Pipeology - The Fine Art of Pipe Smoking and Thought

 I'm finished evaluating this group of tobaccos from my most recent order and now it's time for something different.  A man who had a broken leg and walking with a limp took his dog to the vet because the dog seemed to be injured and he too, was walking with a noticeable limp.  The man spent £300 ot about $400 for x-rays and treatment.  The owner was certain the dog had been injured or that something was desperately wrong with the dog.  The man who owned the dog lived in London and everwhere he took the dog for a walk, people would ask what was wrong with his dog. After all that time and expense the vet explained to the owner there was nothing wrong with the dog.  The vet asked the owner how long he had his cast.  The man thought for a moment and explained to the vet that his dog started walking as if he were injured about the same time he broke his leg.  The vet thought for a moment and said the dog was mimicking him as they took walks together....

 I'll write about two different tobacco blends this morning.  Instead of writing a review of each of Consummate Gentleman by Ashton and Caribbean Blue Wynne by Kohlhase and Kopp, I'll tell you about both in this one post.  The first is a pure English blend and the latter is described as an Aromatic in the Danish tradition.   Wynne is Gaelic for wind, which is a surname more often found in the America's, most notably in the region of the Caribbean.  I think in earlier posts I referred to it as "Wyme," but I didn't check my spelling and trusted my memory.  Wyme is described as being cased with Rum, Honey, Vanilla and Goji berry.  Although Plum Pudding Special Reserve is described as an Aromtic, I liken both to an English Aromatic, which is pressed in a casing and aged to bring out more tobacco flavor with a hint of flavoring.   Unlike Plum Pudding Special Reserve, the flavoring of Wyme is more in the background.  It has a strong tobac...

 Captain Black is not going to wow the experienced pipe smoker.  As I said about the Original, it's pipe tobacco.  Our fathers and grandfatgers smoked Captain Black because it was an easy brand to buy and most of them had only one pipe.  It may have been a Dr. Grabow pipe they picked up at the local drug store along with a can or maybe a pouch or two of Captain Black.  Every pipe smoker needs to smoke at least some of the old standard blends.  Why?  Just to see what our fathers and grandfathers smoked back in the day.   We connect with them by carrying on the same traditions.  Some might hate everything associated with Captain Black and some of us understand why these old blends have been around a century or longer.  These old blends don't pretend to be something theey're not.  They're just good pipe tobaccos at good prices.  Some might say they're cheap tobaccos, all of them.  So be it.  But there is a reason wh...

 I am working on a review of Eileen's Dream.  Is it a nightmare as some have suggested?  I smoked three bowls in two different pipes and I can tell you that it does ghost pipes.  Eileen's Dream gets a 4.06 rating out of five on Smoking Pipes with over a hundred reviews.  This tobacco is more polarizing than today's politics, but more love it than hate it.  You don't care what others say, but you might be curious to ask what I think of it.   I wrote a complete review of it, but decided to delete that review and write this one instead.  Eileen's Dream is like a first date as I said in yesterday's post.  One comes away asking if more dates are in the future.  I'm not sure.  This is how I feel about it.  Will I want to ghost more pipes or have I had enough?  After three bowls in two different pipes, will I want to keep trying?  I've decided maybe I've had enough for now.  I put it away in a maaon jar for now....

 When one smokes a pipe, one wants to match the tobacco with the literature one is reading.  Shakespeare requires a good English tobacco.  One might read Alice in Wonderland while smoking Eilenn's Dream which requires some thought and one I'll review later on.  The verdict is still out on that one.  But a good Aromatic matches a good story teller.  One won't read Kierkegaard or Kant with Captain Black Original, but one might read a book by a good story teller.  You might know The Old Man the Sea by heart.  The title IS the story.  That describes Captain Black Original perfectly.  It tells a good story without having to think through it. Captain Black Original is simply like a good story you know by heart.  It tells a well-written story like that of a Hemingway.   This blend doesn't require a lot of thought.  One reviewer likened it to smoking cardboard.  Others have said it's like sitting down and conversing wi...

 A Cessna 402 left the Ft. Lauderdale Airport with one person aboard.  That plane flew into the Bermuda Triangle and is feared to be down with that one person feared dead.  Que the Twilight Zone theme.  That lone pilot might have made his escape and is drinking Margaritas at a Nassau Beach bar under an assumed name.  Or maybe he is dead.  But a search is on for the plane.  Now, I mention this because as boat rescues are so common, private aircraft often go missing. When a huge airliner like MH370, which disappeared a number of years ago, goes missing, well that IS news.  But boats can sink and it's not a rare occurrence for a private plane to go down.  Am I trying to debunk the Bermuda Triangle mystique?  Well, I have done some reading about various places in the world like the Bermuda Triangle.  There ARE explanations, but still, explanations are more like theories.  We simply don't know. There is a Triangle on Lake Michigan....

 Costco is recalling Vodka.  While I won't go into detail here, Costco has been receiving complaints on its own Kirkland brand of Vodka produced between June and August of this year, with most complaints saying it tastes and smells like diesel fuel.  First of all, while I enjoy a glass of Cabernet wine from time to time and have been known to enjoy Rum, I am not otherwise a consumer of hard liquor.  But when someone complains about a brand of Vodka, I take notice, because of have enjoyed Kirkland's selection of some wines. I don't know the taste of Vodka.  But I've had a bottle or two of "corked" wine.  Usually it's from a bottle that has sat upright on a shelf for too long.  A corked wine, as it called, has a distinct vinegar taste and the cork disintegrates as it is removed.  Such wine is simply dumped down the drain.  There isn't much one can do with a bad bottle of wine.  But such wine is so rare that many wine consumers never have h...

 Living out of, or in one's car is apparently a thing. Michael Lawrence, otherwise known as Marmalade Outdoors has a YouTube channel giving advice to those who must or choose to live in their cars.  He has a 2020 Ford Escape that is his "home."  His most recent advice was to have a gym membership for which he pays one dollar a day, or what is $30 a month.  He says to join a gym that is open 24 hours, so one can have one more place on one's rotation.   His advice is to be sure one has a postal box.  He says in this day and age most anyone can find themselves homeless.  So, his channel caters to those who for whatever reason find themselves homeless.  The article I read didn't say how many followers he has on YouTube but I would imagine his videos get millions  of views as he gives advice to those people.  The thing is that most homeless have some money.  But they can't find an affordable place to live.  I have more to say a...

  An anonymous buyer paid $1.9 million for a 1954 wrecked Ferarri, pictured as-is above.  Photo above is credited to CNN.  I found it on an Internet search.  It is indeed a rare car and was in a collection of a Ferarri fan who was a real estate mogul for 45 years.  It is a number 2 of only 13 made.  My thinking often about such purchases is that some people have more money than brains.  If I worried about dying I might be more concerned about our bank account.  But most worry about leaving behind a legacy.   This Ferarri, at least in MY thinking, belongs on a junk heap.  One might be able to see this as-is photo and agree, but I assure you as scrap it's worth a thousand at best.  But the buyer, like all things like this, is anonymous.  Sure this Ferarri has racing creds.  Sotheby's auctioned off the car with a rich history of the car.  But most anyone might say it's worth a grand at best.   But car coll...

 I write a day or two ahead.  It still might be a Revolution.  Most of you weren't around in the 60's, but both my wife and I come out of the revolution of the 60's.  But instead of drugs, sex, Rock and Roll, and the anti-establishment movement of the 60's, there was another kind of Revolution that was about the Jesus Freaks of the 60's.  I've been a part of that my entire life and maybe mote now than I was in the previous 50 years.  I can relax now in my own brand of Spirituality.   But essentially, I have been anti-establishment my entire life.  But where does this come from?  I have my own explanation, but we're not alone.  The Crystal children of the 60's are now retired, if not close to it.  But many of us are still around.   We're still anti-establishnent without dropping out with drugs, sex, Rock and Roll, and anti- establishment ideals.  We're still different.   Some of us have had careers, but ...

 Let me introduce you to Captain Black and a few other tobacco blends today.  I'll review these tobaccos when I have the opportunity to smoke them, but allow me to explain why I ordered each one.  Lane Limited owns the Captain Black label.  Lane has been around since 1890.  In fact, I have had a number of Lane tobacco blends most notably Lane 1-Q, which is their best seller and is usually in the top 5 on Smoking Pipes List of sales for tobacco. Captain Black Cherry is a good tobacco and as an Aromatic is usually also in the top 5 or at least the top 10 sellers.  There is a reason for this.  The Cherry flavor is subtle, but it has such a pleasant room note for others to enjoy.  On my list to purchase is not Captain Bkack Cherry as I had a seven ounce tin of that already.  I enjoyed the Cherry blend, but I have not had the Dark, or the Platinum, both os which are on sale this week. I have had the Original Captain Black, but decided to add a sev...

 I watch a lot of videos by SciMan Dan, who debunks the flat earthers.  Okay, maybe I am just naive, but I believe in a round earth, a round moon, round planets, and the universe is at least some 14 billion years old, if not older, or infinite as some have suggested.  Why do I believe all this?  Because to me, a flat earth theory just does not make sense. But SciMan Dan goes further debunking every flat earther theory.  Why does he even bother?  He's a man on a mission.  Some people believe some things that are like perpetual fingernails on a chalkboard.  Some people are greatly bothered by non-scientifuc beliefs of others.  One of my professors said once said there are things one goes to the wall for, and some things don't matter. Frankly flat earthers don't bother me.  Beliefs are just that.  A flat earthers beliefs don't bother me, unless they are teaching our kids falsehoods.  And I guess some are teachers.  Maybe....

 I'm not really sure how science knows that the speed of light is 186,000 miles per second.  But there is a formula for this that would take a long time to explain.  Einstein's famous formula of E=MC(squared) can be explained, but his life was devoted to the formula.  I once had a retired English professor as a close friend who once said if something has to be explained one is better off not explaining.  One of my professors once said a reason is often an excuse. I thought I might be able to explain why my pipe is a part of my Spirituality, but I might be better off just saying that it is, instead of explaining why I smoke a pipe.  It is ritualistic.  If I had to explain my pipe, I would end up explaining more than I have room and time for an explanation.  And it's just easier for me to say I am a Spiritual person than for me to go into detail to explain how it is that I am. Explanations take a lot of time and work.  Philosophy classes are ta...

 I saw a video by The Southern Piper who gave a review of Half and Half pipe tobacco and said he was going to otder more.  This tobacco has been a staple for pipe smokers for 125 years.  He gave it a thumbs up as I did, but it wont be on my list any time soon. I really thought I had failed to properly break in my Sherlock Holmes pipe properly, but it has become one of my favorite pipes.  I'm smoking it today. My wife said yesterday that it is good to be back in Florida.  I thought before moving to Florida last year that the heat and humidity might be oppressive. But such is not the case.  It is good to be back.  I'm still tired, but not like yesterday.  I got a good night's sleep both nights since our return, but I'm veey much more rested today.  We could see the palm trees from the airport windows when we arrived back and I knew after a good day's rest I'd feel better this morning, and I do.   We both love to see the palm trees dow...

 Okay, I admit it, I'm tired.  I almost decided not to post this morning, but in my news feed this morning was article after article about a former president of the US.  I'm tired of reading about him.  Okay?  I don't care what your politics are, but I'm weary of article after article about him.   Secondly, I am physically tired this morning.  I mean I am on the verge of exhaustion.  And maybe that has some bearing on how I feel mentally.  I'm just tired.  I smoked my pipe a lot while in NY, but I didn't have the time to sit down and just enjoy it.  I had far too many interruptions.  I guess you can say I am complaining this morning, but really, some of us older folks don't need all the chaos of the world. Our personal chaotic lives simply lead to a kind of weariness about all the things going on in the world, including the Maui fire.  I am so sorry about what happened in that beautiful island.  I could be cynica...

 I mentioned Jack Ruby who killed Oswald as the man who killed MLK, Jr.  I meant to say James Earl Ray.  I made the correction in yesterday's post. We're on our way back to Florida from NY this morning.  I told my wife we can tell people in Florida we have a home in NY, which we can visit most anytime we wish.  We decided to have some stuff shipped down to Florida.  It's been pleasant here, but sometimes it's been hectic as we make decisions on stuff.  We've had the same plate settings since we got married, and both of us just hated to leave it all here.  So, we are taking some of it back with us. We have DVD's we left behind when we went down, but we want those too.  I have a CD collection I downsized from about 500 to about half I want.  I actually still have a vinyl record collection I downsized that I want in addition to a record player.  And as we went through stuff, we had to make decisions about what we wanted.  We added...

 I will mention only three here, but there is a list of 50 big news events of all time.  What I find most interesting is that no list includes the coverage of the Viet Nam War.  Although granted ten years of coverage might be too much to narrow anything down to a single event of that war.  But three biggest news events were the asassination of JFK, the moon landing, and the assassination of MLK, Jr., all having taken place in the 60's.   First of all, the assassination of JFK is full of all kinds of conspiracy theories from one that says Lee Harvey Oswald couldn't have done it to how Jack Ruby even managed to kill Oswald.  Was the Mob involved or the CIA?  What aboit that mysterious man on the grassy knoll?  Or could it have been Castro and the Cuban government?  And is there a tie-in with the death of Marilyn Monroe?  There is so much we don't know.   It was Walter Cronkite who first broke the news to the country.  H...

 When I get more personal here about myself, for some reason my readership goes up.  I'm not sure what that reasoning is, but maybe compared to most anyone, there isn't much exciting about guys who sit around and smoke pipes.  Watch any YouTube vid on pipe smoking and you will understand.  If I wrote about all my fantasies, I might be the most exciting person in the world because my mind takes me wherever I want to go.   Some people want to write autobiographies or have one written about them.  Some wonder which actor or actress they would like to play them on the big screen.  An old adage in Hollywood says bad publicity is still publicly.  That's all some people want and it matters not what is considered bad.  If I were into gaming I could very easily get lost in fantasy worlds and never choose to live in the real world.  I have had the richest fantasy life a person can have.  But there is a difference between a fantasy world ...

 My Prince Albert is now one year old.  I decided to purchase a 14 ounce can of Prince Albert about a year ago.  When we left NY for Florida I had about a half of the can left.  It has been sitting in a cupboard quietly waiting for my return.  I have now had the opportunity to smoke the one year old tobacco for a few days.  I wish now to write about my impressions of it. First of all, tobacco can get old and even moldy if not stored properly.  One can tell when opening a tin of stored tobacco whether it is okay to smoke.  Moldy tobacco will smell sour and not fresh.  I opened my tin of Prince Albert and immediately was met with the sweet smell of the Burly based tobacco. It has some Virginia and a little Cavendish mixed in to give it a rather pleasant room note of a hint of Bleck Cherry.  It has a little earthy nutty flavor and I don't notice the Black Cherry too much, but it's there in the background.  Over all, I am quite impresse...

Heat causes more deaths than any other natural disasters.  The heat in SW Florida has been almost unbearable.  It's not just heatstroke that causes deaths.  The pavement can get so hot that it actually causes burns.  If one falls, it's just not a fall that is dangerous.  Paramedics are now trained to minister to severe burns and other problems caused by the hear.  One woman says she has a pait of mittens in her glove box so she can actually touch the steering wheel of her car.   The heat in Florida has not been that bad, but Cape Coral recordered the hottest Juky in history.  August hasn't been much better with relief from the heat not expected until October.  The rains haven't helped because the humidity plus the heat have made things even worse.   It is true about drinking a lot water.  I gave a urine sample to be tested and my doctor asked me if I drank a lot of water.  I told him my cardiologist said I need to dri...

I had two posts ready for today and decided on this one.  Most of us have had a fire in our bellies for something. I've never lost mine.  In today's world it's a different fire.  Probably different from most.  My fire is simply for life and living.  I have this blog, which if only read by a few, is still a fire.  I have had a love for writing for as long I can remember.  Ministry catered to that fire, but being a minister just wasn't in me, which can explain why I left the Church and ANY religion.  Being in a church wasn't my desire.  It had nothing to do with God or belief. It was and is simply people.  Life is relational and I often feet I don't relate. Maybe part of that is a fairly high IQ, where some excel, and some of us don't.  Life is designed for the average.  It is said that Ronald Regan's IQ was around 104 and Bob Dylan's IQ is around 106.  I don't know my IQ, but I've been told it is quite high.  It might ...

 I was reading yesterday about a man who died of heat stroke at the Arches Natonal Monument in Utah.  His father who had recently passed away wanted to be cremated and his ashes scattered at the national park.  The temperatures at the park exceeded 110 degrees.  As the son was carrying out his father's last wishes, the son died at the park from heat stroke.  Which brings me to day's subject of cremation.   Both my wife and I feel that cremation is more ecologically sound than burial.  She once asked me if I had any last wishes about what I wanted.  I told her she can just roll me in a hole.  But maybe I'd like my ashes scattered over the forests here in upstate NY.  But it got me wondering how cremation is even a thing.   Well, in modern times it began in Italy in 1873 by an Italian professor.  The practice spread here to the US in 1876 by Julius LeMoyne who built the first crematorium in Washington, PA.  The sec...

 We're heading to our home in NY today.  Sitting on the lanai this summer, watching the boats, the dolphins, and a rare manatee has been special.  But there are times I miss the deer, the wild turkeys, and the rare bear that roams in the area in NY.  I miss the forests and the long winding drive on our hill.  We weren't there all that long, but even the snow made things pretty in spite of the cold. I left behind some tobacco and a few things for my pipes.  We will take some things out to the garage we'll bring back once we get settled in a new place down here in Florida.  We need to get some personal things settled and we're looking forward to going back, if just for a week.  A break from the summer heat down here will be pleasant.  I'm looking forward to smoking my pipe on the deck.  In fact, I'm looking forward to going back, if only for a week.   I did a lot of writing from our deck in NY.  Actually, the house would be ...

 I came up with my own word that is a combination of "anger" and "hatred."  It's "hangred."  Everyone seems to be both angry and full of hatred about something or someone.  I choose to try to be neither adopting my own theology that says God only cares about the taking of human life.  But with laws allowing everyone to carry guns and killing for most any reason, I choose to simply avoid the fray and be as forgiving as I say God is.   This explains my life and living as I do in a nutshell.  Some of you might not believe in God as I do, and really I don't care, but I choose to associate myself only with those whom I believe are innocent.  Which, when it comes right down to it is most anyone.  I once believed the Source of my theology would be widely accepted, but while some have embraced my theology others have brushed it aside.  Philosophically speaking it seems to me such thinking would be universal, but it's not. There are all kind...

 Okay, you might think that humans are the deadliest animals, if one considers humans as such, but no, it's not human beings.  In fact, I labeled it as a creature, because, while some say it is an animal, maybe to biologists humans are animals along with insects.  One might think bears are deadly, and while bear attacks are as rare as shark attacks, neither come close.  Of course we could say some snakes are deadly, but the fact is most anything can be deadly. So, what is this deadly animal?  You might be surprised that this animal is not found at the poles, but is everywhere else.  It is nothing but the lowly mosquito.  It carries more deadly viruses that kills more than anything else including humans.  Mostly because the lowly mosquito is everywhere and kills with anything from West Nile virus to Malaria.  Any mosquito bite has the potential to kill.  So, the most deadly creature has an arsenal to kill most any other living animal....

 I've decided not to order the Carter Hall I thought about ordering.  I've removed it from my wish list.  I don't have much Tropical Export left and might order more.  But I did add about a half dozen or so blends I haven't tried, including one that is an English Aromatic.  I decided to put Revelation Match in my shopping list.  Revelation is no longer made as it was for Einstein, which was his tobacco of choice.  But it is now a blend offered by Sutliff.   As for others on my shopping list, I have about five blends I've never tried and might order an ounce or two of each.  I'm most curious about Euleen's Dream, which is offered by CAO, which is a company I first knew as a manufacturer of a good cigar.  Eileen's Dream as an Aromatic is rated up there with Autumn Evening as a very pleasant Aromatic both for the pipe smoker and as a room note.  I'm thinking my wife might enjoy the room note as much as Tropical Export. I have now ...

 Elon Musk says that a car that does not drive itself will become like owning a horse.  I hate to break it to Musk, but he has a lot of hurdles to jump if he wants to get to that point, most namely insurance companies and infrastructure.  Then the biggest hurdle might be convincing those who enjoy driving a car to give up that enjoyment.   Some guys and some gals are car people.  We like cars.  I was watching a video by a mechanic who specializes in old cars.  He had a Buick Centerion from 1976 in his shop for repairs.  He said right out the beautiful old Buick with huge chrome steel bumpers was a brick now.  Why?  He couldn't get the parts to fix it.  There are some of us who actually love to drive without all the nanny tech and idiot lights now on cars.   My first REAL car was an MG with four on the floor.  My wife learned to drive a manual transmission in that car.  It not only had no electronics on it, b...

 My wife said yesterday's post was unusual.   I would agree, but it was something on my mind for some time.  I have been reading a lot about electric cars these days, otherwise referred to as EVs, as so many companies are beginning to produce so many of them.  But are they the answer?  I looked into buying a Tesla before we bought our Avalon.  One of the considerations I had was for my wife's comfort.  Even the old peoples' Avalon had more rigid bucket seats like many cars of this era.  I didn't believe the Tesla's seats would be that comfortable for her. I liked the speed of the Tesla and how quick it is from 0-60.  In fact, there was a lot to like about the Tesla, but it has it's drawbacks.  Right now, the retail value of our Avalon is just a bit less than what we paid for it.  We could afford a Tesla, but the depreciation after one year is aboit half of its original price. Then I began to consider the convenience of charging...

 An enigma is a puzzle that can't be figured out.  It is often referred to as a person who doesn't check all the boxes.  I am an enigma to others, but I actually understand myself very well.  And I know where it comes from.  The Church is often referred to in the feminine form, so I saw those associated with churches as perhaps more on the feminine side of life.  It's the women who often keep churches alive.  A good pastor almost always has better social relationships with the women than he does with the men. Men comprise boards of leadership, but women are the nuts and bolts that hold it all together.  This is my background.  While in ministry I lost the vision I had for church work.  Reality set in.  I had a lot of counseling after my ordination, but I decided to just chuck it all with a very simple theology.  In fact, it's so simple a fout year old can understand it.   There are men who are NOT gay that prefer the ...

 One of my professors said once he'd like to write that one article that is a home run.  Everyone wants that one post or a blog post that just takes off.  Sometimes I search for that one special thought that is a one-of-kind thought like Einstein's formula.  But I've learned that if a thought is too far out there, it might be best to keep it to one's self.   I have a lot of thoughts, but almost all of them I keep to myself.   I have been about as religious as I want to get here.  But at least I've avoided politics.  I allow for beliefs of all kinds, but a deep theological insight won't fly here.  I comment on life as much as I can here. I have a lot of "way out there" thoughts, but I won't even share those with my wife.  There are some things one won't share with a therapist.  I have deep theological/philosophical thoughts that aren't taught in conservative colleges or seminaries.   I've taken a risk to share a f...