Lohmar pipe-show 2019, the last one…

© Lohmarer Pfeifenmesse

One of the highlights of the year for me is always a visit to the Lohmarer Pfeifenmesse (Lohmar pipe-show) the first Saturday in May. So you can imagine the shock when I first heard that this years pipe-show would be the last one. What?? No more Lohmars? Disbelieve.. You know, beyond all the exhibitors with their beautiful wares I mostly enjoyed the atmosphere created by all the pipe-smokers. I met so many lovely people there. Organizer Volker Bier explained it all in a YouTube video. For those of you who don’t speak German, in a nutshell it comes to this: Next year the location where the pipe-show is always held, Villa Friedlinde, is getting a big renovation. So no activities then. Also Volker had enough of organizing the show year in year out. All those years were great, but now it is enough. Luckily two friends of Volker, Kelvin and Toto, stepped in. I was immensely happy to hear that next year a brand new pipe-show is organized by them in Hamm on May 16th.

Mark

Back to this year. Normally I would have drove along with good friend Rob, except he could not make it, he had to work. Regarding pipe-meetings it is “the more the merrier” so I asked Mark (the organizer of the annual Dutch pipe smokers forum Zutphen meeting) if he wanted to tag along. He was happy to go together with me. Only, one day before the pipe-show he texted me and I had to silently laugh a bit. The week before Lohmar Mark started in the gym, his first time ever. Being enthusiastic in trying to shed some weight, gain some muscle and improve his condition he tirelessly outdid himself. Only to discover that the next morning he could not get out of bed because of all the muscle pain. “If this continues I won’t be able to go with you tomorrow.. I can’t even get in the car this way!” he said. “Just relax and let me know early in the morning.” I answered. I was happy that apparently the aches lessened because Mark felt good enough to visit Lohmar.

The Lohmar 2019 pipe-show blend © HU Tobacco

The drive there went smooth despite the whimsical weather. Which was really sad because with almost all the previous Lohmar editions it was good to excellent. We arrived pretty early which had a reason, I wanted to go to the table of HU Tobacco as fast as possible. A couple of days before Lohmar I read on the Facebook page of Hans Wiedemann (owner and master-blender of HU Tobacco) that he was releasing a special pipe-show blend. A mixture of sweet Virginias, Burley and Latakia, advertised as: Is it a Virginia blend with Latakia in the background or is it an English mixture with a pronounced Virginia sweetness? But the thing was, there were only 50 tins! I tried to reserve a tin on Facebook and crossed my fingers. When I had finally reached Hans through the vast crowd at his table I was disappointed. All pipe-show tins were gone.. In fact, lots of Hans’ blends were already sold out! Especially the newer ones that I wanted to try.. So besides some tins that friends had asked me to buy I ended up with Moroccan Bazaar (as a lover of the oriental spice markets I just have to try this blend) and RaiKo InBeTween (formerly known as RaiKo ChocoLat, due to German regulations).

Thomas Nietsche putting some final drops of aroma on my No. 7 blend

Beside the table of Hans there stood a guy with lots of jars filled with all kinds of mixing tobaccos in front of him. It was Thomas Nietsche, the master-blender of Kohlhase & Kopp. I also read on Facebook that he and Hans had put up a contest. You could create your own blend there and let it mix by Thomas. After Lohmar all the entries are smoked and the best will become the 2020 Hamm pipe-show blend plus you get a €50 HU Tobacco coupon. I know I have been not so positive about Kohlhase & Kopp in the past but I have to say this was a brilliant initiative and Thomas is a very nice bloke. While I was waiting for my turn I explained to Mark (in Dutch) the purpose of all of this. “I understood some of that!” Thomas said jokingly while blending some tobaccos. When it was my turn I had a faint idea in my head. I wanted a kind of Balkan blend with a touch of aromatics. Very tricky because Latakia does not do well with added flavours. I instructed Thomas to begin with 30% Cyprian Latakia, then 20% orientals. I asked if he had a good Red Virginia and he did have some aged one, he put in 30%. To round it off I let him add 10% Bright Virginia and 10% unsweetened Black Cavendish. I already saw that he had some small bottles with concentrated flavours so I instructed Thomas to add just a few drops of milk-chocolate and vanilla essence to the mixture. The result was a blend that at least smelled heavenly. Vanilla-like toffee with a smoky background. Thomas saved a sample for the contest (entry no. 7 on the list) and the rest was given free of charge to me.

The Lucifer’s Pipe duke and HU Tobacco’s Moroccan Bazaar

Because of the bad weather it was crazily busy in the tents where a lot of the exhibitors showed their wares. I opted to go to the villa itself, still crowded, but more space to manoeuvre. Almost immediately I bumped into Rudi, Fred and Paul. Especially the last one I had not seen in quite a while. After talking a little bit we discovered we were in the way so I went along. There are many skilled pipe-makers at Lohmar but often the prices they ask.. Woww.. So I was pleasant surprised when I saw a pipe I wanted for a fair sum made by Berlin based Lucifer’s Pipe. It was a nicely shaped duke made of morta. Since I always wanted a pipe made of the dark wood I did not have to think long of buying it. I even got a discount without asking for it! When I turned around a gentleman approached me. “Hello Arno do you remember me?” Although his face was vaguely familiar I could not remember him. “I am Hans-Walter, we met here some years ago, there is a picture of me on your blog. Which I love by the way! The history of for example De Graaff or Capstan blends is what interests me.” Some wheels turned in my head and suddenly I remembered him. If you read this, Hans-Walter, sorry I did not recognize you immediately! I meet so many people… And thanks for your kind words! Hope you will come to Hamm next year.

Me fitting a bracelet, on the left is Adrian

Back in one of the tents I decided to pay a visit to Adrian. Every year he is there with his hand-made leather wares and is he a very nice chap. I always have to think a bit of Blackbeard the pirate when I see him. Well, actually I see him sometimes that way because Adrian loves to celebrate the carnival dressed up as a pirate in his home city of Cologne and puts pictures of it on Facebook. After talking a bit to him I took a look at his leather stuff and spotted a cool bracelet I liked. I fitted it and yes, I wanted to buy it. The price was a tad high but with my inborn Dutch skills I haggled it down. Mark also succeeded in that while buying a pipe at another stand, not my kind of pipe but really something Mark would go for. It is good we don’t all have the same taste.

The Ashton Pebble Grain I bought at Peter Heinrichs

Mark and I almost wanted to go (the weather got worse and worse) when we bumped into some Belgian pipe-smokers forum members: Geoff, Paul and his wife. We told them we were heading to Peter Heinrichs in Bergheim for a smoke in their pipe-museum/smoking lounge and maybe something to buy. The more the merrier so the Belgians agreed to join us. On the way really everything that could fall from the sky (except aeroplanes) hit us. Snow, rain, hail.. Blah.. When we arrived we were greeted by the widow of Peter Heinrichs (who is in charge together with her lovely daughters). I must say the old lady has an iron memory. Once I had mentioned I liked estate pipes, especially vintage Dunhills. So she produced some cases with in them old Dunhills, Charatans, Ashtons and more. I face-palmed myself because I knew this was going to cost me money. Lucky for my wallet there was no Dunhill that really took my fancy. But I did like an Ashton Pebble Grain Zulu like shape, which I bought. I also purchased a tin of Château Henri No. 24; Latakia from Syria (although I beg to differ…) and Cyprus, Virginia, a bit of Burley, orientals and Java-tobacco. In the smoking lounge I could not resist smoking the Lohmar No. 7. It was way to freshly mixed but despite that, not bad, not bad at all!

Dinner!!!

At 4 o’clock Heinrichs closed. I wanted to do some shopping at the German Lidl in Bergheim and afterwards get some dinner. The rest agreed and went with me. I just love to go to the Lidl in Germany. They have many products that we in The Netherlands do not have, they are cheaper and of better quality! Almost every time I am in Bergheim, regardless of whom I am with, I go to Dönerburger for dinner. It is a Turkish style take-away restaurant where you can also just sit and eat. Nothing fancy but the quality of their food is excellent and cheap. I repeat, cheap! That always makes this greedy Dutchman happy. I had a big plate of Döner kebab (lamb meat, I also had the choice to go for chicken) with fries, tzatziki sauce and a cola and I had to pay exactly €10! In The Netherlands you can’t go out and eat like that for that price.

The Belgians at the Rauch Lounge

To round off the day I proposed a visit to the Rauch Lounge in the German town of Wassenberg. I had never been there and since it was more or less situated on the way home (also for the Belgians) we decided to go there. Inside we immediately bumped again into Rudi, Paul and Fred. They had gone there directly from Lohmar. Very nice because now I had the chance to talk to them a bit longer. Rauch Lounge has not been active for long, since November 2015. I must say, kudos to them, starting a tobacco shop in these anti-tobacco times. The store is loaded with all kinds of pipes, tobacco, spirits and cigars. And the best thing, they have a modern smoking lounge which is open late. It was bigger than I had imagined looking at the pictures on their site. Mark and I picked out some cigars in the humidor and together with the Belgians we sat down and smoked. The day had been perfect, a fitting goodbye to the Lohmar pipe-show.

I would like to thank Volker Bier for organising all those excellent editions of the Lohmarer Pfeifenmesse, I will remember them fondly and hope to create new memories next year in Hamm. Further thanks go out to the convivial Belgian delegation, always nice and educational to talk to them and of course Mark, who had to endure my music and farts in the car. Sorry man! All pictures (except the © ones) were made by Mark and myself.

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Inter-Tabac 2018 impression

It was early in the morning..

September 22nd it was once again time for one of my annual highlights: The Inter Tabac fair in Dortmund. For those of you who missed the blogposts I made of the visit the last couple of years; the Inter-Tabac is the leading and biggest trade fair of the world for tobacco products and smoking accessories. This year 625 exhibitors from 54 countries presented trends and innovative tobacco products. This included cigars, cigarillos, cigarettes, E-cigarettes, E-pipes, E-shishas, smoking accessories, pipes, pipe tobacco, shishas, shop equipment and spirits. Unfortunately the fair is for retailers, not for consumers. Like the previous years I was able to secure a ticket through Fred. The saying goes, the more the merrier, so (with approval of Fred) I invited Jef, who is an enthusiastic Three Nuns tobacco fan (more about that later) and also a member of the Dutch/Belgian Pipe Smokers Forum. Sadly just a day before the fair Fred told me he could not make it. So on the early morning of the 22nd Jef drove from the West of The Netherlands, where he lives, to the East, where I live. To be precisely, to the MacDonalds in Deventer. There is a big parking lot just near the highway so I could park my car there and Jef and I could drive together. He was already there when I arrived and asked me the magic words on an early morning: “Do you want some coffee?”

We arrived well on time at the Westfalenhallen, the location of the fair, but when we wanted to go to the main entrance we could not find it. Turned out there was a big renovation going on so we had to walk through some sand and mud to get inside.. I proposed to first go to the stand of DTM/Danpipe because, well.. They have coffee there. And excellent tobaccos of course! We were greeted by master-blender Andreas Mund and his charming wife (both DTM employees) who, by the way, is responsible for many of the new DTM blends. Apparantly she has good taste buds, a good smell and some creativity. Jef knew of a perfume site where a lot of smell-combinations are explaned so he told her about it in spotless German. My German is just ok, I can understand it and make clear what I think and want but that’s it. So I looked at Jef and he smiled and shrugged “You probably did not know I am half German right?” No I didn’t but it was damn handy to have a walking translator beside me.

Andreas brought us all some coffee and I asked about new blends. DTM only had one called “The Untouchables”. A collaboration between DTM’s Michael Apitz and Hans Wiedemann from HU Tobacco. Very interesting! Andreas handed me the jar containing the blend and I first read the label: The Untouchables Special Mixture: The basic mixture consists of mature ready rubbed Virginia and a pinch of smooth Black Cavendish. Aroma of cedarwood and roses are added as a final seasoning, which marry perfectly with the tobacco’s original flavours. Untouchable – incorruptable in terms of quality! Ok, I opened the jar and it smelled inviting, so I grabbed my pipe and wanted to fill it with the blend. “Whooh! No you can’t!” Andreas said. “Huh, why not?” “Well, ehm.. We were a bit late deciding which aromas would be used so we only have this jar and nothing more..” “Ehrr.. Ok, so you have a new blend and no one can sample it?? You had loads of time to prepare for the fair!” With a laugh Andreas said: “Well, here it goes like, damn, the fair is in a week, let’s come up with something!” Ok, I opted for some tasty Fred the Frog instead. We talked some more about the company and we all believed it is a company that has “soul”.

A lot of Three Nuns vintages

Next we went to the big stand of the mighty MacBaren. This was a highlight for Jef because he is a big fan of the Three Nuns blend (and he knows all about its history) which is made by MacBaren now for a couple of years. Recently 2 new Three Nuns blends came out: Three Nuns Green (containing Kentucky, Perique and Virginia) and Three Nuns Yellow (containing Virginia). I did not have tried any of them, in fact, I did not have tried Three Nuns at all in my pipe smoking life. Until some months ago when I received a full envelope from Jef containing samples of different vintages. Some tasted better than others but still, very good! Jef even brought some of those old blends with him to show to product manager Per Jensen, who greeted us warmly. I just had to say “Three Nuns” and almost like a magician he made the 2 new blends appear on the counter. After an extensive sniffing I decided to load my pipe with the “Green” version. It was fresh as a young virgin but it tasted damn mature! Yummie! Per said: “We never looked back when we created the new blend. We never tried any of the old Three Nuns. Reason is that the tobacco manufacturers back then could lay their hands on does not exist now any more.” We talked some more when the subject came upon Burley. I said I seldom smoked Burleys but was willing to try some. So I asked if I could have a sample of the HH Burley Flake. Promptly I was given a full sealed tin. “That is how we do samples at MacBaren!” said Per with a wink. His next gift was a very special one, a big heavy book called “The Pipe, A Functional Work of Art“. It looked absolutely stunning with beautiful pictures. Thank you very much Per!

Love all the curlies ^^

When we were chatting and smoking the fabulous Three Nuns a man walked up to the counter. He had an unsmoked corncob pipe in his hand and said to Per he came for his pipe-smoking lesson. It turned out he came from Switzerland, was a cigar aficionado but wanted to explore the world of pipe-smoking. Ah, a possible new convert! Jef had some experience teaching new pipe-smokers so Per and I gave him the thumbs up to go ahead. And I have to say, Jef did a very, very good job. Per and I stood mesmerized while Jef explained all the basics to the man. Beginning with what the man liked to eat and drink in his regular life. Sweet? Not sweet? Smoky? Based on that Jef thought the man would prefer a more natural tobacco. So he let him smell some to show the difference between blends. On my advice the man also held his nose above a mixture with some latakia (some people immediately love it and want nothing else) but he did not like it very much. In the end Jef advised the man to try Amphora Virginia, because it is natural and uncomplicated yet tasty. He then told how to fill a pipe with the 3-step method (first putting in the tobacco like a child, softly, then as a woman, a bit harder and finally as a man, firmly press it). The Swiss man then lighted his pipe and began puffing contently. Jef explained some more basics on how to smoke and clean the pipe. The man loved it, “I can taste my favourite whisky!” he said with a big smile. Later we would bump into him again and he would repeat that he “really liked it, really liked it!” Mission accomplished.

The stand of Gubbels (Big Ben)

It was already time to lunch and on our way outside we passed the stand of Big Ben. As always Elbert Gubbels was very busy but he took the time to greet us. When I asked how things were going his face contorted: “All those damn EU regulations! Now they want that the Samuel Gawith tins I import no longer have a golden colour. Instead they must have an aluminium look because the gold looks too fancy!” Talking about Gawith, when we were outside having some lunch (which we brought with us because the food prices at the Inter Tabac are utterly insane) I spotted a grey man trying to sneak past us. When he saw I noticed him he tried to get away but to no avail, I gave him a big hug, it was Bob Gregory. “You bastard!” he said, “Every time I look at the bottle of beer you gave me last year I have to laugh! What’s inside huh? Belgian ale? Strong stuff!” Yes Bob, the stuff that makes you grow even more chest hair! Less funny were sadly his stories about, yet again, the EU regulations. I asked him if there was a chance Flatlander Flake would be released worldwide. “No, because the sky is blue.” “Excuse me?” “The sky is blue in the tin art which is not allowed any more. It strikes a too positive note about smoking.” Completely bonkers if you ask me.. “By the way, do you know a place in The Netherlands called Ootmarsum?” Bob asked. “Yes I do, in fact it is not too far away from where I live.” “Good, you should go there to a brewery, forgot which one, and take a good look around.” “Why?” “Because all the old Samuel Gawith machinery and equipment from the Kendal Brown House is there.” “What??? You mean amongst others the legendary old snuff mill from around 1750? The oldest, longest working piece of industrial equipment in Great Britain, perhaps even the world?” “Yup.. After the move to Gawith & Hoggarth we really tried to keep it all in Kendal, in the country. I phoned museum after museum, even the British Museum but no one wanted it.. Such a shame.. In the end a Dutch friend of mine who has a brewery in Ootmarsum bought it all to put in his little museum.” Back home I looked on the internet, the brewery in Ootmarsum must be the Othmar brewery. I think I will visit them soon.

One of Poul Winslow’s favourite pipes

After lunch Jef and I went to the stand of the Scandinavian Tobacco Group. Inside were pipes of brands like Peterson (! I had expected they had gone elsewhere since Laudisi took over the brand), Stanwell, Dunhill and Winslow. Stanwell had some new pipes made out of beech wood. According to the friendly spokes-lady they would last about 300 smokes. Hmm.. That does not add up to much for that price, I thought.. My corncobs are much cheaper and they already last far more than 300 smokes. Peterson had nothing really special and Dunhill had some weird pipes with a bend stem so you can smoke it around a corner or something like that.. Mr. Poul Winslow himself was present and I took the opportunity to thank him for repairing one of my favourite Winslow pipes. Some time ago I bit through the mouthpiece, I contacted my seller and he said to just send the pipe to Denmark for repair. So I did and only a couple of days before the Inter Tabac I got it back, with a new stem and polished. Mr. Winslow immediately recognized the pipe when I showed him, “Ah, the pipe with the broken mouthpiece right?” Further we had a pleasant conversation, he is such a gentleman.

Me and Lasse Berg

At a side of the stand I spotted a friendly giant: Scandinavian Tobacco Group master-blender Lasse Berg. On a table before him were jars with all kinds of loose tobaccos; Virginias, Burley, Kentucky, Latakia, Perique etc. It turned out he was blending mixtures for whoever who wanted them. That was an opportunity I would not miss! “What do you want?” He asked me. “A good balkan blend please!” With the speed of an experienced blender he put together some orientals, Latakia and Virginia. “Would you like some Perique?” “No thank you.” “A bit of Black Cavendish?” “Yes please.” He deposited it all in a tin and asked me what the name of the blend should be. “Balkan Arno, please”. Later that afternoon I smoked it and I have to say, it was better than expected!

Next was the stand of Kohlhase & Kopp. What struck us the most were the new “just-like-Dunhill-but-different” blends under the Robert McConnell banner with names like Early Bird (Early Morning Pipe), City of London (London Mixture), Majesty Elizabeth (Elizabethan Mixture) etc. I don’t know what to think of it.. Creative, yes, but also a bit of an insult to the old Dunhill blends. Anyway, Dunhill tobacco already died for me when Murray’s took over. I had the opportunity to smoke several sublime 1970’s versions and they were superior to the later blends I had, Murray’s and Orlik. At Vauen there were few new items. I think a new Auenland and I saw some pipes with weird psychedelic spots on them.

Jef had spotted a brochure that somebody held advertising CBD oil. What the hell does someone want with oil made out of the cannabis plant? Well, sadly Jef’s father has cancer, a very lethal version. The doctors had given him only 6 months but because of the use of CBD oil and Curcuma extract pills he has been going pretty strong for 19 months already! Jef is busy with setting up a business that can import, and perhaps later make, CBD oil in The Netherlands. But he did not expect to find suppliers on the Inter Tabac Fair. So we visited several of them. Pretty interesting, one company even had a vaping device which allowed you to inhale the CBD into your lungs. Handy with patients who have lung cancer for example.

Because the visits to Danpipe, MacBaren and the CBD companies took so long we could not see the entire fair. But I don’t think we missed much. Oh wait, there was one thing, I missed some scantily dressed promotion babes! It all was very, decent, this year. Until we were in one of the Vaping halls and we saw a stunning bodypainted beauty. Yesss!!! Around 5 o’clock we decided to call it quits and find something to eat. Like every year there was only one location we could go to; El Greco in the town of Herne. The friendly owner more or less recognized me from the other years (“Netherlands, right?”) and the meal he made was as good as ever.

I want to thank Jef for keeping me company and for all the interesting conversations we had. All pictures were made by Jef and myself.

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The quest for forum tobaccos – Part 3: Flatlander Flake

The “old” forum tobaccos

In 2012 I started my quest for forum tobaccos. That is, special tobaccos for the Dutch/Belgian Pipe Smokers forum (PRF). That often difficult journey (which you can read about here) ended at the end of 2013 and resulted in 3 delicious tobaccos: an aromatic called Genietmoment, a VaPer named Janneman Flake and a Balkan-blend with the name Brullende Leeuw. All made by a German tobacco company in cooperation with the wonderful Hans Wiedemann from HU Tobacco. After a years rest of the forum tobacco business it started to itch again, I was looking forward to a next phase of the project.

So, from which pipe-tobacco manufacturer would I like a forum tobacco (I already had decided it was going to be only 1 this time).. Sadly not an American company, import-wise that is waaaay to difficult (although I would have LOVED to work together with for example GL Pease, Cornell & Diehl or McClelland). It had to be a European one. On top of my wish-list was the quintessential English tobacco manufacturer Samuel Gawith. But how to get them to participate?

It is said that the secret ingredient for Gawith’s Black XX is Bob’s chest hair..

Actually that was pretty easy. Every year on the Inter Tabac fair in Dortmund I encounter the charming Bob Gregory at the stand of Samuel Gawith (merged together (again) with Gawith & Hoggarth in 2015). On the 2015 edition I took the bold step of asking Bob if Gawith was prepared to make a small batch of a special forum tobacco to be made by him and myself. To my surprise Bob immediately said yes, on the condition that the forum members would buy a minimum amount of 200 tins of 50 grams, and gave me his email so I could send him further details. Yessss, step 1 was taken!

Elbert Gubbels

Now step 2, getting the tobacco legally in The Netherlands. Gawith did not have a Dutch importer but I knew that someone was very interested in that job: Elbert Gubbels of Gubbels Pipes (Big Ben etc.). After years of being busy with smoking pipes Elbert was looking for a business expansion with pipe-tobacco. Fred and I made sure to let Elbert know that working with a high quality pipe-tobacco manufacturer such as Samuel Gawith was a smart move. He agreed with that and assured us he would talk to Bob about importing Gawith tobaccos to The Netherlands. In short, the next phase of the project could begin!

Back home I immediately mailed Bob, I already had an idea in my head of what I wanted. With the last forum tobaccos the high seller was Janneman Fake, a VaPer and a kind of blend that appealed to a lot of forum members. This time I wanted something similar yet different. First the cut, not a flake but a plug which is more special. Further I am a big fan of oriental tobaccos so I thought, Virginia/perique/oriental.. Hmm.. That could work! Also I was inspired by a blogpost by GL Pease about his wonderful Embarcadero blend. There he admits using a pinch of latakia in his Fillmore offering. A trick to extra season a tobacco, the same as someone would season a good steak to make it an excellent one.

So I wrote to Bob that the ingredients should be Virginias (in the vein of Full Virginia Flake), orientals (sadly Gawith only has an assorted blend of orientals and no specific varieties), a bit of perique, a smidgen of latakia and I told him what, very roughly, the levels of the different tobaccos should be. I was going for a sturdy yet mild, exotic and not overpowering blend with some fine nuances. Now I hear the PRF members saying: “What?? There is latakia in the new forum tobacco?? You said there wasn’t!” True, I lied, I admit and I am sorry. Because some members don’t like latakia I was afraid that they would not buy the tobacco simply because the dark leaf was an ingredient (although used very, very sparsely). So all you latakia haters who now smoke the blend and love it: got ya!

Bob being busy

While I was waiting for an answer from Bob I made the list on the forum where everyone could sign up for the tobacco. Remember, we had to order a minimum of 200 tins and I was crossing my fingers to say the least we made it to that amount. I did not need to worry. On 20 September 2015 forum-members could order and on the 25th I already had my 200 tins! In the meantime Bob had been busy with the plug: Dear Arno, this morning we made a trial cake of tobacco. This will be baked tomorrow and then we will test the tobacco for 7 to 10 days. After that time it will be cut and samples sent to you. The 25th I informed him that we managed to cross the 200 tins border. That is very good news Arno. I will now go downstairs to the production area and see what the cake is like. (10 minutes later) Interesting!!! The cake is made and the aroma is intriguing. I have cut a plug and will send to you for your opinion. Please allow it to dry a little as the tobacco is still very young.

Sample-round 1

On 22 October 2015 a package arrived at the office for me. Hmm, rather large, I thought, can’t be Gawith, such a box for only a sample? But the sender was indeed Gawith and inside was a massive 250 gr. slab of pressed tobacco! Wow! With the previous forum tobacco I only got small sample bags of which I could barely smoke 4 pipes. At least I could provide decent samples for my testers this time. So I cut the tobacco up in smaller pieces and send them to my testing panel, a select group of forum members and friends. Of course I also smoked the plug and to my relief it already was pretty good. In short the testing panel and I came to the conclusion that the plug was ok, the basis was good. So I mailed Bob that the Virginias in combination with the oriental, perique and smidge of latakia were to be found very interesting taste-wise. However, halfway the bowl it seemed that the “middle” taste-tones were lacking a bit. The plug had good “subtones” and “overtones”, but the middle was a bit “empty”, sort of. Like someone of the testers said: neither fish nor fowl. So I suggested an increase of the level of Oriental to Bob to fix this. The perique level was ok but the latakia could be even less. By the way, I did not tell the testing panel it contained latakia but some detected it.

Sample-round 2

It took some time before Bob responded, on 23 November he send this: Arno, I have noted your comments and will work at it. For now we are extremely busy, so if you do not mind, Arno Plug will have to go on to the back burner. Be assured that I will take a long look in a couple of weeks. About the name “Arno Plug” were some funny comments on the forum, I don’t understand why.. Finally at the beginning of February 2016 the second sample-slab of tobacco arrived at the office. But when I smoked the first pipes I was not happy.  I asked Bob to raise the oriental content but now the blend was really lacking midrange taste, my fault. The Virginias no longer supported the oriental so the whole balance was off. From the other hand the perique and latakia content were perfect. Still I did not send this sample round to the testing panel, it was not better as the first one. I mailed Bob my findings and waited again.

Then it began to rumble about the cut of the forum tobacco. It was going to be a plug but Gawith was slowly beginning to object to this: Regarding the packaging of SG plug, we have one packing for this in the UK and that is a 250g box. Generally speaking, it is very expensive to cut a plug to 50g, it requires constant trimming to size and we end up with excessive waste, the cost of which has to be added back to the end product weight. We can do this in a tin but the price will shock you. Can the product which you require not be taken in the standard 250g box? It would certainly have a more attractive price for you. You could of course also take the product as a bulk product and pack it yourselves. I told Bob that we could not take the standard 250 gr. box or the tobacco as bulk. This because in The Netherlands no sales of bulk tobacco is allowed, only sealed tins and pouches are permitted. On 8 March the final verdict fell: Dear Arno, with regard to the Forum tobacco, we are not prepared, on the basis of time/cost to pack this product as a 50g Plug. We are, however, prepared to go with a 50g flake product.

Flatlander Flake

Damnit! I already “sold” over 200 tins as a plug and now it suddenly was going to be a flake. I explained the situation to the forum members and asked them if they were willing to accept the new cut. Luckily the most heard response was: “A plug is more special but a flake is also ok, easier to handle”. *Pheww*! Only 1 member wanted to cancel his order because of this. The new flake also needed a name so I asked the forum members for suggestions. The best came from Jef (nickname NoneNicer): Flatlander Flake. He was inspired by the book “Flatland, a romance of many dimensions” written by Edwin A. Abott. The book is about dimensions and we just went from 3D (a plug) to 2D (a flake), very appropriate. Plus that when I read the name I immediately got inspiration for the tin artwork. I asked Bob what the dimensions of the label were and started to work. I ended up with a picture of the flat lands around the village where I live. With some Photoshop I made it look like a painting. I added the Samuel Gawith logo, some info, of course the name, send it to Bob et voilà, I was ready.

Bob still had not send a reply but after some pushing from my side he finally did on 4 April: Dear Arno, I have no news as yet. I have to wait until Mr Gubbels enters into an agreement with Gawith Hoggarth. Until this happens I cannot make or ship. This may not happen until after May 20th in which case I may have wasted money on labels we cannot use. Until I know what the market is doing I will not move. I know this is frustrating but the problem is small compared to our having to change label designs and health warnings for all EU markets, also to possibly change the type of tin we use. The problem at which Bob was pointing was the new tobacco regulation guideline TPD2. That required that Flatlander Flake had to be produced before 20 May 2016 otherwise we 1. could throw away the labels that were just made and 2. horrible pictures would be put on the tins. Luckily a couple of weeks later Elbert Gubbels committed himself to Gawith. He was going to import several Samuel Gawith tobacco to The Netherlands including Flatlander Flake. But our troubles were not over yet.

An example of TPD2 approved artwork…

A silence fell until 10 June when Elbert mailed me: Dear Arno, an update regarding tobaccos from England: I have just been in contact with Bob Gregory and an appointment is scheduled in Kendal. After much hassle we finally have the permit to buy tax seals. We hope to be able to import tins with no unsightly pictures on front and back. Regarding the status of your forum tobacco order: this will at least have to get the ugly pictures because the tobacco is not yet manufactured / packaged. All tobaccos produced after May 20 this year are obliged to get the pictures on the cans. It all goes not smooth. Of course there is the fact that we have received permission / a license so late. Bummer, artwork with nasty pictures.. “Oh well, at least a forum tobacco is coming!” I thought.

Respect for this man!

The next months Elbert got busy with the whole process of importing the Gawith tobaccos. Which was hell for him. This because it was the first time he did anything like that. Only a few companies import tobacco into The Netherlands so there was no one who told Elbert what to do, he had to find out everything by himself. You have meet all kinds of bureaucratic requirements and every time Elbert thought he saw the light at the end of the tunnel our dutiful civil servants conjured up another wall. Very frustrating so I have nothing than the utmost respect for the man because he stubbornly kept going on. In the mean time I discussed the final number of Flatlander Flake with Elbert, he would import 300 tins.

Yeahh!! No gruesome images!

Things started to move again when Bob asked for the Flatlander Flake artwork, again, at the beginning of August. A good opportunity to ask for the 3rd sample round but I got no response. Halfway September was the Inter-Tabac Fair in Dortmund so I mailed Bob several times and begged him to bring new Flatlander Flake samples, again no response. As you can read in the corresponding blogpost the bastard (love you Bob!) did bring 2 tins of the final product with him (No more sample rounds, he said..). I noticed the content of the tin I opened was still very fresh but I tasted potential! I have to reluctantly admit I could hug the man at that moment. In October one of the big PRF meetings was held in Heukelum and only just before the date I received 2 sample-tins from Elbert, with the new artwork. To my amazement and delight it did not have the gruesome images, only text warnings. How they did it, no idea, but to be honest I don’t care.

Tax seal

Slowly the date that the forum tobaccos arrived in The Netherlands was getting closer. Tobacconist Willem Schimmel in Zutphen was doing the sales, as an importer Elbert Gubbels could not do that. At the beginning of December Willem rang me up: “I received the tins, but there are only 288 of them..” What!!?? I ordered and “sold” 300 so I was 12 tins short. I phoned Elbert to asked what happened. Apparently he had send the mandatory tax seals to Gawith so they could attach them to the tins. Only, those seals come on rollers of 144 pieces. So 2 rollers of in total 288 tax seals were received and processed by Gawith. The 12 remaining tins they had send to The Netherlands without anything on them. Which was discovered by our hard working customs office.

Burning Flatlander Flake the wrong way..

They phoned Elbert and he went like “Oh sorry, perhaps I can pay the taxes for them now? I mean, it is only 12 tins.” At which the customs office burst out in anger and even threatened to call the police on Elbert.. In the end he was forced to burn those 12 tins in front of 2 customs officers who especially had to come to the Gubbels factory, I kid you not ladies and gentlemen, I have photographic proof of that. Totally insane, like those tins contained hard drugs! Luckily Gawith had some leftover stock of Flatlander Flake. Just before Christmas Willem organized 3 days on which the members of the forum could pick up their forum tobacco tins and the rest would be send by post. I was there on one of those days and the ambience was just great: happy forum members, Willem played the role of gracious host, there was a cosy Christmas market in the centre of Zutphen, finally all was well.

So now you probably all expect a glowing review by me about Flatlander Flake. Well, in The Netherlands we have a saying: “Wij van WC eend adviseren WC eend. (We from Toilet-Duck (a company) advise Toilet-Duck)” We Dutch use the slogan any time people or companies are clearly recommending their own stuff. I won’t do that, the lucky ones who have obtained a Flatlander Flake tin have to make a judgement for themselves. I can only say that I am very happy with the final result, I think it is a unique flake, especially within the Gawith range. It is interesting, smooth and mellow with grassy, sweet candy-cane-like tones yet the perique gives it some peppery kick which is rounded off by a slight smoky after-taste by the pinch of latakia. You can smoke it in all kinds of pipes where the shape of the bowl defines which ingredient comes out more. For example billiards enhance the Virginias and pots/princes the oriental content. However I do advise to smoke slowly, almost sip it. If you have the patience to leave the tin shut I predict you will be in for a treat after some time. Virginias and orientals age very well.

I would like to thank Bob Gregory, Elbert Gubbels and Willem Schimmel, without them Flatlander Flake would not have been possible. Also I thank my girlfriend Ellen for enduring my moods and billows of smoke. And of course I thank all of you forum members who have bought the tins (sometimes vast amounts!) without knowing what the final product was going to be like. Thank you for having faith in me!

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Latakia and… Chocolate???

Rainer (on the right) and Hans (in the middle)

Rainer (on the right) and Hans (in the middle)

Once in a while you smoke a blend that surprises you, that tastes so different in a pleasant way than you expected. Such a mixture is ChocoLat (notice the capital “L”) by HU Tobacco. You would expect that master-blender Hans Wiedemann is behind the tobacco but no, it is a friend of him (and myself): Rainer. It all began when he read the excellent book by Fred Hanna: The Perfect Smoke. In there is a paragraph where Mr. Hanna describes a tobacco blending experiment with an aromatic mixture called McClelland Tastemaster (a (Black) Cavendish – Burley blend) and 50% latakia: Smoky Chocolate Surprise. The first candidate for an excellent crossover is a McClelland aromatic called Tastemaster. It appears to be the typical McClelland high-quality tobacco that is cased and suffused with chocolate. Yes, I said it was chocolate, and, unbelievably, it even tastes like chocolate. It is a nice aromatic all on its own if smoked after allowing it to dry for a few days. It smells nice and burns rather cool as long as, like I said, it has time to dry out. However, when mixed with 50% McClelland Cyprian Latakia, you have the dessert equivalent of Smoky Chocolate Surprise. It smells great, has depth of flavor, and burns cool with a nice chocolate taste. It is actually rather amazing stuff. I highly recommend it to the Latakia lover who has a sweet tooth. And, of course, the room note is pleasant indeed.

Norbert Hedtke

Norbert Hedtke

So Rainer started experimenting, got some Tastemaster from the States, mixed it with pure Latakia and indeed with a good result. But now the arduous task lay before him of re-creating the blend with European tobaccos. First he approached the master-blender of Kohlhase & Kopp, Norbert Hedtke. The blend that came out of that was ok, but it was not quite what Rainer had in mind. Something was off.. Of course! American (unflavoured) Black Cavendish is mostly made from Burley and European Black Cavendish is based on Virginia. Too much of the latter and the blend becomes a bit dry, woodsy. But with some tweaking this was solved. Then the mixture lacked a bit of body. This time the solution came from Hans Wiedemann. He added some special Burley and high quality Virginia which was precisely what the blend needed. The mixture then was rounded off with, not an overly sweet milk chocolate, but a dark chocolate topping.

logo_HU-TobaccoDescription from the producer:
The common passion for good tobacco has Rainer aka Raiko and me let become good friends. There was of course close to the Rainer finally created his own tobacco. The result is really fun – Chapeau Rainer!!! Luxurious, opulent and at the same time with a hint of decadence – ChocoLat has it all! Nearly half a measure of Latakia is sustained by high-grade Virginias, Burley and unflavoured Black Cavendish. A discreet cocoa flavour delivers a satisfying, indulging taste without ever becoming overly sweet. Deep and dark, pleasant and snugger alike a good Stout… ChocoLat – can also serve as an ideal companion to a dark beer.

ChocoLatPackage/tin:
A typical round European style 50 gr. tin is used. On the tin sadly no image but just plain text. Hans really makes wonderful tobaccos and some of his tins have really nice artwork. But also many tins lack that.. The eye also wants something and with a name like ChocoLat I am sure a good looking tin label could have been made.

IMG_4787Contents/Ingredients/cut:
Upon opening the tin you see a simple white paper. When you remove that a blend greets you which varies in colour from light to dark. Bright Virginias, slightly darker Burley and black Latakia and Black Cavendish. Which also sums up the ingredients. The cut is a regular ribbon cut.

noseSmell from the tin:
The smell from the tin is a bit strange, but in a good way. I smell the earthly, leathery camp-fire odour of the latakia but it is subdued by the other tobacco components and the topping. It reminds me of Sillem’s Black, marshmallows roasting above a camp-fire. But then less aromatic, more natural. A real chocolate smell I do not detect.

011Taste:
Upon lighting the pipe you get the dark earthy taste of the smoky latakia but without the bitterness you sometimes experience. After a few puffs the bright and sweet Virginias, together with some citrus, come through. They, in combination with the creamy Black Cavendish also provide a slight grassy taste. The Burley provides the nutty backbone of the blend. I don’t really detect a clear chocolate taste, it is just a bit of marshmallows roasting above a camp-fire. Smoking a pipe with this mixture is not a roller-coaster ride flavour-wise, all the ingredients are in perfect harmony and stay that way. Like with the smell I am taste-wise also reminded of Sillem’s Black; it is more natural than aromatic. Sometimes aromatic blends loose their taste halfway the bowl, but because ChocoLat leans on the natural tobaccos the flavour is consistently maintained throughout the bowl.

IMG_4786Miscellaneous:
German made blends sometimes have the tendency to bite but like most HU Tobacco blends ChocoLat is a good boy. Nicotine-wise it is a mild blend, I can smoke it without any troubles. Burn-wise this is an excellent mixture. I rarely required so few relights and it burns right down to the bottom of the bowl.

thumbs2Room-note:
For Ellen it contains latakia so no… However, even when she says she does not really like it, she made no remarks while I smoked it, no leaving the room, no coughing noises.. And when I entered the living-room the next morning all I could smell was a faint roasted marshmallow odour. So for me the room-note goes into the “pretty decent” department.

moneyPrice:
On the website of HU Tobacco this blend will cost you €11,30 (± $12.50).

P1090674Conclusion:
This blend will appeal to pipe-smokers on different levels. If you are a lover of Latakia-blends this mixture will be a nice and perhaps refreshing change of pace. Don’t let the “chocolat” label put you off, this is not an aromatic, there are loads of high quality natural tobaccos to be enjoyed. And if your wife loathes the smell of your favourite Latakia-blends, try ChocoLat, perhaps she will like it. Because every woman loves chocolate, right? Also when you want to try out a mixture with latakia I believe this is a good blend to start with. You get the characteristics of the dark leaf but in a smoothed, tasty way that won’t put you off.

Lohmar pipe-show 2016

12809533_1579588269032530_9107435235979943968_nOn 21 May it was time for the 11th edition of one of the most interesting pipe-events in Germany: the Lohmar Pfeifenmesse. Also this time at Villa Friedlinde organized by pipe-maker Volker Bier in cooperation with the local authorities. A collaboration I really applaud! The economy of Lohmar gets a boost from the hordes of pipe-smoking enthusiasts and they get to use community-centre Villa Friedlinde and the surrounding park. Like every year I could drive along with Rob. Only, this time I was not the only one. Rob’s car is big enough for several folks so Wilfred, Jan and Marielle joined us. The more the merrier! We drank some tea and coffee at Rob’s place before leaving and I had to laugh when I saw the big bag of Marielle. Thanks to Rob she has discovered snuff and brought along all kinds of the stuff in all kinds of little boxes like the ones you keep contact-lenses in. And besides that she is gaining a vast knowledge about the subject. Hail to the snuff-queen!

In the car, never-mind the sour-looking chap on the left

In the car, never-mind the sour-looking chap on the left

The ride to Lohmar was enjoyable, well, at least for me. Marielle, Wilfred and Jan were packed together like sardines in the back of the car. When we arrived the weather proved to be excellent. Last year we were lucky in that regard but now it was just perfect. The sight of the pipe-show looked and felt like one big garden party. People were walking around the stands, having a drink, sitting on the grass etc. The first familiar face was that of Paul, one of the Belgian members of the forum. He even brought his pipe-smoking girlfriend with him!

Hans and myself

Hans and myself

The first stop was the stand of Hans Wiedemann, good friend, master-blender and owner of HU Tobacco. For some time Hans was not doing well physically. He suffered a heart-infarct and had to change his whole lifestyle. Even the existence of HU Tobacco was hanging in the balance for a wile. But go figure, during day time Hans had his regular job and in the evening and at night he was managing HU Tobacco, packing and sending away orders etc.. So now Tabakwaren Bosch, a tobacconist from the South of Germany, has taken over German orders for HU Tobacco. Foreign orders are still being handled by Hans himself. It was busy at the stand, a good sign. A slimmed down Hans and I greeted each other as old friends. He had some new offerings. First the 5 year HU Tobacco Anniversary Blend. I smelled it but no, I am sorry, not really my cup of tea. However, what was my thing was Asmara, an oriental forward blend. I already received a sample before from other German friend Rainer and it reveals all kinds of flavours when smoked slowly. The greatest surprise was a strange blend called ChocoLat. Notice the capital “L”. It was created by Rainer in cooperation with Hans. Almost 50% of latakia is combined with Virginias, Burley, unflavoured black cavendish and a light cocoa topping. It reminded me of Sillem’s Black but different, better. A very interesting smoke!

Eddy and Hans-Walter, a friend of him

Eddy and Hans-Walter, a friend of him

When walking around a bit I spotted another German friend: Eddy, who I met last year at Lohmar. Eddy is somewhat a collector of patent-era Dunhills and other English brands. We sat down on the grass in the park and I had to gasp for air when he opened up his pipe-bag. First he pulled out a gorgeous Comoy army-mount prince. Precisely the sort of pipe I like. To be honest I felt a bit like Gollum when looking at that pipe. My precioussss…. Then came a series of old Dunhills. The oldest was a smooth bulldog from somewhere between 1918 and 1923. Vintage Dunhills very often have beautiful sandblasts which I saw at the next two pipes. A Tanshell “O” shape squat bulldog from 1953 and a Shell billiard from 1925. Especially the squat bulldog had a jaw-dropping sandblast. While wiping away some drool I congratulated Eddie with his pipes. He is a very lucky (and now poor) man to own these!

Maike and Rob

Maike and Rob

Meanwhile Rob had bumped into female pipe-maker extraordinaire Maike from Maike Pipes. Last year Rob turned 50 and he wanted a special pipe for the occasion. But who was going to make it.. At earlier Lohmar editions I already saw what Maike could do so I hinted to him that perhaps the female pipe-maker from Berlin was a good choice. So Rob mailed her and Maike got busy. Literally the day before his 50th birthday he received the pipe, a wonderful churchwarden Maike-style. What I love about her is her eye for design, the insight in the flowing lines that make a good pipe shape. Just take a look at her website. I saw lots of pipes at Lohmar which looked not right. Incorrect proportions, strange lines, sloppy finishes.. The German habit of smoking and building filter pipes, which can look rather plump, also does not help. And the prices some pipe-makers dare to ask for their (in their eyes amazing) pipes.. Auwtsch.. At least with Maike you get a good looking, good smoking pipe for not too much money.

IMG_4312

The clay pipes I bought

Many (German) pipe-makers were present at Lohmar. Just to name a few: Hahn Pfeifen, Michaela Daniels Pfeifen, Eckhard Stöhr Pfeifen, Uwe Reichert Pfeifen, Jan Harry Seifert, Lucifer’s Pipes, Hartmut Heckmann, Nortbert Bauer Pfeifen, Zigl Pipes, Markus Meyer Design, Jürgen Börner Freehand Pipes, Bischoff Pfeifen and Uwe Maier. Tommi Teichmann had some amazing looking prince-shape pipes which at first sight looked perfectly sandblasted. Only, they were not. They were painstakingly beautifully rusticated by hand. Sadly way above my budget.. Another of Tommi’s offerings was almost in reach of my budget. He had made all kinds of loose bowls (some rusticated, some not) with a small hole at the bottom in which a bamboo stem fitted. A bit like a Popeye pipe if you want. But they were just above the amount I was willing to pay for them. What was within my limited budget were some surprisingly nice looking clay pipes made by Markus Fohr. He had some models which had an acrylic mouthpiece made onto the clay bowl. So I bought 2 of them and I must say, they smoke amazingly well!

Dining at the Meigermühle

Dining at the Meigermühle

In the mean time fellow forum member d’Artagnan had joined us and we all were relaxing in the grass soaking in the rays of the bright and warm sun. Some beers were fetched at the voluptuous lady who managed the stand of the local Lohmar brewery. Like every year she always tries to hide when I grab my camera and like every year she fails. The rest of the afternoon was spend talking and chatting away to each other until our bellies started to grumble. Time to go to the place we went last year: Café Restaurant Meigermühle, located in an historical timber framed building at the edge of a forest. Rob was being very stern, in order to not break with tradition we were only allowed to order a Schnitzel, which we all did. While the sun slowly disappeared behind the horizon we sat on the outside terrace smoking our pipes while contemplating what a great day it had been.

All pictures were made by myself, Marielle, Rob, Jan and Paul.

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Let’s celebrate the return of Bengal Slices

The Celebrated Bengal Slices © GL Pease

The Celebrated Bengal Slices © GL Pease

Sometimes I think I was a pipe-smoker in a former life. You know, that sometimes you look at an old tobacco tin and you could swear you have seen it before, that it just speaks to you. That happened to me in my early pipe-smoking days when I browsed through the site of GL Pease and stumbled upon an article about The Celebrated Bengal Slices. I saw a dreamy picture of a classy, black rectangular tin with red letters and flags and even without looking at the text I thought: Woww.. That tobacco must be amazing! Of course, after reading the article I was disappointed because the blend was no longer made. Luckily, after some searching on e-bay I found a still sealed tin for a good price. I immediately bought it and when the postman delivered the package it did not take long for me to crack open the tin, fill up a pipe and smoke it. To be honest I was slightly disappointed, it tasted a bit flat and dull. Maybe my expectations were too high. Besides I saw that the tin was not made by the House of Sobranie but by Danish company A&C Petersen. Bummer.. I stashed away the tin (had never heard of mason jars back then) until some weeks ago when I was able to buy the latest incarnation of The Celebrated Bengal Slices. Of course I had to compare the both. But first some history.

Sobranie made Bengal Slices © Neill Archer Roan

Sobranie made Bengal Slices © Neill Archer Roan

It all started in the early 1950’s when the founder of Smokers’ Haven, Joseph Zieve, came up with an idea for a new, revolutionary tobacco. He was thinking of a full English blend that was cut, pressed and then cut into slices. That way, you could easily rub it out with only one hand and fill your pipe. It also had to be so compressed that you could carry a weeks supply on you without a big bulge in your pocket. Smokers’ Haven Krumble Kake was born as a blend and as a style (cut) of tobacco with the help of the legendary house of Sobranie which produced it. A couple decades later, in 1977 to be precise, when Krumble Kake was a huge success in the USA the Sobranie house decided to bring their own version on the market. They replicated Krumble Kake but made it unique by the addition of a special topping. It even was whispered that the new blend, called The Celebrated Bengal Slices, was the pressed and sliced version of the fabled Balkan Sobranie Smoking Mixture. But despite that the blend became only moderately popular. It was always eclipsed by the real stars of the Sobranie house: the better known and more widely available Balkan Sobranie mixtures.

A&C Petersen made Bengal Slices

A&C Petersen made Bengal Slices

In 1980 Gallaher took over the Sobranie trademarks. The Krumble Kake recipe and all of the equipment to make it was transferred over to J. F. Germain & Son who produced it for Smokers’ Haven. The production of Bengal Slices was transferred to the Manchester Tobacco Company (MTC) but was almost directly discontinued. However, the blend made a first comeback! Apparently Bengal Slices actually was a house blend prepared by the House of Sobranie for its jointly owned subsidiary James B. Russell Inc. (a well known tobacco importer / distributor). As such it was not a part of the 1980 transaction with Gallaher. James B. Russell Inc. owned the Bengal Slices trademark and retained control of the brand (I thank Jon Guss for this information). So in 1991 Danish company A&C Petersen began producing the blend for James B. Russell Inc. It maintained something of a cult following but it was too different from the original to really make an impact on sales. In 1999, possibly due to the impending acquisition of A&C Petersen by Orlik/Scandinavian Tobacco Group in 2000, The Celebrated Bengal Slices was discontinued, never to be seen again…

The Standard Tobacco Company made Bengal Slices

The Standard Tobacco Company made Bengal Slices

…Until 10 July 2015 when a message appeared on several pipe forums: “We are pleased to announce that the Board of Directors of The Standard Tobacco Company of Pennsylvania, today at 9:30 am executed the instrument conveying to Meier & Dutch the right to manufacture and distribute, under Standard Tobacco’s trademarks, War Horse, John Cotton’s blends, and Bengal Slices.” 3 friends with a passion for pipe-smoking, Dan, Simon, and Roger started the Standard Tobacco Company after a long evening of too much sake and sushi in the autumn of 2014. They talked about resurrecting long-dead trademarks of revered British blends. At first with a laugh and not really serious but later they began to ponder. What if… So with help of other friends they acquired the abandoned trademarks, unearthed lost recipes, investigated and chemically analysed vintage tins and interviewed people whose memories held the secrets of the old tobaccos. At a pipe-club meeting Dan asked master-blender Russ Ouellette if he was willing to help make the blends, and he was. Before Russ had created a tribute to Bengal Slices, Fusilier’s Ration, released in 2012. The Standard Tobacco project provided such a wealth of new research that it confirmed that his tribute blend was surprisingly accurate. With only some subtle refinements and improvements the new Celebrated Bengal Slices was ready to hit the shelves.

Bengal Slices TinPackage/tin:
A&C Petersen Bengal Slices:
Here the same rectangular tin is used as the old Sobranie made Bengal Slices. Only difference is that the tin itself is not black and on the label is says “Made in Denmark exclusively for James B Russell Inc.” instead of “Made in England exclusively for James B Russell Inc.”. I just love the artwork, being a Desktop Publisher I can really appreciate it. Because of the simple use of black, gold and red in the letters and flags the tin has a downright classy look. There is no further description on the tin.
Standard tobacco Bengal Slices: A round European style tin is used. A bit of a let down for me because for me the rectangular tin just has a more nostalgic feel. But they made up for that with the exquisite faithfully reproduced label. Amazing job well done! Because of the relief printing the images and texts pop out of the black background even more. On the backside is a sticker with amongst other things this description: Bengal Slices is a crumble cake made of Cyprian Latakia, outstanding Orientals, Bright Virginia and a touch of Black Cavendish, finished with a subtle top note.

IMG_4053Contents/Ingredients/cut:
A&C Petersen Bengal Slices: Upon opening the tin you see a gold paper in which the neatly stacked slices are wrapped. It looks organized, a feast for the eye, feels like you are unwrapping a box of delicious bonbons. The slices themselves are almost black with few colours protruding. I am not sure about the ingredients but I believe they are dark Virginias, black cavendish and quite a lot of Cyprian latakia. If there are orientals in the blend (which I doubt) it surely is not much. The cut is a classic crumble cake like Krumble Kake and Penzance.
Standard tobacco Bengal Slices: I was a bit disappointed when I opened the tin. A standard white wrapping paper with a round black insert upon loose random sized slices of presses tobacco. It just looked a bit messy compared to the neatly stacked contents of the A&C Petersen tin. The slices are more colourful and thicker than the old version. A joy to look at if only they were a bit more uniform. The ingredients are bright toasted Virginias, orientals, a bit of black cavendish and Cyprian latakia. The cut is a crumble cake like Seattle Pipe Club’s Mississippi River.

noseSmell from the tin:
A&C Petersen Bengal Slices: A dark, earthy, musty, leathery smell rises from the tin and that is pretty much it. I had to rehydrate the slices with the moist-towel-over-a-bowl technique so perhaps a part of the original topping was lost.
Standard tobacco Bengal Slices: This tobacco surely has a unique trademark smell. Aside from the leathery, woodsy latakia I detect a topping which, according to my nose, contains liquorice, chocolate, anise and a hint of vanilla. I can’t really compare it to any other blend I sniffed at. Only perhaps HU tobacco’s (excellent) RaiKo ChocoLat comes a bit close.

011Taste:
A&C Petersen Bengal Slices: When I lit the first pipe after the rehydration I almost thought the towel I used contained traces of soap. I got a faint floral / Lakeland note! Yuck! Yeahyeah, I am not a fan of Lakeland tobaccos ok? Later, when I re-read the GL pease article, I saw that the old Sobranie made Bengal Slices had such a floral taste so I guess that in that retrospect the Danish version was spot on. Once I overcame the soapy note I started to enjoy the tobacco a bit. A well balanced, dark, creamy and smooth blend wit not much going on. But in the second half of the bowl I began to lose interest. The basis taste stayed the same and I found the tobacco becoming monotonous. Damn, I really missed some oriental firework. With some effort I forced myself to fully smoke the pipe. Purely to determine if my first impression was right I smoked several bowls more, each time I came to the same conclusion: not my cup of tea.
Standard tobacco Bengal Slices: I first smoked this Bengal Slices version in the car while driving back home late in the evening. It was almost magical. The roads were quiet, the moon was high and bright, the music in the car slow and moody and I had one of my best first impressions of a tobacco ever. Upon lighting the bowl there immediately was thick, fat and creamy smoke coming off the pipe. The soft latakia in combination with the topping had an incense like quality, it tasted superb. Going further through the bowl I noticed that this was not a roller-coaster blend with different tastes at each puff, the flavour profile did not change much. You just got some leather and wood from the latakia, some sweet from the Virginias and black cavendish and some sour and spice from the orientals. All working in perfect harmony. After smoking more bowls I also detected a BBQ flavour sometimes weaving through the smoke (especially in the last part) and hints of white chocolate. In my opinion the strong point of the new Bengal Slices is the exquisite balance and great basic trademark flavour.

Miscellaneous:
A&C Petersen Bengal Slices: When I finally had dehydrated the slices they were fine to handle. Crumbling was easy, smoking also. Oh, this also goes for the Standard Tobacco slices, do not tamp the tobacco too hard when smoking. Otherwise you get a big chunk of ash on the bottom which clogs up the pipe. Nicotine level medium and no tongue bite.
Standard tobacco Bengal Slices: The tobacco was at first a bit on the dry side for me. Or I am just used to smoking wet.. Anyway, I could not help rehydrating the slices a little bit. Crumbling the blend is easy and that also goes for smoking it. In my opinion this one smokes a bit better than the old version. Nicotine level medium and only in a few pipes I had a tiny bit of tongue bite.

thumbsRoom-note:
A&C Petersen Bengal Slices: Ellen was mostly already at sleep when I smoked this one, but my nose said mwoah… Not too bad for a latakia blend.
Standard tobacco Bengal Slices: Here the Ellen-meter says: mwoah. She does not really like it (it contains latakia, duh!) but the smell is bearable.

moneyPrice:
A&C Petersen Bengal Slices: I bought the tin on e-bay 2 June 2011 and paid $26 (± €23) for it. Pretty good huh?
Standard tobacco Bengal Slices: At 4noggins you pay $12.79 (± €11,70) for a 1.75 oz. tin.

IMG_4057Conclusion:
A&C Petersen Bengal Slices: To be honest I am glad I don’t have to smoke this one any more. I don’t like the floral note, I don’t like the monotonous taste. like I said before, not my thing.
Standard tobacco Bengal Slices: I love this new incarnation of The Celebrated Bengal Slices. I smoked a lot of bowls of it and each time I was looking forward to the experience. My only comment is the shape of the tin, I rather see the beautifully elegant rectangular tin and the rough uneven slices. People at Lane Ltd. (manufacturer of the blend), can you please make neat slices of similar size and put them in a rectangular tin? The eye also wants something, let’s say it adds to the smoking experience. And that experience is already superb considering the young age of my tin. I can see the blend age very well so I definitely will stock up on this one. Standard Tobacco Company of Pennsylvania, thank you!

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Lohmar pipe-show 2015

Lohmar_2015While a big part of the pipe-smoking world had their attention focused on the enormous Chicago Pipe Show, another, smaller, European-German part, attended the interesting and cosy Lohmar Pfeifenmesse. I went there last year and had a blast despite the gruesome weather. So on the morning of the pipe-show I opened the curtains a bit nervously and… Sunshine! I knew it was going to be a good day. After a quick shower Rob (forum nickname Robbie-San) already rang the doorbell, just as last year I rode with him. The only difference was that we did not have to pick up the other Rob (forum nickname: Smoking Rob) because he had a gig with his band that evening and could not make it. Yoda greeted me once again in Rob’s car and like last year I had made cheese-sandwiches for the road which we both happily ate while chatting away.

Yesss! Excellent weather!

Yesss! Excellent weather!

To Rob’s delight I pulled out an aged tin out of my bag of Peterson Sweet Killarney, one of his favourite tobaccos, as a “thank you” for driving me. The journey went a lot faster this year, I guess it helped that the German highways did not look like rivers now. Just before 10.30 am we arrived at Villa Friedlinde in the heart of Lohmar, the annual location of the pipe-show. 2015 was a special edition, the 10th one, still organized by pipe-maker Volker Bier. Like last year a large section of the surrounding park also was part of the show. That Volker closely works together with the local authorities was proved by the fact that even the mayor of Lohmar attended the Pfeifenmesse.

dunhill_princeOnce inside I immediately looked for the stand where I bought the Dunhill Shell cherrywood-shape last year, hoping to find more of those gems. But instead I bumped into Eddy. He mailed me some time ago that he recognized one of my Dunhill prince-shaped pipes in my Prince of Pipes blogpost. To be precise the Dunhill Bruyere from the early patent era. Apparently that pipe once belonged to him! He asked me where I bought it, at Esterval, I answered. That also was the vendor where he once bought it. Sadly the old mouthpiece got so thin by all the maintenance over the years that it had cracked. Eddy had it replaced by German pipe-repairman Marco Janzen.

Eddy

Eddy

Unfortunately he was not 100% happy with the new mouthpiece because it was thicker and wider as the old one. On top of that he always had been a little afraid of smoking this fragile prince too hot. So Eddy traded it with another German against a Dunhill bulldog-shape and probably that man sold it to Esterval again. We exchanged some pictures and from seeing those we both came to the conclusion that I now had the old prince of Eddy. After all the mailing we did we decided to meet at Lohmar and bring some of our Dunhill princes. Eddy had brought a Dunhill Shell patent era with him which could have been the brother of one of mine, exactly the same style mouthpiece. During the day we now and then bumped into each other and every time kept chatting a bit. Wonderful guy.

Rainer and Markus at the HU Tobacco stand

Rainer and Markus at the HU Tobacco stand

A stand I did not wanted to miss was the one of HU Tobacco. Sadly owner and master-blender Hans Wiedemann could not come to Lohmar. I mailed him about a question of his excellent Fayyum Kake a couple of months ago and heard to my terror that he had suffered a heart attack. Thank the heavens he is well on his way to recovery but the Pfeifenmesse came to soon for him. So for the day two friends of him, Rainer and Markus, took over business. I also know Rainer, we regularly mail with each other, swap tobacco samples and he helped me out with my blogpost of the vintage Dunhill London Mixture which was made in Germany.

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Yummie home-made liver-pâté

It already was very busy at the stand but Rainer immediately recognized me and we shook hands. I had some things for him and he for me. I brought some Germain Rich Dark Flake with me for him and traded a pouch of Condor against some local made liver-pâté. Believe me, for someone who does not like the soapy Lakeland tobacco aroma it was an excellent exchange. The liver-pâté was made by the local butcher in Rainer’s home-town and is mouth-watering yummie. On a side note, Rainer gets his tobacco canned at that same butcher. Meat or tobacco, what is the difference? Also Hans had a surprise for me, Rainer handed me over a bag with a tin inside. “Guard it with your life, the contents are very wanted!” he said. Inside the bag was one of the last tins of Fayyum Kake! Thank you very much Hans! Fayyum Kake is no longer made (for now), it is pressed by Hans himself and with his condition it just became too much work. For the rest I bought some delicious Balkan Passion and Director’s Cut at the stand.

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Standing in the queue before the food-wagon

Unlike last year the food stand now was outside the villa, a wagon with a big round plate beside it where potatoes were baked. The stomachs of both Rob and I grumbled a bit so we decided to get some Bockwurst. What I did notice was that the prices had gone up, €4 for a simple Bockwurst with one tiny slice of bread was a bit on the expensive side for me. Next year I’ll bring more sandwiches with me.. Behind me in the queue before the food-wagon stood German blogger Ralf Dings of the excellent Jogi-wan blog. He did not immediately knew who I was but when I said “Dutch Pipe Smoker” an expression of recognition came over his face. We talked a bit about how close HU Tobacco came to closing down because of Hans’ heart attack and that that really would have been a crying shame. When Rob and I finally could order some food and drinks I made a strange movement with my hand and accidentally slapped the Dunhill Root Brair I was smoking out of my mouth. It just missed the hot surface of the big baking-plate and hit the side with a loud bang. Under the worried looks of the people in the queue I rapidly picked up the pipe and… Not even a scratch. *Pheww!!*

Foundation by Musico pipes

Foundation by Musico pipes

With our bellies filled it was time to properly look at all the stands. Compared to last year I was a little less impressed with the selection of pipes. The stand where I bought the Dunhill Shell cherrywood shape did not have any new models that I liked. However, they still had the same prince I saw at the previous Lohmar edition but because it was from the 90’s I choose not to buy it. Yes I know, I can be a snob.. I very much liked the offerings of Foundation by Musico, classic shapes with sometimes beautiful blasts. Sadly only just above my budget.. Which I had with quite a lot of pipes. Oooh, this one is nice! Owww, €250.. Nevermind.. As a rule I never pay more than €150 for a pipe (only 1 exception, I once bought a Winslow Harlekin). Partly because I am a cheap ass Dutchman and partly because Ellen will kill me if I come home with an expensive piece of smoking-wood. (“When do you spend some money on me, you cheap ass bastard!”)

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Morta pipes by Colja Schoppe

Maike from Maike pipes has a better price-quality ratio, which resulted in almost selling all of her available pipes. I’ll be sure to keep an eye out for new offerings from her. Holger Gunia, master of the short, stubby pipe also did some good business. Few pipes were left when I examined his stand. Obviously inspired by Roger Wallenstein but taking it to a new level a real eye-catcher were the pipes of Uwe Maier. Good to smoke and put on your livingroom-cupboard as a piece of art. The large morta pipes of Colja Schoppe were also very impressive. Not my thing but I can perfectly imagine lots of pipe-smokers will like his offerings.

Rob

Rob

While walking around we bumped into Fred, d’Artagnan and André. The last two also were there last year. After having talked a while Fred and André went their own way and d’Artagnan joined us. Beside pipe-stands there were also stands who sold other hand-made things. Last year I bought Ellen a dark blue bracelet so now I wanted something different and found just that. A lady had for sale all kinds of rings and pendants. I picked 2 pendants, one with a stone which had a purple hue (the favourite colour of Ellen) and one with an ammonite in it. d’Artagnan liked that last one so much that he decided to buy one for himself. Because of the lovely weather we all had dry throats and there was only one cure for that: beer! The voluptuous lady at the stand of the local Lohmar brewery recognized us immediately. Last year we told her we were Englishmen but now we decided to tell the truth, that we were merely Dutchmen. Luckily her smile stayed the same and the beer was once again pretty good (although it could have been a bit colder..). We then went to park near the villa and sat down on one of the wooden benches to catch some sun, chat and smoke a pipe of course.

Rob at the beer garden

Rob at the beer garden

Soon it became time to go, the Lohmar Pfeifenmesse was getting quieter and quieter. I already had in mind to go eat something at the local Brauhäuschen. But the restaurant was still closed when we got there and a note on the door said it was reserved that evening. Later I found out that it was reserved for the Lohmar crowd.. We drove on and found a nice beer garden where we sat down and had some tasty German beers. Unfortunately the kitchen of the beer garden opened late so once again we went looking for a place to eat. “All I want is a picturesque, decent restaurant preferably in a good looking setting” I grumbled to Rob.

Prost!

Prost!

d’Artagnan has some fancy navigating devices in his Mercedes so he pointed us towards just the place I was looking for: Café Restaurant Meigermühle, located in an historical timber framed building at the edge of a forest. To our surprise their neighbour was the local Lohmar brewery (who had a stand at the pipe-show remember). As soon as we stepped out of our cars the same voluptuous lady saw us and invited us inside, where we got a short tour in which she explained the making of their beer in rapid German. Afterwards still smiling we went to the Meigermühle and sat down on the outside terrace. The choice what to eat was easy for all of us: Schnitzel! And to be perfectly honest, the one I had was far better than the mediocre one from last year in Kleve. Tender and tasty with a delicious pepper-sauce, ooooh yeah! After dinner we went our separate ways, d’Artagnan was going to nearby Cologne and Rob and I drove back to The Netherlands. Back at my sleeping address in Brabant we shook hands and we thanked each other once again for a wonderful day.

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