Not in Chicago Blues

12th May, 2005: Posted by glpease in Stories

So, here it is, Thursday evening, the first night I SHOULD be in Chicago for the amazing extraveganza. I love that show. I haven’t missed on in years. Yet, here I am, home, staring at a screen in the hope of pacifying myself somehow. I’m not where I should be. Oh, it’s not that I didn’t TRY to go. I’ve had my tickets for weeks, my room booked since last year. I had grand plans of flying out of Oakland early in the morning, to arrive in the windy city early enough to get some lunch, do a little tourist stuff, and head on to the show. The fates, Motorola and United Airlines were apparently quite busy conspiring against me this day. Read more…»

Those Pesky Non-polar Molecules

5th April, 2005: Posted by glpease in Tobacco, Science

I’ve occasionally written about the difference between keeping moisture contained with pipe tobacco, and keeping all those lovely volatile organic, non-polar molecules that are responsible for flavour and aroma locked up. Tins, glass jars, multi-layer, high-barrier foil bags and so on do an excellent job at both, while most plastics, including freezer bags, “Seal-a-Meal” type vacuum bags, will do a fine job of keeping moisture in, but will not support proper aging, as they are permeable, in varying degrees, to the “good stuff.” But, just how important is it to store the tobaccos you enjoy smoking in a tightly closed environment? Read more…»

An Evening With Charles Rattray

18th February, 2005: Posted by glpease in Tobacco, Stories

Okay, the title is a little misleading, but I know no one is silly enough to believe that old Chas is still with us, or that I’m old enough to have actually spent an evening with him (though, frighteningly, that’s actually possible), or that I’ve been experimenting with my OUIJA board again. You’re not that silly, are you? Actually, this is about an evening spent with a good friend, an acceptable, if somewhat nondescript meal, and an amazing smoke on a crisp evening. Mr. Rattray was present only in spirit. Read more…»

Carry Me Back…

22nd September, 2004: Posted by glpease in Tobacco

This evening, I just want to see where the muses take me. It’s a little indulgent, I realize, but what’s the use of having a web site if you can’t indulge on occasion? It’s been a fascinating few weeks since the release of Bohemian Scandal. Naturally, I’m excited by the response the blend has received. While I knew I liked it, there’s always a nagging little fear, sort of a stage fright, I suppose, a little performance anxiety when a new product is released. I get really wrapped up in blends while I’m working on them, and am always a little concerned that my enthusiasm for what I’m doing may transcend reality, or colour my perceptions in ways I don’t anticipate. Read more…»

Aged, or just Old?

22nd July, 2004: Posted by glpease in Tobacco, Cigars

I’ve had the pleasure of smoking some pre-Castro Bolivars that were amazing, as well as a few Cuban Davidoffs. But, I’ve had a lot more old cigars that just didn’t hold up. Depending on the blend composition, the storage conditions, and the quality of the original leaf, cigars *seem* to have a reasonable life of somewhere between 2 and 10 years, providing it’s a good cigar to start with. I’ve been smoking through a box of H, Upmann 2000s that I laid down in 1993, and they are absolutely exquisite. They’re softer than they were, yes, but they have more overall dynamics than I remember when they were young. There’s a lot going on in these beauties. Read more…»

A Magic Carpet Ride

6th June, 2004: Posted by glpease in Tobacco

This is something of a day in the life, or, more accurately, a year in the life article. It starts with a fateful event, the loss of a very important ingredient tobacco, and ends with the creation of a new blend. The labyrinthine journey from there to here has taken something over a year, but it seems like only days. Time flies when you’re having fun! Too, this is for those who wonder just what the hell it is I do for a living… Read more…»

A Silly Millimeter

26th May, 2004: Posted by glpease in Pipes

For a long time, now, I’ve been working on pipes, when necessary, to improve airflow, smoking characteristics, moisture accumulation in the shank and stem, and so on. I have adopted, from my old race motor building days, the phrase “Polishing and Porting” to paint something of a picture of what these pipe modifications can entail. The comparison between a great pipe and a racing motor is not really that far-fetched. Read more…»

Matching Pipes and Tobaccos—Part 2

5th April, 2004: Posted by glpease in Pipes, Enjoyment, Technique

Read Matching Pipes and Tobaccos—Part 1.

A friend of mine dedicates every new pipe to a specific tobacco. I applaud his rigorous bookkeeping, somewhat retentive attention to detail, and his dedication to methodology, but I’ve always wondered if he’s really getting the most out of his experience, or winding up selling some of his pipe and tobacco choices short. How do we know, at the start, what tobaccos will work best with a given pipe? I wish there was some sort of metric, as the process of discovery can sometimes fill a great deal of time. Read more…»

Sifting the Sands of Time

8th March, 2004: Posted by glpease in Tobacco

It’s been a while since I wrote an entry for the notebook. It’s not that I haven’t thought of it, nor am I lacking in things to ramble on about. No. I’ve just been so captivated by some blending experiments that there has been little time for much of anything else. I’m really excited about the developments, and am finally ready to share a bit of what’s been going on in my little corner of the blending world. Read more…»

Bad Bedfellows

2nd February, 2004: Posted by glpease in Pipes

I’ve written in the past about those special combinations of briar and leaf that, together, seem to work some sort of magic. With just the right tobacco, a great pipe can deliver an almost transcendent smoking experience. Read more…»

Dogs that Bite

24th January, 2004: Posted by glpease in Pipes

I often hear about tobaccos that bite, yet rarely is this quality attributed to a pipe, however much it may be deserved. I’ve had pipes that would take the smoothest tobacco on the planet, and render it unsmokable, turning its smoke into a bite-sized version of a nuclear reactor meltdown on my tongue. No amount of “breaking-in” of these pipes has ever cured them of their nasty temperament. Of course, there are tobaccos that can transform the most mild-mannered pipe into Lucifer’s eternal oven, and we’ve all experienced one or two of those, but, rarely is a pipe blamed for the phenomenon of “bite.” It’s always the tobacco. Read more…»

Not Just a Piece of Wood

13th January, 2004: Posted by glpease in Pipes

I’ve had a lot of pipes over the years; an uncountable number, really. They come and go, are traded and bartered, smoked for a while, then passed on to their next caretaker. Sometimes, it seems like my collection is more of a temporary home for itinerant pipes than a real collection, though there is certainly a core that remains intact. It’s been a great way to explore most of the better known brands, as well as a few that have never quite risen from the shadows of obscurity. Some have been great, some dreadful, and most have fallen somewhere in between. I’ve had pipes that articulated the subtlest nuances of a complexly orchestrated blend with perfect, harmonious balance, and others that were so bland they would suck the life out of the most flavorful of weeds. Read more…»


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