Burley blends + meerschaum = the cure for OCD behavior

[Hydrated]

I started out my pipe smoking with an obsessive attention to every small detail and it drove me crazy with so many things to worry about. "Is my cake forming correctly? Did that bowl burn all the way to the bottom? Did I condition the bowl with pure Nubian beeswax extract mixed with 2 parts alpaca spit?" Even my wife was amused at how it took me 30 minutes to get ready to light my pipe.

I finally stopped worrying about it so much, and I enjoy my pipe MUCH more. Simple burley blends are a big part of that... pack looser at the bottom... tighter at the top and light. I still use better form when I pack load and smoke my frilly flakey-type tobaccos... but my casual smokes are more... err... casual. There's a time for taking 30 minutes to load the tobacco... like when you're enjoying the process... but who wants to feel like they HAVE to do that for every single bowl?

I've tried the good Prince on for size, and he's OK... but what he really did was teach me some lessons. He taught me that cheaper tobacco can be fine if you smoke it smart. My biggest thing is that I now know when to dump a bowl. I used to feel like a failure if I didn't smoke every last morsel of tobacco, but PA taught me to dump that stuff as soon as it tastes bad... and the Prince turns bad at about the 1/2 bowl mark. Starts to taste like I'm licking the bottom of an ashtray... very ashy taste. Screw that hated reviewer description... "Burned to a clean white ash residing at the bottom of the lily-white bowl... the bowl that ended as dry as the Sahara... the fresh smelling white ash coated lily white Sahara-dry bowl" ... well, I may have paraphrased that just a little. But my point is... it's really pretty good while it's in its zone. Just don't push it and suffer because of some RULE that you think that you have to follow. Just like Moo and his Moosters said in another thread, they're just jumping off points. Hell... I rarely smoke any bowl down to the very ending puff, no matter how good the tobacco. Hell... you don't see people insist on nubbing each and every cigar that they light up, why do we expect each bowl in the pipe to get effectively nubbed out? I usually dump the last 1/4 of the bowl when I smoke. My pipe... my tobacco... my rules.

Smoking good meers also helped me break free of the OCD thing. No cake to worry about. And resting. Oops... I can't smoke that pipe... it's only rested for 47.5 hours. I can only smoke it every 48 hours. Damn. I was gonna smoke that one while the wife and I played Scrabble... I guess we can wait 30 more minutes before we start the game. Bah. Meerschaum to the rescue. Plus I don't worry about my meer's color. I touch all over it while I smoke. No white gloves here. Don't care if it looks splotchy as it colors... don't care at all.

All of this has made me appreciate the Cornell & Diehl offerings. Lots of burley blends in there that are high quality and burley based. My current favorite is Junkyard Dawg... easy to smoke and tastes great.

I guess that I am just learning to keep it simple... does anybody else want to join my OCD revolt? We can cure this if we all work together!

[tzilt]

GASP! Have you no shame?!

[Mister Moo]

Originally Posted by Hydrated

Hell... I rarely smoke any bowl down to the very ending puff, no matter how good the tobacco.

Neither did I until I finally learned how to fill a pipe. Heh heh heh.

So, uh, seriously there, Bobbo... does this mean you're gonna sell that custom made 32-gram solid gold tamper with the 3-mm thick ivory tip and green felt lined presentation case? Just because I recommended it I didn't think you'd actually buy it. Hell of a tamper for a rookie, though. Hell of a tamper.

[Hydrated]

Originally Posted by Mister Moo

Neither did I until I finally learned how to fill a pipe. Heh heh heh.

Packer.

[Mister Moo]

Originally Posted by Hydrated

Packer.

Slacker. Porkrind Snacker!

Nah - really... I'm all for easy. New Moo. The OCD thing is over the top. The Prince smooshed in a cob makes a pretty good, perfectly easy smoke. Is it good smooshed in a meer? Sure - if it tastes good to YOU!

[IKMeerschaum]

Originally Posted by Hydrated

Smoking good meers also helped me break free of the OCD thing.

Great, "Cure For OCD"... I can use that as yet another reason to smoke meerschaum pipes over Briar. The components of your argument I've used in the past but to sum it up as a cure for OCD is genious.

Welcome to the Mob of the Meerschaum (MOTM?)...

[Hydrated]

Originally Posted by IKMeerschaum

The components of your argument I've used in the past but to sum it up as a cure for OCD is genious.

Could you tell that to my wife? She didn't believe me when I informed her of my geniousnessicity.

[EvanS]

I'm with you H - make it like a stubby carrot and twist it in, light, puff....relax. Also noever enjoyed my cigars more than since I quit looking at the humidity.

[Mister Moo]

Originally Posted by EvanS

I'm with you H - make it like a stubby carrot and twist it in, light, puff....relax. Also noever enjoyed my cigars more than since I quit looking at the humidity.

He goes zooming off the tracks and you follow... two train wrecks. Run, little gorillas! Run the other way! Save yourselves!!



Oops. That was so "old" Moo. Nevermind.

[Hydrated]

Originally Posted by Mister Moo

He goes zooming off the tracks and you follow... two train wrecks. Run, little gorillas! Run the other way! Save yourselves!!

Yeppers.. I'm totally out of control. I'm even thinking about trading in my 32 gram tamper for a 28 gram one. The lighter one is MUCH more portable and works better for burley.

[Alyks]

Originally Posted by EvanS

I'm with you H - make it like a stubby carrot and twist it in, light, puff....relax.

What? Wait, are you making pipes out of carrots? What are you planning to smoke in those carrot pipes, exactly?

[Rolando]

Originally Posted by Mister Moo

Oops. That was so "old" Moo. Nevermind.

What was wrong with old moo? You know who is usually easy-going? Total morons who don't know any better. I like my cantankerousness.

[Hydrated]

Originally Posted by Rolando

You know who is usually easy-going? Total morons who don't know any better.

The way I see it, there are a couple of types of easy-going men.

There are the clueless and dizzy types who are easy going because they don't give a crap about what's happening:


And then there is another type. The kind of men that either of my grandfathers were. One hailed from South Georgia and the other from the mountains of West "By God" Virginia. Either would help a neighbor in need without ever asking why or when... but who himself was proud of his ability to care for himself and his family without assistance.

Easy going? Yes... in the respect that he doesn't bother you about how you live, as long as you respect him as he respects you. He's the kind of man who is easy going because he has that zen-like ability to discern between those things that are truly important and those issues that are just empty noise.

Never mistake that laissez faire attitude for stupidity. I'm a very laid back person (my wife says that if I were any calmer that I wouldn't have a pulse) and I'm very proud of my Southern heritage. I work in a company dominated by managers and engineers from New York and California, and I frequently run into people who mistake my thick accent and relaxed demeanor for stupidity. I use it to my benefit... I've been an engineer for almost 25 years, and am currently a few short weeks from completing my master's degree in Systems Engineering.

My boss often sends me into business meetings to test the waters for sharks. I'm really more of a detector. Many people assume that they can put one over on the hayseed with the ball cap and tobacco pipe in his shirt pocket. I usually let them run with that illusion... for a while. I strive to be like my grandfathers... simple men with simple needs, but far from being a simpleton.

I guess you can just call me easy going...

[Rolando]

You failed because my post was empty noise.

[Hydrated]

Originally Posted by Rolando

You failed because my post was empty noise.

Hahahahaha.....

Dammit... you got me!