Russ Ouellette, the man behind the blends
I was recently thinking about the hobby of smoking pipes, all the different kinds of blends we make and sell, and also about all the pipe smokers I know, and it got me to wondering if there’s a common thread tying certain types of tobaccos to particular personality types. To take it a step further, as someone who frequently smokes a variety of tobaccos, I tried to think if I chose different blends to suit my mood. What follows is not scientific, rather, it’s extremely subjective, and I hope it will be the source of comments and feedback about your views.
When I think about Latakia blends, I get thoughts of quiet rumination. To take it even further, I imagine being warm and snug on a cold, snowy winter’s evening while puffing on a rich and smoky blend of Orientals, Virginias and Latakia, with a cloud of blue-white smoke hanging around my chair. The very taste and aroma of these blends are so comforting to me that my mood transforms as I smoke them. These mixtures work well for me while listening to my favorite music, reading a good book or watching a movie. When the weather gets warm, or if I’m doing something more active, like taking a walk or doing research, Latakia loses some of its appeal, except in lighter doses, as in our Hearth & Home Victorian Stroll. But when the snow is falling outside my window, my pipe will most likely be loaded with Magnum Opus, BlackHouse or Fusilier’s Ration.
For those more active times, I lean toward Virginia blends. The sweetness and acidity seems to cut through whatever it is I’m doing to make it more enjoyable, but at the same time, it’s not complex enough to draw my attention away from what I’m doing. The brighter, tangier va/pers seem to suit higher energy activities. The deeper and more intense flavors of Virginia, like Virginia Night, approach the feel I get from lighter Latakia blends, but don’t seem to have the same calming effect.
Burley blends, in my mind, are divided into two groups, The first category is for blends made with mostly white Burley. These tobaccos are typified by Prince Albert, Carter Hall and our own Old Companion and Angler’s Dream. These tobaccos are all-day smokes. They’re comforting and non-obtrusive. They can be there when you want a distraction but you don’t want the smoke to be the center of attention all the time. They’re perfect for fishing or taking a stroll. The other group contains the blends made of darker Burleys. They can be somewhat aromatic (like our Classic Burley Kake) or not (think Mac Baren HH Old Dark Fired or Solani Aged Burley Flake). They flavor isn’t overwhelming, but the blends have a bit of a kick that helps stimulate the senses, but has a relaxing effect at the same time.
Aromatics kind of follow the path of Burleys, which isn’t surprising considering that most aromatics contain some Burley, either in their more natural form or in the guise of black Cavendish. In both the cases of Burleys and aromatics, they seem to come across as a companion while doing other things. People who work outside, drive for a living or who spend a lot of time in front of a computer tend to enjoy puffing away while pursuing their activities, and it’s not unusual to catch the scent of vanilla, cherry or the nuttiness of Burley when walking near these smokers.
The only universal truth about the type of people and their tobaccos are that there are no universal truths. I think about the wide variety of people I know who smoke a pipe and what their preferences are and although there may be some tendencies that appear to have a common thread, I don’t really notice a clear pattern. This makes a lot of sense to me, actually. There are maybe eight to a dozen possible categories of pipe tobaccos, depending on how fussy you are about defining them, yet in our own products, we have about sixty different blends. There’s a reason why we make so many distinct mixtures- because there are even more distinct pipe smokers. We could probably make a hundred more blends that would still find a market, so the search continues.
The one thing that I can state definitively is that the more I learn about tobaccos and blending, the more I realize that I don’t know. I never cease to be surprised by the result of certain combinations that turn out completely different than logic would dictate.
I almost wish that there was some kind of pattern to personality types and those people’s preferences in pipe tobacco. It would certainly make things easier in making recommendations. But at the same time, the diversity and the journey are often the most enjoyable part of being a pipe smoker, and I wouldn’t want to deprive anyone of that.
What are your observations on this subject? Leave a comment. This could get interesting.
About Russ
You pretty much summed it all up Russ. For me, it’s about the anxiety of always finding a new and exciting blend that I’ve not tried yet. Sort of like wine tasting…..always looking for that perfect variety to reignite the fires of exploring and discovering more of life’s pleasures. I personally choose from my collection of ten blends, some private and some mass market. The fun of picking a pipe ( I have 42 of them all on display )and then picking a blend is a ritual I enjoy as much as the smoke itself. I also like to see how a particular blend smokes in different pipes which offers me a new experience for each day of the year. After 50 years of doing this I wouldn’t have it any other way !
I have to say this somewhere, and in the good natured arena here in Russ’s company, I have to say that untill I read it somewhere on the internet within only the past 5-6 yrs in which I discovered the internet as a source of all things pipes and tobaccos, I have NEVER heard anyone refer to pipe smoking in terms of a hobby. My Dad introduced me to pipes and tobacco when I was 16. WE just smoked. Never heard it referred to as a hobby then or untill recent years. How long’s it been a ‘hobby’ ?
Hobbies are suppossed to be fun, non-life threatening, peaceful, educational and all that stuff. BUT, let me tell you something brothers, take my pipe and tobacco away from me and all the ‘nice’ stuff is OUT THE WINDOW! As early as back in the 70′s where I came from and anywhere else I could see we simply smoked. Some of us smoked pipes. Hobbies were collecting all kinds of records, stamps, cards, furniture, glassware, building stuff big and small as car and airplane models. I’m thinking ya’ll are getting my point by now. Smoking was and I’m betting still is something one did/does because they wanted to for whatever reason and continue to as much as they/we can. Hobby? I don’t see the hobby part unless one is simply a collector, one who accumulates things in quantity. Smoking is another animal entirely.
Now, all that being said cause I needed to, I for one lean to burleys, OTC ones when I’m busy and as I call it smoking mindlessly. Solani ABF and Wessex burley when I can pay attention more. What I prefer to call exotic blends, latakia containing blends, I’ll use when the dear wife isn’t going to be around for a while or when outside. Period. VA really depends on my mood. I need to be able to really slow down and pay attention to VA or they get snapping at me.
I love educating myself on the so darn many types and combinations of pipes and tobacco blends. I’d say it’s a 50-50 thing; education and trial and error. All the while the whole process is masking my ‘habit’.
Anyone else care to admit it?
Thanks for letting me share.
I really think that depends on how you define hobby and what you consider a habit (whether good or bad). I think of a hobby as something that takes up a portion of your time that you enjoy doing and learning about. What you do or look forward to doing in your spare time because you want to do it may just be your hobby. People may often know more about their hobby than they do their job where they work 8-10 hours a day.
As for collecting, what’s not to enjoy about getting new pipes and tobacco’s to try out? I personally enjoy having my tobacco in jars on display in my office. I enjoy looking at them, popping them open and smoking them. If you collect stamps don’t you put them into binders and take them out when you want to peruse them or catalog what you have or still need?
I imagine, for some, there’s just a bit more to pipe smoking than smoking your pipe. When I smoked cigarettes, I smoked because I needed to. I quit because I hated what they were. They didn’t bring enjoyment, rather enslavement. I smoke a pipe because it’s an enjoyable pastime and I have a never ending array of blends to delight my senses. If it had anything to do with a nic fix there are other much simpler ways to go about getting it! And the memories created when taking my family out for a walk with a pipe full of Magnum Opus just couldn’t be recreated with anything else.
Your question led me to recall James M. Barrie’s “My Lady Nicotine” and his relationship to the “Arcadia” mixture.
We currently have almost as many blends to choose from as Johann Strauss II had titles for the hundreds of musical pieces he wrote. Many of the blends are even grouped under additional names. If the trend continues it may take a librarian to locate the particular mixture we’re looking for.
It reminds me of when Dunhill had a very big beautiful store in Chicago and I was shown the books they kept with the numbers and user names for each of their “My Mixture” blends.
Tony’s reference to “non-life threatening” hobbies took me by surprise. I think the real problem pipe smokers have today is secondhand information.
The last sentence should have read: I think the real problem pipe smokers face today is secondhand information.”
How did my commment about non-life threatening hobbies surprise you Mr Sigal? Just curious, that’s all.
Thanks
In the context, it sounded as if pipe smoking was supposed to be life-threatening.
Tony, I think that there has always been a hobbyist group of pipe smokers, but in years past, they were a small minority. The hobbyists are the people who smoke a variety of tobaccos and have a collection of pipes. The majority of pipe smokers have been, for a long time, people who mostly smoke one blend and only have a few pipes. These are the more habitual smokers who give little thought to what they’re smoking. The hobbyists are still a minority, but they comprise a larger percentage than in the past. One of the easiest ways to identify the hobbyist pipester is to go to a pipe show and look around. People who would take the time to attend the shows are the ones who look upon the activity as more than just smoking.
Russ
Russ, in your search for a pattern I may be a good specimen. I began smoking a pipe in 1951 and with enthusiasm began trying out all the blends I could find. It didn’t take long before I ruled out certain categories because I just didn’t like them. I gravitated to English and Balkan because I liked them a lot. When I hit on a favorite, that never stopped me from trying out new challengers as they became available, and through the years there have been many. I don’t know if this qualifies as a hobby or not. It was all done for its own sake.
The same was true for my choice of pipes, and like these days, they were also exciting times. I had many times when new favorites replaced old favorites. My pipes accumulated in a big way over time. But I never thought about whether I was a collector or not.
By the time the big pipe shows began to appear I very much wanted to go but a painful back condition that had developed convinced me that I wasn’t up to it. But I’ve enjoyed the company of many extraordinary people throughout the years, many of whom were also pipe smokers.
Yet I still don’t know if I’m a hobbyist or not.
Thank you for your feedback Russ. Some refer to you as a legend but I’m saying you are not! You are for REAL! Thanks again Brother.
I concur with Tony. Pipe smoking, or smoking in general, is not a hobby. Never will be, or should be. Smoking is a way of life. It should be thoughtless, yet thought provoking. Second nature; an extension of ones own personality. It should be given no more thought as your own hand, or the nose on your face. You smoke simply because.
Thank you Rob! And all the stuff we do with ‘our’ smoking , to me, is just playing with our big boy toys.
I’ll add that pipe smoking is an art. Genteel, and contemplative. The pipe-like a fine piece of furniture or a fine woman to admire.
My own experience asks me to politely disagree with Rob and Tony. At least in the terms of broad generalizations. I also think a missing component to this discussion is the nicotine.
I am not sure to what extent persons who are like myself comprise the larger population of pipe smokers, but as someone for whom nicotine has little to no effect, I would think I’m a true hobbyist. I enjoy flavors & experiences and when I’m attempting those experiences I don’t approach them as background tasks, though I may be involved with other activities at the time. This can be anything from eating my dinners to enjoy different scotches or bourbons, or the use of specialty salts or anything else that involves tastes. That’s why there’s more than one oil in my cooking cabinet and more than one tobak on my shelf. For me, I always match my mood to my tobak and pipe. That’s everything that this hobby means to me…the ability to experience more flavors and tailor those selections to my point in time.
I think one of the many “flip” sides to the above approach may be used by smokers. Where there is a need to fill the nicotine void. Where smoking “is” because the nicotine “is” and the many blends are mostly just various riffs on the same line.
I never pick up a pipe because I feel a need to have to smoke. I decide to smoke and then pick up my pipe. Of course, after the thought of what I feel like smoking is determined. And with over 40 blends open, that does take some time.
Ultimately, these may be near the two extreme ends of the same spectrum. On one far side, there could be the pipe collectors that rarely smoke but enjoy the collecting aspect. On the other far side there could be the pipe smokers who smoke for that nicotine relaxation which I simply do not feel. I’m sure I undergo a physiological change when I smoke, but it is slight to nil on the conscious level.
The best new is that there are a wide variety of smokers that smoke for a wide variety of reasons. Thankfully, this has lead to an even wider selection of pipes and smokes to be had. All good things in my book. I praise differences and diversity, as much as tradition and singularity. It’s all good. I say yay to gray, and thanks to folks like Russ and the gents who have posted here. Interest stokes the fires and the artists fan the flames. Thanks, guys!
Russ
To me the hobby would be the collecting of pipes, but dang some are so expensive, but I do have a few, somewhere in the 50 range. Types and blends of tobacco, the mood dictates what I am going to smoke, and also the size of pipe at the time. I love the smell of the raw Balkan Blends, I like English and I keep several aromatic blends. When I’m pedling in the shop it is something like Prince Albert or Lanes 1Q. Of and evening and kicking back it is a Balkan or English, traveling in the vehicle usually an aromatic. Thank you guys for what you do. I enjoy reading your comments and reading and trying different blends.
Lakin Cross
Rus – I do have a question about blends and moods. I’m new to smoking a pipe and I have ordered bleds from P&C and they were really good. The only reason I ordered, Mississippi River, Plum pudding, frog morton, and H&H Larry’s blend is because I saw them being raved about on YouTube. And they were good!!! But now I’m stuck in which direction to go and what to order next! I tried the store boughten Captain Black and didn’t mind it but the others listed above were SO MUCH better! I made the mistake in buying Prince Albert and trying it… I will be throwing it out because it’s not for me! I don’t know much about blends, but I do like the blends listed above, is there other blends like those or something I should try? Or is there blends you could recommend? Thank you for any advice you could throw my way!
Terry,
The easiest thing would be to call me at 800-494-9144 Monday-Friday, 9 to 5 eastern, or you can email me directly at russo@pipesandcigars.com. I’ll be glad to help, but the conversation might wind up being quite involved.
Russ
Thank you Russ for replying to my question. I will be giving you a call this week!
Thank you again for talking with me about the types of tobacco and which direction in pipe tobacco I should try next! Plus all the info on the types of pipes and history!
Thank you again for taking the time,
Terry
Noob here, but after buying several different pipes, I have noticed that one tobacco smoked in a small bowl might taste entirely different when smoked in a large bowl. The different shapes of stem also have an effect- they cool the smoke more and are easier to hold in the mouth. Straight pipes give a hotter smoke as the steam goeas straight to your tongue. So each is good for different tobaccos and situations.
G.l.Pease mentions that when smoking a pipe that smoke that reaches the palette is normally no hotter than a tepid cup of tea. Tongue burn or bite is usually a chemical reaction. See his lastest ‘Ask GLPease article’.
Take it for what it’s worth to ya