RENAISSANCE MAN

Well, it has been a few days...so what have I been up to? Aside from work, family life and having fun on the most beautiful island in the world, I have been researching and exploring the world of pipedom. I received another pipe that I bought from ebay for a whopping $8. It is a Wally Frank, I think it's a Bulldog. It says "unvarnished briar" and has two dots on the stem. It needs a bit of work before I smoke it, but that should be some fun.

I also received a very exciting care package from a supportive fellow piper that included some 4 estate pipes (a meerschaum and an Astor in the mix) which look like they will all be great, after I work out some restoration skills. So I have a total now of 5 pipes to restore, and 3 fantastic smokers that are in use at the moment.

Also included in this surprise care package were a number of tobaccos, some of them a bit dried, but all of them smokable with a little care. Some weren't labelled, and so are kind of "mystery smokes", some classics like some 2000 G.L. Pease Renaissance and 2000 Balkan Sasieni, a big old bag labelled Edward's - 10/00 Bayou Night(I think it is bulk from C&D and sold from an Edward's Shop), and a box of Mixture 79. I did some research on the named ones, and I am a both curious and apprehensive about the #79. A lot of hot and cold in the reviews, and warnings about "ghosting", so I will likely try that stuff, but I'll wait until I grab a cheap cob.

Based on the reviews, I thought I'd start with the Renaissance. I figure there are about 5 bowls there, and it was a bit on the dry side. So I got a 250ml wide mouth mason jar, a 2-inch square of sponge, and a hot glue gun. I glued the sponge to the inside of the jar lid, and wet it with some distilled water. I put the dry Renaissance in the jar, tightened up the lid and left it overnight. This evening I openned it up and found that the tobacco had rehumidified well, in fact, if anything it was over moist. I pulled some out, changed the lid to a sponge free one, loaded up my Peterson Killarney and headed for the deck.

What a nice smoke! Nice, round, tasty, mild...just lovely! Simply a great way to start the Labour day weekend! It had a lovely aroma and I thoroughly enjoyed it! I feel like a pretty lucky fella to have folks sending me free samples of fine 9 year old tobaccos! I am spoiled rotten! I guess there can be no turning back now!

The more I read on the various boards, the more I see that these random acts of generosity are far more frequent than one would expect, and I think if more people smoked pipes, the world would be a kinder, gentler place. Am I being over enthusiastic? Maybe, but I am really just feeling grateful. Thanks man, you know who you are!

As I have said already, I am a fairly infrequent smoker, at most five to seven bowls a week, so I figure I have about 16 or 18 ounces of various tobaccos, with 8 ounces of Just for Him's Shortcut to Mushrooms in the mail...so it may take me quite a while to work through it all. It's a tough job, but hey, someone's got to do it!

If you have any stellar tobacco recommendations, please comment below, I'd love to hear about them! Until next time!