The beginning of a new friendship with an old friend

I smoked my 1940’s Brulor pipe today for the first time. It was very cold today here in Greenville, Texas. I decided to open my can of Erik Stokkebye 4th Generation, 4 Seasons Autumn Mixture, to break in the pipe. It is a broken flake, featuring a blend of Virginia, Perique, and Dark-Fired Kentucky tobaccos. I chose to pair it with a cup of Black Rifle coffee. Nothing rushed. Nothing forced. Just conditions aligning: cold air, honest tobacco, hot coffee, and a pipe finally allowed to do what it was made for.

This turned out to be an ideal paring for a cold winter morning. I sat out on the back porch where we are staying with family friends, which was slightly protected from the cool breeze blowing out of the north. The air was crisp as I opened the can, and I caught a whiff of the sweet tea aroma of the flake tobacco. The broken flake Va/Per with dark-fired Kentucky has enough body to establish a carbon base in the pipe’s chamber without scorching it.

I carefully packed the pipe, tamping down the loose tobacco, while sipping the steaming cup of coffee. As I looked out over the grey winter sky, I watched buzzards circle in the distance, floating gracefully on the icy breeze. I then noticed a drone also floating quietly in the distance making a silent delivery to a rural address in the remote countryside, before returning to where it had come from just as quietly.

I took the pipe and gave it a charing first light. I then tamped the tobacco and lit it again. The air was filled with the warm smells of the blended tobaccos and coffee. It was very pleasing to the senses, and I sat there enjoying the silence of the wintery countryside on a Saturday morning, as the smoke gently rose and drifted out of the cover of the porch and into the winter air.

The pipe smoked wonderfully with slow draws as the 80 year old pipe came to life for the first time since it had been manufactured. The fact that it smoked cool on its very first outing attested to the honesty of the drilling and proportions. Pipes can’t fake that, and I can’t think of a better way to start this relationship with my new, old friend.

I did not just break in a pipe. I kept an appointment it had been waiting decades for. I fully intend to return to that same rhythm. Similar tobaccos. Similar pace. Let the pipe learn me as much as I learn it. That’s not a bad way to start any relationship — especially with an old friend that’s finally been given a voice.