Noir is Noir, I want my Benson & Hedges Back

[Jeff K1NSS]

"CONTRABAND CIGARETTES WASH UP ON KEFALONIAN BEACH"

1. overloaded Togo-flagged ship
2. a beach near Lixouri on the Ionian island of Kefalonia
3. contraband on way to Montenegro
4. Officials in Argostoli

Nothing wakes up an ex-smoker with a taste for over-the-top Alexandria Quartet prose than the subject matter and place names to be savored in this dispatch from Athens.

http://www.athensnews.gr/portal/1/51674

[WV6Z]

Dammit..... the 'real' Benson & Hedges are awesome.....

[Jeff K1NSS]

In my rovin' days smoked the real deals from little golden packages of five. Good for one round at Dublin pubs.

[PA5COR]

Started on B&H when i was custom officer at Amsterdam Schiphol Airport, duty free andd all that...

Went to Samson handrolled after that, still get the B&H 20 pack now and then....

[K7SGJ]

I'm an ex smoker, too. However, English Ovals if you want a MANS smoke.

Note to self: You are still coughing from those 40 years later. You bastid

[n2ize]

La la la la la la...


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UEUHV20kH9g

[Jeff K1NSS]

I'm an ex smoker, too. However, English Ovals if you want a MANS smoke.

Note to self: You are still coughing from those 40 years later. You bastid


Ha! All right Oscar Wilde, you with your English Ovals. For a manly seafarin' smoke , exhume some unphiltered Philip Morris Commanders. (Players is for Posers) Or take a walk on the H-Man Side with Bugler paper rolled Half & Half pipe tobacco. I credit that shredded autumnal bliss with a case of pneumonia the summer after graduation. For some hair of the dopey dog I went on the obligatory postgrad hitch hiking Knight of the Road Woodbine jag whilst plying the motorways. So many steams, so long ago.

Up in smoke swabbies, up in smoke.

[n2ize]

Ha! All right Oscar Wilde, you with your English Ovals. For a manly seafarin' smoke , exhume some unphiltered Philip Morris Commanders. (Players is for Posers) Or take a walk on the H-Man Side with Bugler paper rolled Half & Half pipe tobacco. I credit that shredded autumnal bliss with a case of pneumonia the summer after graduation. For some hair of the dopey dog I went on the obligatory postgrad hitch hiking Knight of the Road Woodbine jag whilst plying the motorways. So many steams, so long ago.

Up in smoke swabbies, up in smoke.

You must have been some kind of a beatnik or something... ;)

[Jeff K1NSS]

Samson, that rings a bell. Here was Laredo, a doublewide machine with the look and feel of a New Hampshire milltown lunch counter at 5:30am, where the high rollers chose packs of ready mades from a rusty wall rack limited to Winston, Marlboro, Salem,Newport, Pall Mall, Luckies and Camels. Those were the days.

[Jeff K1NSS]

You must have been some kind of a beatnik or something... ;)


Bongos, beret, sweatshirt...Crazy, Pops!

[n2ize]

I dig bongos and poetry. I always dig but I do not bury.

[Jeff K1NSS]

I dig bongos and poetry. I always dig but I do not bury.

Ha! Robert Service, Bukowski, Eliot, Graves, W.B Yeast, M.G. Krebs, this and that be cool with me. More prose than poetry on my shelves, but I just don't/can't seem to read much lit anymore regardless. Now embarked on electromagnetic bio jag. First Edison, now Marconi, next Tesla, next Maxwell next Heaviside next Faraday. Could be years in the finishing, but seems important, like reaching 1000 consecutive whacks of a Fly-Back paddle and ball on elastic tether.

[NQ6U]

Like, I was born in San Francisco's North Beach, man.

[K7SGJ]

Ever smoke these? If so, you'll know why they went away. AND they were recommended by Doctors. The bastids

5016

[Jeff K1NSS]

Like, I was born in San Francisco's North Beach, man.

Have your own hookah at the City Lights Bookstore? Born by the strip clubs -- sounds like the beginning of a Bukowski story.

[Jeff K1NSS]

Ever smoke these? If so, you'll know why they went away. AND they were recommended by Doctors. The bastids

5016

No but I heard tell and would have liked to experiment, unable to resist the temptation of that smokin' name out of my favorite Ray Stevens' lyric "There he saw Fatima, laying on a beaverskin rug, with rings on her fingers and bells on her toes and a bone in her nose HO HO." My Inner Orientalist was always drawn to my dad's old brand, Chesterfield, with its exotic minaret cityscape in the background, and that Zap Comix big ornate C. Used to sit around, um, smoking with my college apartment roommate, staring into cigarette packages and deciphering the hidden meanings. He had a thing for the Newport menthols, something about the logo swoosh like a woman's shoe. Appreciated the Kool as Kelvin double Zero mentholated urban thing, but the taste was never to mine.

Yes the "Y-Zone" doctors recommended some brand to protect. Camels? Chesterfields? Cigs, man...somebody stop me.

[W1GUH]

Have your own hookah at the City Lights Bookstore? Born by the strip clubs -- sounds like the beginning of a Bukowski story.

Bukowski! No need to say anymore.

And on the subject of cigarette esoterica...

Balkan Sobranie

http://www.ryomagazine.com/october2001/balkansobranie.jpg

[K7SGJ]

No but I heard tell and would have liked to experiment, unable to resist the temptation of that smokin' name out of my favorite Ray Stevens' lyric "There he saw Fatima, laying on a beaverskin rug, with rings on her fingers and bells on her toes and a bone in her nose HO HO." My Inner Orientalist was always drawn to my dad's old brand, Chesterfield, with its exotic minaret cityscape in the background, and that Zap Comix big ornate C. Used to sit around, um, smoking with my college apartment roommate, staring into cigarette packages and deciphering the hidden meanings. He had a thing for the Newport menthols, something about the logo swoosh like a woman's shoe. Appreciated the Kool as Kelvin double Zero mentholated urban thing, but the taste was never to mine.

Yes the "Y-Zone" doctors recommended some brand to protect. Camels? Chesterfields? Cigs, man...somebody stop me.

Funny you should mention Chesterfield. They were made by Liggett and Myers, same folks made Fatima, L&M, and a whole lung full of others.

[Jeff K1NSS]

Bukowski! No need to say anymore.

And on the subject of cigarette esoterica...

Balkan Sobranie

http://www.ryomagazine.com/october2001/balkansobranie.jpg


Hey Paul! Yes indeed, been Balkanized now and again. Used to roll our own from an occasional bulk tin from Ehrlichs or Peretti in Boston in undergraduate days, when the occassional CARE check from home would pop through the mail slot. First bought cheap bacon, white eggs, and grinders from the lunch wagon and spent the rest on records and exotically packaged tobacco.

[W1GUH]

Ehrlichs!

Roommate smoked some sort of tobacco called "cut plug long" or something like that. I preferred Boston Common.

Long gone now, of course...along with the rest of that great stretch on Washington St. with all the arcades.

[n2ize]

Ehrlichs!

Roommate smoked some sort of tobacco called "cut plug long" or something like that. I preferred Boston Common.

Long gone now, of course...along with the rest of that great stretch on Washington St. with all the arcades.

Some pipe tobacco's are sold as cut "slices". Balkan pipe tobbacy is generally rich in spiced tobaccos and Latakia.. Many English mixtures are also blended with Balkan and Latakia. I always preferred the Latakia blends. I was going to buy some this summer but I opted to quit pipe smoking for a while.

My main preference for tobby is chewing. Used to chew a great deal in the past. These days, only occasionally.

[W1GUH]

Thanks for the info, John.

And the name was "plug crumb cut". Those were very old brain cells...took a while to wake up!

[Jeff K1NSS]

"...I opted to quite pipe smoking for awhile."


Funny, I was tempted to start again. Thought of getting a simple Meerschaum bulldog. Googled up a buncha places, looked like it could be done for possibly under a hundred or so if I got a second, then I came to my senses, such as they aren't. Quit drinking some four years ago, quit smoke about 20 years ago, smoking is still awful tempting and buy a cigar now and then, Oy, who needs to fully roust that woosey expensive back monkey?

[KG4CGC]

The last of the real B&H in the larger flatter packs were removed from the shelves. Damn good smoke.
If I'm ever in Asheville again, I'll look for them at Pipes Unlimited in the Asheville Mall. Last year though, their profound cigarette selection was decimated by the FDA. All imports are banned. RJ Reynolds must be happier than a pig in shit.

[NQ6U]

Have your own hookah at the City Lights Bookstore? Born by the strip clubs -- sounds like the beginning of a Bukowski story.

No, but I've been there many times. And the strip clubs didn't really come in until some time after I was born. I'm not sure if there's a connection, although the timing is suspicious.

[KG4CGC]

Some pipe tobacco's are sold as cut "slices". Balkan pipe tobbacy is generally rich in spiced tobaccos and Latakia.. Many English mixtures are also blended with Balkan and Latakia. I always preferred the Latakia blends. I was going to buy some this summer but I opted to quit pipe smoking for a while.

My main preference for tobby is chewing. Used to chew a great deal in the past. These days, only occasionally.Erinmore Flake. that's one you should blend with some latakia, maybe a hint of perique.
Erinmore Flake with some bright Virginia air cured and vanilla black Cavendish, just a hint though and some latakia is good too.
Sometimes just some latakia on the bottom 3rd of the bowl, topped with blend called Common Sense mixed with bright Virginia air cured and a smokey cured black leaf of your choice.

For the last few weeks I've been learning about restoring vintage pipes. Gotta test them somehow.

[NQ6U]

For the last few weeks I've been learning about restoring vintage pipes. Gotta test them somehow.

http://newsone.com/files/2011/09/crack-pipe.jpg

[K7SGJ]

Smart people smoke Wise Crack. The mood altering drug of choice for hookers, gangs, and city officials. Don't be a dumb shit, smoke Wise Crack. Avaialable at parks, schools, and most street corners everywhere.

[n2ize]

Speaking of smoking...in the general sense this pipe is a beauty.

http://www.opiummuseum.com/pics/Wills_43627_normal.jpg

[W1GUH]

Oh, jeeze, I guess that this long haried hippie gets the call. Alright, already....THIS is a pipe:

5026

[n2ize]

Oh, jeeze, I guess that this long haried hippie gets the call. Alright, already....THIS is a pipe:

5026

To each his own. To the hippie its a bong. To an old fashioned romantic it may be the opium pipe. To the wealthy conservative gentleman it may be the tobacco pipe and a brandy. To me its a pipe of a different colour.