THE TEEVEE ROOM AND BEYOND

On the way home the other evening the bus passed by a long line of people outside a popular drinking establishment. Given that the rate of transmission is low in California, there were very many sports games on teevee yesterday, sailors are in town, people are desperate for frenetic joy, and people are also careless, stupid, and unthinking, this was not surprising.
I commend them for their commercially valuable idiocy.

I have never stood in line for a bar.

Or a nightclub.


"OMG we had such fun everyone got wasted!"


That's not a line I can imagine ever uttering. My best times in drinking establishments have been discussing politics and Dutch literature with extremely moderate drinkers, or observing strange behaviour from a safe distance. A bar, in a way, should function as a living room. Some very nice bars have a selection of good books instead of a blaring teevee, and ideally the background music is low volume and in the background.

Ideally, one should be allowed to smoke one's pipe there. In the modern era that is not allowed. Many living rooms are also non-smoking environments. With playstations instead of books.

Sadly, the teevee room that I share with an apartment mate is also a nonsmoking environment, particularly when she is at home. Her room, my room, the teevee room, the kitchen, hallway, and bathroom: all off limits for active pipe smoking. Because I like my apartment mate and trust her around my stuff, as she also trusts me, I adhere to that rule scrupulously when she is in. But when she's out and will not return for several hours, I firmly shut her door, open all the windows for ventilation, light up, and in winter time freeze my gand off.
The smell disappears before evening.


The teevee room functions like a living room, but it is not a living room. Small, crowded with bookshelves, and besides the teevee there are two computers there. And many tins of pipe tobacco, because I am a hoarder. But no couch, and it's unsuitable for entertaining guests.


The ideal living room will contain all of that, plus a couch. And a space for a cat to sleep in a pile of sunlight. Also someone else reading a book while contemplatively smoking her pipe.
Or having tea, she doesn't have to be a pipesmoker.

A comfortable place for preoccupied people to enjoy quiet company. The clutter of pipe tobaco tins is almost a given, and in fact if I look around the teevee room there are several open tins, aside from large glass jars containing my own mixtures.


And the cat is imaginary. I do not have a cat, but I consider myself a cat person. The imaginary cat is purring, and perhaps recumbent upon a lap.



AFTERTHOUGHT

Several open tins:

Cornell & Diehl, Red Carpet
Mostly red Virginias, some Perique. Going through a fourth tin. Well-behaved and tangy.
Very enjoyable. A vibrant younger man's smoke.

Cornell & Diehl, Derringer
A tangy ready rubbed Virginia of which I need to buy more. Grass, fruits, hay. Mostly blonde. Middle-aged coot.

Cornell & Diehl, Haunted Book Shop
Burley, Virginias, minor touch of condimentals. A kick in the jaw, but it sings in a corncob. Several of those are nearby. More refined than the bib overall crowd smokes.

HH (MacBaren) Rustica
This is unique. Too much nicotine makes me an irritating blister for several hours, some other people become excessively talkative. Nictotiana rustica air cured, Burley-Virginia-Kentucky. Heavily steam pressed to meld, smokes down to a medium fine medium grey ash. Reckless abandon, gaiety, wild parties with sailors; the nunnery will never be the same.

G. L. Pease, Navigator
Discovered a six year old tin recently. It has aged nicely. Still makes me a little giddy. It's earthy. Sunlight, colder weather, old ladies and liquor bottles.

McConnell, Glen Piper
Queer fish. Virginia with a little Burley and Perique. Supposedly spritzed with some chocolate and rum, but smells deeply of stewed fruits. A pleasant change of pace. Teenagers!

Solani, Blend 633 Virginia Flake With Perique
Solid quality, but not very interesting by itself. Added to other products it's more exciting.

Sutliff, Cringle Flake Holiday Edition 2020
A commendable limited edition, Virginias and some superior Perique. Restrained and ladylike, a reformed roué.

Sutliff, Court Of St. James
Musty deep Virginias and Perique in raggedy rough ribbon form with some flake fragments. Bit of a kick in the jaw, but extremely enjoyable on cold rainy days, of which we've had far too few in recent years. Tangy. Good with tea. Best stay at home with the stuffed animals.

TOBACCO INDEX


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