I’m itching for a Westminster (G.L. Pease) but have left all of my tobacco in Melbourne…might go to the storage place and check out what I’ve got in there, latakia-wise.

I miss Melbourne already.

The Guilty Office is my first album from the legendary New Zealand indie musos, The Bats.  I’ve missed out a great deal on their earlier releases…might venture into the record shop and see what I can find there, perhaps late this afternoon.  I have my amp cranked up to 9!  I’ll be playing this for quite awhile yet.

Raiding my tobacco cellar, and among all of my latakia and english blends were two tins of danish tobacco! I haven’t had aromatic tobacco for a long, long time, perhaps today would be an apt time to marry the aroma with the scent of rain and wet grass…so after much deliberation, out comes an irish pipe, a Peterson’s military spigot in the 999 shape. I wish I have a danish pipe to go with this tobacco….much to my surprise, a lovely flavourful blend from W O Larsen….Old Tradition…a beautiful tin, excellent presentation.

The usual trepidation in the unwrapping of the packaging, breaking the seal and a whiff of the aroma. Yummy! What is this? I have not remembered enjoying an aromatic this much….I was expecting disappointment, having read the damning reviews from tobaccoreviews.com regarding this blend. Did I have an exceptional batch? A mis-labeled tin? I am almost ashamed to admit that yes…I truly enjoy this….was this the beginning of a new adventure into the world of aromatic tobacco?

I puff slowly, concentrated and controlled….allowing the thin smoke to fold after itself in layers, before rising to the gods. I close my eyes to savour the flavours, dissecting in my mind the flavouring….placing a finger on this and that….I give up. I am just going to enjoy this, without judgment or reservation.

Now I turn to my pipe….a trusty Peterson…not a high grade but a solid performer. I have taken this pipe to places that may be inconvenient to smoke a pipe (pubs…the bush), and it always delivered a cool flavourful smoke each time. I clean it painstakingly after every smoke, careful not to leave any dottle, hell, even any residue if I can help it…as much as two or three pipe cleaners soaked in vodka will alow. I appreciate how it can be dismantled without a care and chucked into a pipe bag…a pipe worthy of the battlefield indeed.

But having smoked this offering from W.O. Larsen makes me want to marry the same tobacco to a danish pipe. I am sure that there are far better tobaccos out there….but today, this tobacco sings! I have started to wonder what danish pipes are all about….not having one in my mini cache of tobaccania.

Looking at the myriad of pipes out there, I chanced upon an image of one by S. Bang….a beautiful bent freehand with a double band and ivory shank…a beautiful piece. At the price, I can only dream. I hope the person who owns one of these appreciates it as much as I would…sigh.

1) Embarcadero as defined in spanish translations as being  a pier, wharf, or landing place

2) San Francisco… one of my memorable trips to the US.

3) A GL Pease blend (although I have never ever had the opportunity to light it in any of my pipes…one of these days perhaps….I have reserved a pipe for it already for its rotation.  I know I will acquire and cellar it….

Buying pipe tobacco here in Australia is somewhat an ordeal by itself.  What with customs destroying sample packs, no b & m retail outlets to stock ‘em, plus the anti lobbyists….not to worry.  When there’s a will…..

Hoping to just have a bit of space to catalogue my (or mis) adventures in tobacco and everything in-between. I am writing this first blog with a disclaimer….nicotine rush! Puffing on a Dunhill spigot with Dunhill Nightcap….standard and almost pedestrian to some, but to me, always a great blend, in its Murray or Orlik’s incarnation still a sweet tobac.

I do not know what to say here…no agenda, maybe a bit of indulgence, so I will end this one short.