The Surge

My pipe smoking and involvement in the pipe community has been either extremely active, or not active at all. I have gone for months not smoking my pipes, reading blogs, or forums that I have become a member. Not long ago, however, I found a new resurgence of interest in not only smoking my pipes and collecting, but also the community of pipe smokers that surrounds the industry.

 

H.R. 4439, The Tobacco Tax

I got an email from Pipesmagazine.com letting the community know that the government is proposing a huge tax increase on tobacco products.

H.R. 4439, the Tobacco Tax Parity Act of 2010 was introduced on January 13, 2010 and would raise the tax on pipe tobacco 775% from $2.8311 to $24.78 per pound.

Now, in fairness, I can understand a slight tax increase, even though I don’t agree with it. But this?! It’s just unspeakably ridiculous.

There’s a petition that everyone can sign and have emails and/or letters sent to our congressmen and senators. Follow the link below.

http://pipesmagazine.com/blog/pipe-news/stop-the-pipe-tobacco-tax/

Now, what’s your thoughts?

 

Getting the Mrs. Hooked?

My wonderful wife has been in the mood for some good tobacco. Cigars aren’t something she’d try, but she’s enjoyed some finer cigarettes over the years. Camel used to make these cigarettes that were flavored, kinda like pipe tobacco, but we haven’t been able to find them and we doubt that Camel still makes them.

Well, last night she comes in with a pack of cigarettes that we bought, but decides instead to ask me if there’s some pipe tobacco I have that she might enjoy in a small pipe. Most of my pipes are rather large, but I have a few smaller, more pocket type of pipes. She chose the Bent Bob’s pipe, my first pipe which was given to me for Christmas one year and then we explored my different tobacco blends. Again, most of my tobacco these days are latakia based, so a little too woodsy for her taste, but then I remembered some sample pouches of tobacco I acquired from Altadis and she decided on their Blue Note. Burly and Virginia. Smells wonderful and a little more aromatic.

Cyndi really enjoyed that pipe. She’s not a big smoker, so I ended up finishing the pipe when she was done. With good experiences like that, think I could get her hooked into smoking a pipe with me? Anything’s possible. It was a delightful tobacco and I completely forgot how well that little pipe smoked. It’s a cheap pipe, but not bad at all for a starter pipe.

Here’s Cyndi posing for her pipe smoking debut.

 

Young And A Pipe Smoker

If you browse around The Bootleg Bon Vivant, you might notice some comments regarding being a young pipe smoker. If you’ve read anything about me, you’ve probably found out that I’m 29 years old and tattooed. While the average pipe smoker tends to be upwards in their 40′s-50′s. With people my age and younger, pipe smoking just isn’t what friends would consider “cool”. Teens and college students are still faced with peer pressure to stick with cigarettes or nothing, and we all know about the chemicals that are now being put into cigarettes. Some people may actually venture to smoking a cigar from time to time. Picking out a good cigar can leave one a little frustrated. Especially to a young person who doesn’t have any experience with them. Why? Because everyone has an opinion as to what is good. This same thing applies to pipe smoking.