A Cob and Basketball

 Tomorrow is the NCAA men's basketball final.  Last night I was watching the first of two games smoking my cob pipe with the last of my Bosun tobacco.  I only bought two ounces of it and I wasn't sure I could give it a proper evaluation.  I had a post for this morning I was thinking about, but I think I will save that post for tomorrow.  It's been awhile since I've evaluated a tobacco, but I think I have only had my cob pipe out one other time since I bought it.

Some might say a ten dollar pipe is pretty cheap for a pipe and my corncob pipe has a pretty small bowl.  But that Bosun in a cob pipe is a pretty good combination.  I also smoked some of my Tropical Expprt in that pipe, making me wonder whether I should evaluate the pipe instead.  But I smoked enough of my Bosun in a few pipes making me feel confident enough to evaluate the tobacco.  Bosun is a ribbon cut tobacco which means one breaks some off and wads it up and firmly packs the bowl.  

I have to admit that I'm not used to ribbon or caked tobacco, as the case may be, so I have to say that ribbon tobacco takes some getting used to when packing a bowl.  Often it seems I was packing the bowl too tightly, but after a few tries, I got the hang of it.  The tobacco itself is quite moist.  But it doesn't burn moist in the bowl.  The flavoring is quite delicate and is definitely English with just a hint of Clove flavor.  It stays lit as it is smoked, but it has to be smoked slowly.  This tobacco has a nicotine hit if one isn't careful.  But the flavor is rich.

The fact is, this tobacco is very good.  Someone said in a review there is no such thing as a bad tobacco.  They all get at least four stars.  And that is how I feel about most any pipe tobacco.  Maybe I like a few better than others, but I'll never rate a tobacco poorly.  Some I seem to enjoy more than others.  And once in a while I want to smoke an English blend other than an Aromatic.  To me, there is nothing like a good English blend and Bosun is that.  But I cater to the olfactories of the noses of others.  But it has to be one I enjoy too.  I have found both Tropical Export and Autumn Evening to do just that.  My wife says of Bosun, it's not too bad.

Would I order it again?  I might.  Two ounces is a very small sample, but I just wanted to try it.  Bosun means a ship's officer in charge of equipment and crew.  There are a lot of references to nautical terms in the naming of tobacco.  I can only assume it's from the history of tobacco, dating back to when pipe smoking was a nautical thing.  In some ways it still is.  But I think that Gawith Hoggarth makes fine tobaccos as several of their blends are consistently sold out on Smoking Pipes and are hard to find.  And Bosun is one of their top 25 sellers.

I'm smoking my Arcobaleno Blue pipe by Savinelli this morning.  And decided to smoke the last of my Bosun.  The tobacco smokes cool and has no tongue bite.  This morning it is overcast with temps in the upper 70's.  The games last night are over and I wanted an all Miami final.  But neither team made it.  I'll root for San Diego come tomorrow.   They'll be the underdog.  So, I thank you for your time and Peace to each of one of you.

Dave