Looks awesome, waiting on,the review.
A caveman and his pipe
- Thread starter captaincaveman
- Start date
- Thread starter
- #382
I attempted to smoke it this morning on my way in to work.
I broke some bits of it off of the puck and pulled/crumbled them. It's too dense to rub out the normal way, at least that small amount. Somehow it's also too wet. The components were all decently dry going in (except, of course, that pinch of Captain Black Dark) but I guess pressing concentrates the moisture maybe, and it wasn't sealed for the months that it was in the press so it probably hydrated from ambient humidity somewhat. There was a little juice at one corner of the wax paper.
It was very difficult to light. I think I could fill a fire extinguisher with this stuff and it would work well. At first the smoke smelled as delicious as the puck, then after 10 minutes it started to smell cigarettey. By 15 minutes I got it to hold a light long enough to get some smoke and flavor and it tasted good. I had to continue to smoke aggressively. It tasted good and didn't bite but a co-worker asked why it smells like cigarettes in here. She's an ex-cigarette-smoker who vapes now and her sniffer is ultra-sensitive to it, so I depend on her to tell me if I stink.
Definitely going to have to break a bunch off, thoroughly dry it, then rub it out.
I broke some bits of it off of the puck and pulled/crumbled them. It's too dense to rub out the normal way, at least that small amount. Somehow it's also too wet. The components were all decently dry going in (except, of course, that pinch of Captain Black Dark) but I guess pressing concentrates the moisture maybe, and it wasn't sealed for the months that it was in the press so it probably hydrated from ambient humidity somewhat. There was a little juice at one corner of the wax paper.
It was very difficult to light. I think I could fill a fire extinguisher with this stuff and it would work well. At first the smoke smelled as delicious as the puck, then after 10 minutes it started to smell cigarettey. By 15 minutes I got it to hold a light long enough to get some smoke and flavor and it tasted good. I had to continue to smoke aggressively. It tasted good and didn't bite but a co-worker asked why it smells like cigarettes in here. She's an ex-cigarette-smoker who vapes now and her sniffer is ultra-sensitive to it, so I depend on her to tell me if I stink.
Definitely going to have to break a bunch off, thoroughly dry it, then rub it out.
Hope it pans out a with a little dry time.
- Thread starter
- #384
I gave it some drying time and tried again. It was a major improvement but still not as good as I had hoped. It was like an ok, but not great, English. Hopefully it will just take some more practice to get to know this blend.
I'd say that there's no rush on seeing how that baby grows up. Thanks for the report (and the effort that led to it)!
- Thread starter
- #387
The world conspired against me smoking Dark Matter for a couple weeks but I got to smoke it again today. A few days ago I sliced some off and thoroughly dried it. Today's smoke was good. It is still difficult to rub out and ends up in dense chunks/shards so its behavior is still not perfect but it was decent, and it tastes and smells great.
Thanks for the update! I'm glad to hear it seems to be coming along.
- Thread starter
- #389
Another good day with it. It has a mild Perique-like spicy tongue feel to it which is just right, very nice. The flavor in general is more mild than I'd like but it smells divine. I wish I had the finely tuned senses that others have so I could describe it better than a nice English, but often my tongue and sniffer can be somewhat blunt instruments for this sort of thing, and no amount of training will ever change that.
- Thread starter
- #390
I know I haven't been posting much but I've been lurking a little, just too busy lately to post.
I finally settled into a routine but I guess it couldn't last. I smoked on the drive in to work and again after lunch, in the car. It was working great.
Wife has been looking for work and finally landed a job, part time at the same place where I work. It's great, no cost for her commute and our home schedules match up, but smoking in the car with her doesn't work well.
It's not that she dislikes me smoking. It was with her encouragement that I took up pipes and cigars. She loves when I smoke in the same room as her in the house. However, the smaller air space in the car makes it too intense and the need for exactly the right amount of open window makes climate control an issue for her. So, 3 days a week I lose the new routine.
Still, that leaves 2 days. Today I just couldn't get anything started. I couldn't drag my tuchas out of bed. I couldn't get the car started because I left the headlights on last night. I couldn't get the pipe started. Jumper cables couldn't get a good connection. Lighter wouldn't cooperate.
I finally got the pipe lit and smoked half a bowl waiting for enough juice to get the car started. On the drive to work I finished the bowl halfway there and decided to reload and had difficulty lighting that too.
First bowl was Peter Stokkebye English Luxury. It's ok, not great.
Second bowl was P&C Best Of The Rest, a batch that is a mild but nice vanilla aromatic. I haven't touched it in a year or two but smoked two bowls of it on Saturday while working in the yard and remembered how good it is. Today when I loaded it I just packed it on top of the English Luxury ashes in my Ozark cherry, in which I've only ever smoked Englishes. The combination was excellent. The first half of it smelled and somewhat tasted of arrowroot cookies, which was amazing. The second half settled into a very mild, decent slightly English slightly aro mostly basic mild tobacco nature.
I finally settled into a routine but I guess it couldn't last. I smoked on the drive in to work and again after lunch, in the car. It was working great.
Wife has been looking for work and finally landed a job, part time at the same place where I work. It's great, no cost for her commute and our home schedules match up, but smoking in the car with her doesn't work well.
It's not that she dislikes me smoking. It was with her encouragement that I took up pipes and cigars. She loves when I smoke in the same room as her in the house. However, the smaller air space in the car makes it too intense and the need for exactly the right amount of open window makes climate control an issue for her. So, 3 days a week I lose the new routine.
Still, that leaves 2 days. Today I just couldn't get anything started. I couldn't drag my tuchas out of bed. I couldn't get the car started because I left the headlights on last night. I couldn't get the pipe started. Jumper cables couldn't get a good connection. Lighter wouldn't cooperate.
I finally got the pipe lit and smoked half a bowl waiting for enough juice to get the car started. On the drive to work I finished the bowl halfway there and decided to reload and had difficulty lighting that too.
First bowl was Peter Stokkebye English Luxury. It's ok, not great.
Second bowl was P&C Best Of The Rest, a batch that is a mild but nice vanilla aromatic. I haven't touched it in a year or two but smoked two bowls of it on Saturday while working in the yard and remembered how good it is. Today when I loaded it I just packed it on top of the English Luxury ashes in my Ozark cherry, in which I've only ever smoked Englishes. The combination was excellent. The first half of it smelled and somewhat tasted of arrowroot cookies, which was amazing. The second half settled into a very mild, decent slightly English slightly aro mostly basic mild tobacco nature.
Took me all day, but this thread is well worth the read, lots of great and interesting info in this one.
- Thread starter
- #392
I know I don't show up around here often anymore but I figured you guys would like this story...
A month ago I opened the car door to load some groceries and out tumbled the jar containing the last of my Milan Tobacconists Balkan Blend. It shattered, and there were many tiny shards immediately mixed in with the tobacco. There was no salvaging it. At least there wasn't much left, so the loss wasn't huge. I was bummed and I figured maybe with my tax refund I could buy more.
Imagine my surprise when, for the first time, Santa (mom) got my favorite tobacco for Christmas! One pound of it. She even put the bag in a nice tin (like a danish butter cookie tin). My mom and sister have never been puritanical or against politically incorrect/sin things, but neither have they tended to directly support it with stuff like Christmas gifts, and although I'd put it on my wish list I never thought I'd actually get any tobacco.
I'm switching to pouches for the car now!
A month ago I opened the car door to load some groceries and out tumbled the jar containing the last of my Milan Tobacconists Balkan Blend. It shattered, and there were many tiny shards immediately mixed in with the tobacco. There was no salvaging it. At least there wasn't much left, so the loss wasn't huge. I was bummed and I figured maybe with my tax refund I could buy more.
Imagine my surprise when, for the first time, Santa (mom) got my favorite tobacco for Christmas! One pound of it. She even put the bag in a nice tin (like a danish butter cookie tin). My mom and sister have never been puritanical or against politically incorrect/sin things, but neither have they tended to directly support it with stuff like Christmas gifts, and although I'd put it on my wish list I never thought I'd actually get any tobacco.
I'm switching to pouches for the car now!
Look who's back! 
Congratulations on the great gift! That'll keep you busy for a little while!
Congratulations on the great gift! That'll keep you busy for a little while!
Congrats on the Xmas restock. Good to see you back around.
Glad to see ya back, you provided me with some helpful information about 2 years or so ago when I first started dabbling in the Brown Leaf.
The Caveman's triumphant return! Congrats on the resupply.
Welcome back. I thought you fell into a hole and got frozen or something.
Good to see you back, and great Christmas present.
+1 I was only smoking Captain Black and Carter Hall until CC turned me on to the Frog and Latakia! Haven't looked back since!
Welcome Back CC!
- Thread starter
- #400
My absence has been a shift of interests; I still enjoy BL often, but I'm no longer concentrating on it so I don't usually think to chat about it. Gotta remember to keep coming back here though anyway, you guys are all great!
