Thursday, October 16, 2008
Tobacco Blogging
I finally am having a few minutes to think about my research (as I am starting to write grants), and during these fleeting contemplative moments, I am breaking in my (belated) birthday (as well as congratulations on landing a tenure track position) gift -- a Peterson pipe purchased by a dear friend of mine when he was in a conference in the home of his father's family and Peterson pipes, aka Ireland. Now I am really feeling professorial (wearing the junior faculty uniform of tan pants and a blue shirt, but now with a nice pipe!).
Anyway, since London SW1 no longer seems available, I purchased (appropriately enough for NJ, what with all the bears in this area and all) the C&D blend, Bow Legged Bear. And boy is it good! It's one of those Perique, Latakia and Cavendish blends I've loved ever since I mixed the remnants of the first pipe tobacco I've ever smoked (a lightly aromatic Lane Limited bulk blend) with Revelation. But unlike many of the other fine C&D blends in this genre, you can't really make out the components so much as you get a very harmonious blend of (very mineral-like and also fermented) flavors, much along the lines of the sort of Chablis that I cannot afford. ;)
I just hope that since I've only a few fleeting moments here and there my less than optimally slow smoking (I'm only smoking 1/3 bowls at this point) habits are not going to ruin this nice new pipe (previously, I've only smoked cob pipes, so no worries ... but this one, obviously, I want to keep) ... of course, it may be problematic in the first place to smoke an English-style tobacco in an Irish pipe? ;)