Agincourt

The weatherman says, “Expect snow today.” The chances of snow this afternoon are 100%. Not much ambiguity there. One hundred percent says, “Snow’s happening. Get used to it.”

Snow? The calendar says it’s October 29th. While I expect October snows in Wyoming, snow is usually fashionably late for the party here in Northern Virginia.

So, when I arrived in my study this morning – coffee carafe in hand – I lit the season’s first fire. Morning fires remind me of home: of early trips to the woodpile in the darkness, of red flannel, and of my father’s appraising eye. He always looked to see if I had laid the logs properly in the fireplace, a metaphor for fatherhood, I think. I wish he were here to raise an eyebrow now, or maybe even to smile small praise.

Mom as a young woman.Yesterday was a bit of a rocky day for me. Five years ago last evening, my mother passed away. She had her husband and four surviving children around her as she slipped away. It was a shocking event to me; the force of her personality, the strength of her will, and the heat of her passion combined to make her seem one of life’s redoubts.

So, Autumn has taken on one more meaning to me – the vulnerability of the formidable and an understanding that what is precious is always transient – like Autumn. Its brilliant blaze is the bright flicker before darkness.

Autumn has always been my favorite time of year, even before I began smoking a pipe. The crispness of the air, frost on the grass, pumpkins, the harvest, and the brillant color of trees combine to open my heart and redden my cheeks. Now, as I am in the early Autumn of my life, the scent of pipe smoke goes with Autumn leaves like sage and rosemary go with roast chicken. Pipe smoke improves Autumn.

What is it about Autumn that makes me feel like smoking English blends? For some reason, the taste of Orientals and Latakia is particularly delicious this time of year. To my palate, a great English blend creates a delicious sweet and spicy smoke that satisfies more than other tobacco genres.

Last week, while I was in Northwest Arkansas, I acquired a tin of Esoterica’s Margate. While I loved it on its own, I decided to blend it with Magnolia Avenue because my favorite English blends are built on a Virginias foundation.

As I wrote in my post, The Experiment, I love this blend. Indeed, it may be among the most delicious English blends I have ever smoked. Margate is delicious on its own, but when it is combined with sweet, mature, red Virginias – and a smidgeon of Perique – the sum is far greater than the components are on their own.

Henry V at AgincourtBlending is all about the synergy of flavors. I surprised myself by deciding to name this blend Agincourt. My favorite passage from Shakespeare’s works is Henry’s St. Crispian’s Day speech which, in Shakespeare’s dramatisation (Henry V), was delivered on the morning of October 25th, 1415.

    “This day is call’d the feast of Crispian.
    He that outlives this day, and comes safe home,
    Will stand a tip-toe when this day is named,
    And rouse him at the name of Crispian.
    He that shall live this day, and see old age,
    Will yearly on the vigil feast his neighbours,
    And say, “To-morrow is Saint Crispian.”
    Then will he strip his sleeve and show his scars,
    And say, “These wounds I had on Crispin’s day.”

    Old men forget; yet all shall be forgot,
    But he’ll remember with advantages
    What feats he did that day. Then shall our names,
    Familiar in his mouth as household words,
    Harry the King, Bedford, and Exeter,
    Warwick and Talbot, Salisbury and Gloucester,
    Be in their flowing cups freshly rememb’red.
    This story shall the good man teach his son;
    And Crispin Crispian shall ne’er go by,
    From this day to the ending of the world,
    But we in it shall be remembered-

    We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
    For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
    Shall be my brother; be he ne’er so vile,
    This day shall gentle his condition:
    And gentlemen in England now a-bed
    Shall think themselves accursed they were not here,
    And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
    That fought with us upon Saint Crispin’s day.”

I’m looking forward to a wonderful day. Later this morning, I will meet my friends for our ritual Saturday morning breakfast. Afterwards, we will reconvene at Old Virginia Tobacco Company’s Falls Church location for pipe smoke and more conversation. I plan on sharing bowls of Agincourt with my friends. We’ll see what they think.

Update on Saturday, October 29, 2011 at 6:30PM by Neill Archer Roan

I shared Agincourt with three friends today. Each of them loved it, naming it as among the very best English blend they have ever smoked. It was a great thing seeing them love it so much.

Comments

[Rick H.]

While I completely understand why some folks find english blends more suited to Autumn smoking, I prefer them year round. In fact, I think the bolder, more fragrant aromas of english blends are necessary to combat the heat and pressure of Summer, like a strong maduro. To me, Autumn weather is more conducive to enjoying the more subtle, earthy-sweet flavors of straight VAs and VA/PERs. Regardless, I'll take my english blends anytime.

By the way, very nicely written, Neill. Thanks for sharing your thoughts on this time of year.

[jimbo44]

"We few, we happy few, we band of brothers"

Even for a loyal Englishman, this phrase now encapsulates our entire shared passion.

[Chuck Goodspeed]

Neil,I look forward to reading your blogs and this one was so beautifull.I too love the Autum and when I llite my pipes I am taken back to a time of my youth and walks with My Grandfather in search of the Wiley Ring Neck Pheasent.

[Richard Friedman]

Neill,

One of your most evocative and touching blogs yet. As a fellow child of autumn, I have often wondered if my affinity for the season has more to do with my birthday, my temperament or my aesthetic. Oh; and a happy birthday to you in advance.

Richard.

[thefoolish Ethan]

Neill,

Every since I encountered this speech, it has been one of the most moving, emotionally powerful passages I have ever read. In 12th grade, during a speech competition, I contrasted this speech with "Now is the winter of our discontent" from Henry III, to show the difference between the good king and bad king within Shakespeare.

I am also in agreement about the perfection that is Autumn. The crispness that tightens the lungs, bundling your coat around you a little tighter, watching the steam of your breath drift off into the East -- it is pure bliss. There is also a fragility within the season, a trait made all the more stark to those who love the season: winter is coming, as you have experienced far too well, and those snows can shake the gentle leaves from their sleeping place and bring them to a permanent, decomposing rest on the ground, just to be trampled underfoot and forgotten. Those carved pumpkins that will give children a giggle or a fright tonight will soon rot; the harvest will end; fires will burn to ash. This fragility requires that we savor every moment of Autumn as we would a pipe, sipping in the air, rolling it around in our very being, and exhaling it with a smile.

[Rick Newcombe]

Neill,

Wonderful recollection of your mother. I'm sure she was a remarkable person, with such a kind and knowing expression in that old photograph. I lost my mother on Sept. 2, just two months ago, and no matter how ill they are at the end, the loss is so final.

As for snow in Virginia, I am waiting to hear more from the global warming crowd.

I hope you will post something about your upcoming speech at the West Coast Pipe Show next Saturday night. I understand the tables are all sold out, and it is expected to be another terrific show. I look forward to seeing you there, and I hope some of your readers who are on the fence will jump over and make plans to attend this show.

[Lawdog]

Wonderful loving essay. I miss my Mom every day...Rick I hear you my friend.

I also got to try the tobacco Neill blended today...outstanding. This is a Va lovers English blend for sure...

[Bas Stevens]

I visited with Neill aboard the Alaskan Song last evening in Bellingham, WA. along with a few other members of the Vancouver Pipe Club.

As we sat on the aft deck, gathered around a covered table with a light drizzle falling, Neill offered me a pipefull of his blend, Agincourt. I gratefully accepted and filled my TAO. A while later, Neill asked my opinion of the blend and the words that fell from my mouth were: "John Cotton". Yes, this blend reminds me so much of the long gone, but not forgotten, John Cotton blends.

Thank you so much Richard, Nancy and Neill for a very memorable evening.

[David Huber]

Great post, Neill. The St. Crispian's Day speech is among my favorites in all of Shakespeare.