Geographical tobacco

Got a 100g tin of Sweet Dublin as a present from my non-smoking friend K. She had asked me what I liked and I tried to make it easy on her, me being a fan of Balkan and English, I just said that anything that has a geographical connotation towards Middle east or England is usually OK. Wasn't expecting her to think that Irish Cities = England but there you go. The can is really nice. Inside, there is a golden mixture with a few darker shavings here and there. It smells sweet and with some effort I can trace some light Irish (Jameson?) whiskey in there. It stuffs easily and burns just fine and dry, all the way down. The room note is quite lovely, actually but the taste is a bit too sweet for my tastebuds. This is a candidate for either that Sunday morning smoke before churchgoing ;), or else I might just try and spice it up with some pure Latakia and see how they marry. I think it's not as bad as some reviewers here state, but that 100g tin will probably sit around my cabinet for a couple a years before I'v smoked it all. A nice change of pace every once in a while I guess or if I know that the PTA are coming around to discuss the kids' behaviour, this might be smoked to help up the atmosphere around the house.

Tongue bite and weather change

With the recent change in weather from mid-winter to high summer overnight, my pipes suddenly felt dirty and my tobacco choice felt awkward, just having bought a new can of Rattray's Black Mallory.

I had a weapon cleaning weekend and sat down to smoke through and clean my current rotation of pipes. This resulted in a serious case of tongue bite since I smoked like six pipes of BM in a row more or less.

On Monday my mouth felt like Spongebob Squarepants shorts, and the HOT weather didn't make things one bit better. Curiously enough I still had a craving for a smoke, but of a different kind than BM (obviously).

My tobacconist suggested I try W.Ö.Larsen´s Fresh&Elegant, an aromatic that smelled like a market stand full of hay with lemons in it. I bought the minimum amount my dealer will sell (25g - not even an ounce) and got it in a ziplock bag that I tucked down in my pocket.

I just walked some 500 meters to get a nice place to sit and smoke it - the fountain outside Sheraton hotel. I had held my hand in my pocket during the walk and when I pulled it out to start picking up my pipe from my bag, I noticed the zing of lime from it. When I sniffed my fingers I could feel that tobacco's casing(I guess) on them - it had gone through the closed ziplock bag in a matter of minutes.

Highly sceptical I stuffed my Chacom Prince (which I now have decided to keep on smoking ONLY aromatics in) with the baccy and all the time it smelled like I was squeezing lime ...
It was intriguing to put the flame to the pipe and taste it. It lit very well and only needed one retamp. The taste was high,clear and zingy like lime zest, mixed with the lightest Virginia, everything felt a greenish yellow, so to speak.

I was fascinated that my mouth seemed not only to accept, but welcome this smoke, sucking upp the limyness in the spongy tissues. I kept puffing and a gentle sweet-and-sour taste started to evolve a bit like cheesecake with lime curd only with a pie crust of brown caramelized sugar around it! It was - lovely!

I'll keep this one in my summer rotation and soon I'll try and layer it with a few coins of MacBaren's Dark Twist to spice things up. Ahh - it is GREAT to be a pipe smoker!

Back to aromatics

My friend D, for no apparent reason other than his opinion that I deserved it, gave me a present last week. It was a packet of luxury grade pipe tobacco. He´d bought it from my regular tobacconist but neither had any idea what type of tobacco the smoker (I) preferred. Wisely enough the tobacconist refrained from giving any direct tips but let D choose from his own nose.
D, not being a smoker himself, not surprisingly fell for one of the sweet aromatics he sniffed.

It was a Davidoff Blue, which I hadn't tried before. I was delighted over the unexpected opportunity to try a new tobacco, and moreover one that I wouldn't have worked my way (back) to in another year or so, since my latest adventures have been in the realms of Latakia and Perique...

On my way back home I just couldn't help myself - I had to try this tobacco even though I had been smoking EMP in my current pipe for a while. The tobacco really smelled like something you'd not only want to eat but also offer a bit to your kids! Chocolate and caramel and something more of - fig? I stuffed the Chacom prince and charred, tamped and relit.

The smoke was cool and mild at first and soon I had a cloud of wonderfulness around me. I noticed people sniffing as I met them and giving me smiles, a crowd pleaser for sure. I smoked it to the bottom during my walk and it kept giving the same mild and cool smoke right down to the bottom, where it left a dry, white ash.

All in all a wonderful aromatic experience and one I gladly return to when I want to please the family at home, or just am tired of the heavier English/Syrian or Louisiana travels. E sniffed in the air and asked "What's that smell?". "Guess!" I answered, puffing away on the pipe. "Yeah, but it smells GOOD?!" ;)