Road trip loot!

Lately I have been interested in the idea of refurbishing a couple of estate pipes and I have now found my victims. On a recent road trip to McKinney, Texas my wife and I stopped at a couple of antique stores, as we often do, and upon entering my eyes where instantly drawn to an old pipe stand near the back of the store. As I stated earlier I have been interested in attempting a restoration and had been on the lookout for my first candidate. The pipe rack was stuffed full of the usual antique store fodder of burned out Kaywoodies, Dr. Grabows and Yellow Boles but hiding near the back were two old Savinellis both in excellent condition. One was a Savinelli de luxe and the other a Savinelli silver KS 920 and each marked only five dollars. Moments later we were leaving the store with the two pipes in tow. In preparation I have read numerous articles on the subject of restoring estate pipes and have been gathering the materials to do so. Now with the proverbial caution thrown firmly into the wind…. I begin my attempt of resurrecting the former glory of an old smoker, or two I should say. Oh and not to forget the children, we ventured into a vintage candy store that we stumbled across and while reminiscing over favorite sweets of childhood, I discovered the bubble pipe, the licorice pipe and the only candy cigs for a truly manly child, Machismo candy cigarettes. I will post pic of the haul below so that you can feast your eyes on the day’s treasures. Enjoy.

First pipe video and Blue Note by Dan Tobacco

I have been wanting to make a video for a while now to break into the youtube pipe community so here is my first attempt. I actually pulled it down once already after hearing my own voice lol. Anyways check it out if you can and be kind it is a first attempt as I previously noted. Oh and do mention Blue Note by Dan Tobacco so check it out.

Pipes and Pints

Summers in west Texas are not one of my favorite things in life and this particular summer has been particularly brutal. With day time temperatures reaching well over one hundred degree I find that late nights are the only time I can enjoy a pipe in an outdoor setting and even then the temps are staying in the upper nineties. To better combat the heat I have been taking this precious couple of bearable hours each evening to delve into the world of craft beers while partaking of the pipe. For quite some time now I have been exploring the world of wine and my tastes have developed a firm sense of understanding to what is suitable to my taste, usually a big full bodied red with sharp tannins and bite. My first batch of home wine came out much better than expected and my cab vines are looking great thus far this year. I should be harvesting them around mid September and will get then next fermentation started. But with all of this I must admit that I have only the slightest knowledge of the craft beer world. The reviews by Pope Crisco (http://www.intoxico.net), Joffre (http://joffrethegiant.blogspot.com) and others have done much to fuel my curiosity and send me searching to further my knowledge and taste into the finer points of life. So I will lend to you my thoughts on the last three nights of grueling investigation. Now take note that I lack the vocabulary and skill to properly address the issue at hand so my simple thumbs up or down must suffice for the time being. The tobacco of choice these last two nights has been a local blend called Dark Knight which I have spoken of before consisting of toasted black Cavendish and burley. Dark Knight was settled upon after the first night’s pairing was all but disastrous which I will mention in a moment. Now living on the desert island of west Texas the selection is probably not the greatest so I must make do with what I can find.
Monday night featured Rogue's Dead Guy Ale and some Nightcap. First off I will say that I love Nightcap and fortunately I never had the opportunity to smoke any of the original so I don’t know what I have missed but I do find the current blend to be excellent. I have tried not to read too much in the way of reviews so as to not taint my honest opinion by what others have said and take an honest approach to the task at hand. The Dead Guy Ale I found to be superb and very well to my liking. Now remember I don’t have a lot of craft beer knowledge to base my assessments on but I do know what I do and do not like in a beer. The problem I eluded to earlier, is that both the Rogue and Nightcap are stellar choices on their own, paired together it is a different matter entirely. I could not begin to explain this phenomenon but take my world they are a mix simply not meant to be. But for the Rogue Dead Guy Ale it is two thumbs up for sure.
Having learned from the previous night’s ill conceived union I settled on my go-to tobacco, Dark Knight that seems to accompany all things quite well. This night’s beer by would be Saint Arnolds Amber Ale hailing from Houston Texas. Well there isn’t much I can say about this beer for it did little to peak my interest and seemed to even to be a tad bit on the boring side to say the least. Unfortunately this has given me little desire to try the other offerings from Saint Arnolds Brewery.
And this brings us to tonight. This night chosen brew was Agave Wheat by Breckenridge Brewery in Denver Colorado (http://www.breckbrew.com/beer/agavewheat.html). It is American wheat ale brewed with a touch of agave nectar. I found it to be a touch light and a bit sweet but over all enjoyable and it went beautifully with the smoke. For a moment I was able to forget that it was ninety six degrees at midnight and I simply became lost in the moment sitting on the front porch with the pint, the pipe and stars above.

A true viking would object

Warning! Please be aware that the following content may be offensive to some readers and most certainly to connoisseurs of fine tobacco and beer! With that said, women, children and men unsecure in their manhood please leave the room for tonight I have ventured into territory from which few return with dignity intact. It is quite possible that the unrelenting Texas heat has gone to my head, clouded my thinking and withdrawn all of my remaining sanity. On this very night I have dared a most un-natural pairing of beer and tobacco that goes against all confines of nature. All of time and space stood anxiously waiting. I present to you in this corner Dark Knight, a local favorite consisting of toasted black Cavendish and burley accompanied by a Viking classic straight billiard. And in the far corner the challenger, Shiner Bock’s summer seasonal, Ruby Redbird, A fine Texas Shiner Bock beer blended with Texas valley ruby red grapefruit and ginger. Now before you all demand the surrender of my man card let me say that I usually don’t like my beer altered in any such way, especially something so seemingly criminal as grapefruit and ginger, and let alone with even the slightest hint of sweetness. But the boys in Shiner Texas are not known to easily let you down so I gave them the benefit of the doubt based on their stellar past performances. And the verdict is... I find my self surprisingly pleased! Not only was it palatable, it was enjoyable. Never before have I been able to say as much for a beer infused with such confusion. But this, this blending of summer bliss has once again reaffirmed my faith in that small South Texas brewery. This night belongs to Shiner and the Dark Knight. Oh and on another note last night also had an epic pairing, Negro Modelo and McClelland’s Frog Morton on the Bayou. Oh a dark sultry summer night it was.

Parting is such sweet sorrow

This past weekend I purchased a new pipe that will serve as a gift next month. After spending much time at the pipe shop looking for the one that would fit the bill just right I finally settled on this beautiful Savanelli Roma series. I at least find it to be a pipe of particularly fine aesthetics and happen to know that it will be the perfect one for its recipient. Now you are probably asking yourselves, “Are you not running the risk of spoiling the surprise by this very posting?” Well rest assured that the one it is intended for is about as familiar with the inter-webz as I am with the back roads of Timbuktu so no need for the undue stress, the secret will remain so. Now to the point of my rambling, I am finding it quite difficult to leave the new pipe alone! I suddenly have reverted back to that sleepless child eagerly awaiting the arrival of Christmas morning. The mere presence of this new pipe in my home haunts me; it dances in my mind, calls to me and leaves me with a longing to be properly introduced to it, with match in hand of course. Yes I do realize that this is quite a sad if not pathetic position to say the least. The simple fact that I could be so distraught over an un-smoked pipe loitering in my house would surely call into question my sanity. But alas my dear wife has taken it from me and put it safely out of reach no longer to be ogled by my tempted eyes but safely tucked away in that secret place that lies unbeknownst to me. Or so she believes.