Let’s face it, the pipe smokers are a rare breed. Go to any brick and mortar and either they cursory offer some pipe tobacco and basket pipes or nothing at all. There are exceptions to that rule such as The Country Squire, J.M Boswell’s, Watch City Cigars, Iwan Reis, L.J. Peretti, Ulhle’s and even in my neck of the woods to a lesser extent, Pipe’s By George. The cigar world had a big boom in 1997 and during that is when I converted to be a pipe smoker. The cigars quality dropped and rolled and shipped as fast as possible. You buy a box and smelled like a litter box from all the ammonia being emitted. Cigars declined, Cigar Aficionado had great writers and articles that went the way of the do-do. ...

Dix tobacco blend started out as a joke for me to derail tobacco forum threads. I will not expand on the derailment but it was always successful. Of course everyone said I need to make the actual blend. So I literally tossed some things together and everyone loved it, especially when Carter Hall briefly disappeared off the market. Original Dix formula was: 42% Sutliff Maryland 21% Sutliff J4 Burley 19% Dunhill 3 year Virginia and later replaced with McConnel 5 year Virginia when Dunhill went bye-bye 19% Sutliff 515 RC-1 Red Virginia Dix was a really good old codger blend. Of course continued derailment of the forum threads that we came up with Whiskey Dix, the aromatic version of Dix. ...

This one I never sold at the local shop. I did make it and gave out to a few friends. Once again, with Sutliff/MacBaren being knocked out at the end of January I am releasing the recipe. I can be blended up with equal parts of: Sutliff Z79 Creamy Butterscotch Sutliff SP24 Nougat Sutliff B20 Cavendish Sutliff TS9 Maryland

A reference guide for decoding production date codes on various pipe tobacco tins and cans. Pulled from Badger & Blade and Dutch Pipes Smoker Peterson YYDDMMXXXX Orlik YYXXMMXXDD Orlik/STG vs MacBaren On the backside of similar Capstan tins, the Orlik/STG tin has 10 digits and then 4, while the MacBaren one has 8 and then 5. MacBaren tin code: 09 = Packing machine used 13 = Year of packing 028 = Calendar day of production 1 = Shift (1 indicates day shift) The 5 digit number is the internal batch number Orlik/STG tin code: ...

If you are going to buy and IM Corona Old Boy, don’t buy a painted one. I got a nice blue Old Boy and then one day tossed it in my pocket with the keys. The paint chips and it started to look ragged. My buddy Jamie at Stem & Briar recommended me to Sick Saddles. I finally jumped on this recommendation and wow, does Sick Saddles do nice work! He gave a wide selection of choices for the leather. Highly recommend ...

Scandinavian Tobacco Group purchased Sutliff Tobacco and they will be moving the operations overseas. When STG did this with Lane’s Tobacco they cut the tobacco line. Red Queen V was the first blend (well fifth iteration) I made with commercial components. Given it will be unknown if the components will be available after operation cease here in the USA, I am publishing the recipe. This is not to be confused with Red Queen Plug which is made from raw leaf tobacco that can be obtained from WholeLeafTobacco.com. ...

For one, I am not a licensed tobacco manufacturer. To do so would require a one million dollar bond on raw tobacco storage and one million dollar bond on the blending room and keep meticulous records of poundage going in and out of each room. Uncle Sam wants his tax revenue! But let’s say I can get someone to write the bond 15K a year. I take a lb of tobacco for $19/lb and make 7 two ounce flakes packages factoring in waste and stems and sell at $20/each. That is $140 - $19 - $1 (packaging?) or $120 profit. I would have to sell 125 lbs of raw leaf to product to break even or put it another way, 875 two ounce packages. This does not include building rental, or paying for a real press and slicer that is industrial. Believe me I am not going to be doing 125 lbs on a frame press from Northern Tool. After that then I can pay me? Thanks, I already have a day job. Now if some big blender wants to use my recipes, have at it. Just give credit where credit is due. ...

Decided to pull all the plugs I still have and flake them out. Plugs that I stoved in the oven were still moist and easy to slice. Plugs that stoved in a hot truck for 5 days was like trying to flake a 2 x 4. Ended up with a case of 16oz wide mouth Mason jars full of flakes. All the images below are straight Virginia’s except the last 2 images. Those are either Angel of Izmir or Basma Bastard. ...

Happy little accidents! I tried to make 2 more Angel of Izmir plugs and when I pulled them they seemed small. Thinking back I actually forgot to add Izmir to the blend. Head slapfrom Head slap The end result is a pretty smooth smoke without the citrus of Izmir. Blend for 140g plug 24.5% Latakia (43g) 20% Basma (35g) 35.5% Red Virginia (cased with Tonka) (62g)

At the CORPS pipe show we open a jar of Red Queen plug flake that has been sealed for 6-8 months. Boom ketchup! What happened here? My theory for a couple of months has been tobacco vinegar is what makes this famous smell. This jar of Red Queen plug is leading more in that direction. What I think happened is the wet whole leaf perique kick started a secondary fermentation of the red Virginia. I’m no chemist so I may be talking out of my ass. But let’s try an experiment. ...