Letsencrypt, Duckdns, and Cox

Like some other ISPs, Cox blocks all incoming access to port 80 on residential connections. They also use DHCP to assign dynamic IP addresses, which can can and do change occasionally — especially when you reboot your router. That’s fine in most cases, but can be a real pain in the ass if you run any local services that you need to access from outside the home. For example, if you run your own email and want to use IMAP, you’re likely going to need an SSL certificate. You need a way to have your DNS update to point to your new IP when it changes.

One way to do all of this without paying subscription fees is with Duckdns and Letsencrypt. Duckdns is a free DNS service with an easy to use API that can be updated by a script when your IP address changes. Letsencrypt is a free SSL certificate CA; I can’t say enough good things about Letsencrypt and encourage you to support them with a donation as I have.

So. First we can use cron to run a command that updates our duckdns IP address every ten minutes or so.

echo url="https://www.duckdns.org/update?domains={my_domain}&token={my_token}&ip=" | curl -k -o ~/duck.log -K -

Simple, right? Now we have a hostname that always points to our own home IP address – or at least always does within ten minutes of an IP address change, which is probably good enough for most purposes.

Now for the SSL certificate. Letsencrypt will happily issue free a 90 day SSL cert for your domain. Normally, one runs a script from cron that renews the certificate if the cert is expiring in less than 30 days. IF you can expose port 80 to the web, even temporarily, then life is good — just run ‘certbot renew‘ once a day, or even once a week, and everything happens for you in the background. If, however, your ISP filters port 80… well, there’s the pain-in-the-ass part. The certbot script renew script will only work if you have port 80 open to the web. I haven’t found a way to get Letsencrypt’s server to use any other port to reach your web server, so forwarding a non-blocked port (8880, for example) to your local server’s port 80 does you no good.

All is not lost; it just means a bit more work. Letsencrypt will also issue certificates using DNS challenges for authentication, placing specific TXT records to prove that you have control of the domain or subdomain in question. The process looks like this:

certbot certonly --manual --preferred-challenges dns -d example.com-d -d example-com.duckdns.org

The certbot script will tell you to create TXT records in DNS for your domain, and will wait for you to do so before proceeding. You can use your DNS provider’s web or API interface to add or change the TXT record accordingly. Duckdns now supports TXT records in addition to A records, and updating yours is simple:

curl 'https://www.duckdns.org/update?domains={my_domain}&token={my_token}&txt={my_txt}&verbose=true'

Once you’ve verified that the TXT records are there using, say, ‘dig _acme_challenge.{my_domain}.duckdns.org TXT‘ — simply hit ENTER to let the script finish. You should end up with a renewed SSL cert.

My previous ISP didn’t block port 80, so I never had to do any work at all for this. I ran the ‘certbot renew’ command from cron once a day, and it automatically updated the certs for me. Now that port 80 is no longer an option, I will need to manually renew the certificate every 90 days. I’ll actually do it at around 75 days, because Letsencrypt helpfully sends out emails to let you know when your certificate is within 15 days of its expiration.

Missouri Meerschaums

I ordered a couple of Missouri Meerschaum corncob pipes on line a couple of years back. As I recall I ordered them from Penn Valley Pipes along with a couple of clays. I’ve learned that a lot of pipe smokers like corn cob pipes for some very good reasons. For one, they are inexpensive, so one could – if so inclined – dedicate one to each blend of tobacco. Or have one for each day of the week, or whatever. They don’t require much break-in, if any. I’ve found that they don’t have a problem with condensation, and they will accept a paper Medico or Dr. Grabow filter. There’s a lot to like about them, really.

I don’t smoke them all the time, but I do use them for times when I’m not willing to risk one of my really nice pipes. Out in the garage, in the hangar, fishing, etc. If I happen to drop or lose a $15 pipe, oh well. Buy another one. Not so much the case for a really nice Peterson or Savinelli or something!

More recently I see MM has added a bunch of new pipes to their lineup. Fancy ones, Hobbit-themed churchwardens, all kinds of stuff. I don’t know that I’ll build a massive collection of cobs, but honestly — what I originally assumed were just a novelty item are really quite nice pipes that are as useful to experienced pipe smokers as they are to novices just wanting to test the waters with something cheap.

Battle of the Codgers, Part 3: Borkum Riff Bourbon Whiskey

I should wait to post this until I’ve given it another chance. I really should. But I won’t. I’ll update later, when I have had a second bowl… any maybe a third, if the second one isn’t as absolutely horrible. You see where this is going?

I tried this tobacco the other night. The first thing I noticed was the utter lack of anything that I would describe as “bourbon whiskey” about it, either the aroma when I opened the pouch or the taste when lit. And I mean anything. But, hey, I have – apparently – a completely uneducated, uncultured palate. Still, I was a bit disappointed. I remembered Dad smoking this stuff back in the 70s, and it smelled amazing. Well, the blend has been through at least two manufacturers since then, and the years have apparently not been kind. Happens to us all, I suppose.

The first half of the bowl was entirely unremarkable. Not particularly pleasant, not particularly unpleasant. No real apparent flavoring, at least not in my uneducated opinion. Still, not a bad smoke. Just not a great one.

Then about halfway through or maybe a little further than that, something magical started to happen. And I don’t mean magical in a wonderful Good Fairy wand waving kind of way. More like magical in the witch dipping an apple in poison kind of way. The kind of magic that brings Chucky to life. The tobacco developed a very distinct flavor profile. Unfortunately that flavor profile was nearly identical to the aroma that I got years ago when I was using a propane torch to remove integrated circuits from a fiberglass circuit board. Yes, the smell of scorched epoxy is what I noted. I’m not making this up.

I’ll try it again, if for no other reason than I can remember the dating scene from Hitch, where Will Smith has a date with Eva Mendes that turns into a complete disaster. Who knows? Maybe I accidentally got a big chunk of the plastic pouch in there when I packed the bowl. Maybe one of the stink bugs that take up residence when the weather cools off crawled in and I didn’t notice. Maybe someone set fire to an old TV set and the wind was blowing int he wrong direction. But I’m all about second chances, so I’ll try it again.

Eventually.

Ireland

This trip has completely changed my views on:

  • Lamb. Done properly, it’s heavenly.
  • Guinness. Done properly, it’s amazingly good.

It has not changed my views on:

  • Driving on the wrong side of the damn road. Just say no. There’s a reason 99% of the world does it the right way.

Battle of the Codgers, Part 2 (Amphora)

The second of the Old Ones I decided to try was Amphora original. There are numerous flavors of Amphora, but this is the original blend and probably the one I remember from the 70s.

The aroma from the bag is absolutely wonderful, if you love tobacco. My wife doesn’t think much of it in comparison to something like BCA or 1-Q, but it’s got a lot less topping than those. I suppose technically it’s an aromatic, but mostly it’s tobacco, and lots of it.

I let this air out for an hour or so – maybe less – before loading up the Savinelli Bing’s Favorite and lightning up. The flavor is definitely stronger than the Half & Half, not too strong, and with virtually no bite on the tongue or in the nose. Now, I’m not experienced enough to know which flavor is burley and which is Virginia and which is Oriental, but the flavor is nothing at all like the H&H. It’s a little more “exotic”, I suppose you’d say. I like it, but I also noted that it seems to have a higher nicotine content than most blends I’ve been smoking. I could feel the nicotine a bit, though nothing like Bayou Morning (thank heaven).

I also noted that it stays lit better, I think, than anything else I’ve tried so far. I was fully halfway through the bowl before I needed to relight. The ash is quite fine and the smell of it reminds me of a fine Cuban cigar. Just the ash, not the smoke. It seems to burn evenly and not too hot.

Will Amphora be my new best friend and daily smoke? Probably not. Will I keep some on hand and enjoy it fairly regularly? Probably, yes. I can see it as one to enjoy when I’ve got the time to sit down and really enjoy a pipe.

As I write this, the pipe is sitting on the table a little over half smoked. I’ll finish it off in the morning and see how it does then. It’s really quite nice and I’m looking forward to it.

Update: The rest of the bowl didn’t disappoint. I tried another bowl a couple of days later in the Peterson Kildare, and it was quite nice as well. It burned to the bottom of the bowl with no excess moisture and not too many relights. It likes to be tamped a little tight to burn well.

Battle of the Codgers, Part 1 (Half & Half)

A few days ago I decided I’d like to try out some of the so-called “codger” pipe tobacco blends. These are the ones that our fathers, grandfathers, and maybe great-grandfathers smoked. Brands like Half & Half, Prince Albert, Borkum Riff and so on. I mean, if something has been on the market for decades and is still sold, there’s got to be a reason, right?

Through the magic of the Internet and the US Postal Service, today I received a package with a few blends to try. Half & Half, Borkum Riff Bourbon Whiskey, and Amphora – plus some Mac Baren Vanilla Cream, just for good measure. I remember Dad smoking Borkum Riff and Amphora in the 70s and 80s.

I decided to start out with something completely new to me – Half & Half. The first thing I noticed when I opened the sealed pouch was the incredibly wonderful aroma of this stuff. You’re not hit with the smell of toppings or flavorings, just a rich tobacco smell. If it smokes half as good as it smells this could be a winner!

I loaded up a bowl in my Peterson Atlantic 221, a bent billiard, and tried it out. Of course, it’s a different experience than an aromatic blend. I love the mix of burley and bright Virginia. There’s just a tiny hint of bite on the tongue and in the nose, but not enough to distract. Just enough to let you know you’re smoking tobacco, not candy. There’s nothing to cover up the flavor of the tobacco, but it doesn’t try to club you over the head (looking at you, here, Latakia). My wife said the smell was “just OK”, not the wonderful smell of the aromatics and Cavendish I’ve mostly been smoking but not as bad as the Latakia blend.

Unfortunately I seem to have packed the bowl a bit too tightly or tamped a bit too much, as it quickly developed a draw not unlike a plug of concrete and required a re-light every couple of minutes. I ended up cleaning out the bowl about 2/3 of the way through, but not before developing a real appreciation for this blend. Overall it seems a solid, very likable smoke. I can understand why it’s been on the market for over a hundred years.

I’ll revisit Half & Half again with a little drying time and a more careful packing of the pipe. And don’t take my two mentions of Latakia to mean I don’t like it… I’ve got some Consummate Gentleman in a jar for those times when I’m feeling like some serious smoky flavor. I like it, but like Lagavulin it’s not an every day thing for me.

Update: The second bowl smoked well also. I should have let it dry some before packing, and I’ve really got to watch not to pack or tamp this too tight. It’s the opposite of Amphora in that respect.

Update 2: The third bowl was even better. I let it dry longer than I had planned, a couple of hours, but it still smoked well. I was more careful about packing and tamping. It smoked quite well all the way to the bottom of the bowl, with I think two re-lights and a tiny little dottle. Very well behaved and consistent all the way through. That was in my Peterson 221, so no filter.

Mixing tobaccos

I’d heard – well, read, since I know virtually no one personally who smokes a pipe – a lot about Haunted Bookshop. This is a Cornell & Diehl tobacco blend that a lot of people seem to love. The local shop carries it in bulk, so when I bought my Savinelli pipe and he offered a couple of samples to try out, Haunted Bookshop was one of them.

I did like the taste. It’s not an aromatic, and the so-called “room note”, or how it smells to those being exposed to your demon second-hand smoke, is not as sweet but isn’t bad.

The tasting, however, did not end well. I tried a small amount, maybe half a bowl, of HB followed by a similar small amount of Bayou Morning, a Virginia Perique blend. Now, this is pretty serious stuff, for me at least. Lots of tobacco flavor, no sweeteners or flavors. It’s definitely no Captain Black. That’s fine, but I was unprepared for the massive nicotine hit. After years of not smoking at all, then slowly starting to smoke a little aromatic blend on a pipe occasionally, my nicotine tolerance was about zero. I enjoyed the smoke, but not the two hours of sweating, clammy nausea that followed and had my wife wondering if she should call an ambulance because I was having another cardiac event.

I put those two tobaccos in jars next to the Latakia blend that I like, but only occasionally. One thing I like about pipe tobacco is that it seems to be like wine… stored properly it only improves with age, for the most part.

This morning I decided to try a little experiment. I mixed up a batch of about 2/3 black cavendish (Lane Ltd. BCA) with about 1/3 Haunted Bookshop. I packed a full bowl in my Bing’s Favorite, deciding to let the new Peterson rest a few days. So far I’m quite pleased with it. The BCA tames the HB down quite a bit, while the HB gives some flavor and character that the pure cavendish lacks. It burns well, and my wife tells me it smells good. No tongue bite at all, it’s not the least bit harsh and the nicotine content is low enough to not bother me.

Now obviously I’m not the first person to figure this stuff out, but it’s interesting to figure out what works for me and what doesn’t work so well.

Peterson Kildare

Picked this beauty up in Belfast, Northern Ireland today. I looked at a lot of pipes in the shop, and this one was really my favorite. There’s no substitute, really, for checking pipes out in person to see the grain and everything else. For instance, Lisa liked one with a beautiful smooth finish and striking gold acrylic stem. I liked it a lot too, but there was a place where the black end of the filter holder in the tenon showed through the acrylic part of the stem. I knew that was going to bug me every time I looked at that pipe.

Peterson silver mount Kildare smooth #120

This one is a smooth silver mounted 120, a nicely sized billiard with a P-lip stem and 9mm filter. The shop owner was nice enough to throw in a Peterson pipe tool along with the pipe and filters I bought. In fact he threw in the filters and pipe cleaners, too. Nice guy.

Peterson Atlantic Rusticated 221

I was in London for a couple of weeks around Easter 2022. I had not taken a pipe along with me, kind of on purpose. I did take some tobacco and a lighter, but not a pipe. I figured that if I had time, I could visit one of the pipe shops in London. With my work schedule I didn’t have the time to get to any of them while they were open. I did, however, find out that Selfridges has a James J Fox tobacconist in the store. That was a short tube ride and walk away, and they were open late, so off I went.

They had a small selection of pipes, and this one caught my eye. It being JJ Fox, in Selfridges, in London, I overpaid shamefully. That said, I love the pipe. It a favorite of mine that I use regularly. That said, it seems to have an issue with condensation and gurgling that sometimes cannot be overcome even with the Peterson “system”. I don’t know if it’s the shape or something else. (see edits below)

Rusticated Peterson Atlantic 221

Update Jan. ’24: I still like this pipe. The gurgling issue is partly the shape, and partly (the bigger part) a case of very poor drilling. The draft hole in the shank is drilled way off, intersecting around the very end of the tenon. This causes a large amount of turbulence in the airflow, and causes the moisture to condense out of the smoke. Of course there’s no way to get a pipe cleaner down there without removing the stem, so one either just deals with it or ends up with a large, soggy dottle — or both.

The peanut gallery is by now screaming, “But you just need to smoke slower!! Dry out your tobacco!” I can assure you — doing both these things will still result in a healthy gurgle about halfway through the bowl. I may do some work on the upper end of the draft hole one of these days when I’m feeling adventurous, but for now I just put up with it. I’m happy that Peterson is kind enough to hire the blind, I just wish they didn’t give them drills. 🙂

Ashton Consummate Gentleman

I was looking for a tobacco to try some Latakia. Boy, did I find it!

I was attracted to Consummate Gentleman by the tin and the name, to be honest, as well as the description. I wanted to try a Latakia blend. I’d also never tried a tinned tobacco before, just bulk tobacco bought by the ounce. OK, I take that back! I’d bought a 100g tin of tobacco at the Danish Pipe Shop in Copenhagen, and loved it. It’s a totally different type of tin, though.

Just opening the tin was a new one for me. The lid wasn’t coming off with any normal human amount of force. It’s pretty well vacuum sealed. Finally figured out to use the tip of a butter knife to twist under the lid just enough to break the airtight seal and let some air in, then it opened up easily.

I was immediately struck by the strong, distinctly smoky aroma. Wow! If you like Laphroiag or Lagavulin you’ll probably like a Latakia blend. It smells a bit like a smoldering barn. It’s the kind of aroma that your male friends will love, and will cause most women to recoil in horror. There’s a paper liner in the tin to keep the tobacco from being in direct contact with the metal, as is the case (I believe) with all of the flat, vacuum sealed tins of this type. The tobacco was tightly packed and required a little rubbing or digging to get it to separate. Once I got some in hand, it seemed quite a bit less moist than the aromatics I’m used to. Some of them can feel downright oily or goopy; this was not overly dry, but I didn’t think I’d have problems keeping it lit.

Undaunted by the strong aroma, I loaded up a MM corncob and tried it out. It’s definitely a change from a milder aromatic like the Ted’s #1 (also known as RLP-6) that I’m used to as my daily smoke. There’s a lot of tobacco flavor in this one, rather than syrupy toppings. The Latakia adds a distinct smoky flavor that I didn’t find overbearing or too strong.

My wife was sitting a few feet away and said the smoke was tolerable, but not pleasant as is the smoke from the aromatic blends I’m usually smoking. As I figured would be the case, I didn’t have trouble keeping it lit. It’s not unusual for me to need to relight my pipe pretty often, but I think I made it through half a bowl of this with one or maybe two relights.

All in all, I like it. I won’t be making it my daily smoke, but just like a good Islay Scotch there are times when you’re just in the mood for a little bit of smoke in your life. It’s something different, and I’ll be keeping it around. I think this will be perfect for a nice little clay pipe I’ve got with a smaller bowl. I’ve got the tobacco in a jar for now, not knowing how well it will keep in the tin and paper.