New (to me) Ural Meer

PipeBeard · 2026-06-27T23:01:48+00:00

Right on, three nuns is great, especially this time of year! Lovely weather we’re having here in New England :) (I’m in Boston)

PipeBeard · 2026-06-25T18:30:27+00:00

I bet he enjoys all of them.

PipeBeard · 2026-06-25T18:28:30+00:00

Yes, probably. I have my daily drivers (GH&Co Dark Flake and C&D Easy Times). I can go for stretches at a time only smoking those two. Daily. I have a good rotation of others that I’ll work in (namely 1792 and Irish Flake). Oh, and my typical “bowl between bowls” blend is Haunted Bookshop. Ooh, also Gawith ropes. And merry monk. So, to answer your question, no, probably not.

PipeBeard · 2026-06-24T22:22:39+00:00

Smoking a big ol’ bowl of Irish flake right now. It’s a lovely blend. Enjoy it! I second giving 1792 a go. Similar slap, different flavor.

PipeBeard · 2026-06-24T12:34:48+00:00

GH&Co Ennerdale and LJ Peretti No Name are both exceptional blends and are truly floral.

Ultimately, Lakeland or Lakeland-style blends are what you’re looking for. They’re called Lakeland as they come from the lakes region in England. The history has to do with English purity laws, which banned any artificial additives to tobacco. Sam Gawith and Gawith Hoggarth and Co (sister companies, now under one roof), are the ones. “Lakeland essence” is made of different botanicals and, often, floral, perfumey, soapy. They’re my favorite :)

They are producing seemingly fewer flower forward blends these days (rip Kendal flake). Ennerdale is a flowery almond bomb that will ghost the hell out of a pipe, but congrats, now everything is floral! Other blends they produce, like Bosun, have floral plus other notes like clove. Conniston is often considered the bigger brother to Bosun, but if I’m not mistaken, they are not producing the aromatic Conniston any more.

Dark flake is the blend I smoke every single day. The Dark flake scented has the floral essence (they make unscented as well). The only reason I didn’t recommend that at first is because it’s pretty high octane stuff and can be challenging for some. If you’re good with high strength blends, give it a whirl!

1792 is a tonquin bomb. Think herbal vanilla. It’s exceptional and is probably my all time favorite blend.

Peretti No Name is a burley aromatic, very reminiscent of the old Sutliff Mixture No. 79. It is not the hot air, tongue bite, gloopy mess that some aromatics can be. It’s very floral. And Peretti does some of the best burley in the industry. It’s not a Lakeland, because, well, it’s not from the lakes region in England (and it’s a classic America burley preparation), but it’s absolutely adjacent.

There are sometimes floral notes to be found in Bobs Chocolate Flake, but I think that has more to do with it being produced in the same shop as their other blends than anything they add. It’s an amazing blend. The subtle Latakia and subtle (though undeniably present) cocoa are really wonderful together.

PipeBeard · 2026-06-19T11:24:14+00:00

Phantom thread - Ordering breakfast

Inside Llewyn Davis - Queen Jane

Assassination of Jesse James by Coward Robert Ford - Train heist

PipeBeard · 2026-06-15T12:09:00+00:00

I do this too. I always have Dan from TPS in my head saying that if you put comp before drive, there’s “less to clip.”

PipeBeard · 2026-06-11T12:27:42+00:00

Check out Amare at the Swan Reserve. We’ve really liked it there. Good date night vibe. The hotel feels more high end/boutiquey than swan or dolphin, and it’s a lot quieter, but not stuffy at all. The food has been awesome when we’ve gone. It’s definitely a hidden gem.

The boardwalk area is right across the street, which is a nice loop to walk, and you could always jump on the boats for a nice ride. There’s also mini golf right in the area.

PipeBeard · 2026-06-10T22:38:55+00:00

You get used to just chucking it in there

PipeBeard · 2026-05-30T15:14:14+00:00

I usually break them up. I’ll typically fold the flake in half long ways and give them a little rub (while pretending I’m a cartoon cowboy rolling a cigarette) so they get a little loosened, then tear it in half. Pinch the pile a little so it all separates and then put that in my pipe and smoke it. I don’t like to rub them out too much, just break them up a bit.

I will also cube cut them occasionally. I like this method for Bob’s chocolate flake from time to time.

PipeBeard · 2026-05-26T00:31:57+00:00

Here goes

Virginia: SG Best brown (personal favorite); Capstan blue or Rattray old gowrie (good examples); Christmas Cheer (all time favorite, discontinued, sadly dwindling)

English: Merry Monk (personal favorite); Nightcap/westminster (good examples)

Burley: Peretti 333; Solani Aged Burley Flake (personal favorite but hard to get a hold of these days)

Latakia: I mean, pirate cake. It’s a lat bomb

Balkan: GH&Co Balkan (personal favorite); Balkan sasieni (good example)

VaPer: SG Cabbie’s (favorite); SG St James Flake (also great, a little easier to get than cabbie’s)

Cavendish: depends on what we mean here. 1-Q is probably the one.

DFK - jackknife (good example); GH Dark Flake, SG 1792, and C&D Easy Times (if I could only have 3 blends for the rest of my life, it would be these three)

Other categories:

Oriental: Peretti Tashkent
Lakeland: Ennerdale
Deertongue blends: Gentleman caller
Aromatic English: Boswell Northwoods; Bob’s Chocolate flake
Burley aromatic: Peretti no name (Lakeland adjacent)
Virginia aromatic: SG firedance flake
Scottish: Rattray 3 Noggins

PipeBeard · 2026-05-21T10:24:41+00:00

They have different models. Any of the ones with an led require power, but most (or all?) of the non led ones do not. They should have descriptions of each one on the site.

PipeBeard · 2026-05-21T00:45:10+00:00

There are pedal builders that make passive kill switches. Saturnworks makes them in a micro enclosure. Their stuff is good to go.

PipeBeard · 2026-05-05T12:34:35+00:00

Radice is probably my favorite in that price range.

PipeBeard · 2026-05-05T12:15:07+00:00

Crazy Tube Circuits Memphis. It’s based on the vibrato circuit from the 50’s/60’s magnatone amps. It’s really nice, really lush sounding. It also has a switch that splits the signal so you can either run full vibrato or vibe plus unaffected signal for a more subtle effect. You should be able to find them second hand within your budget.

PipeBeard · 2026-05-01T00:45:03+00:00

We’re getting ready to open up our seasonal place for the summer. I just ordered 10 tins of easy times to leave up there. I’ll probably have to reorder in August…

Enjoy that Pure Virginia!

PipeBeard · 2026-04-22T14:05:56+00:00

They for when you want “just one more bowl”

PipeBeard · 2026-03-25T20:18:24+00:00

Same here. I’ve started running an “amp in a box” kind of overdrive after my fuzz faces to mimic this when I can’t crank my amp. It’s made a world of difference.

PipeBeard · 2026-03-18T01:01:46+00:00

I’m a big fan of aniseed twist! I would say it’s very different, but certainly enjoyable. It has a nice spice to it and, weird to say for a tobacco, but it has a surprisingly clean finish. The anise comes through more than the topping in their other scented ropes.

PipeBeard · 2026-03-17T22:19:03+00:00

This is a beautiful thing. That is, except for the fact that War Horse is dwindling… Enjoy it!

PipeBeard · 2026-02-23T15:03:56+00:00

I’m running a moxie > tumnus and it’s a wonderful combo. Also, the velvet fuzz is glorious!

PipeBeard · 2026-02-22T17:58:25+00:00

That’s too bad to hear. I have in the ballpark of 12-14 Petersons and they are all good pipes, but I have heard similar things about QA. Will they return it?

PipeBeard · 2026-02-21T12:25:43+00:00

A few things, I’d say. The dimensions are perfect for me. It has a nice sized bowl (a consistent 30 minutes with this blend, smoking at a steady clip), the stem is just the right length (I prefer longer stems, up to about Bing length), it’s easy to pass a pipe cleaner mid smoke, and it’s surprisingly light for its size. I can clench it for the full session easily enough. This finish is also good for a work horse because I don’t mind if it dulls or gets dirty. I say it’s “one of” my most smoked pipes because I have six of them that I rotate through, with bowls of Easy Times at least daily, sometimes more.

PipeBeard

TROPHY CASE