News and Updates

I’m not complaining. Really I’m not.

I recently received a nice note from David Migdal, whose site, TobaccoDays, I recently wrote about here. David has been swamped in a redesign and refinement of his site and was lamenting the enormous investment of time and energy these undertakings take. He also mentioned that the average interview takes him roughly thirty hours to do.

Welcome to my world, David.

I don’t mean to sound unsympathetic – believe me I’m not – but sites like his and Passion for Pipes require enormous amounts of time and energy to create, maintain, plan, update, and refresh. For me, it’s about 30 hours a week, on average, with some weeks taking more.

I’ve been doing this for over four years. I thought it was going to get easier, and it hasn’t. For me, the toughest part of the whole thing is keeping it fresh. I worry that sooner or later I’m going to start repeating myself or addressing stale topics.

Changes Underway

Those of you who are following Passion for Pipes have no doubt noticed a lot of changes here recently. I’ve been reorganizing the navigation, adding new content, and improving some features.

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Ah Wilderness!

Those of you who are theatre buffs undoubtedly wondered whether I’d changed from blogging about pipes and tobaccos to blogging about theatre. No, this isn’t a post about Eugene O’Neil’s novel and play from the 1930s. I’m writing about McClelland’s production of Fred Hanna’s marvelous blend, Wilderness, a winning blend of Red Virginias, Syrian Latakia, Orientals (Drama and Yenidje), and a few other secret component tobaccos.

Fred Hanna is a friend of mine as those of you who are regular readers here already can attest. Fred’s devotion to and obsession with the great old English blend, Marcovitch, is a subject I’ve written about here. It is also something important to know about Fred’s taste in tobaccos because, to my palate, there are some similarities between Marcovitch Black and White and Wilderness.

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Finding That Magic Fit Between Pipe and Tobacco

Updated on Thursday, October 28, 2010 at 3:02PM by Neill Archer Roan

Updated on Friday, October 29, 2010 at 11:46AM by Neill Archer Roan

Why do we dedicate pipes?

Some pipe smokers dedicate pipes to particular blends or styles of blends. Because dedication is often accomplished when a pipe is new, the process precludes the possibility of experimenting with several blends before making a final decision. This practice prompts a couple of  questions:

• Why dedicate pipes to specific tobaccos?
• Without having experienced different blends in a pipe, how do we pre-judge which pipes are best suited for particular tobaccos.

I dedicate pipes to tobaccos for several reasons. First, I have concluded that particular shape types or chamber geometries is often better-suited to a particular type and/or style of tobacco, e.g. English, Oriental Blends, and Virginia-Periques.

Secondly, because I smoke a range and variety of tobaccos that are incompatible with others, I want to avoid obscuring the taste of a particular favorite blend with some other tobacco, especially if that favored blend possesses singular flavors that are amenable to lingering within the pipe. These residual flavors – commonly called “ghosts” – add undesirable notes to different styles of blends, obscuring or sometimes destroying the blender’s intentions and the tobacco’s flavors.

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West Coast Pipe Show Looks to be Successful Already

Photo by Werner Kunz (Flcikr Member werkunz1)According to show organizers Marty Pulvers, Rick Newcombe and Steve O’Neill, the West Coast Pipe Show is shaping up very nicely.  That’s great news for those who will be heading to Las Vegas the weekend after next.

The show’s exhibitor table complement is completely sold out - all 102 tables. This means that there will be a pipes, tobaccos, tobacciana, and accessories galore for sale and/or trade.

Early signs indicate that quite a few collectors will be in attendance as more than a third of the tables have been sold to collectors. I know that my friend, Mario Persico, is bringing some very nice pieces from his collection to share with fellow collectors, and I’m sure others are as well.

How I wish I could join everyone there, but I will be working in Boston. No soup, er pipe show, for me!

I am especially interested in hearing Fred Hanna’s dinner speech at the show. Fred is an extraordinarly entertaining friend who brings not only a lot of pipe knowledge and experience to the table, but he’s also a lot of fun to hear. I envy those of you who will be in attendance when he speaks.

Have a great show, everyone!

The Marcovitch Mysteries

Updated on Thursday, August 12, 2010 at 5:21PM by Neill Archer Roan

Marcovitch Illustrated Ad from the 1930s

When noted collector Fred Hanna introduced me to Marcovitch Black and White pipe tobacco at the last Chicago Pipe Show, he asked me, “Have you ever heard of Marcovitch pipe tobacco?”

I responded that I had not, and he replied, “Neill, nobody has heard of this stuff. It is very rare, extremely hard to find, and absolutely fantastic.”

Later, when we were able to sit down in the smoking tent Fred allowed me to fill a bowl from his tin. When Fred handed me the tin, my first experience with the tobacco proved it to be somewhat dry to the touch.

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