A nicotine patch does NOT smell like my misspent adolescence, and does NOT bring back fond recollections. Those things are strictly for kiddie-winkies kicking vapes, or Europeans who keep lamenting that we don't have Cuban cigars here blimey how primitive how can anyone stand to live in this country?!?
W wrote: "I was curious to know if you have a particular brand and blend of pipe tobaccos that is easier to find than the long lost Sullivan's Gentleman's mixture?" Well, yes and also no. Gentleman's Mixture was a good solid Virginia and Oriental compound, with, if I recall correctly both black Virginia ribbon and perhaps Kentucky firecured in very minor proportion to broaden the taste. Planta's version of Presbyterian is not dissimilar, though much more stringy, and there are several blends from Greg Pease that are in the same ballpark.
Cairo, for instance. And PS.: ALL of Greg's blends benefit from age.
Among the medium English available today I highly recommend, in no particular order, Greg Pease's Westminster, which is one of the very best things he's ever done; Arango's Balkan Supreme, sold as a house blend under various names nationwide, and Cornell & Diehl's Red Odessa, which is a sterling old-fashioned English that induces reverie, far better than their original Odessa (more commonly found).
To a large extent, finding a replacement for a long discontinued tobacco is like trying to find a replacement for Huy Fong's fabled Sriracha. On the one hand, it's impossible, as every purist will agree. On the other, these are the best of times. More is available now than ever before, there are multiple possible substitutes, some of exceptional quality, and there is so much that is worthwhile that needs to be sampled.
I can still remember being squawked at by teacher-type people.
Those aren't memories I wish to revisit especially.
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2 comments:
Squadron Leader. That was the answer you were looking for. Skiff is acceptable, should one want an extra dash of orientals. I wish I could fathom why I don't get along with C & D blends.
But that's not why I, once again, break my silence. "More is available now than ever before"!? I don't wish to be rude, but I must be direct: pshaw! Not only are the offerings far fewer in number, South Carolina aside, it's all Danish; the bl**dy Vikings finally won! There's a chap who contributes to a pipe forum(s?) who has rather a bee in his bonnet when it comes to UK tobacco, particularly flakes, plugs, and twists. He likes nothing more than to share the results of his research into the subject with fellow members; perhaps this rings a bell? The point of all this is simply to note that wee Ireland had more independent manufacturers pre-WWII, according to the various catalogues and price lists he shares, than there are extant world-wide today!
I understand things change. Do allow me a little sigh of sadness when I think that I will never again be forced to choose between Digger Flake, Dunhill Standard Mild (!), a tub of Barking Dog, Troost Slices, etc...you know what I'm talking about. Fie on homogeneity!!!
I have to put this lapse down to the effects of your, sadly, having been hit by Covid. It's no laughing matter. An acquaintance of mine was mentally so effected that he lost his job of over twenty years; just couldn't process information the way he used to. I hope your recovery is speedy and complete!
Alcyon,
Squadron Leader is definitely excellent; I often describe it as the one tobacco that if the local store in some hellhole village out in the bogs of East Bucketshire carried that and nothing else except Captain Black Menthol, you'd say to yourself "maybe I can stay another six months here, the local yobbos actually have a rustic charm once you get past their crude customs".
And, as for more being available than ever before, to clarify: forty five years ago the four English blends available in the Netherlands were three Dunhills and Balkan Sobranie, and almost no decent VAs were to be found. You smoked Troost or Maryland ribbon. Or, if you had a streak of depravity, one of the six or seven aromatics including Clan.
When I came back to the Bay Area, a full span of Dunhills, McConnells, Ratrrays, or whatever McClellands were available at the time, plus half a dozen or so anomalies. Or shitty aromatics. If your local tobacconist didn't stock something, you were out of luck, and you wouldn't have heard of it anyway.
Today, you can pick up the phone and if you wish Mongolian Beaver Pelt OR something truly peculiar like Semois or the bird series by Per Georg Jensen will be on your doorstep in two days.
Forty years ago almost no one had heard of Sam Gawith, Germain & Son, Smoker's Haven, or even Orlik, outside of their general region. Greg Pease was still smoking bag shite. You would go to a good tobacconist, and other than the four companies I mentioned, there would be next to nothing, excepting of course house blends ... which more likely than not were aromatic bulk blends. MacBaren's made a narrow range of very pedestrian middle of the road products that appealed to hairy men with horns and that was it.
"Boy, smoke Mixture 79. My grandpappy smoked that, and if it was good enough fer him, it's good enough for any man. Granger is also darn fine baccy!"
Nowadays there are hundreds of interesting products to choose from. And many internet sites to perk our curiosity about other blends.
Forty years ago, many of us had one or two regular tobaccos, today most of us probably have six to ten open tins that we resolve to finish before we pop another one. Then we purchase another three or four entirely new things, and resolve that we really will finish our ten to fifteen open tins before anything else.
Of course it will take me a few years to finish Sun Bear, Eight State Burley, and a few other errors of judgement. So I'm NOT counting those.
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