[Pipes] Eric Paulson Billiard

If you haven’t yet heard of the name Eric Paulson, I believe you will soon enough. Eric is a maker of pipes from the Minneapolis, Minnesota area and according to hit website has been making custom pipes since sometime in 2010. Browsing his wares, he seems to be interested in various forms, but it’s his version of the Devil Anse that has garnered him a lot of attention.

In fact, I’ve seen his name crop up a lot recently on several forums, especially over at Pipes Magazine. Recently, on their Pipes Magazine Radio Show (Episode 75), two large names in the industry were interview. One, being Sykes Wilford who is the head honcho over at Laudisi Inc., which include the operations of SmokingPipes.com and Cornell & Diehl. The other being Rick Newcombe, better known as the author behind In Search of Pipe Dreams.  In this discussion on pipe makers, Newcombe name dropped the artist…which to me is a rather big deal, given his passion of the art, even to the point of having a talk dubbed Pipe Smoking in the Movies at this year’s Chicagoland International Pipe Show. He had quite a bit to say about Eric and his style and take on the Devil Anse.

Naturally, I became curious. I started to dig a little deeper on the forums to see what work Paulson has done, as well as scoped out what he has posted himself. Luckily, he had a handful of pipes available at a reasonable price. I debated and debated and eventually settled upon a rusticated/sandblasted straight billiard. I bit the bullet and added the pipe to my cart. Keep in mind this was on a Friday. On Monday, I had this beauty of a pipe waiting for me on my doorstep.

This thing is hefty! It comes at six inches and has one heck of a bowl. Normally, I’m not a fan of full-blown rusticated pipes. This one, however, I adore. It doesn’t have the chunky, tar-like finish I see time and time again. Instead it’s textured just enough to give my hands something to play with while I smoke. The stem is also quite beefy, more so than any other pipe that I own. Yet, it sits comfortably between my teeth with no complaints.

The finish of this pipe is a nice red and dark brown/black swirl. It’s honestly well put together. It fits a pipe cleaner from stem to bowl with no problems. It’s well balanced. In fact, the only issue I had with this pipe was deciding what I was going to put in it.

The bowl itself has a huge chamber…and I do mean huge. So, whatever I want to put in it would have to be something I don’t mind long smokes of. In the end, I settled on using it for my Virginia and Virginia/Perique blends. Breaking it in slowly but surely is going to be a task, as I simply want to fill it to the brim and fire it up, but it’s a virgin chamber with no carbon coating so I need to be cautious.

All-in-all, I’m impressed with his work. So much in fact, I’ve already been in contact with him about commissioning one of his Devil Anse pipes. Actually…two of his Devil Anse pipes. One for myself and one for my father. Check him out and just what he can do here: www.EricPaulsonPipes.com and see for yourself. He’s pleasant to work with and for what he does, he offers his pipes at a very decent price.

[Tobacco Blends] Cornell & Diehl: Autumn Evening

Where to begin with Cornell & Diehl’s Autumn Evening blend…

I’ve been trying to find an aromatic that both tastes great…or at least tastes good enough…that also fills the room with a pleasant aroma. Digging through multiple sites, Autumn Evening read well. Supposedly heavily cased in maple flavor and a lovely maple aroma. Some reviews even made mention of maple drenched pancakes. Naturally, I was sold.

Upon popping the tin, it smells amazing. It definitely has a maple aroma. This had me a little giddy, as I love the flavor and was expecting something amazing.

Right out of the tin, it was a little moist. I sat out some to dry for about 20-25 minutes. Again, I prefer my tobacco a bit on the dryer side. While I waited, I emptied out the tin into one of my jelly mason jars for storage. Then, I went about my ritual of loading my first bowl. I decided upon my Peterson St. Patrick’s Day 2006 B10.

It took to light easy enough, with the char light taking one match and one more to get things goings.

The flavor…was not anything I was expecting. I tasted no maple. There was a hint of brown sugar somewhere underneath a horrible burned/charred taste. Somewhere in there, there might have been a smidgen of expired and crusty molasses…the type that no one wanted and has sat in the fridge for generations.

I attempted to work my way through the bowl. Both puffing and sipping. It was a struggle. The aftertaste was all but unbearable. Again, no maple…and rolling my tongue around all I could get was that horrid charred taste left to remind me of what I stuffed into my bowl.

The tobacco itself burnt well. In fact, for an aromatic, it burned to the bottom well enough that I only had to tamper, rather than relight.

Thinking perhaps there was something ghosting this particular pipe, after it cooled I went about cleaning it out with some moonshine and left it to dry.

Then, second times the charm, right? I figured it was a fluke. The next day opening up the jar with reservation, it was that intoxicating smell that got my hopes up. Loading up the bowl I set my expectations high once more, giving the benefit of the doubt. I was disappointed. There was no improvement, and giving that what I had been smoking in the bowl prior too had been sweet, there shouldn’t have been too much tainted flavor.

Whatever Autumn Evening was meant to be…I don’t know. I could have simply gotten a bad batch (manufacturing date on the bottom of the tin reads 2013-12-12), but there was nothing pleasant about this blend. As I sit here writing this, I’m still cringing at the taste left in my mouth.

Usually, I will give a blend a fighting chance and won’t pass judgement until several bowls have been given a go. In this case…I think I will simply cut my losses. As this is my first sampling of what Cornell & Diehl have to offer I just hope whatever I try of theirs in the future gives me a better impression.

That being said…I will let what I do have age a bit and give it another bowl or two. If there is a noted improvement I’ll most definitely be writing up another tasting. If there isn’t…well, It’ll never again see the light of day. As it stands, however, Autumn Evening is not one I’ll recommend…ever.

[Anecdotes & Memories] Happy International Pipe Smoking Day 2014

Happy International Pipe Smoking Day to all my brothers and sisters of the briar!

In celebration, I made sure to get an order in for some new blends last week to give me a little something fresh to savor in celebration! And, it arrived just in time as it landed on my doorstep yesterday afternoon!

Also, to anyone out there interested, keep an eye out for some decent sales in celebration! Smoking Pipes announced a 10% discount now until midnight EST (it actually started yesterday afternoon at 3:00 PM EST). I already have my next order planned, but I want to see what others, like Pipes And Cigars or 4 Noggins has to offer. Shop around and get yourself a little something…you deserve it!

So cheers to another year and light up a bowl for the holiday!

[Tobacco Blends] McClelland Craftsbury: Frog Morton’s Cellar

As mentioned previously, I’ve been an aromatic, and strictly aromatic, smoker since I first picked up a pipe. It’s wasn’t for lack of wanting to try different variations of pipe tobacco, but rather a safety net of sorts. I had never tried anything other and I was a skeptic as to branching out, fearful it’d ruin things for me.

Recently, however, I became motived to seek something new. I read through various reviews of different blends, as well as lurked through the forums over at Pipes Magazine. There were plenty of suggestions and offered advice for one such as myself (i.e. wanting to step outside of the box) and one name that kept cropping up was that of McClelland’s Frog Morton line.

After a little more digging, I hunkered down and decided to give Frog Morton’s Cellar a go. For one, it seems to be the more popular of the line’s blends currently on the market. For another, I’m a sucker for whiskey and as the tobacco blend is aged with stave cubes (chunks of cask from whiskey barrels) it naturally piqued my interest.

I have to say, I’m glad I took that leap of faith!

Once my package arrived, I greedily tore into it, popping the tin with eagerness. The first thing I noticed is the campfire-like smell with a hint of whiskey and sweetness underneath. I had ordered the 100g tin, and in order to preserve some in case I didn’t particularly care for it I broke it up into two different mason jars; one to tuck away for a while and another to take from. One thing I found to be a surprising novelty is the inclusion of an actual stave cube in the 100g tins, keeping that whiskey-ness along for the ride.

The tobacco was all but ready to go right from the tin. I let it dry for 20-25 minutes before loading up my bowl, letting that aroma waft around me in the interim. Upon setting flame to leaf, an earthy and smoky, yet spicy, flavor hit my palate with eye-opening interest. Although smoking aromatics had me searching for the different flavorings this was something totally different. Although a reportedly mild blend for “English” offerings, being new to this side of the fence offered me a completely new experience.

The smoke was relatively light but husky. A hint of whiskey was present in the background but not prevalent. It was somewhat ‘meaty’ in taste…like that charred crust sitting on top of a steak on the grill. With the inclusion of latakia for the first time in my smoking experience, I found it added a little extra kick to take it up a notch and gave my palate something new to toy with.

As the bowl smoked down, I found the blend to become a bit thicker in consistency, mellowing out as it went along allowing the Virginian leaves to come more to the forefront with their sweet taste.

The tobacco itself burns relatively cool and took to flame easily. My first smoke of this blend was in a fresh Nording Clear Point Freehand and after several days of smoking and letting the briar pick up some of that latakia more of its essence became prevalent in each bowl. Going out on a limb and deciding to dedicate the new pipe to latakia-based blends I found to be an enhancing experience and from what I understand tend to ghost bowls for those who shuffle between tobaccos with other varieties of leaf.

All-in-all, after the Frog Morton line being hailed as “cross-over” blends for aromatic smokers wanting to try “English” blends, I can understand what they mean. Frog Morton Cellar has enough kick to shock the aromatic smoker’s palate with its inclusion of latakia. Enough latakia, in my opinion, for someone to decide if the “English” blends would be something worth delving deeper into. For me, I can’t get enough.

After several bowls now, I’m ready to try other latakia-laced blends and those fruity, casing-heavy blends are looking to be the occasional ‘treat.’ If you’re wanting for something new as an aro smoker, give it a whirl, you just might enjoy it…I know I did!