Saturday at the Hut - 6/11/11

Congratulations to me! I didn't realize last week as I was writing the blog that it was my 100th Sweetest Smoke blog post. I started it in late 2008 and have had a lot of fun along the way. I don't think I've strayed too far from the initial goal of talking about pipe smoking and the "sweepings from the local tobacco shop." I hope you have enjoyed reading the blog and that you've been able to keep abreast of what's happening each week at The Tobacco Hut.


I've begun two other non-related blogs recently, with an eye toward promoting some side businesses of mine. You can read Bullseye Marketing Tips and the Seneca Promo Idea Blog at the links provided, and I'm thinking about expanding my writing to other venues. There are some websites out there that pay a few bucks per article written, on a wide variety of subjects - some even pay for photography - so I might start exploring them a little.


Joe K, Darryl G, and Peter G were in attendance today. Darryl confirmed that he was bringing wings for next week's Father's Day party and Lou said that some his vendors have supplied some items for raffle prizes.


Scott R has sent me a couple e-mails during his slow journey to the north. The latest dispatch was from the mountains of North Carolina where he was enjoying a 63º morning on the front porch. Continued safe travels, my friend.


If anyone's keeping a tally, today I smoked a bowl of Baker Street in a Crown Viking freehand. 

Peter's new ride.

As I mentioned last week, Peter survived a harrowing car accident the week before last, totaling his Chevy HHR. He rolled up today with a brand new Kia Soul. It's a great looking car - very unique and stylish. Congratulations Peter - have fun with it!


As I drove home, Monty Python's famous Argument Clinic sketch ran through my head for no particular reason:

Until next time.

Saturday at the Hut - 6/4/11

A few of the regulars were missing today at The Tobacco Hut. Joe K told us in advance that he wasn't going to make it and Scott R is stomping around the bayous of Louisiana, taking the scenic route to New York. I don't know the whereabouts of anybody else, but Peter G showed up as promised. 


Peter was close to never showing up again as he had a harrowing car accident a couple days ago. He was on I-75 coming home from work on Thursday when someone cut him off, causing him to swerve off the road. After a couple barrel rolls, he ended up on his roof but - thank you Jesus!* - he was okay. Just a couple minor cuts on his arm. Glad he's still among us and not one of Tom Dobies' customers just yet. *The "thank you Jesus" line was for you, Joe!


Peter and I had a good conversation about marketing, advertising, and the wholesale food business. Peter's back in the industry that he knows inside and out and just a few weeks from being cut loose from the training program. As a former restaurant owner and food service account executive, Peter's knowledge of restaurant operations, marketing, and food service in general is impressive. More importantly, you can tell he's passionate about the business. 


Today found me smoking a David Jones rusticated Canadian. From the first light of the Tinder Box Reserve 1928 to finally dumping out the fine gray ash, it was an incredible smoke. I've raved about this tobacco before, but I continue to enjoy it. I was getting a little low on it, so recently purchased a replacement can from my former manager, Mike Spicer, at the Tinder Box in Dublin, Ohio. 


A few weeks ago I decided to start properly storing the half-opened tins of various tobaccos I had laying around. I went to Ace Hardware and purchased a dozen 4-oz. Mason jars. Once home, I carefully poured the contents of each tobacco tin into a jar. Some of the tobaccos were a little dry, so I filled a humistat with water and placed it in with the tobacco. Put the lids on and screwed them on tightly. I should have done this a long time ago, because all my tobaccos are now fresh and don't dry out as they did with just a plastic lid on the original tin.


Lou reports that several of his cigar vendors have supplied him with prizes to raffle off at the Father's Day celebration on Saturday, June 18th. The party starts at 1 PM and will feature food, beverage, and the aforementioned prizes. There will also be a wet t-shirt contest. Okay, I made that last part up. But mark the date and make sure to tell a friend. Hope to see lots of people there!

Paper Bead Bracelet
crafted by Paula
(Click to enlarge)

Time for a shameless plug...as many of you know, my wife Paula makes jewelry in her spare time. She has recently discovered a unique kind of bead, made of paper from recycled magazines by women in Uganda. The beads are imported by a company out of Colorado and made available to beaders throughout the U.S. Each bead is different and Paula has started making bracelets out of the beads. The women who make the beads have raised themselves out of abject poverty through the sale of their beads, and Paula has sold quite a few so far. They're only $5 apiece, and if you're interested in one, just let me know, and I can bring it next week to the Hut.


One more shameless plug, if you're a small business owner interested in maximizing your marketing efforts, surf on over to a blog I've started recently titled Bullseye Marketing Tips. Its mission is to provide marketing tips and strategies especially for small businesses. Take a look and let me know what you think!


Thank you!
 - Bob

Saturday at the Hut - 5/28/11

We had a good crowd at The Tobacco Hut on Saturday - Scott R arrived early and I'm glad I did too as he was passing out money! Lou fattened his wallet a bit from some lighters he had Scott sell on eBay for him and I received a check for some graphics work I did for Scott. This was Scott's final visit to the Hut for awhile - he's going to be a snowbird, heading to upstate New York for the summer. He'll be enjoying the summer in his hometown only returning when the weather finally becomes bearable here in late October. I, for one, am quite jealous.

Crown Viking pipe I had so much
trouble with on Saturday. My own
fault - packed it too densely with
tobacco that was too moist.

While I was trying to light up my Crown Viking freehand with some G.L. Pease Westminister, Scott was showing off a couple new pocket knives he has acquired. These were some real beauties, each with polished bone handles and one sporting a "hawkbill" blade, so named for its unique shape. Someone suggested that it would be good for skinning a deer, but Scott explained that the shape wasn't designed for it. I jokingly asked if it would be good for skinning a man, and he looked at me with a steely gaze, unwavering, until I finally looked away, quite frightened by the whole encounter. Okay, I made that last part up. Anyway, bon voyage and safe travels to Scott!


I mentioned I was trying to light my pipe. Allow me to explain. I probably should have gone with a different tobacco today, because when I opened the jar at home to load the pipe, I noticed that the tobacco was extremely moist. If I had an hour or two to set a bowlful's worth of the stuff out, I would have, to let it dry. Unfortunately, I decided to load it up and try to make it work.


I also made the mistake of packing it too tightly. The combination of too moist and too densely packed tobacco made for an unpleasant smoking experience. I had to keep re-lighting it and probably should have just emptied the pipe out from the beginning and loaded back up with some of Lou's Baker Street. But it had been awhile since I'd enjoyed the Westminster so stuck with it.


Joe K, Peter G, Tom L, and Jim C were also in attendance. I was glad to be wearing my "Think Outside the Fox" t-shirt, to ward off the attacks from Joe and Tom. Tom and I actually agreed on something...how the big banks and investment companies have essentially colluded with the government to stick it to the country. He cited a documentary, Inside Job, which explains a lot of how we ended up where we are today. Definitely something I'll have to add to my Netflix queue.


Peter and I had an interesting discussion about, of all things, the history of the phone system. I had discovered a fascinating website, Atlanta Telephone History, and I learned that Peter's father had worked for Ma Bell in Massachusetts.


Jim C and the rest of us talked a little about how we survived the apocalypse from last weekend, but supposedly Harold Camping, the pastor who predicted the whole thing, has now backpedaled and is claiming that the Rapture will actually occur in five months, in October. Hopefully Scott will be back by then to share one more smoke with his Tobacco Hut buddies.


Don't forget the Father's Day Celebration at the Hut on Saturday, June 18th, from 1-4 PM. There will be lots of food, drinks, and prizes. Lou is lining up stuff now from his vendors to be raffled off.


Happy Memorial Day everyone!


 - Bob

Saturday at the Hut - 5/21/11

I spent my last moments before the Apocalypse enjoying a bowl of Tinder Box Reserve 1928 in a Peterson Kinsale at The Tobacco Hut with friends. Joe K, Jim C, Peter G, Steve B, Ed B, Lou, and I had a wide-ranging discussion while puffing away and watching the Lightning beat the Bruins to tie the series at 2-2.

I had actually asked Lou to polish up the stem of the Peterson last week and he did a great job on it so I lit it up anxiously on Saturday, eager to enjoy one of the best values in pipes. It had been a while since I'd smoked this particular Peterson and the Vulcanite stem had become rather oxidized. Oxidation occurs when the sulfur in the rubber stem rises to the surface, discoloring it and giving it an unpleasant, sour taste.

There are many prescribed methods to removing oxidation from Vulcanite stems, some involving bleach and other chemicals, but probably the easiest is with a buffing wheel and then applying a thin coat of Carnuba wax, which is what Lou did last week to the pipe. Unfortunately, there was apparently a lot of oxidation on the stem, because even though the stem was restored to its shiny black state, a few minutes of it in my mouth and it quickly reacted to the saliva and turned nasty.

I left the pipe with Lou for him to work on throughout the week, and hopefully he'll be able to remove the remaining oxidation and get the pipe back to its spiffy, like-new state.

It's this oxidation issue that has driven my recent pipe purchases. I now stick with almost exclusively Lucite stems which are, essentially, plastic, and don't suffer from oxidation problems.

A quick rundown of what's happening with Saturday's attendees: Steve B and Jim C had a good conversation about Steve's new burgeoning business ventures; Peter is steeped in training for his new job, eager to be cut loose amongst the Tarpon Springs restaurants; Joe wore his highly offensive "Pipe Down Now, Silly Liberal" shirt; and congratulations to Major Ed B!

Adrian had promised to show up on Saturday so we could resume our chess games, but I guess his new philosophy is "Quit While You're Ahead" as he was a no-show. I suppose he wanted to be reigning King of Chess when the world ended.

Speaking of which, since I'm writing this on Sunday, May 22nd, it's apparent that, in fact, Harold Camping and his band of idiots at Family Radio were quite wrong about the end of the world occurring on May 21st at 6 PM. It would have been more amusing if there weren't so many people who actually believed it and jettisoned all their belongings and money and now - with families to provide for - have nothing. I doubt seriously that Mr. Camping, et al, will support his followers now that some of them are destitute.

Preacher Jim C and I differ on a lot of things, but we were both in agreement that Saturday, May 21st would pass like any other.

Don't forget the Father's Day Celebration at the Hut on June 18th, from 1-4 PM. Show up for the food, beverages, prizes, and fun. I think Lou's going to rent a Karaoke machine too. Okay, I just made that up, but there will still be prizes, good food and beverages. See you there!

 - Bob

Saturday at the Hut - 5/14/11

Joe K made his first appearance at The Tobacco Hut in several weeks! I suppose missing the Hut for his son James' wedding and then traveling out of state excuses him. He was even on his best behavior and didn't complain about his cigar canoeing like crazy. He described a lovely wedding on Davis Island - too bad all of our invitations apparently got lost in the mail. It would have been nice to attend. Apparently James and his new bride honeymooned in Mexico somewhere. Wonder if he ran into the cigar-smoking monkey down there! Anyway, congrats James!


Darryl G and his son Greg stopped in for the afternoon and Darryl presented a good idea to Lou: A Father's Day celebration at the Hut on Saturday, June 18th. The suggestion was met with instant approval by Lou and we decided it would start at 1:00. Darryl offered to bring wings and when I mentioned it to Paula, she said she could make little cucumber sandwiches with the crusts cut off for all the guys. She was kidding, of course, but offered to make something manly that I could bring in.


So make plans now to stop in at the Hut for a Father's Day party, June 18th, at 1:00. Obviously all are welcome, not just dads.


Adrian arrived and I was so excited to finally have a shot at dethroning the reigning chess champion. He had breezed in and out last week, promising to stay this week and play some chess. But, alas, he reverted back to the ole' Adrian - his patented breeze-in-and-out, a quick meet and greet, buy a couple cigars, and he was on his way. Apparently he would rather spend time with his wife than hanging out with the guys (and risk losing a game of chess). Next time, Adrian!


A shout out to my buddy, Scott R, AKA "Knife Guy". I've already mentioned his most-excellent blog about knives in this space before (and if you aren't reading it, you really should), but that's not what is getting the shout out. The last time he was at the Hut, he and I were talking knives and I mentioned that I really needed a good pocketknife. I have a small Swiss Army Knife attached to my keychain, but said that I should have something a bit more substantial to carry around.

My new knife!
(Click to enlarge)

So what arrives in the mail a few days later from Scott? A knife! The guy completely surprises me by sending a knife from his collection. And it's perfect, sleek, slim, and the blade is insanely sharp! I slipped it into my pocket right away, and it's been there ever since. So a big thank you to Scott! Much appreciated, my friend.


I had occasion to use said knife the very next day when I arrived home from work and a much-anticipated box of custom imprinted pens was sitting on my front porch. As many of you know, I'm now in the promotional products business and was in need of something of my own to hand out to prospective customers.

My new Clipper Pens!
(Click to enlarge)

I threw together a website to promote the pens themselves and took some photos of the pens for the page. Scott R is the guy who got me into the business and I've shamelessly copied an idea of his, i.e. choose one product and push the hell out of it, not only to sell that particular item, but generate leads as well. Here's the link to the new website: www.clipperpen.com and pictured is one of the images I shot for it.


As I was at the Hut on Saturday puffing on some delicious Dunhill 965 in my rusticated Ascorti Peppino, I thought, "Hey - it's been a couple weeks since we've had a good theological debate." And then I thought of my friend Arleen at work. She's a terrific writer who comes down squarely on the opposite side of the theological fence from me. We've had some great discussions at work about a variety of issues (not just the existence of God), and she maintains an active and thought-provoking blog of her own. I highly recommend giving her a read: http://arleenspenceley.blogspot.com/.


Don't forget, Saturday, June 18th, 1:00 at the Hut for the Father's Day Party!


Cheers!
 - Bob

Saturday at the Hut - 5/7/11

Today at The Tobacco Hut was fun, but also touched with disappointment. Fun, because in attendance were Scott R and Steve B. Scott delivered some greenbacks to Lou for some of the lighters he's sold for Lou on eBay, which made Lou very happy. Scott, Lou, and I had a wide-ranging discussion covering topics like high school reunions (Scott made his position about whether I should attend my upcoming 30th very clear), pocket knives, the promotional product biz, eBay, and even religion.

I pontificated on how psychics prey on their victims and even performed a quick card trick for Scott, who was suitably impressed. Scott impressed me with some wizardry of the mathematical kind. I promised him I would send him a link to a fun online magic trick, but thought others might enjoy it as well, so here it is: http://www.flashlightcreative.net/swf/mindreader/

Steve B arrived later in the day after a 2-month hiatus. Always a pleasure to see Steve, especially after such a long absence. I don't know who has more ideas for business and making money, Scott or Steve. Steve's getting involved in the CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) as a way of giving back and helping people become more self-sufficient, as well as strengthening their community. Looking forward to hearing of his progress on this front in the weeks and months to come.

What was a little disappointing was that Joe K was a no-show. We missed him last week because he was doing something with his son, James. The week before that was James's wedding. So we were expecting to see him today and when we didn't, I called him. A little while later he texted me to say that he was in Erie, PA (where the temperature was a perfect 58º). Doh! That's right, he told us he was going to Pennsylvania; we just couldn't remember when exactly. Hopefully he'll be back next week.

The disappointment was tempered when Adrian R came waltzing through the door. Well, I wouldn't say he exactly "waltzed", but he certainly made one of his grand entrances. I was excited to reclaim my chess crown and went for the chess board that Lou stores for me behind the counter, but my excitement was short-lived. Adrian announced that he was back to his old self and just breezing in and out to buy a cigar or two. Mrs. Adrian was waiting in the car and he couldn't stay. The last time Adrian's wife dropped him off, we forced her to come in so we could meet her. Strange...she didn't come in this time. Hopefully we haven't scared her off. Adrian promises to allow me the opportunity of playing another game of chess soon.

And yet another disappointment...Peter had promised last week that he would stop in today, but he was a no-show. I wanted to find out how his new job was going and also tell him that I finally took his recommendation for dinner. Last night Paula and I went to Mr. Souvlaki in Tarpon Springs and I had their signature Greek Chow Mein. Wow - what a meal! Paula had the souvlaki and she was equally impressed with her dish. We will definitely be going back. I had the full order and could only eat half; I had the remaining portion tonight for dinner. A thumbs-up recommendation from me! Thanks Peter!

A shout out to Scott and the creation of a CafePress store he just put up, featuring his most-excellent knife photography. Check it out at http://www.cafepress.com/steelbrother - perfect gear for the outdoor lover. BTW, another regular at the Hut, Paul V and Scott have another shop on CafePress featuring some cool cigar art: http://www.cafepress.com/cigarshirts

That's it for this week - hope to see lots of people next Saturday!

 - Bob

Saturday at the Hut - 4/23/11

It's been a few weeks since I last posted to the blog and I apologize to my faithful readers (both of them). It's not that I haven't been to The Tobacco Hut, just that I haven't been motivated to write about it. But today was a fun day at the Hut, with a lot of folks in attendance, and wins by the Lightning and Rays.


Scott R and Paul V arrived and settled in with some nice selections from the humidor. Scott also returned my Barbie's. Now before the laughter begins, they're actually my wife's and I had given them to Scott a couple weeks ago to sell on eBay. He did some research and felt that we'd be better off selling them at a garage sale. Scott is an eBay expert and will take your stuff, research it, photograph it, and list it on eBay for you. And, he'll handle the payment and shipping. It's a 50/50 split, and Lou has already taken advantage of Scott's services. 


I always enjoy discussing politics, current events and history with Paul, but we didn't get a chance today. Truly a shame because, while we don't often agree on the issues, he's a fun debater and extremely knowledgeable.


Scott's main line of work is as a dealer for Kaeser & Blair, a promotional products company. He's been in the biz since 1997 and I've helped him out from time to time with graphics work for the last few years. Over the past twelve months though, I've been talking to him about getting into the selling end of it myself. Well, I finally did it. I signed up as a dealer myself and got loaded up with samples and catalogs. I've built a basic website to serve as a kind of online brochure and have some pens coming with my contact information.


Please check out the website and help me spread the word. If you know of anyone that needs some custom imprinted marketing materials or trade show giveaways, please send them my way. I'll leave a few pens at the Hut when they come in so feel free to grab one when you stop in.


One last commercial interruption and we'll get back to our regularly scheduled program...Scott has been feverishly writing a blog about pocket knives. Coincidentally, it's called pocketknivesblog.com and can be found here. I'm not even "into" pocket knives, and I enjoy reading his stuff. Great photography accompanies the descriptions of his latest acquisitions. Scott's passion for these knives really comes through in his writing and for a relatively new blog, he's getting some good traffic. I can think of more than a few readers of this blog who would enjoy Scott's, so I encourage you to take a look.


Today found me smoking the Cassano I bought in Boston a year ago, enjoying a bowlful of Greg Pease's Chelsea Morning. It's part of his Old London series of tobacco, and consists of sweet red and bright Virginias, some Orientals, a bit of Cyprian Latakia, and a touch of Perique. I typically like an English blend that's heavy with Latakia, but this tobacco is more restrained in its use of it. No matter, the combination of the other tobaccos give it some subtle fruitiness and a hint of woodsy, smokey flavor. A very fine tobacco indeed.


Joe K was not in attendance today as it was his son James' wedding. Congratulations to James! We were all afraid that James would end up with a lonely life, traveling to Mexico on semi-annual junkets to visit a certain cigar-smoking monkey. So glad he found his bride. Congratulations again James - enjoy your day!


Vic arrived and immediately recounted a very funny tale about his recent trip from New York to Florida. He stopped in Tennessee and visited Mike G and his wife, Diane. Let's just say that the headline to this blog should read, "Mountain Man Curtseys to Queen Diane". Apparently, while Vic was there, Mike had a bunion on his foot or some other malady and, puffing up his chest, attempted to show Vic who was "King of the Castle." He threw his leg over the back of the sofa where Diane was sitting and commanded that she massage his foot. "Only when you curtsey me," she retorted at once. The real joke was when Mike couldn't get his foot off the back of the couch. Apparently he was stuck. Too bad Vic didn't have his camera at the ready, 'cause that would have made for a great picture. 


Peter came in was greeted with a "Norm"-like cheer from everyone. Congratulations to Peter for his new position in food service sales. Best of luck to you, my friend! This guy's knowledge of all things sports continues to amaze me. I can't begin to recount all the facts and figures that Peter knows but, suffice to say, it always makes for a lively an fun discussion.


Vic has a new humidor to keep cigars in and the talk turned to how best to maintain the ideal temperature and humidity. For maximum freshness and longevity, a humidor should be kept at 70º F/70% humidity. Well, after a lot of discussion, the question came down to...does moisture affect temperature? Vic and Lou said that yes, higher humidity will cool down the temperature. I maintained that the two were independent. 


We tried an experiment (two, actually). We used a digital thermometer and took a reading of the air temperature inside the shop. It was 77º. We then placed the thermometer inside one of the reach-in humidors. After a few minutes, the temperature had dropped to 76º and then 75º. That seemed to indicate that Vic and Lou were - agh, it pains me to say this - correct. We then placed the thermometer inside one of the tabletop humidors along with a crystal- and gel-filled humidifiers and closed the lid. My instinct was telling me that the temperature inside the humidor would be the same as outside, i.e. 77º. Alas, it was also 75º after a few minutes.


So, in conclusion, I was wrong. 


I put that statement in a sentence all by itself because I know Lou loves it when I'm wrong about something. I turned to the Internet when I got home and did a little research. On a USA Today website, I found this explanation that confirms that Lou and Vic were right:

Relative humidity is a percentage that reflects how close the air is to saturation, where 100% relative humidity indicates fog or rain and single-digit relative humidity indicates extremely dry air. For a given amount of water vapor in the air, relative humidity will decrease as air temperature increases and increase as air temperature decreases.

Our experiment bore this out, although in reverse. In a container with increased humidity, the temperature did, in fact, decrease. 


Fine. So I didn't get this one right. Maybe next week we can discuss string theory, quantum physics, and whether we live in an expanding infinite universe or a quilted multiverse.


Box Ed (Pouch Ed) came in for the latter half of the afternoon, enjoying his meerschaum pipe with some of Lou's Keystone tobacco. I'm not an aromatic smoker and have never tried it, but it certainly has a nice room note. It was just a couple months ago that Ed came in with a big cast on his foot. That's all healed finally but now one of his fingers is all bandaged up. Take care of yourself, man! It's not a race to see how many limbs you can bang up! 


That's all for this week. 


Don't forget to call me for all your promotional product needs!


Cheers!
 - Bob