I have tried a few quick go's on the pipe and to be honest it wasn't the best and kinda tasted like a roll up fag. However over the weekend I decided to try it with a little bit more gusto. The catalyst for this was on Saturday the weather was lovely, I had a couple of hours to finish building some raised beds for the garden and I went all in and light up a home-rolled cigar that I rolled maybe 10 months ago and its been sat in a tupperdore ever since. It was magical and I have written about it previously.
This left me with a query, could I have another go on the pipe and manage a whole bowl? I have secretly amassed since last April nearly 500g of tobacco in secret from various sources. Some from the UK, some from the USA and some from Germany. Which is a bit mad really considering that I had not had a pipe's worth or even talked about it with anyone before I started collecting it! Part of my collection was some Gawith Hoggarth Unscented Brown Flake, or at least that is what I believe it to be as I could not really understand the dude in the tobacco shop near me. I asked for Ennerdale Flake as I have a personal connection to Ennerdale but he was out and recommended what I bought! It is this brown flake that I have had a few quick puffs on, pretty much always chickening out and putting the pipe out. I also smoked about a quarter of a bowl of Petersen Flake but I don't think I lit it correctly or had it going at an anywhere decent rate. So after my transcendental cigar and the realisation that yes, I like tobacco! I settled on Petersen Deluxe Navy Rolls mainly as I have a full tin and also a 10g sample and it used to be a Dunhill blend so it's fancy. I took 2 coins of the 10 g sample and hastily ripped them up and stuffed them into a corn cob and headed out into the garden. I was telling myself what such a good choice I had made on selecting such a fine and wondrous tobacco from my collection as you know, it used to be a Dunhill blend. I am not generally given to brands and fads and I almost like to think of myself as existing outside of them however when it comes to certain things I am a high end bitch. Dunhill pipes are expensive, Petersen tobacco is expensive, macbooks are expensive so they all must be the absolute big tits!
My other task whilst I was to smoke was some spurious 'planting' which amounted to me taking my collection of seeds outside and filling a few seed trays with a potting mix and then not deciding to plant anything and instead concentrate fully on puffing away on le pipe. I got the char and the tamping done and then I was away and unlike the semi-burning Gawith stuff that I had smoked previously it was actually pretty tasty. I finally got the sweet taste of the Virginia that everyone goes on about and the subtle peppery spice of the perique. I clenched the pipe between my teeth and sucked in that rich sweet smoke and savoured it all over my tongue. A little too much as I eventually ended up with a spot of what I think is tongue bite but hey ho, you get the same thing if you drink whiskey or sip on paint thinner I guess. I think in total it lasted for around about 30-40 minutes which was cut short as I shot my load too early thinking I had smoked the whole bowl when in fact I think it had only just gone out and tapped out my ash and a load of unsmoked ribbony goodness from the bowl. It was an experience I am glad that I had though as sat there on a chair on the patio in the sun in my garden I had a little revelation pretty much like the day before. I do like tobacco. This time I realised I also like pipe tobacco which if I am honest after amassing so much tobacco without telling anyone was a slight relief. It was a moment that existed purely and solely for me. It was not for anyone else or any other task that had to be taken care of it was 100% just about myself and the enjoyment in some dried leaves in a bit of wood that I set fire too.
Taste wise I am not quite sure I could tell you exactly what I was tasting. Yes it was sweet however, it wasn't sweet like honey or milk chocolate or sweets it was just sweet. The pepper fro the perique was more analogous to pepper in cooking and yet at the same time it wasn't. I suppose that is why it is pipe smoking and not pipe cooker chocolate smoking. It is going to be different by it's very nature however it still struck me as novel in that sense. I even enjoyed the after smell of the soft smoke note on my hair and clothes and was a little bit sad when it was gone once I had had a shower later on in the day although I was left with a lingering smell in my nostrils that decayed over time. The aftertaste in my mouth was also something I wasn't expecting and did leave me very pleasantly surprised.