THE GILDED PRESENT

Geir H. A. posted a selfie enjoying Samuel Gawith's Saint James Flake, mentioning the age of the tobacco, and the beginning pepperiness when lighting up, plus a lingering fruitiness long down. Jon H. started the day with Three Nuns, to which Jim B. responded with a fond memory of the original Three Nuns from many years ago. Which quite naturally reminded me of Doblone D'Oro, under the Savinelli aegis, made by Scandinavian Tobacco. Which John O. asserts is the closest thing to Three Nuns in modern existence. He may be right.

There are three things which tie these facts together, other than that all four of them smoke pipes and belong to the same group: Perique, which is an anaerobically fermented tobacco from Louisiana; pressure fermented tobacco with a high Virginia content; and dashing facial hair.

Here's a "selfie" of me smoking Doblone D'Oro.
In a pipe made by Savinelli.

Note the facial hair.

The pipe above is an old work horse I cleaned up a few years ago. The previous smoker was an active man with clean habits. Mostly Burley and Virginia. Many "estate" pipes reflect the worst of a person's tastes, some show the best. Smoking such used pipes is a way of putting yourself in another man's shoes, so to speak. And there is no reason to discard a decent piece of briar that someone else treasured.
If not the man, the pipe gets a new life.


"I was daydreaming about the original Three Nuns while out walking the dogs this morning."

 --- Jim


When I look at the tea tray holding several of the pipes that are in the current rotation -- the briars that I will use regularly over a period of weeks, before some get put in storage and others taken out again -- there are a number which reflect the tastes and habits of their previous owners.

Properly restored, an "estate" pipe will smoke clean again, while never the less betraying lovely echoes of its past service. It can be appreciated as a reflection of that other person and his times, with whom one may have several facets in common, and as a splendid piece of briar happily encountered, acquired, and loved again.


Doblone D'Oro is a tobacco that induces reflection.

And a golden mood.

TOBACCO INDEX


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