Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Pipes and tobaccos

Put this in your pipe and smoke it

Contentment and pipe smoke filled the air in the late-night hours after the Thanksgiving feast. My brother Bill, visiting from Kansas, puffed merrily away on our patio, reveling in the mild California evening. Patrick, meanwhile, reveled in the smell of pipe smoke. “I wonder...,” he mused.

“First, a person usually needs a starter pipe,” said Harry Hunt, owner of Captain Hunt Tobacconist in Seaport Village (800-995-5430). “Then, it’s a search-and-destroy mission to find the tobacco they enjoy.” Most pipes, said Hunt, “are made from the roots of a Mediterranean plant called briar. It’s very solid and resistant to fire. The chamber, or bowl, of the pipe is made from a block of this briar called an ebauchon. The block is dried for close to two years and then analyzed to see what sort of grain it has — if any. The straighter the grain, the higher the price for the pipe. Other pipes are meerschaum, which is much more delicate. It’s very light in color and made from little sea animals that were crushed millions of years ago.” Hunt’s pipes start at $54.99. “You’ll also want a tamper [$.99 for a single-prong] and an angled pipe lighter [$35].”

On, then, to tobacco. “Everyone’s palate is different,” said Hunt. “You have tobaccos with flavoring agents, called ‘casting tobacco.’ And you have natural tobaccos: things like Barley, a Carolina tobacco used in blending; or Perique, out of Louisiana, which is very pungent and used for flavoring. You have what are called English tobaccos, which usually contain Latakia. That’s a tobacco from Syria and the Middle East. It’s dry-cured on the roof of a house, and the house is usually heated with cow or camel dung. So the tobacco has a very pungent, smoky aroma.”

Sponsored
Sponsored

Beyond provenance and style, there is the question of cut. “The cut will make the pipe smoke faster or slower. Ribbon cut is a fine cut; flake means it’s broken into pieces. You can still get a plug of tobacco, like in the old cowboy days. And, sometimes, when we’re blending tobacco, we’ll add what’s known as cube-cut to slow down the burning.”

For beginners, Hunt suggested, “Our Number One tobacco. It’s mild, with a pleasant aftertaste and aroma. We sell it in bulk: $5.77 for one ounce, $7.99 for two ounces, $26 for eight ounces, and $42 for a pound. We also sell flavored tobaccos in bulk; vanilla and cherry tend to be popular.”

Cory at Liberty Tobacco in Del Mar (858-292-1772; libertytobacco.com) suggested that an estate pipe might be the way to go for a beginner. “Our new pipes start at $25 and go up from there, but we have estate pipes for as low as $5. And because they’re used, estate pipes are already broken in. They don’t have that slight tannic bite that a new pipe has.” (Of course, if an estate pipe is a handmade antique, the price will reflect that. “We have some estate pipes that are $400,” said Cory.)

Liberty Tobacco also offers pipe repairs. “Usually, people just need the bit replaced. That’s the piece of Lucite that goes into your mouth. Sometimes people bite on it too hard or they drop it or they break it while cleaning it.”

And, of course, they sell tobacco. “We have a large assortment of tinned tobacco, blends made by other makers,” said Cory. “But we also have bulk tobacco. We do our own blending. For the beginner, I recommend our Entertainer [$3.25 per ounce]. It’s a nice, aromatic blend — very mellow. It’s my favorite, but sometimes, if I want something heavier, I’ll use the Tory, which is a mild English tobacco. Most of our bulk tobacco is $3.25 to $3.95 an ounce. And you get a price break after eight ounces.”

Cory concluded with a tip for beginners: “When smoking a tobacco pipe, fill it three-quarters of the way full and then tap it down, but lightly. If you tap it too hard, you might wind up blocking the air hole.”

Racine and Laramie in Old Town (619-291-7833; racineandlaramie.com) offers 18 tobaccos ranging from $5.75 to $9.25 for a two-ounce portion, with a price break for a pound bought in bulk. Bob’s Blend-B ($5.75 for two ounces) is their best seller, offering “a complete burn with no bitterness.”

The latest copy of the Reader

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

The greatest symphonist of them all

Havergal Brian wrote over 30 of them
Next Article

Issa aide collaborates with Ukrainians

Carlsbad's Tracy Slepcevic, Warrior Mom, and her ties to RFK, Jr.

Contentment and pipe smoke filled the air in the late-night hours after the Thanksgiving feast. My brother Bill, visiting from Kansas, puffed merrily away on our patio, reveling in the mild California evening. Patrick, meanwhile, reveled in the smell of pipe smoke. “I wonder...,” he mused.

“First, a person usually needs a starter pipe,” said Harry Hunt, owner of Captain Hunt Tobacconist in Seaport Village (800-995-5430). “Then, it’s a search-and-destroy mission to find the tobacco they enjoy.” Most pipes, said Hunt, “are made from the roots of a Mediterranean plant called briar. It’s very solid and resistant to fire. The chamber, or bowl, of the pipe is made from a block of this briar called an ebauchon. The block is dried for close to two years and then analyzed to see what sort of grain it has — if any. The straighter the grain, the higher the price for the pipe. Other pipes are meerschaum, which is much more delicate. It’s very light in color and made from little sea animals that were crushed millions of years ago.” Hunt’s pipes start at $54.99. “You’ll also want a tamper [$.99 for a single-prong] and an angled pipe lighter [$35].”

On, then, to tobacco. “Everyone’s palate is different,” said Hunt. “You have tobaccos with flavoring agents, called ‘casting tobacco.’ And you have natural tobaccos: things like Barley, a Carolina tobacco used in blending; or Perique, out of Louisiana, which is very pungent and used for flavoring. You have what are called English tobaccos, which usually contain Latakia. That’s a tobacco from Syria and the Middle East. It’s dry-cured on the roof of a house, and the house is usually heated with cow or camel dung. So the tobacco has a very pungent, smoky aroma.”

Sponsored
Sponsored

Beyond provenance and style, there is the question of cut. “The cut will make the pipe smoke faster or slower. Ribbon cut is a fine cut; flake means it’s broken into pieces. You can still get a plug of tobacco, like in the old cowboy days. And, sometimes, when we’re blending tobacco, we’ll add what’s known as cube-cut to slow down the burning.”

For beginners, Hunt suggested, “Our Number One tobacco. It’s mild, with a pleasant aftertaste and aroma. We sell it in bulk: $5.77 for one ounce, $7.99 for two ounces, $26 for eight ounces, and $42 for a pound. We also sell flavored tobaccos in bulk; vanilla and cherry tend to be popular.”

Cory at Liberty Tobacco in Del Mar (858-292-1772; libertytobacco.com) suggested that an estate pipe might be the way to go for a beginner. “Our new pipes start at $25 and go up from there, but we have estate pipes for as low as $5. And because they’re used, estate pipes are already broken in. They don’t have that slight tannic bite that a new pipe has.” (Of course, if an estate pipe is a handmade antique, the price will reflect that. “We have some estate pipes that are $400,” said Cory.)

Liberty Tobacco also offers pipe repairs. “Usually, people just need the bit replaced. That’s the piece of Lucite that goes into your mouth. Sometimes people bite on it too hard or they drop it or they break it while cleaning it.”

And, of course, they sell tobacco. “We have a large assortment of tinned tobacco, blends made by other makers,” said Cory. “But we also have bulk tobacco. We do our own blending. For the beginner, I recommend our Entertainer [$3.25 per ounce]. It’s a nice, aromatic blend — very mellow. It’s my favorite, but sometimes, if I want something heavier, I’ll use the Tory, which is a mild English tobacco. Most of our bulk tobacco is $3.25 to $3.95 an ounce. And you get a price break after eight ounces.”

Cory concluded with a tip for beginners: “When smoking a tobacco pipe, fill it three-quarters of the way full and then tap it down, but lightly. If you tap it too hard, you might wind up blocking the air hole.”

Racine and Laramie in Old Town (619-291-7833; racineandlaramie.com) offers 18 tobaccos ranging from $5.75 to $9.25 for a two-ounce portion, with a price break for a pound bought in bulk. Bob’s Blend-B ($5.75 for two ounces) is their best seller, offering “a complete burn with no bitterness.”

Comments
Sponsored

The latest copy of the Reader

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

San Diego seawalls depend on Half Moon Bay case

Casa Mira townhomes sued after losing 20 feet of bluffs in storm
Next Article

Issa aide collaborates with Ukrainians

Carlsbad's Tracy Slepcevic, Warrior Mom, and her ties to RFK, Jr.
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

This Week’s Reader This Week’s Reader