Tag Archives: tobacco

Review of Sam Gawith’s Golden Glow

Golden Glow is a straightforward pressed and aged golden Virginia tobacco.

The tobacco looks beautiful when you open the tin, but that’s about the only exciting part of the experience. It’s an underwhelming tobacco in every other aspect.

The tobacco is difficult to pack, which I don’t mind in tobaccos with big pay-offs, but I allowed myself to be irritated by the fact that I had to shred and crumble this tobacco for what was an extremely mild smoke. The tobacco is pressed to be aged, but is not caked. Instead, it’s in large, loose, almost ribbon-cut sections. Basically, big chunks of leaf. More than once leaf stem has interfered with my packing and smoking.

The flavor is very mild, with a light acridity that is not at all unpleasant. One reviewer I read compared it to roll-your-own cigarettes, which is disappointing, but not unpleasant. It has a lightweight mouthfeel and easy-going smoke.

Some Virginias have a vinegary, Tabasco-ey profile. On the other end are woodsy, firewoody types. Golden Glow is caught in the middle of those two profiles.

So…I smoked the tin, but I don’t anticipate buying any more.

Be Aware of Pipe Abuse

The bottom of a friend’s pipe. He did this twice in a month. The pipes were cheaper basket pipes, but technique was at fault.

Rest your pipes, and do no thing abusive. Instead of packing new bowls he would throw new tobacco on still-burning coals all day long.

He has since repented.

Dom Flemons Smokes A Pipe In New Music Video

I’ve been enjoying the new Carolina Chocolate Drops single,Country Girl, on WNCW these past several weeks. It’s a super fun tune, mixing the best of the worlds the Chocolate Drops move in.

In October of 2010 I interviewed multi-instrumentalist Dom Flemons about his love for pipe smoking. If you haven’t heard the interview and you’re a pipe smoker, you might be interested in his perspective on the “hobby” and how it’s perceived.

The music video for Country Girl, which is a classic country dance party video (which is so fun from the Chocolate Drops) features Mr. Flemons smoking his pipe in the pastoral jam scenes. Represent!

Ice Cube w/ Straight Billiard Pipe

Ice Cube has written lyrics on glass pipes and homegrown “tobacco”, but here we see him looking oh so dignified in his settled middle age, smoking (okay, pretending to smoke) a briar pipe.

Whoever found that pipe for him did  a great job. Strong traditional form, straight lines. A dose of intellectuality without any snobbery. I choose to imagine that Ice Cube spends many an evening out on his porch, enjoying a smoke and pondering his amazing life.

Straight billy.

Featured Pipe Smoker: Brad Donovan

Profession: Supervisor for an oilfield heating company.

Location: Grande Prairie, Alberta

Years smoking a pipe: 5

Favorite blends: Because pipe tobacco is very expensive in Canada I buy my yearly ration when I visit the states. My favorite blend is the Cavendish blend from Sturmon’s Smoke Shop in Boise, Idaho. It is a dark, smooth and tasty tobacco.

Favorite pipe smoker: My favorite pipe smoker would be CS Lewis, followed by General MacArthur. Two of the manliest men for sure.

How did you start smoking a pipe? I have been smoking pipe for five years. It all started when a friend and I went for a drive from Grande Prairie to Jasper for the weekend. He smoked pipe, and I had a pipe, so we smoked the whole way down. Two hours of hotboxing later, I was a confirmed pipesmoker.

What’s the best thing about smoking a pipe? One of the funny things about smoking a pipe is that everyone wants to do it. I have converted pretty much everyone at work to pipe smoking. Pipe smoking is manly, glorious, heavy. God is a smoker too. Look at all the burnt offerings in Leviticus. God consumes the smoke, and it is a pleasing aroma. Being made in God’s image by God means I smoke like God does. Take that, sanctimonious teetotalers!

International Pipe Smoking Day 2012

Today is February 20th, which means that it’s International Pipe Smoking Day, that popular holiday of holidays! Here in the United States it’s also Presidents’ Day, which isn’t even a real holiday. Officially it’s Washington’s Birthday, and since he was a tobacco planter, perhaps the best way Americans can honor him is by celebrating IPSD.

If there’s a pipe anywhere in your house, fill it with a fine tobacco and smoke it, ideally with a friend. This is, after all, about the fellowship of the briar.

My brother-in-law is in town. We’ll be hanging out on the porch, he smoking from his hefty Duca Carlo bent billiard, I likely smoking from an elegant Canadian-style Savinelli. We might be smoking Chocolate Manhood, we might be smoking something we pick up at Sir Tom’s Tobacco Emporium. But one thing’s for sure: we’ll take a moment to lift our pipes to the brotherhood of the briar.

Please make a point of stopping by your local tobacconist today. He and George Washington thank you for supporting their business.

Dom Flemons of Carolina Chocolate Drops on Pipes & Tobacco

Courtesy Nigel Bewley.

My wife and I have enjoyed Carolina Chocolate Drops for a couple of years, and today, I got to interview Dom Flemons! Woo hoo! A few days ago I spotted him packing a pipe in an interview, and reached out into the interwebs hoping he’d be willing to make some time to talk to The Giant. I was pretty optimistic about my chances, actually, because pipe smokers as a community are very much into…what shall we call it…”self-advocacy”.

I hope you guys enjoy this interview (audio only) as much as I did. I think this is the band’s official YouTube page. And here you can find a bunch of solo Dom Flemons videos.

You can find some great photos at Nigel Bewley’s flickr. Photo in the vid is kindly provided by him.