A friday nights perspective (kinda long)

[8ball917]

To give you guys some background:

I am hosting an NFL draft party at my house on Saturday. This party involves my in laws watching my son Saturday until Sunday, and also includes my wife sleeping over at their house on Friday, so that she will not have to drive him over on Saturday. This pretty much means that I have the whole place to myself on Firday. I would also like to add that I recently received a shipment from smokingpipes on Thursday.

Now for the long story:

My shipment from smokingpipes included my first ever tin of Squadron Leader (I have had English blends, but not this one), a tin of SG St James, 2 oz's of Low Country Waccamaw (I have never tried Va/Per's to this point), and some nasal snuff (that would require it's own thread). I am probably less than a month into the whole pipe experience, but I have learned so much by reviewing the different threads. I still only have 2 cobs, but I placed my first order with frency First pipe. I am expecting that the new pipe should show up soon, but before today, I was still unsure of what to smoke in it.

Thursday night, I was dead tired after getting home from work, but I really wanted to try some of the new baccy (Va/per) that came in. I loaded up a pipe of Waccamaw, fresh after opening the container. I know that I should have let it dry some, but I was really tired and just wanted to smoke a quick one and I was so pumped to try a Va/per as it seems like it is really popular here. Besides having to light it a ton (not letting it dry out), I loved it. It was my first Va/per experience, but everything that everyone has pretty much said was correct. I found it very sweet and enjoyable, although I found myself wishing that I would have took some out of the container early to give it at least 30 minutes to dry out.

Knowing ahead of time that I would have Friday night at the homestead to myself, I decided to prepare it right. Unfortunately, I was stuck with working untill 12:30 am, But I brought a flake of St James with me in a ziplock. Around 11:30, I decided to let it breath a bit at my desk, and the hour out of the zip lock took care of the "wetness" of it.

I got home about 1am to a peaceful, quite home. I continued on down to the basement (see my profile for man cave pics), and rubbed out the St James to just about fill one of my cobs. To celebrate the independence, it seemed only natural to include some Jack on the rocks, and I also threw on some XM radio, Bluesville. I'm sure that this comes as no surprise, but ST JAMES IS AWESOME!!!!! I only wish that I discovered Va/pers when I first started, as opposed to aromatics. I am not the best at reviewing baccy's, but I have not felt this at ease in quite a while. Each puff, came across as a sweet summer time treat. It was so good that I could not let it wait until tomorrow, I had to share it with someone.

I really want to thank Slowtriathlete, for his post on the Va/per show down. That thread really helped me to find a couple of brands to try, but I also really want to thank all of the contributors to the pipe forumn (you know who you are). Without this site, I would probably be lost. Until a month ago, I really loved cigars, and never knew anything about the whole pipe thing, but man the actual interaction that you have with the pipe is amazing. It's one thing to smoke a cigar, it's a whole new experience to rub out the tobacco, fill it, tamp it, and enjoy it!

I have already come to the conclusion that my new pipe will be for Va/pers, now I have to pick up at least one more for my English blends.

Cheers to everone, enjoy your weekend! May all of your NFL dreams come true!

[dillonmcmurphy]

Glad you enjoyed it! I've only tried a few Va/Pers but they are now my favorite type of baccy.

[Dedalus]

Originally Posted by 8ball917

May all of your NFL dreams come true!

I'm a Browns fan, so this is ostensibly impossible. Even when dreams appear to becoming reality, they morph into the worst of nightmares at the last possible moment.

That SG. St. James Flake is fantastic stuff, one of my favorites.

[nate560]

Nice read good luck with the party

[Arizona]

Glad to hear you had such a peaceful and enjoyable evening! That's exactly what the pipe is all about...

[8ball917]

Just a little bit of an update, my wife showed up Saturday morning at just about the time that I was getting up (yep, Jack and St James did me in). She greeted me with my package from Frenchy. I'm going to have to post some pic's. The pipe looks amazing, the price was great, and Frenchy is the man.