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Stands & Pouches - Smokingpipes Leather 2 Pipe Case with Pouch Tan
Perfect
This is honestly the best leather pipe pouch out there at this price point. It will comfortably fit 2 medium pipes and a good stash of tobacco with no trouble. If your pipes are on the (much) larger side then it might be a bit tight but any average size should be fine. The magnetic clasps are a nice touch and are strong enough to keep me from worrying about a tobacco spill. The zippers are high quality and the accessory pocket is adequate for a lighter, tamper, and small odds and ends. As another reviewer mentioned, the actual color of the leather is very different from the light tan pictured here. In reality the color is darker; a beautiful mottled light brown and much more attractive in my opinion. Easily reccommend.

G. L. Pease - Bankside 2oz
Excellent First Showing for Zeitgeist
After sitting with this tobacco for several smokes now, I can confidently say it's damn good. The dark fruit and bread notes of the red Virginias play the dominant role, occasionally touched by some citrus from the brights. The quantity of perique is perfect, adding it's own spicy fruitiness more so than pepper in this blend. The latakia is definitely present and accounted for but never rises above a condimental role, lending the whole experience a gentle, smoky warmth aided by the dark-fired Kentucky, which I believe is more responsible than the perique for what pepper there is to be had. The latakia's influence ebbs and flows between supporting and augmenting the Virginias, and I enjoy their interplay as the balance subtly shifts back and forth. I smoked mine fully rubbed out with a bit of dry time and it behaved very well in the bowl with minimal relights and a steady slow burn. It never bit and remained tasty from top to bottom. I would compare this tobacco to a very good mulled wine; warm, spicy, and smooth. If, like some folks, you enjoy your virginias and vapers more so in the warmer months then I would call this the perfect cold weather vaper. It's also probably a good blend to introduce English fans to Virginia tobaccos. An easy 4.5 stars, and with a bit of proper age I'd wager a solid 5. It makes me excited to see what else Mr. Pease has in store for this new series.

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A Closer Look at Flue-Cured Tobacco
  • ► Excellent article and illumination of the disparity between how we, as consumers, think of tobaccos vs how the growers and manufacturers describe them. I would love to see more pieces expanding on this.
A Look Behind-the-Scenes at Cornell & Diehl's Machinery
  • ► I know this is months later but, just in case anyone else who comes along is curious, it comes down to time vs money. It just wasn't worth the trouble of preserving most of it unfortunately. There isn't any market for trying to sell those machines, not to mention sell them quickly; the industry that would use them barely exists anymore. Then the logistics of moving/shipping big awkward machinery like that is another problem of time vs money, as is the specialized knowledge it takes to use and maintain them.I've heard some folks say a museum could have taken them in, but again what museum and where? Ultimately, it's more cost-effective for STG to dismantle and scrap anything they can't turn into an asset. I have heard that C&D actually did aquire some of the Sutliff equipment but I don't know if that's true or how much.
  • ► They didn't lose a war, Sutliff was collateral damage. The machinery was largely dismantled because what else are they going to do with it? STG didn't want it and Cornell & Diehl wasn't in a position to take it all. There wasn't really anyone else, so they had to scrap them.