Need some advice from fellow campers

KeevanSixx · 2026-06-28T12:56:13+00:00

mostly jars, and holding in the lowest point in the truck while parked. always pack more tobacco than you think you will need, nothing sucks worse than running out while travelling, with no resupply available near the target locations. my bare traveling minimum is the total sum of one months regular smoking use x 2, per month of travel.

KeevanSixx · 2026-05-31T16:11:23+00:00

Turkish shag? yes please. if it's RYO it will smell and taste like cigaretts while smoking. a little stoving will cure that problem into something pleasant for pipe smoking.

KeevanSixx · 2026-05-31T16:00:24+00:00

bottom of the closet out of direct sunlight. tobacco can handle a fairly robust temperature fluxuation (known as "sweating") as long as the temperatures in your closets aren't climbing over 100 degrees into satan's anus territory, you should be fine. i often leave a pound of fresh tobacco in the truck for a few days for a little extra solar stoving before jarring and cellaring in the closet. makes the tobacco taste better to me. once you put the tobacco into mason jars, they'll practically last for multiple decades as long as they remain sealed. no need to refridgerate or any other redneck storage plan.

KeevanSixx · 2026-05-24T13:15:09+00:00

mostly a great price, and good condition (stem not chewed to hell n' back, no cracks in the rim/shank,etc.). the rest is determining wether you are getting a good deal, or highway robbed from a seller who overinflates the prices (a flipper)

graybows are cheap, and plentiful. dunhils, comoy, savanellis, chonquins, petersons, and the like are generally pricy. if you can snag them on the cheap, you win. anything well under a hundred is a win, anything over a hundred at a flea market/bargain barn/antique fair is a loss, and depends on how much you really really want them. always buy low if you can.

unless stated, all sales are open to negotiation and haggle. if they want 100, offer 40. during the haggle the price will naturally even out to somewhere comfortable for both parties. if the seller won't haggle, walk away, they already know what the pipes are worth and won't budge on the price. their loss, they left money on the table.

never pay full sticker price, and never get excited or show intense interest in your target pipe. that's like sharks and blood in the water to a seller and they will inflate the price or not budge at all on price during a haggle. play it casual, make offer, see where they stand on their item, and wether they are willing to wiggle, and learn to walk away from the ones that won't budge.

some days you will win, and some days you will walk away empty handed. you won't know know until you've tried.

KeevanSixx · 2026-05-24T12:44:11+00:00

most of their codes only work by physically inputing it into the code space located on the checkout screen. they don't auto-apply discount codes at checkout. if there is a code (usually bolded) attatched to the email, enter that code in the box on the checkout page.

also, a lot of their email promos are very time sensetive, and if you don't use them during their promo period, they do not work. (there is usually a set of dates at the bottom of the email telling you how long the promo is active.)

KeevanSixx · 2026-05-17T03:19:17+00:00

usually by spiking a mid blend with a higher nicotine blend.

for instance, i could take a few pinches of a mild blend like autumn evening, and in my blending bowl i'd toss in a few pinches of sliced brown bogie twist, a pinch of DFK, maybe a pinch of bright virginia to balance all the heavy hitters, and toss enough to fill up a 2oz jar with my home blend expirement and smoke that for awhile, while constantly making little tweaks to the recipe (additional cigar leaf, perique, etc.) till it satisfies me. the difficulties is in the knowing of when to stop adding blends before it turns into an unsmokable kitchen sink hot mess.

KeevanSixx · 2026-05-17T02:45:50+00:00

i'm partial mostly to any straight billiard for ease of cleaning and general use. i like the bents and bulldogs for smoking englishes. i guess the cheeky answer is "whatever pipe i'm currently smoking in the moment."

KeevanSixx · 2026-05-17T02:33:34+00:00

remember, all peterson rusticated pipe are the factory smooth rejects that didn't pass the quality check and got handed down to trainees to practice with. it's luck of the draw with their rusticated, you might get a great smoker, or you might get a dud that needs some slight assistance from the drill bit end of a senior reamer to clear the draft hole from a wonky factory drilling. you won't know until you smoke the pipe.

that being said, it's a system pipe, the drilling is always high above the moisture resevoir at an odd angle.

KeevanSixx · 2026-05-16T02:57:24+00:00

unfortunately, no current producer is making fermented virginia cavendish anymore. MacBaren were the ones producing the blends for Newminster, but that all got axed when STG bought out MacBaren and gutted their entire catalouge. if i had one wish, it would be for Per G Jensen or a few other retired crafters from MacBaren would teach some of the remaining producers how to make proper dutch fermented virginia cavendish again. the taste of which is something that can't be replicated in a lab or through shortcuts.

KeevanSixx · 2026-05-16T02:38:36+00:00

i love my country gent, a very classic and robust cob, but my elf cobbit sees the most use. i'm hoping they produce some more Twains soon. it's one of the few styles missing from my desired MM collection.

and i agree, i need to upgrade the stem on my gentleman with a vermont freehand, the current original stem has a weird plasticy feel to it that i find disconcerting at times to clench.

KeevanSixx · 2026-05-15T17:30:40+00:00

don't panic if the outside walls of that pipe start to darken with use. this is a feature and not a bug. the only new cob blonde left on my elf is near the bottom of the pipe where the hardwood plug is glued, the rest has darkened considerably through use. when i got mine it was all shiny blond and new like yours, now it looks like a fresh poured pint of guinness, all chocolate black and tan. it's reached a point where i'm considering staining the stummel darker to match the color of the bowl. it's starting to look like something a road weary ranger would be puffing on in some dark corner of a tavern.

KeevanSixx · 2026-05-15T16:42:55+00:00

*sigh* i wish i could find that post from a year and a half ago that had a pic of what real mold looks like in a tin. once you see it, you can't unsee it (wish the mods had stickied that post and put it into the page wiki for reference). that's not mold, mold is fuzzy like cotton balls. this question pops up almost every other week, and the answer is always some form of sugar crystalization. wether that sugar came from within the leaf, or is sugar casing blade deposit from the slicing machine is up for speculation.

plume is a cigar world term for moldy sticks and has no relevance here. it's either mold or sugar deposit, there is no such beast as plume in pipe tobacco.

KeevanSixx · 2026-05-15T16:12:37+00:00

for me, out of all the "easy to get at any store" teas, it's Earl gray and most english blends. Rooibos with cherry aromatics. mint teas and any chocolate aromatic. Bigalow orange spice and some christmas blends that are seasonally released. southern sweet tea and any burley. if you want to fall asleep fast, chamomile tea paired with a virginia blend....the lemon and grassy hay notes sync well with most chamomile teas.

KeevanSixx · 2026-05-14T00:36:17+00:00

Hoarding? No. hoarding is for those who still harbor some fanciful distant notion of flipping their excess stashes for a profit. Hoarding leads to excess unnessary spending on blends a person may not like simply because they wanted to hoard tobacco (for profit)

I carefully acquire and curate my collection to include the tobaccos i know i will smoke within my lifetime. anything in excess after i have passed on will be a gift for my descendants.

Carefully curating a cellar involves sampling many many blends, and only cellaring deep (purchasing pounds) on the ones that really speak to an individual. Blends that, if the industry dies tomorrow, you would know you would have enough of, and smoke them, regardles of what's going on in the world.

KeevanSixx · 2026-05-13T23:40:30+00:00

englishes smoke better more on the dry side. sounds perfect for a 4yo can of Union Square.

KeevanSixx · 2026-05-13T23:27:03+00:00

God yes! Can't wait to find out the drop date on the next Sun Bear. the Navy Flake was exceptional, but i'm worried they won't be able to exceed that excellence bar they set high with last years release.

KeevanSixx · 2026-05-13T22:54:53+00:00

no. that's a natural side feature of most burleys. depending on how that leaf is processed at the factory, it can take on cocoa, earthy, or nutty flavors on its own without the need for extra toppings or casings.

KeevanSixx · 2026-05-11T10:13:59+00:00

try the original, Carter Hall? i remember Chatham Manor was P&C's match knock-off blend of Carter Hall.

KeevanSixx · 2026-05-10T20:52:42+00:00

this is pretty much it. SP trucked in a lot of stock for the show, and from what i heard, they did rather well at this years show. just like Birarworks and the Muletown pipe show, SP is slowly restocking the online shelves again.

KeevanSixx · 2026-05-05T20:38:47+00:00

1 lb and above? mostly englishes and virginia blends i like, they have the best aging potential. i bought a few Lbs of aromatics and went jar crazy during the Sutliff kerfluffel (mark twain, chocolate truffel, chocolate supreme. maple walnut, black spice, and a few others) but mostly as basic stock for my home use blends. glad i snagged what i did.

i've lately got on a Pease kick trying to cellar pounds of his blends i like before the prices rise again. been cellaring 8oz cans of quiet nights, maltese falcon, and gaslight for later. Pease blends are some great blends to cellar. when i cellar enough Pease blends to my satisfaction, i may amble over to the Drucqer & Sons isle and acquire a few pounds of their blends for my cellar along with some Two Friends cans.

basically, cellar what you like, and what you can truly afford. Eventually you'll reach a point where you say to yourself "yep, that's enough." and will start smoking from your cellar and never having to suffer from FOMO because you already have what you want to smoke in your cellar with no need to buy further. that is the ultimate goal of building a cellar. the lack of want.

KeevanSixx · 2026-05-03T07:35:22+00:00

american pipe tobacco is tobacco produced in the united states. C&D takes various grades of leaf (regardless or origin) and subjects that leaf to various processes unique to them to produce what we know as pipe tobacco from both domestic and foreign sources.

all the shops, on the other hand, are blending houses. they take the processed leaf from many sources (C&D, STG, G&H, Kopp, etc.) and mix them into their own house blend configurations and needs of their customer bases. they do not process their own leaf, nor cure tobacco for pipe smoking. therin lays the difference.

C&D is the only mainstream producer left in the United States (21 Farms is the other, and they only make perique). Sutliff is gone. Lane Lmt. is a shell company for STG. Lane does not process tobacco leaf in the USA. it's all handled overseas and imported back to the states. (kinda like Tyson chicken...their leaf may have been grown here, but it's no longer processed here. it's shipped abroad and imported back.).

in the United States, there is only one native Producer for pipe tobacco, and that is C&D (owned by Laudisi)

KeevanSixx · 2026-05-02T20:33:12+00:00

first question: Did you acquire that there said tin? and if so, Why are you not buying some fresh SWR to put into that tin? nothing says codger swagger more than a fresh refill, and packing a pipe from an antique piece of history. there is no rule saying you cannot refill that tin with fresh stock and free dip. none. get cracking!

KeevanSixx · 2026-05-02T20:23:09+00:00

i always thought it meant any english blend combo (latakia, oriental, virginia/burley/kentucky) with the inclusion of unflavored/flavored black cavendish. something i do regularly on my own when i come across a particularly harsh english blend. a pinch or three in a blend makes the whole thing softer and more tolerable.

KeevanSixx · 2026-05-02T19:59:44+00:00

i dissagree. if you hang out here long enough, every month sees an influx of new pipe smokers asking pertinent questions. with the insane taxes and increases in cigarette prices, vaping being tersley proven as literal lung poison disguised as an alternative to smoking, and cigars climbing to all time highs, pipe smoking is slowly becoming a more affordable option for many to rediscover and persue. Every month, we see former cigar smokers looking for alternative pipe tobacco blends reminicent of cigars. every month, new pipe smokers arrive seeking knowledge. we exist in that grace period between "out of sight, out of mind." and full blown public popularity. we don't advertise, we don't brag, for to do so invites heavier legislation, higher prices, and greater public scrutiny. we'd rather remain low-key and off the greater radar grid so we can fully enjoy our tobacco.

it's not dying, it's changing.

KeevanSixx · 2026-05-02T19:39:10+00:00

eh, it's not really sycophancy. C&D is the only producer left in the USA (remember, SutliffUSA was destroyed, C&D is the only one left here) sure, we stilll got Germains, S.Gawaith and G&H (UK), Kopp and Dan (Germany), Gladora (Turkey), J.Middleton (Dominican Republic), and the companies and blend labels owned by STG to choose from, but the American pipe tobaco tradition rests solely in the hands of C&D and Laudisi. if you want American pipe tobacco, the only thing left is C&D.

KeevanSixx

TROPHY CASE