The Ugly Duckling

Seven or eight years ago, the Castello 55 shape was considered a weird, if not ugly, shape by many people. Even Castello collectors weren’t all that fond of it. A pot with a lot of wood around the bowl, the 55 has a chin at the bowl front that makes Kirk Douglas’s chin seem weak by comparison.

But, the 55 shape does have admirers, the most notable of which is tobacco alchemist and pipe collector Greg Pease. Pease’s devotion to the shape and to Castello pipes, period, approaches the fanatical.

The first time I engaged Greg in much more than “Hello” was at the 2006 Chicago Show. When I walked up to Greg’s table, he was smoking a Castello 55 Sea Rock with a ruby stem. He was also raving about the smoking qualities of the pipe. “It’s a smoking machine,” Greg enthused.

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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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