Dunhill pipe tobacco. After months on the minds of pipe smokers the country over, it finally arrived Wednesday before Thanksgiving. Of course, given the hullabaloo that this precipitated, you're probably already aware of that. You may have also noticed that we're again out of stock on all but one of them, just five days later.

We had a huge shipment arrive that Wednesday. We placed a massive order in the summer and were far more worried that we'd gone a little too crazy than that we wouldn't have enough. Needless to say, we were absolutely flummoxed by the response. We had more orders Wednesday than we've ever had in one day before. Thursday and Friday were each almost double our average number of orders too. UPS is picking up twice today to accomodate the volume (literally!) of packages that are ready for them. The nice lady that picks up USPS packages from us was similarly shocked and struggled to get them into the little USPS van that she drives. Ted has already made a separate post on this later today, but this is specifically about the Dunhill tobacco.

We do have another small shipment (just 2,000-odd tins) coming now that should be here later in the week, but that's all there is in the US right now. There's more coming from the manufacturer and we should have another large shipment in December. When Susan and I figured out what to purchase over the summer--4,500 tins in all--we were very concerned that we'd overbought. Needless to say, that was not the problem.

So, what happens from here? Well, there's more coming, but not a lot, later this week. Three or four weeks from now, we expect another full-sized shipment. We'll keep you posted!

Phew! After much ado, a lot of hullabaloo and a great dealing of whimpering, Dunhill tobaccos are finally on the US market once more. It was noon today when we were notified to expect a freight of the stuff at any minute. Soon enough, an enormous pallet found itself at the back door of our shipping department and we all began to dig in. It’s here just in time for Thanksgiving, ironically.

There’s been a lot of mystery around the recent unavailability of Dunhill tobaccos. It’s a complicated story, involving the names of a half-dozen corporations and parent companies, taking place over the last couple of years. The long and short of it is, despite a handful of near-misses and would-be suitors, it has taken Dunhill awhile (too long, most will say) to find the right stateside importer. But that’s all over with and in the past now, like a bad dream inside a dream.

Right now there are a handful of 50 gram tins to choose from: London Mixture, Royal Yacht, Standard Mixture, Standard Mixture Mellow, Flake, My Mixture 965, Nightcap, Early Morning Pipe, and Deluxe Navy Rolls. With so many choices, I couldn’t even tell you where I’ll begin to start with these blends; it’s so unusual to see a whole line rollout at once. I’ll be smoking like a chimney for the next few weeks, honestly.

Whether you haven’t been smoking long enough to have sampled a Dunhill tobacco or just never got around to trying it in the first place, you ought to give these wonderful blends a shot if only to decide for yourself what all the fuss is about. In all likelihood, you’re as excited as we are. The long, hard wait is over, and for that we give thanks.

While on the west coast for the most recent pipe show held in Las Vegas, Sykes had the opportunity to sit down with Rick Newcombe to talk about the release of the sixth edition of his popular book 'In Search of Pipe Dreams'. Among other things, Rick is an avid pipe collector, having written more than his fair share of articles for 'Pipe & Tobacco Magazine' as well as a recognizable personality in the general pipe community. Here he talks about the latest edition of his book and the inevitability of its most recent colorized edition which hits retailers today.

Penzance. It’s fantastically popular, utterly delicious, and can be extraordinarily difficult to come by; but not impossible. The trick to scoring a tin or two (or an eight ounce bag) of this dark English flake will, more often than not, boil down to a matter of tenacity. This is a sad but true reality. With the covetous demand for this tobacco far outweighing any retailer’s meager supply, I was only able to make my first stash of Penzance by checking websites like Smokingpipes.com twice a day for weeks at a time. If this kind of obsessive acquirement disorder is too intense for your pipe smoking habit I suggest abandoning the quest for this blend in search of another, regularly available sort. There’s a lot of wonderful stuff out there. But for those of you intimate with the pure delight of this treasure by Esoterica, I’m sure you appreciate my plight. It’s my humble opinion that Penzance is as good as it gets.

I mention all of this because I’ve wanted to talk about Penzance here for a while. As of yet, I’ve not, simply because I’ve sworn myself from talking about tobaccos that someone couldn’t turn around and buy. It would be cruel of me to poetically wax some blend that many of us will never have the chance to smoke. To sit back and muse on how lucky I am to sample Stonehenge or Balkan Sobranie or just about anything by Sam Gawith is downright unfair. So I’ve shied away from some of my favorites. That’s OK, because there’s a lot of wonderful stuff out there.

Nevertheless, Penzance is out there and it’s delicious. At that, there are dozens of great blends that are hard to snatch unless you stay diligently watchful. Keep in mind that a lot if this stuff gets sold just about as fast as it gets received. Sometimes it can’t be found for weeks, even months, at a time. But the truth is this: if you want it, you can have it. Keep an eye out, be tenacious. Trust me; the juice is worth the squeeze.

Out of rounding is just what is sounds like. Aside from an opera pipe, tobacco chambers are drilled or turned with a gouge that leaves a perfectly round hole. It’s rare that pipes will be conditioned with varying degrees of ‘out of round’, but here are some of the causes and effects of this condition.

Smoking: Proper packing, lighting, and tamping will ensure that a small ember centers in the tobacco and doesn’t come in contact with the wood, but uneven packing could cause the flames upon lighting (and re-lighting) to work their way toward one side. Sometimes a condition statement will say “slight out of rounding due to reaming and/or smoking” and this is usually a result of this. Gentle smoking and cake buildup may help the issue.

Reaming: Perhaps I should say ‘uneven reaming’. This is the real culprit for most ‘out of round’ chambers. There are various reamers on the market that evenly and gently scrape the sides of the cake. Sometimes, when a smoker encounters a particular stubborn piece of cake, they might use a knife, rotary sanding drum, or any other tools to scrape and scratch. Unless they really know what they are doing (meaning being careful and even), this can cause serious damage.

In the first photo, you can observe a smooth pipe that has been ‘over reamed’. By looking at the parallel, yet uneven, scratches in the chamber, I can see that this was poorly reamed with a drum sander on a rotary tool. The bowl is slightly larger, and uneven.

In the second photo, you see a sandblasted bowl that has an ‘out of round’ area near the front – most likely the result of using a knife so scrape thick cake near the top. Since this makes the wall thinner in one area, the burn will be uneven and it could really damage the pipe.

Obviously, the pipe in the third photo would never be for sale. It has been reamed extremely unevenly, over reamed, and even funneled. This happens once in a while and the thinner walls simply can’t take the heat, which warped and cracked the bowl.

In conclusion; use proper reaming techniques. Your pipe will last longer (especially if you wipe it out after every few bowls to prevent too much build-up in the first place). Very minor ‘out of rounding’ is often just at the top of the rim (from using a knife) and the knife bouncing will make ‘chatter marks’. Once a pipe gets over or unevenly reamed, there is no going back, and each is reduced in value and condition accordingly with explanations.

Next up: Cracked buttons and tooth marks.

Below are a smattering of photos from our visit to Jeff Gracik's workshop in San Diego, California last week. Brad Pohlmann was also in town, so they were working together, which was a particular treat to witness. Alyson took most of the photos, she being the designated photographer for such outings (and for good reason; I have an extraordinary ability to make even the simplest photos come out blurry).

Jeff and Brad were working on the six Smokingpipes.com Christmas pipes which will be available in the next few weeks. After much discussion, we opted for a pear shape (largely because Brad broke into the chorus of Twelve Days of Christmas). We tried to get them to make a giant pipe holder shaped like a tree and a partridge shaped tamper, but I think that was a bit much to ask. The pipes will come with a nice leather presentation bag, plus a beautiful, if somewhat more conservative, tamper. During the day of working together, they (mostly) completed one pipe, and rough shaped one more. You can see the completed pipe in the last photo.

Alyson and I arrived fairly late on Friday in Las Vegas, at the Palace Station Hotel & Casino, site of the 2010 West Coast Pipe Show. This was the second year of the show, and the first time I'd attended, since Tony and Bear went last year. New shows are always a challenge, both for organizers and attendees. While we had high hopes for the show, we didn't really know what to expect. We attended, in part, because we think that the western half of the country desperately needs a good show, and any serious effort in that regard is worthy of support. The show far exceeded our expectations and we had a wonderful time.

Our table was back to back with Rex Poggenpohl and Steve Leader, two gents I've known for some years and always enjoy spending time with. Rex was, as he tends to do at pipe shows, selling off small bits of his vast collection. The show was very well attended by pipe makers. Jeff Gracik, Brad Pohlmann, Tonni Nielsen, J. T. Cooke, Todd Johnson and many others, including some impressive younger pipe makers, were there. Our tables were almost right next to Rick Newcombe's, who had a couple of examples of the new edition of his book, In Search of Pipe Dreams, available for perusal, though it won't be available for sale for another week or two (yes, we have hundreds of copies in route). We had much on offer, from lots of great pipe makers.

The variety of vendors, pipe makers and collectors displaying at the show was impressive, especially given that it was just the second year. Over a hundred tables were sold for the event, with a rather striking variety of pipes, pipe tobacco, accessories, and pipe related books for sale. Perhaps best of all for us was meeting so many pipe collectors and smokers who are customers and fans of Smokingpipes.com, but that we'd never met in the flesh. Person after person came up to tell us that they were long time customers and after some conversation, it became apparent that these were folks we knew well, but that we'd only gotten to know by phone or email. With our regular trips to shows in the East and Midwest, the attendees of which know us pretty well at this point, this was a really special experience for us.

Adam Davidson was there with his wife Lera, too. While Adam is an integral member of the Smokingpipes.com team, he's also a very talented pipe maker and usually does shows with his own pipes, independent of Smokingpipes.com. Still it's always nice having him around, as an emergency Smokingpipes.com backup person, if needed. Lera (as Adam shared in a recent newsletter intro) was particularly excited about the Vegas trip. I'm not entirely sure why, but she was rather more delighted at the prospect of a weekend of shopping and eating in Vegas than she was about the prospects of the pipe show.

Satuday night saw a surprisingly tasty dinner, plus speakers and awards event. Kevin Godbee, my good friend and owner of PipesMagazine.com, spoke about a subject near to my heart, the attraction of college age and twenty-something folks, especially cigarette smokers, to the joys of the pipe. Kevin and I have spent a lot of time over the past few months talking about this. We hope that the recent influx of newer pipe smokers that we've seen is a harbinger of a trend.

After Kevin finished up, Fred Hanna, noted pipe collector, author and PhD psychologist, offered up an excellent talk on pipes, managing stress, and recent research on nicotine and neurochemistry. While all agree that inhaling tobacco smoke is a distinctly unhealthy practice, it seems that there are a number of benefits of nicotine, given its unusual properties as both a mild stimulant and a mild depressant.

An awards ceremony followed the talks. J. T. Cooke, Michael Parks and Kurt Balleby won much deserved awards for their pipe making. Much to my surprise, I was honored with an award for Outstanding Contribution to Pipe Collecting, though that award rightfully belongs to everyone here at Smokingpipes.com. Sunday was quieter on the show floor and we enjoyed having the time to catch up with folks that we hadn't yet managed to see. That evening, having lost just a little on slots and won just a little at craps, we headed to McCarran for our flight to San Diego for the next leg of our trip, to visit Jeff Gracik's workshop, and go to see Rick Newcombe in LA.

In 1919, United States President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed November 11th as a holiday, Armistice Day. In 1938 Armistice Day became a legal holiday. And in 1954 Congress amended the name, replacing Armistice with Veterans, and it has been know as Veterans Day since.

When I brought up the idea of posting a blog entry on Veterans Day at our managers meeting, everyone thought it was a good idea. And so over the past two weeks or so I have been thinking on what to write about. My thoughts came clear yesterday morning. I won’t keep you long, but I thought it important to recognize this day.

I don’t remember the date or the name. I just remember standing at attention in the hot South Carolina sun for a retirement and retreat ceremony at Shaw Air Force Base. We were honoring a career officer who was retiring after 33 years of service. Thirty-three years, I thought … now that’s dedication.

As the Master of Ceremonies read word after word about this decorated officer, I began to sweat. And later as the sounds of retreat played and the flag was lowered, I began to cry. There’s nothing quite like standing in formation, at attention, with silent tears streaming down your face in the hot setting sun. It was a moving experience for me that day.

So today we say ‘thank you’ to our U.S. military veterans. Thank you for your time in service. Thank you for your dedication, your sacrifices and your service for our country. Today we remember you. Today we honor you.

‘Freedom is not free’, I say. Blood, sweat and tears have been shed for our freedom. So if you know a veteran, call them up today. Shake their hand. Sit and talk for a while. And you will hear the voice of dedication, sacrifice and service.

To all the men and women who have served …

Thank you.

With pipe and book at close of day,
Oh, what is sweeter, mortal say?
It matters not what book on knee,
Old Izaak or the Odyssey,
It matters not meerschaum or clay.

And though ones's eyes will dream astray,
And lips forget to sue or sway,
It is "enough to merely be"
With Pipe and Book.

What though our modern skies be gray,
As bards aver, I will not pray
For "soothing death" to succor me,
But ask this much, O Fate, of thee,
A little longer yet to stay
With Pipe and Book.

-Richard Le Gallienne

On Friday I brought my Polaroid camera to the building. That day it was more quiet than ordinary around here.

I'm quite fond of Mac Baren's Navy Mixture. After smoking the junk my local tobacconist had to offer, most of which were blends of his own cracked invention, I decided to branch out and try something else. The only 'name brand' tobacco he carried was Mac Baren. So that's where I started, with a 100 gram tin of Navy Mixture. At this point I had been smoking exclusively those blends I would later discover to be termed 'aromatic'. Navy Mixture was a big departure.

The tin reads that "this complex mixture consists of over 30 different raw tobaccos, and is a masterpiece of blending. Ready rubbed Virginia and Burley tobaccos, loose cut Virginia, Burley and the original Mac Baren Cavendish blended with small pieces of flake tobacco ensure a slow and cool smoking pleasure." Upon opening the tin I was excited to find an obvious and nearly overwhelming variety of different tobaccos. Here's an instance where a tin description beautifully matches up to the product at hand, which as you likely know, isn't always necessarily the case.

Admittedly, because of where I was coming from as a smoker, this blend took a little while to grow on me. Subsequently, however, Navy Mixutre has become for me an extremely reliable, all-day smoking fixture. The fragrance of the smoke is wonderful, the taste is clean and dry,the tobacco packs easily and isn't fussy about staying lit. Another perk? It's not deliriously popular and therefore always available. While this 'advantage' may only amount to a hill of beans for some of you, those still sitting on their hands in anticipation for Dunhill and Sam Gawith tobaccos know what I'm talking about.

At last count there was approximately one gillion (yes, I've done the math) different varieties of tobaccos from at least a zillion (these are industries terms, mind you) blenders and manufacturers. Explore, experiment, get out of your comfort box. Surprise yourself. Just don't start buying up all my Navy Mixture.

Even with close attention to care, scratches and dings sometimes happen. Initially, I was considering writing about how we rate smoked pipes but, thinking back to my first post in this series, issues such as these can happen with new pipes as well. Consequently, I’ll briefly go over the cause and effect of pipe scratches and dings while roughly assigning rating numbers to exampled instances.

As I mentioned in the first entry, an unsmoked pipe ought to receive a 5/5 rating. However, a significant scratch may decrease its value. Keep in mind that surfaces issues just plain happen. Many of these will occur from moving a pipe on a gritty desk and accidentally scratching the base or sides of the piece. Although this will create shallow scratches, they don't tend to be as severe as the scratches resultant of an improper cleaning. People will too often use a finger nail to try and gently remove a bit of wax or other such blemish from the side and in doing so will scratch the pipe. We see the same thing happen when someone tries to scrape off buildup on the rim. More severe are the scratches that result from having used sandpaper or even steel wool in such a process.

Dings present a similar dilemma. Most of these are simply due to carrying multiple pipes in one bag without properly protecting either; the pipes, rattling around in the bag, can add minor blemishes to each other or severely ding one another if dropped (gasp)! Although briar is a very hard wood, a swan-dive from a desk or from the hand will make a little ding on the bowl or rim. Depending on what the pipe falls on (a tile floor, for example) there might be a line created instead of a rounded dimple. Hence we’ve my confusing (to some customers, perhaps) “linear ding” notes. While some very shallow dimples can occasionally be steamed out by an expert (which will raise the grain without removing the stain), these “linear dings” are often too deep and sharp to do be fixed.

The obvious: Scratches and dings can and will happen. Applying a soft cloth or Q-tip to a rim may take off the darkening without scratching. Dings can be avoided. Otherwise, the condition rating of the pipe will drop a bit. A minor scratch or ding on an unsmoked pipe will usually rate between 4.95/5 and 4.98/5. Depending on how severely a rim is covered in dings (from, say, knocking the pipe against an ashtray), with or without a darkening, the pipe will often rate anywhere between 4.25/5 and 4.9/5. Points are not subtracted for each ding. Rather, the condition is assessed based on the general quality detracted by the blemishes.

Next up: What is out of rounding?

Betrand Russell. He was a mathematician, philosopher, logician, and pipe smoking Nobel Prize Winner. You've probably heard of him. He lived to be 97. Here, briefly, he shares with us an anecdote concerning himself and his pipe.

I’m an enormous fan of J. R. R. Tolkien. Of course, I dig that he was a pipe smoker and am particularly fond of the fact that he included in the world he called Middle Earth an entire roster of characters who too preferred fine leaf and pipe smoking. Naturally, there have been crafted numerous Tolkien-inspired blends over the years but unfortunately most have been either troublesome to acquire or rather terrible to smoke.

In my opinion, ‘Frog Morton’, of McClellands’ Craftbury Collection, is likely the most remarkable tobacco blend anchored in the fictional Arda, despite that it’s a Tolkien reference totally obscure. The name itself is derived from a small hamlet mentioned in ‘The Return of the King’ in the East Farthing of the Shire called Frogmorton, which means frog marsh. The village is notable for its inn ‘The Floating Log’, the place where Frodo, Sam, Merry and Pippin are arrested as they make their way back to Hobbiton having destroyed the One Ring. However, McClelland’s tin depicts the pipe smoking frog, ‘Frog Morton’, sitting on a log, probably smoking what’s described on the label as the result of four years of blending and his proudest achievement. What’s this have to do with LOTR? Pretty much absolutely nothing.

Nevertheless, ‘Frog Morton’ is some good tobacco. The mild addition of smooth latakia to McClelland’s signature mature Virginia has this blend smoking so sweet I might have thought it spiced with Cavendish. Flavorful, yet mild, ‘Frog Morton’ is one of those blends that I find I enjoy terrifically with a book on a cold night after dessert. This stuff is big time satisfying.

Because I’m a total geek Because I’m so fond of Tolkien and his wonderful world of characters, I’ll keep waiting for that perfectly inspired and readily available Middle Earth based pipe tobacco to hit the market. In the meantime, it doesn’t get any better than ‘Frog Morton’.