THE DABBLING

We are recovering from the heatwave. Last week it hit eighty five Fahrenheit plus five days in a row. For mid March, that's tropical and sweltering. Today it got up to about sixty five. Much more bearable. I went over the hill to Chinatown for a late lunch and luxury smokes. Sweet panjuices spit roast, red pagoda mountain, jade rivulet, and spring time (蜜汁叉燒、紅塔山、玉溪、春天 'mat jap chaa siu', 'hung taap saan', 'yuk kai', 'cheun tin'). The first being very tasty over rice with a hot cup of milk tea, the other three being Chinese cigarettes.

People are more relaxed and well-tempered than a week ago. It's quite probably the more agreeable temperature, but I like to think that my mellow equinamity and radiant goodness may have contributed a small part. I bought the ciggiess while smoking my pipe after lunch.
It was very good.

Chinese cigarette pack art is often beautiful.
One wishes they made decent pipe tobacco.


Imagine a tin of 'Pearl River Islet' flake tobacco. Red flue-cured leaf, a sprinkle of blonde, and a minor percentage of something very much like Perique (that being a dark oily anaerobicly fermented tobacco usually from Louisiana used condimentally. Or 'Three Beauties Mixture', which might actually be a fine Balkan-style English. Or something.

Scandinavian, eat your heart out.

Tobacco products are manufactured by Chinese state enterprises, and there are probably well over a thousand brands of cigarettes. Pipe smoking in China is barely known, however, and mostly the domain of gnarled elderly peasants OR snooty intellectuals. Or a few businessmen in Shanghai. So it's an unexplored universe, so far.

Unfortunately, judging by the internet, it is a largely barren universe. Chinese pipe smokers of quality tobacco must mostly rely on imports. Germany, Denmark, the UK, the US.

There are a few master Chinese pipe carvers on social media. They make some truly outstanding pipes. Pipe making, in China, has become one of the literati arts.
Much like painting, calligraphy, and seal carving.

Other things associated with the literati world are fine teas, incense, scholar's desk items like brush rests, brush racks and brushpots, art ceramics, understated art objects, yixing teapots, high quality paper, and both black and red ink. Plus flower or budding branch arrangements.



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