Self review: Requiem

[Requiem]

I really enjoy spending time at this forum, as you do and understand.

What better then a thread where I record and share my road as a pipe smoker? One thing I miss on this pipe-forums experience is a place where I can find the map (personal page) drawn by the experiences of those like Dubinthedam, Mr. Moo, and several others.
A place similar to a sit next to that guy, on the porch, pub or living room. Plus, pictures of his stuff... His tobacco reviews, as he goes along... What is he going to buy next... which has become is favorite pipe...
So, I hope to see you guys doing this kind of page, as you have much more to offer than I do.
By the meanwhile, welcome to a review of this smoker, his pipes, tobacco's and stuff, by himself.

[Requiem]

I'm only smoking the pipe since last Fall. My first cigarette was at age 13, and I'm now 33. At a semi-conscient level I always wanted to get into the pipe. (must remember to drop the cigs, although only in a couple of years I fear)

Currently, I own 8 pipes.
My first buy was a Hilson straight apple and a pouch of MacBaren Mixture. Two or three days after I bought a little Big Ben billiard and a Hilson rodhesian. A few weeks after, a little Hilson sitter and a Big Ben bent dublin. A Peterson Donegal Rocky billiard was next.
By then, I was still buying locally, so I think I did pretty well, although I can now get, on-line, better pipes for the same price.
Online, I bought two Savinelli (a 320 and a 628 ). This month I'll get a churchwarden, then a poker.

However, it´s the tobacco that fascinates me. I prefer latakia, although virginias are growing on me lately, maybe since the weather's getting better. I´m still to find if I also enjoy Vapers that much... add one tin of Irish Oak, and a couple tins of SG St. James Flakes.

Tobacco is not easy to find locally, nor cheap (a Peterson tin costs €22).
On-line, from England or Germany, it costs half the price, while pipes cost less 30%, at least. Before buying online, St. Bruno was my favorite, but when I tried Old Dublin I eagerly wanted to get into english blends...
Thanks to the information gathered at this forum and at a few other places, I´m glad to have already enjoyed some of the best blends available, and having so many more available is a thrilling thing about this hobby.

Over the last few weeks, I've been on a daily gourmet diet of Old Gowrie, Squadron Leader and Erinmore Balkan Mixture, usually by that same order unless some other blend is ocasionally thrown in.

Now, I must choose the churchwarden and see what blends I can get at the site I'll buy it from. I truly hope to, as time goes by, build a nice collection and enjoy smoke it for many years.

[Requiem]

My 8 pipes are divided in 3 groups.
4 of them are dedicated to english blends, 2 to Virginias and the other 2 to Vapers.
As I'm smoking more virginias now, I need to get a couple new pipes I can dedicate to that type of blends.

It appears that, even being a recent pipe smoker, I´m beginning to establish some personal preferences about what kind of pipe goes with a certain type of blend.
Latakias are getting the bigger bowl pipes, as that is my favourite type of tobacco and I enjoy long smokes of it.
Virginias and Vapers take the smaller bowls, some narrow (for the flakes) some wider. I´ve also read somewhere that Virginias tend to shine more in the final 1/3 of the bowl, so smaller bowls are a good option.
Also, thick walls are recommended, as those tobaccos tend to burn hotter. Long stems can also help with that, the experts say.

That´s the main reason I´m looking for a churchwarden and a poker, both destined to VA blends. It also happens I really like the look of those shapes...
The churchwarden is most probably going to be a Stanwell HCA, as I could well use the double-stem versatility, while the poker will be a Boswell, ordered as a celebrational pipe of another forum.

Besides the size of the bowl and stem, or the thickness of the walls, another thing I think about when dedicating a pipe to a certain kind of blend is related with my usual activity while smoking a type of tobacco.
For instance, I smoke virginias most of the mornings, by late-breakfast. A poker would be very welcome as, while reading the newspaper, zipping coffee and taking a bite at the toast, I can use a sitter. My little Hilson sitter (picture bellow) has been getting a lot of use on those moments and needs a friend.



Getting two new pipes will also allow me to move one of the others to start experimenting with aromatics. Although I prefer natural tobaccos I now realize how important it is to have a few options with a nice room note... I will get back to this in a future post.

[DubintheDam]

I had a shit day today in town, everything was sold out or not ready...so I had french fries and bought a heap of tobacco....feeling much better now!

[Requiem]

If today's events lead to a down mood after dinner, I can only advice you to have a nice whiskey and light one of your favorite pipes. However, if you're already in a good spirit, just have a nice whiskey and light one of your favorite pipes...

Friday's nights always have been considered very misterious and some supersticious folks swear that only a pipe can prevent strange things to happen.
I better go get a pipe now

[Requiem]

I'm really MAD right now.

After dinner, went to buy some groceries, beer, meat and stuff like that.
After shopping, went to my office just to take care of a couple things and get some files for the weekend... when I left the office, my car was locked inside the garage. Some fu#&ing new employee must have locked the main gate after midnight, so I had to call my wife (who was already sleeping) to get me... most of the groceries will be ruined by tomorrow, as will the ears of the guy who locked my car in, that´s for sure.

See what I meant about friday's nights (and there's a full moon up there too)... I was stupid enough to leave home without smoking the pipe... lesson learned.

[Requiem]

I fit into a portuguese tradicional saying which states: "He can boil on low water" (do other countries have the same saying?) which means: he can get irritated quite easily, (though I'm very cool at most occasions)...
However, those are quick bad-temper explosions and a pipe is the perfect thing to cool it down.

A fact of life seems to be the increase of speed on how quickly life goes buy. Being english a second language to me, I'll give a common example: When we where kids, time seemed to run very slowly... we all wanted to grow up fast, so that we could have girls, drive cars, and smoke... that seemed like centurys through, comparing to how fast time passes by, while being an adult.

The magic of the pipe is related to that, in my opinion.

The pipe, like a couple of other special hobbys I keep (I collect and love comic books/graphic novels) has the power to slow down Time. When you light a pipe (at perfect conditions), you often get into a calmer, relaxed, slower environment, a safe realm where you can concentrate, relax, enjoy...

Nevertheless, I'm still going to shout at whoever locked my car in, last night.

------smoking-------

Made a pause on writing this post to have another bowl of EBM, this time in a Peterson p-lip. (Will do a post about the p-lip, in the future.)
My first EBM bowl of the night, right after the previous post, was in my Savinelli Tundra 628 rusticated (the couple is depicted bellow).



Erinmore Balkan Mixture is a very well balanced, medium-light, latakia/orientals mixture. It is smoky, creamy, the spiciest among others I've tried in the range.
Just for the record, on the English side, I´ve tried at least a tin of:
Old Dublin; Squadron Leader; Presbyterian Mixture (just a few bowls, given by a friend - any latakia on this???); Red Rapparee; Black Mallory; Commontwealth; Erinmore Balkan Mix., roughly by that order.
Given those terms of comparision, I think EBM is something in beetween Black Mallory and Squadron Leader, although in another completly sub-category (not quite much help, right...?)
It is much spicy-hotter, rounder, sweeter than SL, but not as earthy and without the latakia smokie feel of Black Mallory.
I'm still to try the Dunhill blends, which I will do soon, but some say EBM is similar to Dunhill's EMP.

All in all, it's a surprise to me that this blend is not very well known (according to tobaccoreviews, at least) as I dare to advice even the most experienced smoker to give it a try.

[SmokinJohnny]

The Erinmore Balkan Mixture looks right up my alley from your description. A good Balkan mix eases my temper to a point nothing matters. I will have to try a tin wih my next order. Haven't yet met a Balkan blend I didn't like.

[Zeabed]

Originally Posted by Requiem

[.....] The pipe [.....] has the power to slow down Time. When you light a pipe (at perfect conditions), you often get into a calmer, relaxed, slower environment, a safe realm where you can concentrate, relax, enjoy...

Don't worry about English being your second language, my friend, your penchant for literary expression comes through intact. You have described what all of us pipesmokers feel when we say, for lack of a more descriptive phrase, that we're "in The Zone" when the pipe and the blend are just right. Like all the very best things in life, pipesmoking has the power to make men happy and relaxed within the brief compass of the time that we can dedicate to them. I'm glad to meet another Presbyterian Mixture smoker, by the way.

[Doctor Humo]

Hi Requiem,
I remember reading somewhere that you would like to trade tobaccos as the do in the states but being in Portugal was quite difficult. Since I'm in Madrid may be we can start trading samples of tobacco.
this is what I usually smoke, and I have at home:
Paul Olsen MOB Balkan (my favourite)
Dunhill 965
Dunhill standard mixture mellow
mac baren hh vintage Syrian
mac baren original choice
mac baren mixture flakes
SG FVF
SG fire dance
SG St. james flake
Davidoff scotish mixture

Also you can see in this link what is sold in the tobacco shops in Spain, may be you don't have there same stuff there so if there are differences may be I can send you anything you are interested in, and If you have some tobaccos that we don't have in span may be you can send me some.

http://www.cmtabacos.es/wwwcmt/pagin...doPrecios.tmpl

select "peninsula y baleares"
and then "picadura de pipa"
then click in consultar precios.

Saludos
JL

[Requiem]

Holla JL,

Your kindness makes me very happy.
It would be great to trade some samples with you. Right now, I have at home the following tobaccos:
Squadron Leader;
Erinmore Balkan Mixture;
Black Mallory;
Commonwealth Mixture;
Old Gowrie;
Best Brown Flake;
Virginia nº1;
St. James Flake;
St. Bruno ready rubbed;

I don´t think portuguese stores sell anything you can´t get in Spain, but please feel free to ask me for details.

Another great thing are the tobacco prices in Spain, as stated in that site ... I never though the prices to be so low. In Portugal prices are about 4 times more, and even in England and Germany, from where I usually buy, prices are about twice as expensive.
Would it be possible for you to provide me the internet adress from a spanish online tobacco seller? Or the phone number from any spanish dealer that could send me those tobaccos?

Again, thank you so much. Muito obrigado.

Gustavo

[Doctor Humo]

As today I think there are no spanish internet tobacco stores. The prices you saw are set by the ministry and the stores will add an extra to sale them so I guess the prices most be alike.
Here is a link where you can find all the stores in spain, give them a call.

Guia de Shops 1/ BPC

pipafumador:el_pipafumador_viajero [Club Amigos de la Pipa de Madrid]

I ussually buy my tobacco in madrid from ayala 102, I guess they are the ones who have the most.

pipafumador:madrid-castellano [Club Amigos de la Pipa de Madrid]


JL

[Requiem]

Would you like me to send you some samples? Maybe some Erinmore Balkan Mixture? (which I didn´t see for sale in that link)
Anything else? Squadron Leader, Black Mallory, Old Gowrie, Best Brown Flake, Commonwealth...?

I would like to try Paul Olsen MOB Balkan, Dunhill 965, and Macbaren hh vintage Syrian.

You still can´t have acess to private messages, so e-mail me to:

requiem76(at)gmail.com

[Doctor Humo]

Ei Requiem,
Eu gosto de experimentar: Erinmore Balkan Mixture, Black Mallory, Old Gowrie, Best Brown Flake, e da Commonwealth. Eu vou para o envio de amostras do que você pedir.
Lhe enviou um e-mail para o endereço que você enviou-me com o meu endereço e respostas com o seu.

My father is from Galicia, and my galician is not the best and since the languajes are a like I tried my best.
Now in english just if a didnt made my self clear.

I would like to try: Erinmore Balkan Mixture, Black Mallory, Old Gowrie, Best Brown Flake, and Commonwealth. I'll send you the samples that you asked for.
I'll send you an e-mail with my adress and you can replay with the adress where you want me to send the samples.
Also I wanted to ask you, can you get Drum cigarette tobaco with latakia in Portugal? is the red pouch??.
I want some but in Spain we only have the regular blue one.
Drum World Blends Latakia Cigarette Tobacco 50g Pouch - drumwblat

Kind Regards.
JL

[Requiem]

Hola JL,

your portuguese is almost perfect.
I´m still waiting for your adress. I plan to send the samples tomorrow (friday) so you should received them monday or tuesday. Is about 3 medium bowls of each tobacco enough?

I don´t know about Drum tobacco (red pouch) , but I´ll look for it and let you know.

your friend
Gustavo