From: ?????????????????
Subject: The New Tongue

Date: Sunday, January 15, 1995
Time: 12:35 AM

This Friday marked a great day for me. After months of longing and outright
lust I made the move and... I bought a Peterson. I have been lusting for a
Peterson ever since I saw a brochure on them. But I did not find out about
them until I was dedicated to saving money... I need to get back to college,
after all. I kept telling myself I would wait until I finally got to
college--I reward myself then with a new pipe. I just could not wait.
[Rationalization mode on.] After all, what is college? A place of education?
Perhaps. But more so it is a place to learn how to educate one's self. Is not
education the responsibility of the individual; is not education a daily task
for those who seek wisdom and truth regardless of their surroundings? There
is, not two miles away, a library from which I can borrow books and discover
the wisdom of Plato and read the words of Byron and Tennyson. I, myself, have
several Bibles to learn the wisdom of God. I have my father's endless
editions of Shakespeare. I have Hugo; I have Dostoevsky. I have  Virgil. I
have Emerson and Thoreau and Donne and Frost and The Leaves of Grass. Is not
there material here for a life's study? So, I went out and bought the damned
pipe.

To get back to my point...

The pipe is a beautiful medium apple of the Peterson System design. I have a
couple Savinellis, they are not *bad* pipes, but they could definitely be
better. This, this is a *real* pipe. I awaited the first smoking with great
anticipation, all the while keeping in the back of my mind that some find
Peterson's to be hard pipes to break in. It was delightful--though rainy.

I believe that this marks a new stage in my pipe smoking developement. The
pipes I had bought previously, I bought on mere appearance, not smokeability.
I have educated myself a bit and made an educated decision.

To accompany this decision, I made another decision, as well. I wish to learn
to enjoy the English blend. So far, my experience has been extremely limited
and a bit dismal. I shall start searching out mail order companies to cure
the limitations I have faced with the local market; however, that does little
for those--even smokers (though not pipe smokers)--who have complained
greatly about my experimentation with Dunhill's Standard Mixture Mild. They
claimed it smelled *worse* than camel dung! :-)

So, where do I begin? I think I shall give Escudo, Balkan Sobriane, and
Bengal Slices a try; they seem to be popular among the Digest. But, how do I
educate my tongue to taste the subtleties of such tobaccos? As well, how do I
learn what it is I am actually tasting?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
  Christopher D. Walborn              ~  ~          
  ?????????????????               ~    ~   ~        
  2533 SW 31st Terrace                   ~  ~       
  Cape Coral FL 33914                      ~        
  (813) 549-8060                           U______  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[ Good luck in your venture, Christopher! And that's a very good
question... how does a pipe (or cigar) smoker go about developing an
educated palate? -S. ]


~\U ~\U ~\U ~\U ~\U ~\U ~\U ~\U ~\U ~\U ~\U ~\U ~\U ~\U ~\U ~\U ~\U