APPRECIATING MORLEYSSON -- BLENDS BY BOB RUNOWSKI

I never met Bob Runowski, who passed away in July of last year, but I have smoked his tobaccos. Bob had a great affection for air-cured leaf.
It was the old-fashioned American blends that he liked best.
His own stuff evoked a bygone era, and a golden age.
Americana, Bailey's Front Porch, Bayou Morning, Elegant Emu, Epiphany, Good Morning, Haunted Bookshop, Home From The Hills, Morley's Best, Old Joe Krantz, Pegasus, Purple Cow, Riverboat Gambler.

Over all, excellent pipe mixtures.

My favourite Runowski blend is probably Haunted Bookshop -- I look at my cellar, and I seem to have the most of that -- but all of his creations deserve praise. Bob was the master of Burley blends, which probably explains why some of his sterling efforts are no longer available. Cornell & Diehl has been Laudisified, and Burley leaf, not being the most popular of blending bases anymore, represents an older America that is fast dying off. The younger crowd prefers fruitloops and cotton candy.

Nope, shan't sneer at any of the berry farts that are now so prominent.
But I will mention that other than Black Vanilla Cavendish (from various manufacturers) and Cherry tobacco (from various even more misguided manufacturers), one of the most popular products among the younger set appears to be Molto Dolce, by Sutliff. Molto Dolce is a soggy abortion, greasy to the touch, in which black Cavendish, Virginia of some sort, and alledgedly a smidge of Burley are drenched in vanilla, caramel, and honey.
It is a flamboyant whore, and may destroy civilization.

This is where the future lies. Laudisi have probably recognised this, and if Bob Runowksi were still alive, he would be horrified.

I avoid Molto Dolce like the plague, as well as its fans; for all I know it might indeed be smokeable. It is, after all, combustible, or so I've heard. I use the open can of Molto Dolce to show what tobacco is NOT supposed to be, as well as to scare people of refinement and good taste.
Tobacco, embalmed with moisturizers.
Bomb shelter shreds.


THE GHOSTS OF PAST LITERATURE

At this very moment I am enjoying a bowl of Haunted Bookshop. It was tinned in 2007. Burley, red Virginia, and a subtle hint of Perique.

Many younger people will not like it, because it is unflavoured, and requires a brain to appreciate. Gandalf imitators with their churchwarden pipes may barf in consequence, and their sponge-brained wives will wrinkle noses in disgust at so horribly un-hobbitlike a smell.

No, I cannot tell you what the room-note is, I do not have a hobbit bitch infesting my living space. Women who like aromatic mixtures are to be strenuously avoided.



I think it probably smells like tobacco.



SHORT CAPSULE REVIEWS

Follow brief descriptions and reflections on products for which Bob Runowski bears responsibility. He will be greatly missed.


AMERICANA
Black Cavendish, Latakia, Burley, and Virginia.

A reliable old-fashioned blend that delivers a steady smoke for the man who wants something unpretentious in his pipe. Not very complex, but it is reminiscent of many of the tobacconist products of yore. If this doesn't remind you of the shop where your father bought his weekly two ounces, nothing will, and you may be dead above the neck.
Highly recommended.
OOP


BAILEY'S FRONT PORCH
Burley, Latakia, Perique, Virginia.

Smoky, mellow, sweet, and earthy. A pensive blend for old-fashioned people. Sometimes the Virginia adds a tanginess when you don't expect it, sometimes it doesn't. It is a very old-school product, and may whomp you with the nicotine. Especially early in the morning.
Good.
Not great.
But damned good.


BAYOU MORNING
Virginia and Perique.

Red Virginias meet peppery Perique. Figgy, and fermentive. Sweet, creamy, zesty, refreshing. An adult tobacco. Memorable.
Undertones of a rich earthiness.
Not for wusses, nor Hobbits


ELEGANT EMU
White Cubed Burley, Latakia, Red Virginia, Perique and Black Cavendish.
Blended By Bob Runowski and Craig Tarler

Burley and Latakia forward, supported by other tobaccos. Smoke it slowly for fullest enjoyment.  The black Cavendish may throw you for a loop; it is not fully a player, and it can be discordant.


EPIPHANY
Burley, Latakia, Perique, Virginia.
Tarler & Runowski
Lightly topped.

Figs, prunes, citrus. Modeled after an old Philip Morris pipe mixture.
Nicely balanced and harmonious. Some people love it.
I don't.


GOOD MORNING
Latakia, Turkish, and Virginia.
Tarler and Runowski

I can't tell you anything about this, as I bought it primarily for the label art, and have never opened a single tin. They're sitting on a shelf with all the other tobaccos.
I suppose eight years age means I should sample it....
But I've got too much other stuff going on.


HAUNTED BOOKSHOP
Burley, Kentucky, Perique, and Virginia.

Robust, and extremely likeable, like a sailor on shore leave. The tin note is tangy, and makes me remember summers long ago. Yeasty. Hay and wild grasses. A lovely product that leaves you feeling satisfied; you will not need to smoke anymore for a while.
I think you should have some tea after puffing this.
Or lunch. Definitely lunch.


HOME FROM THE HILLS
Burley, Latakia, Perique, Virginia.

Ethereally sweet, and slightly nutty. The spiciness of Latakia becomes smooth and chocolaty in conjunction with the air cured leaves. The Perique is a delicate touch.
Virginias: sometimes unnoticeable, sometimes charming visitors. Figgy.
OOP


MORLEY'S BEST
Burley, Latakia, Virginia.

Sweet, creamy, with a very slight spiciness. If you suck furiously, the sweetness fades and the Latakia jumps out at you. This is a blend that requires a sober approach, and will reward forethought.
Not a casual tobacco by any standards.


OLD JOE KRANTZ
Burley, Kentucky, Perique, Virginia.

Coarse and unsophisticated of appearance, providing a potent sweet-nutty-creamy smoke. This may very well be the most straightforward tobacco you will ever smoke.
It is strong, and not for the faint of heart.
Hobbits beware!


PEGASUS
Virginias, Burley, uncased Black Cavendish.

Prominent Burley nose, not surprising given that there are three different types playing together. Nuttiness, almost cigar-like flavours, sweet, ever so slightly fruity from the beautiful Virginia, and clean burning. This is NOT a heavy product, but neither is it for dilettantes.
This stuff smells fantastic.


PURPLE COW
Burley, Cigar Leaf, Latakia, Virginia.

If it weren't for the Latakia, one might be baffled. Cigar tobacco is largely a wuss; in the first few weeks it dominates and dries the mouth, but after several months it will quiet down, and eventually barely be noticeable. This is pleasant and mild, and does not smell appealing to other people when smoked.
Toasty, with the faintest hints of burning sugar and fruits.


RIVERBOAT GAMBLER
Burley, Turkish, Perique, Virginia.
Blended By Bob Runowski and Craig Tarler

Complex, resinous, slightly sweet with a hint of bitterness. Bold. It can hit you in the face. The Turkish proves itself a necessary component, if only to tone down what would otherwise be a cudgel.

TOBACCO INDEX


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THAT VICTORIOUS MORNING SMELL

Sometimes you sense that people are looking at you funny despite no one else being around. And it must be stressed: no. one. else. around.
Empty apartment. Not another person.
I hear no breathing under the bed.

Probably the stuffed animals. Their cotton-filled brains disapprove. Glass eyes glare in judgment.


No, I'm not Douglas MacArthur. But that IS a corncob.

Burley mixtures are excellent in cobs.

First smoke of the day.


No. 107 - HAUNTED BOOKSHOP
Cornell and Diehl, Inc.

Burleys, with a little red Virginia, touch of Perique. Not for folks who don't like Burley blends. Darn good product, wonderful tobacco. That's it. What else do you need to know?


There's was no well-photographed landing on the beach at Leyte this morning. And besides that, I have no clue what the general smoked. I'm guessing shoe-leather and drug-store syrup, he was that kind of man. The big Missouri Meerschaum he huffed was probably more a personal advertisement, much like Napoleon always sticking his right hand into his armpit before he greeted someone, or Wellington being secretive about his coming and goings. The quirk or foible by which the man may be known.

I do not have any quirks or foibles. Being a humble and realistic man myself. The corncob is a smoking tool, hardly an affectation. Burley blends are purely excellent in cobs, that's all there is to it. Haunted Bookshop is ALSO excellent in a regular briar pipe. My right hand smells of Burley leaf far more often than of left armpits; never of French oxster.

Burley stimulates, as it has more nicotine that most other tobaccos. Consequently it goes well with that first cup of coffee. The entrance to my apartment mate's room was firmly shut by 9:02 AM, and windows were open for ventilation. The tin aroma is of wine, of vegetation, and of villages in Autumn. Coffeeness and herbs.
Malty, cidrous, and lushly reproductive.
I am by no means crazy.


There's a fruit fly in the apartment.


NOTE: My schedule has changed. Baby-sitting the cigar smokers all weekend now. Mondays have opened up again.

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EPIPHANY; A PECULIARITY

Confession: I have never smoked Revelation, which Albert Einstein enjoyed when it was still made by Philip Morris, nor the version later produced by House of Windsor. The closest I've come are some of the Burley blends made by Drucquer & Sons in Berkeley -- not available since that estimable enterprise was run into the ground by many bad decisions nearly two decades ago -- as well as some mighty weird crap from Sutliff. Consequently, I have nothing to compare Bob Runowski's recreation of that disappeared product to. I'll just have to assume that Epiphany is as close to Revelation is can be got.

Oh, and I've tried some Iwan Ries stuff. Which was educational.

But I really like Bob Runowski's oeuvre, so I gave it a shot.

This may not become a regular part of my rotation.



EPIPHANY
Blended by Bob Runowski
Packed by Cornell & Diehl

Burley, Virginia, Latakia, Perique.

Essentially this is an American tobacco with an English attitude. It has that characteristic roundness of taste one expects of a Burley blend, and the Latakia is restrained rather than obnoxious. And it is easy to like.
It does not knock my socks off. The Perique is a nice touch.
Complex, woody, generous.

I've heard that there is a light fruit scent added; it is not really noticeable, but I distrust such things, and that may be shading my opinion. Many old fashioned American mixtures were like that, and anything with Burley may benefit from the treatment. Air-cured leaf often leaves me strangely dis-satisfied, though, and toppings seldom ring my bell.

Epiphany is a very good product, but I have to be in the mood for it. Sometimes it just isn't the right time of day. I hasten to add that I am not at all like Albert Einstein, and have a perverse fondness for Turkish tobacco, which many regular American blends lacked entirely.

It does make me wish that I had smoked both the Phillip Morris and House of Windsor versions, though. Having those nose-memories would have made smoking Epiphany a remarkable adventure.
Perhaps I need to smoke more of it.



Add it to the reference library.

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AMERICANA BY CORNELL & DIEHL

Sometimes the English blend smoker needs to rediscover what his parents' generation liked. My father's pipes all had a scent to them which I know now was Burley with condimentals added, a very old-fashioned smoke. My father wasn't an over-the-top Latakia and Turkish kind of guy. I think everything he really liked was good solid American-style pipe-tobacco, Virginias and Burleys in concert, and made exciting with Latakia and touches of unflavoured Cavendish, and Perique.

In other words, no degenerate Balkans, nor effete VaPers.

I am not quite such a well-balanced individual.

Sometimes I tend toward perversion.

Heck, very often.


My favourite weeds are redolent of Turkish and Syrian brutalists, as well as sweaty camelteers and scimitar-wielding brigands. My father must have thought me a queer sort, once my regrettable tendencies became known. But he never-the-less encouraged them, because he liked the reek of quality tobacco.

He would probably have prefered that I smoke something like C&D's Americana, and he would have got along well with Bob Runowksi, who is the consulting Burley maven on a multitude of products, and responsible for the re-creation of many old favourites.


AMERICANA
By Cornell & Diehl

Black Cavendish, Burley, Latakia, Virginia

This is a very decent smoke, an all-round reliable blend. At the beginning, the Latakia is forward, though soon it settles down and lets the Cavendish and Burley play most of the melody. The Virginia is noticeable, but not in any way dominant, just there to provide a good light all the way through to the bottom. The black Cavendish would otherwise go slightly astray toward the end.

Dry, mild, easy. It leaves a fine ash.


The name is aptly chosen; neither the British nor the Continentals would really appreciate this, and I rather suspect that it was the complete absence of good Burley mixtures in Holland that made my father give up the pipe. I remain grateful that he kept them, as they were wonderful to borrow when he wasn't looking.
I rather wish that products of this type had been available in Valkenswaard, instead of the ribbony Maryland leaf favoured by students, the drenched aromatics that the local pederasts and puppy-torturers smoked, or the rancid tinned savagery beloved by snobs and dilletantes.

People who were there remember Niemeyer, Douwe Egberts, Van Nelle, Van Rossem, Lieftinck, and Taconis. Not necessarily fondly, perhaps because they never made anything like this.


It would have been very good for students.
Satisfying, and not depraved.

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PEGASUS BY BOB RUNOWSKI

Normally I eschew Burley blends, imagining that they are the purview of elderly farmers huffing corncobs, rather than the civilized tobaccos which urbane gentlemen would not be caught dead stuffing into their briars.

And, as you might expect, many Burley blends are unmitigated drugstore crap which leave the mouth feeling like a smouldering garbage dump or a hazardous waste disposal bin.
Painful, too. Burley bites.

Bob Runowski, however, has an exceptionally sober touch.
Many of his creations in this field are excellent.

This one too.


PEGASUS
Blended by Bob Runowski
Produced by Cornell & Diehl

A span of different Burley tobaccos harmonized with Virginias and a touch of unsweetened black Cavendish.

The Burley taste dominates, the black Cavendish adds a smoothness and smokeability. This is an old-school blend that will appeal to many people who first took up a pipe in the forties or fifties. And that is how is smells also. Your grandfather would have approved.

Nutty, toasty, and possessed of a full-bodied mellowness.
This is American-style tobacco at its finest.



Just for the hell of it, one of these days I'll dig out my old corncobs. A blend like this deserves revisits. Bob Runowski has also done several other predominantly air-cured compounds, and should be celebrated.

TOBACCO INDEX


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