Fred Hanna's "The Perfect Smoke"

Fred Hanna’s recently released book, The Perfect Smoke, was written by a pipes and tobacco gastronome. I use the word “gastromome” quite intentionally as its implications are that a gastronome’s perspective arises from an extensive study of the history and rituals of haute cuisine or, in Dr. Hanna’s case, haute tobacco.

Hanna’s significant experience participating in and conducting fine and rare wine tastings have influenced his approach to pipes and tobacco tasting.  He approaches the pipe like a gourmet approaches the dinner plate: with appetite, affection, patience, and a certain skepticism.

He knows that not every meal will be a peak experience, but he also recognizes that great meals are more likely when savvy choices are made with respect to chefs, tables, ingredients, seasons of the year, and condition of the palate.

Because creating the conditions for the peak pipes-and-tobacco experience requires an open mind and no little reverence for the possibilities, Hanna reminds us that, if we want the perfect smoke, we must mentally and physically prepare for the journey. The impatient, the unrealistic, the lazy or the ill-prepared need not apply.

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Keep your favorite tobaccos optimally fresh

In working on my book, I’ve been spending an inordinate amount of time focused on tobacco blends of late. While I can determine whether or not I like a particular blend by smoking it, I’ve discovered that I can learn a lot more about a blend’s character and finish by comparing it and contrasting it to other blends within the same genre, e.g. Orientals, Virginia-Periques, etc. It is a lot of fun and quite interesting to smoke two or three tobaccos simultaneously. Among other benefits, I’ve started improving my taste-memory by this process.

There is a downside, however. Opening all these tins has presented me with challenges in preserving the condition of the tobacco since it is virtually impossible for me to smoke through these tins before they begin to dry out. At this point I think I have opened some 30 or so tins of tobacco some of which are quite rare and expensive, not to mention very tasty.

Coin twist-type tobacco tinWhen I’ve opened some of these rare old birds - some have as much as 50 years aging in the tin - I have been astounded at the perfect condition of many of the tins’ contents. Conversely, I have also cracked a tin to find nothing but moldy tobacco dust inside. These anxiety-filled moments have instilled no little determination in me to steward the condition of these great old tobaccos when I find them.

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Smoking Flakes: Fold and Stuff or Rub Out?

I had a lot of trouble making a fold-and-stuff loading technique work the first few times. Try as I might, I was unable to maintain an appropriate burn. The tobacco stubbornly refused to burn evenly or at all. I was so frustrated that I nearly decided to forget folding and stuffing and just stick to rubbing the flake out.

That would have been a big mistake.

The difference in flavor between smoking a rubbed-out flake versus a folded-and- stuffed flake can be so stark as to seem metaphysical. That the same tobacco can transform in richness and intensity depending on the form in which it is loaded in the pipe has changed how I approach smoking flake tobaccos. I now try both techniques so that I have experienced both approaches.

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Balkan Sobranie Black and White

Updated on Friday, November 19, 2010 at 10:34AM by Neill Archer Roan

It was a beautiful, crisp sunny day last Sunday. I was cogitating outside on the patio, ankle-deep in autumn leaves, while watching a particularly skinny squirrel busying itself with Winter preparations when I decided to open an old tin of Balkan Sobranie.

I haven’t smoked much of this alchemical blend for a long, long time. My reacquaintance with it commenced on the aft deck of the Alaskan Song where my friend Richard Friedman offered me as much as I wanted to smoke. As if I weren’t happy enough already. Anyway, it is hard for someone who loves English blends as much as I do to resist Balkan Sobranie. It is bliss-inducing tobacco.

This particular tin came to me last year as a Christmas gift. I was amazed, knowing that this gentleman could have sold this tin for a pretty penny. When I first looked at the tin, I assumed from the angular circular indentation on the bottom of the tin that the tobacco was tinned post Galleher-acquisition.

Once I finally managed to dislodge the top (a coin twist didn’t budge it at all), I discovered that the tin was an old Sobranie House issue. One can’t really know for sure until one gets inside and sees the address on the heavy paper insert.

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