Peter Stokkebye Luxury Twist Flake

It's been a nice morning in my household. Woke up about 6 did some dishes, made some hot tea, and filled the bowl of my Savinelli Sharewood Rock briar with a healthy load of Luxury Twist Flake.
Right now, as I smoke, I am listening to Mingus Plays Piano, probably one of my top five favorite albums of all time for any genre, and Fischer is at my feet, sleeping, which is odd for he usually sleeps in the living room, which is a much softer and warm place.

Before i get into the smoke itself, I want to comment on the cut of the tobacco, which is as the name states, flake tobacco. Now for those that don't smoke, pipe tobaccos come primarily in ribbon and plug cuts. Ribbon as the name implies, come in small ribbons, and looks like cigarette tobacco. Plug tobacco is formed by applying heat and pressure to the weed, pressing it into a cube of tobacco. Flake is produced by cutting that block into sheets (flake is also known as sheet) about the width of a dime. To fill a pipe with flake it is generally rubbed out into smaller pieces and packed into the pipe as a ribbon cut would be, but the individual strands have more density.

This is the first flake tobacco I've tried, and I really like the way it smokes. It seems to last much longer and smoke a touch cooler than ribbon cut tobaccos. It also stays lit without much work. I let it sit for a good 2 minutes and I didn't even have to relight it to keep it going. I love the tactual quality as I prepare it for smoking, and unlike ribbon, I think it looks fucking beautiful.

It did have a little bite and a lot of moister when i starting smoking, but I would attribute that to puffing too fast when I initially lit up.

After three bowls I have nothing but praise for this mild tasting tobacco. Tasting the tobacco without pulling the smoke through my nose it stays pretty unflavorful from beginning to end, so much that i cannot discern any flavors, but it sings going through the nose. The first half of the bowl has a rich coffee and coco note with a nice pepper/spice finish, reminding me of a Cuban Partaga Short. At the midway point to the bottom of the bowl it mellows out and has a nice "tobacco" flavor with a hint of the pepper continuing to the end.

The room note seems mild. Hard to tell with my wife unable to comment as she enjoys a bath.

I love this smoke. Took me a good hour and forty-five minutes to finish.
I am finding a lot of good stuff in Virginias that I missed out on when I first starting smoking pipes. I'll have to try more plug and Virgina tobaccos in 09.

Happy smoking.

Abita Christmas Ale

Its the end of January, so its a perfect time for a review of a beer you'll have to wait 11 months for an opportunity to drink...

I've not been drinking as much as I have previously, so the world of beer has been somewhat ignored by myself, So much so a six pack I bought around mid December has stayed relatively untouched over the past 4 weeks.

This beer is just okay.

It has a mild hoppiness and maltness making it drinkable, but its nothing I will be waiting for with anticipation when the holidays roll around in '09.

Yeah, I'm a Dork....

Frog Morton on the Bayou - McClelland

For Christmas, as you should be aware if you read this blog, I was gifted a Castleford pipe and a tin of Frog Morton on the Bayou. A Cajun blend from my Cajun wife :) .

The tin note is that of ketchup, earth and pepper.

Because of the Perique in the blend it did share some similar pepper flavors from the Bayou Morning that I've reviewed previously, but overall was quite diffrent. Instead of the sweetness of a Virgina baseof the Morning, the contrast of Oriental and exhibited a more earthy, smokey flavor with a floral high note that complements the pepper notes really nicley.

The bowl burned quite well, staying dry despite the fact i can be a fast smoker.

I would say the blend has a medium flavor, not being as overpowering as a Dunhill Nightcap for example.
Meanwhile the mixture does have a mean nicotine punch, so smoke it on a full stomach.

I Highly recommend this blend. Happy Smoking!

Cornell & Diehl - Bayou Morning

Hello all, hope you're having a nice Sunday afternoon.

Today as my wife sits in her recliner, sleeping away the weekend, I have lit up a bowl of C & D Bayou Morning. This blend according to Outwesttabacco.com's description is "a strictly Virginia/Perique blend with stoved red Virginia" tobacco.

In the pouch is has a sweet and tangy nose akin to a sweet mustard.

It smokes quite nice, and has a mild to medium strait tobacco taste with a natural sweet taste. It has a subtle pepper note that really comes out when exhaled through my nose. I am through about half to three quarters of the bowl as I write this, and i can feel the nicotine, even after a large lunch.

I have never really enjoyed Virgina blends in the past, but this bowl has been the exception. I can definitely see myself smoking and purchasing more of this blend, and would readily recommend this to any pipe smoker.

My wife did not love the room note, but she tolerated it easily.


Happy smoking!

Peaches & Cream - Peter Stokkebye Pipe Tobacco

Happy 2009 on this New Year's morning. Thought I would start the day with Charles Mingus and a smoke before breakfast.

Filled up one of my new ebay pipes with a bowl of Peaches and Cream that was waiting for me in the mail yesterday from Outwest tobacco.com.

In the pouch/baggie it has a nice mellow sweet coconut smell to it, unlike 1-Q that kinda reeks of its vanilla casing.

Once packed into my pipe and lit it burned consistently and cool, never developing any bite. A slight gurgling did occur during the halfway point, but i would attribute that to not tampering the bowl regularly.

Becuase my wife isnt here, i cant really say what the room note is like, but if its simular to what i smell in my moustache then I would say its a nice, mellow sweet/fruity smell.

Unfortunately neither a peach or real tobacco taste developed during the smoke. It didn't have an unpleasant flavor, but then again it didn't have much flavor at all. If i can get over the fact that this was boring to smoke, the mild flavor and likewise nicotine punch might make this a good morning smoke. I will see if the flavor grows on me after a few more bowls.