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July 31, 2006

Ballaster

That weekend flew by pretty fucking quickly.

As promised, I took Sweet Jeri to a few antique shops, this was fine, except that my plans included dragging her to about 17 of them, however we only ended up going to 3. 4 maybe. Okay 5.

I get confused about that, since one of the stores seems to be several stores all under the same roof - it's not - but it does make for a lot of junk sifting. They did have a Savinelli Executive estate pipe that looked to be in pretty good shape, though the stem sat just a bit loose - I've read about people treating the tenon and shaft with beeswax to tighten things up. I decided not to get the pipe, and instead was going to order a Meerschaum from a place I had found off eBay. We puttered through the stores, I harrassed a great deal, you know. Then we hit East Tucson's favourite mecca, Bed Bath & Beyond. I needed to stop here, since my first loaf of bread turned out pretty good (that's another entry), I then decided it would be no trouble to whip up some tortillas and needed a griddle. (I'm not sure how best to word that sentence).

I got the griddle and home we went. The tortillas turned out wierd, more like store bought tortillas. Really white, thick, and chewy. They wouldn't be bad, except that's not what I was trying to make. Apparently, (I discovered after a bit more research), what I'm wanting to make are Sonoran Style Tortillas. What did I make then? Texas tortillas. Ok.

Later, I was perusing the meerschaum site, when Jeri appeared, curls amiss. She set her credit card down on my belly and said, "I got it cuteguy". I've truly have the best wife in the world!

Posted by Joshua at 01:38 PM | | Comments (4)

2 things

Jeri's taken to watching Rockstar: Supernova and I have but two things to say about the show.

  • I despise Tommy Lee, and have no respect for him or anyone who admires him.
  • Brook Burke is pathetic.

Posted by Joshua at 11:50 AM | | Comments (4)

July 30, 2006

Connoisseur

As is their custom here in town, the TInderbox staff went out of their way to ensure I had a negative experience the day I bought this. Even though it wasn't quite what I was after that day, it wasn't a bad blend, and I set it aside so that the experience of the store didn't weigh in too heavily in my opinion of the blend.

Carried under their "Traditional English" blends, Connoisseur is described as

"A medium to full flavored English style mixture. Burley based with an ample amount of Latakia. Slow burning, flavorful and uniquely satisfying. Blended for the true connoisseur"
It's chock full of, and comprised of probably 50% Cyprian Latakia, so the campfire is definitely the star of the blend here. I think the blend is a bit on the moist side. It takes a bit for it to light evenly for me, but once it is, it does burn nice and slow. The mouth and notes of the blend lend themselves to late Fall/early Winter. I let the pouch get hot, which increases the moisture, and doesn't dry it out. Propylene Glycol? It wouldn't surprise me given the origination of the blend, I'll have to really force it to dry out in the future.

Posted by Joshua at 11:32 AM |

July 23, 2006

China Black Whiskey

A second whiskey blend appeared in my Altadis sampler, this one from Iwan Ries. Hoping for the same, stellar experience I had with the Dutch Masters, I tore into this pouch pretty eagerly. The pouch aroma was completely different. Hmm. Like the Dutch Masters, it's got a pretty simple description:

A mixture of light and dark leaf laced with the flavor of fine Kentucky whiskey. Super taste plus super aroma.

This is a spicier whiskey blend for sure. Definitely enjoyable, and even more pleasant to alternate with the Dutch Masters. A different take on the whiskey blend altogether. This one I believe derives it's spicy nature from the addition of turkish/oriental leaves, which is how I began noticing that I found those leaves to be extremely pleasant on my simple, budding palate.

Posted by Joshua at 11:45 AM | | Comments (10)

Haddo's Delight

Haddo's Haddo's Haddo's. Perhaps the tobacco I've read the most raving reviews of so far. Over at tobaccoreviews.com, there's 103 comments written about the blend, with I think 102 of them stark raving mad about the blend. There's always someone praising the hell out of it over at ASP, so I finally ordered a tin of this "magic" blend. It's described as:

Haddo's Delight is a stout blend of several Virginia tobaccos with a generous measure of long-cut perique. Unflavored Green River black Cavendish and a little air-cured white burley ribbon provide fullness, body, and a bit of extra strength. Finally, an exclusive process darkens and marries the mixture, and gives the blend a subtle tin aroma of cocoa and dried fruit. The flavor is full on the palate, earthy, slightly sweet and intriguingly piquant, with overtones of figs and raisins. A wonderful blend for the perique lover!

Perhaps it was over hyped for me. I love the aroma that comes from the tin itself, but in smoking this I find myself thinking I like that Sunza Bitches better. Perhaps Sunza Bitches was Russ Oullette's answer to this G.L. Pease blend, perhaps it had nothing to do with it at all. They're both fairly similar, but I like the taste and flavours of Sunza Bitches more. Again, like the Sunza Bitches, I've got a pair of pipes just for a blend like this, it doesn't play nice with others as well. I've never seen this as a description but, "this blend burns the inside of my nose with it's heat". Try it, and see if you have the same response. No, don't try it....go with the Sunza Bitches.

Posted by Joshua at 11:37 AM | | Comments (1)

Sunza Bitches

Another blend from Russ Oullette over at Hearth & Home, and my first VAPER, as the more refined tasters call the Virginia, Perique blend for short. This was blended especially for Frenchy, of Frenchy's Pipes. The brief description is:

For those who prefer a little Virginia with their Perique, your ship as come in. The addition of the Burley and Bourbon toppings does set it apart a bit, it's still a VAPER to the core with nothing spared when it comes to the Perique. This is an excellent Virginia Perique blend that smokes clean and cool with not a hint of bite.

Whereas Frenchy himself, is a bit more ouspoken about the blend:
A brand spankin' new Russ Oulette blend called...Frenchy's Sunza Bitches!!!! Yeah, after much excited anticipation I filled up one a' my LJ Heart pipes with my very own Russ Oulette blend. Needless to say I wasn't disappointied. Ya' might say I'd be a rotten judge of a blend created for me, that I'd be a tad biased and you'd be absolutely right but still and all I gotta say this is a gloriously delicious blend. Perique up the ying yang and, according to the baggie, Bright Virginia Flake and Burley finished with Bourbon (hope it's Jack Daniels). I'm tryin' to be ojective as hell when I tell yiz I love the hell outta' this blend. It ain't for the faint a' heart nor for lovers of super-mild blends but if ya' got some puffin' experience under yer belt or ya' just like a blend with some cahones this is your baby, actually it's my baby. You who are familiar with Russ O's blends like the aforementioned LJ Virginia and Burley, Virginia Spice and Old Tartan will love Sunza Bitches and it definitely lives up to its name 'cause when ya' take that first puff that's exactly what you'll say, "wooooh sunza bitches this is good stuff!"

And you know what, this is a damned good blend. I like figs, and there is a discernable taste of fig throughout the bowl. It's a stout blend for sure, it's not too enjoyable on an empty stomach. Because of the sweet aftertaste, I've dedicated two pipes for this blend (as well as Haddo's), I don't find the aftertaste to play nice with others. This is in my regular rotation now, and will be fore sometime.

Posted by Joshua at 11:28 AM |

Dutch Masters

This is actually a Sutliffe blend, but since it arrived with my Altadis sampler, I'm tossing it into this category. The formal description is pretty sparse:

Aged Cavendish smoking tobaccos, laced with Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey.

Not only sparse, it doesn't do this blend any justice whatsoever. When I first touched flame to leaf, I detected zero resemblance to whiskey. None. I glared at the char, and glared at the pilgrims standing on the package. Then, I could taste the fruit, and I relalized what was happening. It wasn't a shot of whiskey, it was the components of whiskey that were coming up. (It should be noted that I'm neither a scotch or whiskey connoisseur, so forgive me). The individual flavors that I couldn't taste before in whisky, I could now taste. And it was good. Interestingly, this was the first blend that elicited a "Hey, that smells good!" comment from Jeri. I enjoyed this blend quite a bit. Good luck trying to find any of this though, I can't find anyone who still has it in stock.

Posted by Joshua at 11:20 AM |

Armada

Looking at what comprises this Hearth & Home blend, one might wonder just how this could be any different than Fox & Hound? It is though, trust me. It's described as

The name implies stately strength, and this blend delivers. A unique combination of Virginias, including a rich flake, Turkish and Orientals, lots of Latakia and spiced up, but cooled down by a judicious splash of St. James Perique, this tobacco has an almost incense-like aroma, with a surprisingly fresh, clean aftertaste.

Immediately differentiating it from Fox & Hound is the cut of the leaf, and the amount of moisture present in the leaf. This is a narrower, ribbon cut, and is fairly dry. The pouch aroma - actually, since it ships in a ziploc which I later dump into a bail top canister so - tin aroma speaks of a heavier dosing of latakia. Not an overabundance of latakia, but more noticeable than with the Fox.

If you're like me, and have ever dreamt of pouring warm browned butter directly down your throat instead of dipping your crab/lobster in it, or pouring it over pasta, this is a blend you're going to want to keep on hand. The aftertaste is just that - warm butter. It's a clean burning blend, little dottle left, unless you're breaking in a pipe, little more than an occasional tamping is needed to keep the bowl alive. This quickly made it's way into my regular rotation.

Posted by Joshua at 11:08 AM | | Comments (2)

July 12, 2006

Thought Patterns?

I'm a bit astounded at the manner in which some people function in life. Jeri, during her lunch time phone call (she was home on reprieve for a few hours), mentioned that our hose for the front yard was now AWOL. What kind of mindset does someone have to steal a water hose? It's not an expensive hose, I don't think there is such a thing; but what prompts someone to see a hose and think "Hey, I can do some serious watering with that, it's mine!", and then come over and (since there's absolutely zero cover to hind behind), unscrew the hose and make off with it. I suppose, since I never took logic, I'm going to have to look to Jeri and Kerry to answer this one, but it does seem like poor logic to me. It's our hose. I went to the store, put the hose in the cart, paid for the hose and brought it home. The key phrase there is, paid for the hose. The hose is blue as opposed to the fairly standard green, but should I wander through the neighborhood to see if I see it, what do I do when I find a blue hose. Can I assume it's mine, and take it back? No, and how can I prove it's our hose? For kicks, I should call the police and tell them there's been a robbery - I wonder how they'd react when they came out and found it was just a hose that was stolen.

I bet if I find the house with our hose, there's some fishing equipment lying next to it. Fuckers. Fuckers. Fuckers.

I am enjoying Rainbow 6: Lockdown a bit.

Posted by Joshua at 04:15 PM | | Comments (6)

July 03, 2006

Updated Audio

Jeri's going to be pissed but there is no longer any Fear Factory queued up on the Audio Stream. Instead, I've taken it upon myself to stream a bit of what I've been working on, and will be working on.

Track list is as follows:

  • Bruch Violin Concerto in G Minor
    • 1. 1st Movement
    • 2. 2nd Movement
    • 3. 3rd Movement
  • Vieuxtemps Violin Concerto #4
    • 4. 1st Movement
    • 5. 2nd Movement
    • 6. 3rd Movement
    • 7. Finale
  • 8. The Fucking Beethoven Romance

Posted by Joshua at 11:11 AM | | Comments (24)

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