Hi Bradley, I've discovered your channel earlier this year and I've been hooked on to it for quite awhile as a fellow hobby pipe smoker. I'm from Sweden, and EU tobacco laws has caused my experience of pipe smoking to be very limited, for example there are only 3 Peterson blends that I am able to get a hold of in every tobacconist around the country, which is highly unfortunate because there are a lot of blends from that line that I do very much enjoy (such as Irish Flake and even Elizabethan, and I can only purchase them from the USA). That's why the blend that I would consider my "baseline" everyday pipe tobacco is from a local blender/tobacconist called Brobergs, which is a straight burley (Brobergs been around for over a 100 years so you can almost consider it a codger blend here in Sweden). It packs well, lights well, very relaxing and most importantly very easy to get a hand of where I live. When I started trying blends that I could only get a hold of in the states, I fell into that sort of experience you had with elizabethan as you described. I got to try a lot of premium blends during the summer, where I went almost a full two months without having a bowl of Brobergs. Despite some that I've come to call my favorites, none were able to top my everyday burley. And I guess the reason really boils down to the simplicity and availability of that blend. Enjoying the videos and can't wait to see more next year, have happy new year!
My baseline blend is Briar Fox by C&D. Your explanation of the concept for a baseline was well done. Though Briar Fox has changed over the past 5 years, I use the blend as a solid medium body VaBer blend. I have no doubt my pallet is affected. Context can be seen if one loads two bowls and smoked side by side.
Bradley, THANK YOU for your RU-vid channel. Ive had a pipe hobby for about a year and a half, and got very interested in pipe restoration. I have amassed a very well equipped Pipe Restoration Tool Box, and have really enjoyed making old pipes look and smoke like new again. I have in my collection 6 Dunhills, which I could never imagine I’d have. I now have 22 pipes in my collection, not all restores, some gifts a very few I bought new. I have currently 38 T’s in my cabinet and value your reviews and the length of time you S them to give them proper consideration. You have made me a true fan of Elizabethan, and will always keep it in my T arsenal. I would really value your taste, thoughts and review of Hyde Park. It was a part of a wonderful Christmas gift from my son and it quickly blew past ones that were in running for my “go to” T. It has that dried hay or grass as well as other notes that make it totally kick ass. I truly believe that if you S a few bowls, I’m guessing it may land in your top 3! Just a guess…. Happy New Year to you and Diamond, your videos are amazing quality and your knowledge, humor and personality just makes them unstoppable …I know I can stop watching! Monte B~
Back when i smoked, carter hall and orlick golden slice were my standards. Orlik during the day and carter as a last bowl of the night relaxing before bed.
Hay bro love your vidjas, my favorite pipe tobacco is from the Country Squire, it's called Baker Street, if the world ended, and all I had was an abundance of this tobacco, I would not be disappointed
Although I do smoke and enjoy all genres of tobacco, I am by default an avid English/Balkan/Scottish guy. For me, my staple blend is most definitely Stokkebye’s English Oriental Supreme. It was the very first English style tobacco that I smoked some thirty plus years ago and I grew to love it. Like most, I cut my piping chops on dime store aromatics back then. This single Stokkebye tobacco opened the world of non-aromatics to my palate. I smoke it faithfully every day and do keep it stocked in large volumes compared to all the assorted blends I have. It is my reference point to your musings on EM, which I also really admire.
My baseline blend for years was Esoterica Tilbury. I was very lucky to have had a constant supply. The bad news is I believe the blend in the post 2020 tins has been changed. I often wonder if I wasn't able to enjoy one's favorite blends for a long period, would I succumb to Sir Walter Raleigh and the like. It seems from your perspective, that may be so!
I've had a few benchmark every day blends over the years. They include My Mixture, Black Mallory, and even Haunted Bookshop. Now I just smoke whatever I fancy that day. I usually smoke once a day these days--mostly in the evening. Happy New Year's.
Over the years I've come to love a good burly in the morning with black coffee. I like a lot of different burlys but my staple has become Sutliff Edgeworth Ready Rub Match, a codger blend that I don't think warrants trumpets blaring but it just works, every time, every morning. And Happy New Years to you, I appreciate your reviews, even if I do not always agree with them. They always seem to come from a place where if you don't like them, you usually find things about a blend you know others may like.
I didn't really like Cringle Flake either. I liked the 2021 one but 22 and 23 have been underwhelming and I don't think I'll be buying them anymore. Oh, and that "staple" kind of blend for me is Gawith 1792. I have so many jars full and i will always keep it in stock.
Bradley, that was interesting stuff about a baseline blend. Way back, when I first started s-ing, there were all kinds of outstanding English mixtures, and I enjoyed them all, but I always returned to Balkan Sobranie White. And there was always the same feeling of, "Ah, I'm home." There really isn't a baseline blend for me now. Now that I'm old as dirt, my pipes have returned to their promiscuous inclinations of earlier times, and the only recent discovery to catch their fancy is C&D's Stratsfordshire. For a bulk English, it's more than adequate. Happy New Year to you and Diamond!
My baseline was Durbar. Only recently returned to the hobby and found out it's not available anymore. Thankful for the jar of 2018 Durbar I managed to save. Happy New Year!
Have you considered Baldur's Gate 3 as a follow-up to TotK on the other channel? Haven't played it myself, but it looks very interesting and full of potential for Kevin to get into trouble. Wishing you a very happy new year!
For me, my 2 baseline blends are Proper English and NightCap. There are numerous other Balkan, Scotish, Virginia, VaPer and English blends that I really enjoy but the baseline 2 blends are those by which I measure all others.
Mine is Rattray Red Rapparee mixture. German blend that exists since the early 40's of the pervious century. Made of Virginia, Cavedis, Latakia and Orientals.. this is my baseline
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! We're already well into New Year's Day in Japan. I stayed home sick, so it was pretty uneventful around here. My baseline is Dr. Pepper, but it's hard to find it around here. Vending machines will carry it from time to time, and when you do get your hands on it, you will find that it is licensed in Japan by Coca-Cola. In the absense of Dr. Pepper, Coca-Cola is my go-to. I have found a lot of other sodas and drinks in Japan have a medicine taste to them, so they are an acquired taste for me. The one drink that is very difficult to find in Japan - more so than Dr. Pepper is root beer. Sometimes the import stores will carry the A&W root beer. But the opposite is true for this drink. I've heard that is is really unpopular with Japanese people because it tastes like medicine to them. (For those who don't know, I don't S, so this is the best I can do to keep the conversation going.) For this year, I really want to focus on developing my guitar skills more. The time has finally come last week that I started learning Smells Like Teen Spirit. The bass line and that one lick in the middle was pretty easy because I was primed with Scott Moffatt's guitar lead in the song, If Life is So Short. But those intro power chords in SLTS are hard! I found that they give both my hand and forearm quite the workout. But I think that the song is the threshold that determines whether or not someone decides to continue with guitar or quit. But I'm determined to power through this because if I quit, I would not only be letting myself down, but I would also be letting down my students who look forward to seeing me every week. It's not often that they have an English teacher who plays guitar.
My favorite pop (Dr. Pepper0. Pretty much the only pop I drink. I have heard that they don't love it in Japan. On Stein's Gate, the main character drinks it as a "weird" personality quirk.
I’ve been looking for a non aromatic blend that tastes great & burns well in the sub -25 C 🇨🇦 winter … I’ll review your channel for options. Thank you for sharing (: A new piper also…thinking there must be a ‘Sam McGee’ blend of sorts to warm a guy up after a day in the cold wind.
Elizabethan Mixture is as Elizabethan Mixture does, as the Elizabethans might have said. Hope you had a great Christmas and New Year, thanks for 2023 videos and looking forward to 2024!
I like Elizabethan, but haven’t had it in a year lol. But I like English blends more lol. I still have Dunhill tins of it. Still haven’t ordered any Peterson tins yet
Captain Earle's - Ten Russians. Discovered this blend in December and is now my all time favorite. I could smoke this blend everyday and not get tired of it.
Great post, thanks. I'm sure you've tried my regular blend which is Coniston Cut Plug by our trusty friends at Samuel Gawith?(yes I try other blends occasionally too but it is for me,as your Elizabethan is for you,a standard favourite)The strange thing about your Polaroid episode is that it made me realise that something which we once thought was modern magic has now become historic and dare I say it 'retro'! Keep up the good work,yours aye,Rik.
Awesome Sunday chat Bradley I think I understand what you mean about elizbethan mixture I feel that way about GRANGER I enjoy it so much and it's my meat and potatoes blend have a great New year all the best in 2024 😃👋🔥💨☕🎊🎉🎊🎉🎊🎉🎊
Makes perfect sense. I can only now enjoy other virginias, now that McClelland is gone. Before, everything was terrible compared to McClelland virginias.
It’s pretty weird that I can’t get the Elizabethan mixture in Sweden. Some Peterson blends are available, others not. I do like Connoisseur’s choice though, so that’s fine.
@@stuffandthingsyoutube We’ve got a pretty limited range of tobaccos available here, it seems. Should probably be available in Denmark though, since that’s where all those mixtures are made. Or some other EU country.
@stuffandthingsyoutube I hate to disagree, but it's simply not lol that being said, try some 432 from LJ Perreti it's excellent! If you can ever tour that place, I recommend it.
I would like to report that I was unsubscribed somehow, I did not see a video for a couple weeks. I was curious what happened to stuff and things. I was unsubscribed. I wonder if this happened to others.
I mentioned the tongue click a couple of years ago here in comments and you acknowledged that you do it, but made no effort to weed it out of your speech habits. This is the sort of thing that disc jockeys used to quickly learn to stop doing, or they stopped being disc jockeys. Happy New Year!
Honestly, with regards to your Videos in recent times I have not noticed you make unusual noises. I have, however, noticed that your overall Volume is substantially lower than standard. So much so that when I switch a Video on another RU-vid Channel the 'blow out' is shocking as I have to grab my remote to turn down the Volume. I expect it on the Working Channel videos as I know you can't very well be going around fully mic'd up like a Television Production but your Sunday Stuff & Things and your SaTP Videos are all very low Volume. I noticed you haven't yet mentioned what might be coming after Tears of the Kingdom and I do recall many Months back you were debating whether to continue with SaTP as it tends to draw less Views for the work you are putting in to the Channel. As someone who found you in your Dark Souls 'Era' I hope that SaTP does not go away!
Interesting! I normalize all my audio to -6 db for voice, which is a bit on the loud side for streaming standard (which is usually supposed to be -12 db - -6 db). Maybe I'm the only one though and everyone else is cranking theirs to just under peaking! Haha.
Hah, that is entirely possible. I have similar issues when I switch from one Streaming Service to the other all the time. Netflix I have to absolutely crank to hear.. and then I go to Disney and it sounds like I am trying to shatter eardrums. @@stuffandthingsyoutube
