From: Bill Maas (????????????????????)
Subject: posting from pipes page

A MIDDLE-AGE MAN GETS A SWEET TOOTH:

After thirty years of smoking "correct" tobaccos--complex English blends; 
or pressed slabs of Middle-Belt Virginia, Xanthi, Djebel and, of course,
Perique; (hold all additives!)--I have mutinied.  My smoking room no longer
has the lusty, pungent aroma of an English men's club.  No, now it smells 
more like a...pastry shop.
  
I've gone aromatic!  (At least some of the time.)

My wife even complimented me on the new "bouquet."  But I did not make this
change for the benefit of others; I did it for me.  I just don't have what 
it takes to continue being a full-time tobacco connoisseur.
  
Latakia?  I recall the time, in my salad days, when I marched into a 
tobacconist and told him, "I wanna smoke just straight Latakia."  He rolled
his eyes.  Now...the legendary black weed from Northern Syria doesn't 
always move me.  And those luscious matured Virginias? why, some of them 
can lash my tongue like a sting-ray.

The trick is to find a quality aromatic (an oxymoron to some of you, I 
know), a blend that doesn't turn sour or rank half-way through, also one 
that contains good tobacco and smokes dry.  The tobacco reviews on Kevin 
Cook's great website helped steer me in the right direction.  He recommends
several such blends:  Georgetown Tobacco's "Night Owl; Quintessence #1; and
St. Germain Mixture No. 7.  I have tried the Night Owl and I like it! Plan
to sample more.  Thanks Kevin: (if you're reading this, I got some Condor.
Wow!  What a powerhouse.  Jury's not in, but I think I like it.)  

It could be the aging process--mine, not the tobaccos'.   Long ago, a 
dedicated pipeman, Ken, at Drucquer's Tobacco in Berkeley, told me his 
theory:  As men get older, their tastes grow sweeter.  They start enjoying
things like sherry and port and sweeter tobaccos, Cavendish etc.  Said he
had seen it time after time in long-term customers.

I am not giving up on the "right stuff," just lightening up.

Peace, love, and understanding  (Isn't that from an Elvis Costello song?)
Bill Maas 

[What's so funny about that? :-) -S. ]


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