We had a nice crowd at The Tobacco Hut today - Tom L, Joe K, Peter G, Ed B, and Don. Don's not new to the Hut, but he's not a Saturday regular. He's in the Coast Guard and is actually being stationed out of the area in a couple weeks. His reputation actually precedes him, as Lou has talked about his barbecuing prowess in past conversations. Once the topic of food preparation came up, Peter and Don were off to the races, talking about marinades and the art of dry aging steaks.
Peter shared with me something very personal and private, and normally any secrets entrusted to me are "in the vault" but I can't keep something this momentous in. Peter said that he heard an interesting news report...on NPR! Yesss! Another convert! Yet another person who has seen the light of fair and objective broadcast journalism. I think he said something about making a donation come pledge time too! Okay, I just made that last part up, but I'm just happy he's listening.
Joe actually smoked two cigars - well, one and a half. His usual go-to cigar, the Padron, has been inconsistent lately and Lou gave him a new one to try. Didn't catch the name of it, but Joe seemed to enjoy it.
I was smoking the Cavicchi Paula had given to me for Christmas a couple years ago. The Dunhill 965 tasted wonderful in it, the touch of Latakia adding a perfect amount of pungency to the aroma and a subtle "roundness" in the taste.
Tomorrow I'll be headed up to my mother's in Spring Hill for our 4th of July cookout and, thanks to Vic and Ed F, it'll be extra special flavors of home. A couple weeks ago when Vic came up for the Father's Day party, he gave me a 4-pack of red hots from Rochester. There will be a couple folks reading this blog that are very familiar with red hots and white hots and their unique flavor. Ed F also surprised me with Stadium Mustard from Cleveland. Can't wait to try out the combination of the two. A big thank you to Ed and Vic!
The talk today was a little political in nature, but nothing too contentious. Tom L didn't even make one "Libby" remark to me. He must not have been feeling well.
Other topics included the age-old debate about who was sexier, Barbara Eden of I Dream of Genie or Elizabeth Montgomery of Bewitched. Elizabeth Montgomery got a vote, but the overwhelming winner was Barbara Eden.
Joe informed us that his son James is closing on a house soon in Atlanta. Congratulations to James and his new bride!
Toward the end of the day, it was just Peter and I and Lou sitting around chatting. Talk happily turned to pipe making and Peter was taking quite an interest in the subject. I was kind of hoping he would not only convert to NPR but to a pipe as well, but I think he's content with his one cigar a week habit. Anyway, I promised I would put up the link again from a previous post on a pipe making video segment from the program Modern Marvels.
I had blogged about the program a couple years ago and provided the link to the YouTube video that included the segment. I located the old post but when I tried the link I got the dreaded message that "This video is no longer available due to a copyright claim by A&E."
Undaunted, I did locate a video on the Peterson Pipe website that shows their process for pipemaking. It's a short video, less than 12 minutes, and interested readers might find it enlightening. It can be found here.
BTW, thank you to the folks who took the survey that was posted for the past two weeks. The results are as follows: 50% of respondents are regulars to the Hut who read the blog to find out the spin on what happened, 40% are occasional visitors and like to read the blog to keep up with what's happening at the Hut, and 10% are out of the area and read the blog to stay in touch. Again, thank you for participating and maybe I'll come up with another survey soon.
Happy 4th of July everyone!
- Bob
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