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What a strange year it's been. I was hoping that 2021 would be "The Year of Savinelli 9mm Pipes" here at The Pipe Nook, but alas, a certain global Pandemic changed my plans. You may have heard something or other about it in the news...it altered the course of a great many things, including the production levels of Savinelli and many other pipe manufacturers. Meanwhile, we've all been spending more time at home with our pipes, and wanting to expand our pipe collections. As such, it's been difficult to keep Savinelli 9mm pipes in stock. And while the Series III 9mm pipes are still backordered (I'll surely let you know when I get more), I'm happy to report that I am now fully stocked with Savinelli Roma Lucite 9mm filtered pipes! I've been sold out of most of these shapes for months, and many of you have been asking about them. Once I sell out again, it may be another few months before I receive my next shipment of these beauties, so don't delay! To my knowledge, The Pipe Nook is the only US store to carry these Roma Lucite 9mm versions. But if I sell out of the 9mm version of your favorite shape, I typically have the 6mm versions in stock, and they smoke exceedingly well with Savinelli's new 6mm charcoal filters, which I also carry. In addition, I still have the Missouri Meerschaum Old Dominion clay pipes and the new Volcano cob shape in stock...why not give them a gander while you're visiting the shop? Keep 'em lit, Eddie Gray  The Missouri Meerschaum Old Dominion Jamestowne Clay Pipe is a mid-17th century colonial-era pipe replica. Like the original pipe it was copied from, the Jamestowne features a decorative line of milling around the rim of the bowl as well as a defined “heel” at the base of the bowl. The Old Dominion Williamsburg Clay Pipe is a faithful reproduction of an early 18th century English clay pipe. It is a less decorative pipe than the Jamestowne, but slightly longer, with a slightly larger bowl capacity. Dimensions for both pipes can be found on the individual product pages on the site. In order to keep the pipes historically accurate, the pipe stems are not glazed for either of these clay models. They have been designed using 3D modeling of scanned fragments from 2 kinds of colonial-era pipes found on the Old Dominion Farm. They are fashioned from non-toxic, commercially produced clay, and bisque fired, as were the originals. These pipes are excellent "testers" for smoking new blends, and remarkably accurate historical pieces to add to your collection! Back in Cob Land, the Volcano from Missouri Meerschaum makes its debut, featuring a natural red, Volcano-shaped cob bowl with a hardwood plug accented with a filtered danish amber bit. You can imagine this bowl as basically an inverted version of the popular Rob Roy shape found in the Legend series, but left unfinished for even more heat dispersion during your smoke. These three new pipes are available now here at The Pipe Nook. Enjoy! Keep 'em lit, Eddie Gray It's no secret that the Rattray's Beltane's Fire pipes are my favorite. I reach for my Beltane's Fire pipe so much that I'm considering adding a second to my collection in a different finish. The shape is just perfect to me: Medium-sized bowl, elegant curves, stout shank, beautiful stem that makes for an excellent "hanger." And speaking of the stem, the Beltane's Fire pipes come with 3 stems (black, yellow, red). I have a favorite colored stem that I use most of the time, but I'm glad I can swap out the stem when the mood strikes. Rattray's pipes in general, and the Beltane's Fire pipes in particular, have become more and more difficult to keep in stock...I think word is getting out about these wonderful pipes. Well, I'm happy to say that I'm currently sitting on a pretty good offering of Rattray's pipes, including the Beltane's Fire series!
In addition, I've added Rattray's Thin Caber Tampers to the site in 12 different designs! These tampers are well-engineered and balanced to perform as great as they look! The foot is curved slightly for those who prefer a convex shape to the top of their tobacco while burning, and the top can be removed to present a hidden pick tool for emptying out dottle at the end of your smoke. I've been using one for many months now, and I'm happy to finally have the chance to offer them to you! Keep 'em lit, Eddie Gray  I've had these Savinelli Camouflage pipes in stock for some time, but I wasn't able to put them on the site until now, because I just couldn't find them. :)
Okay, forgive me...I had to. All kidding aside, these beautiful pipes are perfect for those with military or hunting interests. When I first heard of this series, I was hesitant, but as soon as I saw them, I was sold. My hardest decision all week was which one of these beauties to add to my personal collection. Camouflage pipes are available in a number of Savinelli's most popular shapes paired to unique camo-patterned acrylic mouthpieces that were custom-made specifically for this series. Available in Smooth Dark Brown and Rusticated Black finishes, each pipe is accented by a smart aluminum band and promises to be one of the best workhorse smokers in your collection! Keep 'em lit, Eddie Gray One of my YouTube viewers recently asked for assistance with finding lower nicotine blends. As I looked for recommendations for him, I decided this would be a good blog post. First, some tips: If you're having trouble with the strength of certain blends, you'll want to smoke them on a full stomach, and possibly smoke only half a bowl, or a 3/4 bowl...or possibly just not smoke a full bowl all the way down. Keep in mind that the bottom of a tobacco bowl acts as a natural filter of sorts, so the further down you smoke a bowl, the stronger it gets. I've gotten to where I typically don't smoke the last 10% to 25% of many bowls for that reason.
With those tips in mind, we can talk about the nicotine content of various components. Here's a quick list of various tobaccos in order from the least amount of nicotine at the top, down to the most nicotine at the bottom of the list:
Most people wouldn't expect that Latakia (which is made from Orientals) is lighter in nicotine, because of the smokiness and robust flavor...but it's true. Thus, a blend with a higher Latakia content such as Cornell & Diehl's Pirate Kake (75% Latakia) is a fairly low nicotine blend. If you like medium to heavy English blends, this is good news! You can just focus on those types of blends. Others along those lines would be Cornell & Diehl Star of the East, GL Pease Quiet Nights and Gaslight, Mac Baren HH Latakia Flake, and Captain Earle's Ten Russians and Stimulus Package. As a side note, I would recommend all of the Captain Earle's blends, as they all contain good amounts of Orientals, and all of them except Honor Blend (which I still recommend) contains some amount of Latakia. Because Cavendish is so widely used in aromatic blends, I'd say that pretty much all aromatics would be on the lighter side, nicotine-wise. If you don't like aromatic blends, that's not helpful, but it's good news if you do! For aromatics, I would recommend Cornell & Diehl Autumn Evening, Mocha and String Duster, GL Pease Virginia Cream, Savinelli Aroma, Cavendish and Black Cavendish, and Peterson Sweet Killarney and Sunset Breeze. Looking at the nicotine strength list, you might decide to steer clear of any blends containing Perique or Dark Fired Kentucky. However, one must consider the proportions of these elements used in a blend. So while I would recommend to anyone looking for lower nicotine content blends to stay away from heavy Perique blends like Cornell & Diehl's Chenet's Cake, or heavy Dark Fired Kentucky Blends like Mac Baren's Old Dark Fired, Bold Kentucky, and Peterson's Irish Flake, there are blends with lighter touch of these components. As such, I would recommend Peterson's Early Morning Pipe, Captain Earle's Honor Blend, and Cornell & Diehl's Blue Ridge and Bridge Mixture. Although Virginia and Burley blends are typically medium strength, those who don't like either Latakia or Aromatics but are still looking for lighter nicotine blends must necessarily look to these types of blends. For these, I would recommend Peterson's Flake, Sherlock Holmes, and University Flake, Sir Walter Raleigh, Cornell & Diehl's Americana, Epiphany, and Pegasus, and Savinelli's Brunello Flake. These recommendations are all of course based on my personal tastes, and your mileage may vary. There are many other blends that fall along these lines, and part of the fun is finding your own personal favorites along the way. I hope this blog helps you as you navigate your path to finding your own favorite blends that won't knock your socks off with nicotine...I'm looking at you, Old Joe Krantz! :) Keep 'em lit, Eddie Gray |