that shortly.