Why I never buy Christmas Cheer

[Vox3l]

Originally Posted by WWhermit

I just came back from a quick weekender trip to Portland, OR. There is a somewhat famous store there called Rich's Cigars. In it is quite an eccenctic fellow. Buying a tin, or blend, or pipe takes at least an hour if you give him half a chance to talk to you.

Anyways, he has a blend he's selling called Craven's Claw. It's $8.50 an ounce, and is made of 30 year old matured virginia, and 8 year old perique. REAL perique. I asked him how he knew it was 30 years old, the virginia, and he replied "Because that's when I bought it."

He's had barrels of it down in the cellar, and finally used it in this blend to get rid of it. I bought 1 ounce of it. It's very good stuff, I'll tell ya. I'm glad to have been given an opportunity to try a tobacco like that.

Would I spend another $8.50 or more for another ounce? Probably not.

WWhermit

I absolutely LOVE Rich's Cigar Shop! I've gone there many times to buy and even more to just ogle everything they have. If anyone is ever in Portland I highly recommend they stop in, if only to look! Make sure you go to the downtown location. The other store is small and stocks mainly house blends, whereas the downtown shop is big and has baccy for cigarettes and pipes, cigarettes from all over the place, magazines, cigars, and everything else I've ever thought to look for. I've bought 2 of the house blends. One was After Dinner, $7.50 for 2oz. It's a good smoke and I think it smells great. The other was Old Virginia, $9.00 for 1.7oz. These were the first baccys I ever purchased (along with a tin of Escudo), and I loved them.
The guy hermit mentioned is truly quite the talker, so if you are in a hurry I'd recommend avoiding eye contact with him at all costs. Then again, last time I was in he had a beautiful meer and was smoking one of the house blends out of it, which smelled fantastic but was out of my price range at the time, and after chatting with him for a while, he gave me a free quarter oz bag.

I wish I had some older tobaccos. The oldest pipe tobacco I have is a tin of EMP from 2004, and I have no intention of smoking it! I do have an unopened box of Model tobacco from the 50s that I got from an estate sale a while back, but that is too old to even think about opening!

[dmkerr]

I don't recall specifics, just that I didn't particularly care for it. I could have cracked it and smoked it and it probably would have been fine but I think I just wanted it to find a home where it would be loved, honored and cherished. Taste buds and chemical balances are funny things. I seem to be one of the few people who don't go gaga over GL Pease blends (so far). Perhaps my standards are lower than yours instead of higher!

P.S. The Pease blends I have are all from late 2008 so perhaps they just need some time in the mason jars. Jury reconvenes this October. Except for the Westminster that got tossed. Terrible stuff! Bad batch, perhaps, but once bitten, twice shy.

Originally Posted by Alyks

Oh, and that Brindle Flake I got from you, Dan is absolutely FANTASTIC! I can't see what you didn't like about it; perhaps you have higher standards than I do.

[dmkerr]

Enjoy, my brudda! And rejoice in the fact that I didn't give you my Erinmore Mixture. I have NO idea why I had an old tin of it since I hated it in the '90's but I cracked it and smoked some, thinking maybe the aging process had somehow seriously altered its flavor. I think it did. The fruit rotted. Along with my tongue.

Originally Posted by Alyks

Don't worry, Dan. I'll make sure it doesn't go unappreciated.