Put that in your pipe and smoke it!

Well the vacation is over and I am officially back to the daily grind.  My wife and I went to New Orleans for a week and have both fallen in love with the place (note that our sentiments could have been unduly influenced by the uncharacteristically cool weather and low humidity that we are told is not the norm for New Orleans).  But apart from the hustle and bustle of the French Quarter, we most enjoyed the night we spent in one of the cottages at Oak Alley plantation just a short drive from the city.  I would highly recommend this if you ever have the opportunity.  The plantation closes at Seven o’clock I believe but when you stay at one of the four cottages on site you have run of the entire property.  Now I must admit that I am a huge history buff and found myself to be quite content sitting beneath the towering three hundred year old oaks watching lightning over the swollen Mississippi and enjoying some of Virginia’s finest tobacco.  Ahh, if only time could have stood still.  Ok ok enough of that, I have other things to get to.  As I mentioned in my last entry there are new things to discuss concerning a new Peterson and tobacco.  A few weeks ago my dear wife purchased a coupon for me through http://www.groupon.com  that was offered at one of my local tobacconist Heroes and Legacies.  It was a thirty dollars for fifteen gift card, can’t go wrong there.  So I rushed off to put it to good use and walked out with a new Peterson.  This would be my first experience with a Peterson p-lip mouth piece.  My first move once I got home was to run straight to the inter webz and get others opinion of this conundrum that had found its way to the bit of my new pipe.  I can easily say that I had defiantly given to skepticism after reading only the first few reviews ushered to me by goggle (skynet).  It seemed clear that there was little love for this daring innovation by Peterson.   At last it was time for trial by fire.  Now at this point in the story I must diverge for a moment but assure you it will all come together momentarily.  The day previous to the purchase of the Peterson, I was making my rounds and stopped by my other tobacconist, Smokers Haven, in hopes of finding something new in way of an English tobacco.  As luck would have it the guru of the pipe tobaccos was out and in his place was a young man who wielded his knowledge solely to the realm of cigars but did seem somewhat aware that they were in the business of pipes also.  So despite my craving for something of the latakia persuasion he was persistent that I should try his “pick of the day” and assured me it was a sure fire hit.  So in the spirit of comradeship I bit and went home with a tin of Villiger 1888 mid-day. 

                Now back to the p-lip.  As I earlier stated, my expectations were low due to the reviews that I had read.  The p-lip if you are not familiar with it takes a slightly different approach to the traditional mouth piece and places a small hole on the top of the mouth piece diverting the smoke to the top of your mouth other than across your tongue.  This design is supposed to help prevent tongue bite.  Pack, light and puff and we are a go.  To sum up a lot of rambling, I found the p-lip to perform as promised and had no issues with it.  Many complained that the design while preventing tongue bite would irritate the roof of the mouth, opening a whole new bag of concerns; I myself did not experience this but found it to smoke quite well and cool.  Although I found the p-lip to work quite well I must confess that I prefer a traditional mouth piece.

                So you must be asking yourselves “What about the villiger 1888 mid day” right?  Well to the best that I can explain I would liken it to craming a fruitcake basted in bourbon in to the bowl of your pipe and lighting up.  There, how’s that for ya?  Seriously I felt that I was smoking a fruitcake.  I’m not saying that I am diametrically opposed to the smoking of a fruitcake, who’s to say that to some that isn’t the ideal fix, but just wasn’t  the smoke I was looking for that day.  I will note here though that after a couple of weeks I did give it another try and found that with a bit of drying it did mellow a good deal and was much more palatable.  I did the next day acquire a tin of Ashton’s Consummate Gentleman to quench my appetite for English.