Author: Dale

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Home grown VA pressed flake

After harvesting my small 2023 crop of tobacco, I spent some time “flue curing” the leaf in a home made kiln. I kept it at roughly 120-125 degrees with humidity levels of at least 70 percent, though I think it was significantly higher for most of the time. I think I had it in there for 4-5 weeks, maybe longer, before giving up trying to keep the kiln sealed up enough.

Once the leaf was out of there, I made a few ounces of Cavendish in a pressure cooker, and pressed some for a couple of weeks. It’s mostly VA with a little bit of Black Sea Samsun oriental mixed in. I just removed the midrib, stacked the leaf, wrapped it in parchment paper, and squeezed it in a vise between two chunks of particle board. When that was done, I sliced it into flakes (strips, really) and tried some. It was, well, kind of awful. I put it in a jar to age and see if it would improve with age.

I tried it after 3 months, then 6, and now it’s been about 13 months since it went into the jar. I’m smoking some now in a MM corncob, and I have to say that if you’re a fan of straight Virginia, it’s not bad. There seems to be a fair nicotine content; I had to take a break halfway through. I’ll bet this stuff will be pretty darned good in another year.

So tobacco growing is a long term process that requires a fair amount of patience. I’ve often heard that cigar rollers will often age tobacco leaves for several years before rolling the sticks, then let them age for months before they’re ready to smoke.

I have a pound or two of leaf sitting in a Sterilite tub now, aging at 63 percent RH and room temperature. I’ll likely pull some out in the coming weeks and press two more blocks. One will be straight Virginia tobacco leaf, brought into high case with distilled water. The other will be the same, but brought into high case with a spritz of Islay Scotch whisky just to see if that imparts any of the smoky/peaty flavor at all. I’ll probably try about 50 grams of each.

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Bayou Morning

Man, if you’re going to smoke this stuff you’d better really love Perique. 25 percent of it is straight out of Louisiana.

I’ve had this stuff sitting in a sealed jar for well over two years now. The first time I tried it, I did so right after half a bowl of Haunted Bookshop. Both of them have a pretty stout nicotine kick, and I spent the next couple of hours fighting the urge to puke. Not a good scene. Anyway, if you’re used to smoking a lightweight aromatic like Lane 1-Q (aka Captain Black), a perique heavy blend like this will kind of punch you in the face. As a result, I’ve shied away from it until now.

Last night I loaded up a corncob with some and dived in. Cautiously. It’s not bad. It is quite strong, but it’s the Perique spice and not the nicotine. It’s honestly more Perique than I’d prefer at this point, but I’m wondering how it would do mixed 50/50 with my own home grown Virginia, now that it’s got a bit over a year of age on it. I’m planning to press another batch of VA flake before long; I’ll probably try some with some Bayou Morning mixed in to make my own VA/Per and see how that works.

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Peterson’s My Mixture 965

I decided to try this one based on some reviews and recommendations I’d seen on line. Actually, that was a small part of it. There’s a (sorry for the Facebook link; it’s apparently the only web presence they have) local tobacconist I visit every once in a while; I try to find something to buy when I go in there. His prices on tobacco are quite a bit higher than what I’d pay ordering on line, but I’ve bought several pipes there. His prices on pipes are pretty reasonable. While the shop’s main business is cigars, the owner is a pipe smoker in addition to smoking cigars. I like giving some support to a local shop; these guys have to try to stay in business. Anyway, the last time I was in there I talked myself out of buying a new Savinelli pipe – gorgeous, but not exactly what I wanted – and settled on a tin of tobacco instead.

It’s an English mixture, with a good portion of Latakia complementing the cavendish and oriental tobacco. I find that it’s not quite as complex as my old standby, Sutliff’s Balkan Sobranie Original Mix Match. I don’t know if it’s different Latakia, different orientals, or what. There’s plenty of nice tasty smoky goodness, but like I said – not as complex.

I will give it this, though: there’s plenty of nicotine, enough to get your attention. I find that a small bowl is plenty, and I often take a break midway through. I probably have a fairly low tolerance, as I don’t smoke every day and haven’t smoked cigarettes or cigars in quite some time. In fact, the last time I tried to smoke a cigar I almost ended up losing several consecutive meals over the next day or two. I’ve run into a few pipe blends that hit me pretty hard, and this is one of them. Orlik Golden Slices is another.

I’ve tried this in several pipes, from a well-used Missouri Meerschaum corncob, to a non-Missouri for-real meerschaum, a couple of different briars, and a calabash. It smokes well in all of them, though of course virtually everything seems a little better out of that calabash.

Will I buy more? I don’t know. Never say never, of course, but at this point I see it as kind of duplicative. I have a solid favorite Balkan/English. If I’m going to stray from that for a little change of pace, I’m more likely to load up some Father Dempsey or possibly Early Morning Pipe, another Peterson labeled product that I bought at Ted’s.

Which reminds me… I should probably load up on some bulk Father Dempsey. I don’t know how the current blend compares to that which was made before the Kramer family closed up shop and sold the blends to Smoking Pipes, but I’m afraid eventually it may get changed substantially or dropped altogether. It seems to be not uncommon when I find something I really like.

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Retiring servers as a way of life

I’ve been running a server at home for a lot of years. Over the past 2 or maybe 3 decades, our server has provided Windows network shares and workgroup services, a repository for DVR’ed TV shows and movies, PBX functions with Asterisk, DNS, email, and more. Before all cable Internet providers started blocking incoming port 80 and 443 traffic, it hosted our simple family web site and even webmail at one point. One by one I’ve moved on, migrated, or replaced all of those – except email. Postfix and Dovecot IMAP are really the last things I’ve been using the local server for in the last couple of years. I do still run an ad blocker function in a Raspberry Pi.

The server is on old hardware bought 13 years ago – an Intel Atom D525 motherboard and a similarly old 1TB Seagate hard drive. The Ubuntu OS is long out of support and I have very little confidence in the life left in the hard drive. It’s been weighing on my mind recently. On top of all that, if I get hit by a meteorite or a bus or whatever… it’s going to be a nightmare for someone to figure everything out. It’s high time I retired that box; it owes me nothing.

I looked at a number of options. I could move email to a hosted VM – but it’s really a nightmare maintaining and trying to work around the many companies that block ALL mail for most popular hosting companies, regardless of using SPF, DKIM, and DMARC. I looked into a Microsoft business basic account. I considered letting my domain registrar do it, since they’ll provide webmail service. Each of these has advantages and disadvantages, and some are more expensive than others.

In the end, I discovered that you can set up your own custom domain in iCloud and use iCloud email. I don’t see us going back to Android phones, so that’s fine with me. All it takes is a few minutes with iCloud settings and a few TXT and MX records in DNS, so everything is easily reversible should I decide on a new path later on.

Now we’ll see how well Apple filters SPAM and phishing emails. I have spent countless hours over the years trying to eliminate the torrent of this crap that we receive every day, with pretty good results. A combination of Postgrey and some pretty extensive Postfix header and body check filters have eliminated most of the unwanted crap. I’m hoping it doesn’t all reappear again.

Next on the block is moving my small Asterisk system out of my house. It works exceptionally well, but of course if we have an internet outage it’s off line. As I hope to provide VOIP phone service to a couple more family members, I’d like something more reliable.

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Making a little progress on the Mustang

Over the past few days, as I’ve gotten the garage cleaned up and organized a little, I’ve also done a few little odds & ends on the Mustang. Nothing major, but I did test the fuel pump and re-install it. I also completely disassembled the distributor, cleaned it up, and ordered parts to finish it. It will need a new lower bushing, points, condenser, primary lead, cap, and rotor. I’m also replacing the drive gear since I’ve replaced the cam.

While I wait for parts to arrive I’ve cleaned everything up, filed off a few casting marks, and so on. The breaker plates seem in really good shape, which is nice since the last Ford distributor I took apart was completely shot. When I’m done it should be as good as new… then I’ll ship it off for re-curve and tuning to match the engine and cam and make it way better than new, if everyone is to be believed.

Tomorrow I’m going to retrieve the exhaust manifolds form storage and get them ready to bolt back on. I’m debating whether to order an intake and carburetor or not. I probably will. Even if the body turns out to be a write-off due to rust, a complete and running, freshly rebuilt engine should be worth more than I have in it at this point. Or the car could be turned into a track toy, but I really doubt I’d take that route. Too much would need to be done to make it in any way competitive in any class.

Hoping to get it to the body shop soon to find out if I’ll be moving forward with the de-rusting or not. Fingers crossed.

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Balkan Sobranie

The current version, that is. I know that this really isn’t the same as the legendary Balkan Sobranie of the 1970s or whatever. Now, having been around back then, I actually did very much enjoy the occasional tin (yes, actual tin) of Balkan Sobranie cigarettes. They were wonderful, if pricey at about $2 a tin, but not quite as bad as Black Russians at $2.40 a pack. But I digress; I never did try the pipe tobacco since I wasn’t smoking a pipe back then.

I bought a couple tins of the current version at my local tobacconist at a shamefully inflated price, partly to support a local shop and partly because I really wanted to try this and compare it to my Sutliff Sobranie match tobacco.

So this is partly a review on its own merits, and partly a comparison to the “match” blend, which is actually I think supposed to be a match for the older version that I’ve never had.

The presentation is very nice. I do love tinned tobacco just for the old school appeal of the tin. The aroma is, as expected with a Balkan blend, just delicious. It’s like a summer campfire, smoky and rich. It’s a fine ribbon cut, almost a shag, which I do like better than the coarser ribbon/flake of White Knight or BSOMM. It’s also moister, meaning it does need half an hour or so to dry out before it will stay lit decently.

I’m not a professional wine taster nor do I have the palate for a molecular analysis of the individual components of the smoke, so I won’t get into terms like figs or stone fruit or oranges or any of that nonsense. It’s a little lighter than the Sutliff version, I think, with just a little more subtle flavor. Don’t take that to mean there’s not a ton of campfire here; there is. If I were to guess I’d say maybe a touch less Latakia and a touch more Turkish/Oriental. Or maybe the other way around. Either way, there’s a difference. I like both.

The Sobranie doesn’t have the occasional note of anise that I seem to get from the Sutliff “match” blend, and I like that a lot. On the other hand, I do really like the finer ribbon cut. I just had a 2 gram bowl in my Ropp cherrywood, and it went literally all the way to the bottom with no dottle. I honestly attribute this more to the pipe than the tobacco, but it smoked well all the way to the bottom with just a couple of relights (mostly due to my taking breaks to type this).

I have one tin of the Sobranie still unopened. I plan to leave it that way for a few years and enjoy it with some age on it. It really is quite nice; I may pick up more if and when it becomes available again. It’s expensive stuff compared to the bulk blend, but both have a place on my shelf for sure.

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Escudo Navy Deluxe

Since I started smoking a pipe again several years ago, I’ve found that my tastes have shifted quite a bit. Like I think most pipe smokers do, I started out with aromatic blends, mostly vanilla topped – think Lane 1Q, Captain Black, that sort of thing. On the plus side, everyone loves the smell! Whether it’s in the pouch or jar, or being smoked, you’ll get constant compliments on how great it smells. I know I did. Even non-smokers or anti-smokers love the smell of a nice aromatic blend like that. They produce luxurious, thick smoke and are overall pretty enjoyable to smoke.

On the downside, they’re often pretty heavily doped with propylene glycol (PG), a humectant that keeps the tobacco from drying out and helps to produce that thick rich white smoke. My experience has been that these blends often require annoyingly frequent relights and tend to leave a lot of moisture in the pipe.

Eventually I tried branching out a little. I tried straight Virginia flake, some VA/Perique, and some English and Balkan blends. Once I learned how to properly smoke Virginia flake I liked it. I just didn’t ever really get into the VA/Per thing.

I do really still live my Balkan and English mixtures. I’ve probably smoked more of that than anything else, and still love it. I have been working a little VA/Per into my rotation, though, just to see if I develop an appreciation for it.

I’ve probably made it halfway through a tin of Escudo and actually have started enjoying it. I had a couple of slices in a Ropp cherrywood sitter that I’m breaking in. It was actually quite nice. It won’t replace my Sobranie match mixture any time soon, but I’m starting to appreciate it.

Maybe one of these days I’ll crack open the jar and try Bayou Morning again.

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Using SIP Phones like home phones

For years now, I’ve been using Asterisk for our home phone line (as well as one for our rental property business). One persistent issue has been getting SIP phones to act like regular non-PBX extension phones. You know — where two people in different parts of the house can use two phones on the same call.

Asterisk has shared line appearance (SLA) features, but this is designed to make it work like an old key system PBX. Not really the way we want it to work. If John is on a phone call and Jane picks up another extension, Jane can’t join the call — she just gets a new outbound line. Most of this is by design. For one thing, in most non-home settings you really don’t want just anyone to be able to join your call. If you want to add someone, you use the conference feature to dial their phone and add them. In a home setup, though, it’s a hassle and it’s complicated — since you don’t necessarily know which extension a person is using, especially if you’re using cordless phones. Asterisk is really not developed for home use; for some pretty obvious reasons, it’s mostly used by businesses. It is, after all, a PBX.

The solution I’ve used thus far is a regular analog cordless phone system (Panasonic, Vtech, etc.) and an ATA adapter like the Grandstream HT801. That device connects your analog phones to Asterisk. This approach is good, but it’s not a perfect solution. You can’t do things like use your cordless phones to make more than one simultaneous call (unless you have a multiline cordless phone and an HT802). These are also typically consumer grade phones, with limited displays and battery life. The quality of cordless phone systems has most definitely not improved over the past few years.

I want to try out some of the new Wifi SIP phones for a number of reasons, but I want to do it without losing the basic advantages of the consumer type cordless phones. What I finally came up with is a decent solution that combines the best of both worlds. Now if John is on a call and Jane picks up the phone, she can place a new call without interrupting John. She can also, however, join John’s call if she wants.

In my Asterisk dial plan, I added a new extension to my internal context. Dialing *11 will join your call to an existing call if one is in progress. I do this with the BridgeAdd() application and the CHANNELS() function, like this: 

exten = _*11,1,NoOp(Join call)
 same = n,If(${CHANNELS(trunk)})
 same = n,BridgeAdd(${CHANNELS(trunk)})
 same = n,EndIf()
 same = n,Hangup()

CHANNELS(trunk) works because any channel that is created for an external call has that pattern in the channel ID. In my pjsip.conf file, I have my trunk connections configured with that string in the name – so it’s an easy target for the regex parameter passed to CHANNELS().

I’ve got a Wifi SIP phone on the way that has some programmable softkeys. I suspect I’ll find a good use for one of those to make operating them as simple as a Panasonic DECT phone.

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Bob’s Chocolate Flake

If you’ve been smoking a pipe for a while, you’ve probably heard of Lakeland tobacco blends. These mostly come from either Gawith & Hogarth or Samuel Gawith, and include things like Grousemoor, Ennerdale, and this one – Bob’s Chocolate Flake.

Lakelands get a bad rap from some people, and I suspect that’s mostly from people who have smelled a tin of a Lakeland but not actually smoked it. Ennerdale, for example, has a very distinctive and fairly strong floral note n the tin. Comparing to “old lady perfume“ is not entirely unreasonable, and some people assume the stuff will forever “ghost” a pipe. I’ve found this to be a baseless fear; I’m on my second tin of it and it’s fine. It doesn’t smoke like it smells.

I’d wanted to try Bob’s for a while, and finally scored an ounce of it. It’s a dense flake, which doesn’t easily crumble like some. I’d expected a strong chocolate note from the bag, but it’s more of a subtle undertone.

I’m not one of those people that describes tobacco in wine tasting terms. Maybe my palate isn’t sufficiently refined, but picking out “notes of dried fruit, sweet grassy almond” whatever just doesn’t happen for me. Bob’s does have a somewhat unique taste; not overpowering and not unpleasant. It’s definitely a more aromatic smoke, but doesn’t seem overly “flavored” as some are. I’m thinking of Lane 1Q / Captain Black’s vanilla, for example.

BCF smokes fine, given a bit of a rub out and 20-30 minutes to dry a bit. It lights evenly and seems to smoke without requiring much in the way of relights, just the occasional light tamp. I like it, but I don’t love it. Will I buy more? I can’t say at this point. I’m about halfway through the ounce of flakes I bought. One of the things I’ve learned about tobacco is that it seems to take a while, at least an ounce or two smoked over several months under different conditions and in different pipes, for me to decide whether I like a particular blend or not.

My tastes are also evolving as time passes and I get exposed to more blends. Where I used to love aromatics like 1Q, I now find them to have a displeasing chemical taste from what seems like a rather heavy-handed dousing with propylene glycol (PG), a humectant used to keep it from drying out. I’ve gotten more accustomed to VA/Perique blends, though my tolerance varies on those. About the only constant is my taste for English and Balkan blends; I’ve become a real fan of Latakia.

Anyway. Bob’s is a decent enough tobacco, but so far I haven’t really developed a love for it. We’ll see if and how that changes over time as I finish off what I have.

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Brother Sebastian’s

Last night Lisa and I went to dinner at Brother Sebastian’s. This steakhouse has been in business since 1977, and was rebuilt after a fire in the mid 1990s.

I remember going to dinner there in the late 70s – there was at least one pre- or post-prom dinner there. I remember it being a really nice place with great food. I was interested to see how well it’s held up over the years; some of our old favorites really have not aged all that well.

The decor is a bit dated, but of course that’s kind of part of the charm. It seemed a little tighter and more dimly lit than I remembered, but honestly it’s been so long I could well be wrong. The menus listed their reviews as “best steakhouse” from 2013, which may have been when they were printed… no, those weren’t 2013 prices. The prices weren’t bad, assuming it really is a great steakhouse.

I was a little disappointed in the lack of higher-end Scotch available; Macallan 12 and Lagavulin 16 are about as fancy as it gets. I’d hoped for some Macallan 18, maybe, but it’s not a big deal. I don’t really know enough about wines to comment on their wine selection. I ordered their perfect Manhattan, which was pretty good – much better than my own previous attempts. Their prices for drinks were very reasonable; I think the Manhattan was $12.50.

It’s definitely a steakhouse of the old school. You’ll hike through the restaurant on your way to and from the salad bar, sharing (and occasionally competing for) space with other patrons as well as wait staff.

The salad bar is not bad, but nothing amazing. There was fresh spinach, iceberg lettuce, half a dozen or so toppings (bell pepper, black olives, shredded cheese, chopped onion, etc.) and a pretty wide selection of dressings.

I ordered a 6 oz filet medium rare with wild rice and linguine. Lisa ordered the walleye with vegetables. When the food arrived, I found the filet cooked medium well. There’s no excuse for that. Lisa’s fish was OK, but there were several bones that were impossible to see in the very dim light. Her squash was pretty badly overcooked. To their credit, when the manager stopped by to ask how we were and Lisa told her that, the manager comped her dinner. This illustrates why I very, very rarely order the generic “vegetables” side – and never if it includes squash or zucchini. Those seem to be the most frequently murdered dishes at nearly all restaurants. Broccoli steamed into mush runs a close second.

All in all… I can understand why some people like it and they seem to have a loyal following. That said, I honestly think we’d have gotten a better meal at Outback or Texas Roadhouse. It’s not on our list of places to go back to.

On the plus side, it’s not terribly expensive. The filet was $36, and the walleye was $26. That included the salad bar and sides. We skipped the appetizer and dessert; had the fish not been comped we’d still have been out of there for just under $100.