Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Winter Tobacco


It's cold here, and maybe that's given me a sweet tooth, my quarterly tobacco order seems to confirm it. Or maybe it's because I've been smoking Balkans and Virginia flakes for so long, that I'm ready for a change.
I started my order with a tin of McClelland Navy Cavendish. I like the idea of Cavendish, but have never found one that tasted really good to me, maybe this will be the one. I added a tin of McClelland Town Topic because maple flavored tobacco seems perfect for a cold winter's day. Then, I added some sweet old standards: Solani Sweet Mystery X (rum, vanilla, & berries), Solani Green Label (apple), and Samuel Gawith Firedance Flake (rum, vanilla, & berries).
But it's never a good idea to shop your present appetite exclusively, so I rounded things out with some items on the opposite end of the spectrum: McClelland Black Shag (a very simple tobacco), Samuel Gawith Black XX (strong rope/twist tobacco), and Sam Gawith Brown No.4 (very strong rope/twist tobacco).
I threw in a can of Balkan Sasieni and St. James Woods because I wouldn't want to be snowed-in without those two items.
That, and the pound or two of assorted Virginia Flake I have on hand, along with the four tins of Solani 763, should keep me through Groundhog Day. I imagine it will depend on how many "three pipe problems" I encounter along the way - with any luck, it'll be quite a few.

Drawing by Thomas Fogarty c.1925 (Library of Congress)

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