@Psicko Thank you for the kind offer my friend, but I’m not in a position to be able to come through on the trade at the moment. If my situation changes soon, I would certainly be happy to look at this.
@50ft_trad no worries. Let me know. I’ll check to see if I have any when I get home or if any of my friends have some.
@50ft_trad I have plenty of Five Brothers, but I’m in no financial shape to send any overseas–it’s actually pretty cheap here. My suggestion is to try one of these shag cuts from Gawith Hoggarth: Dark, Dark Birdseye, and Kendal Kentucky. They are all nicotine-laden and fast-burning without being bitey. The Dark shag is Dark Plug or Dark Flake Unscented, just as a shag cut. I really like the flavor of all these, too. They’re not just quick nic delivery systems! A small bowl of Brown Bogie/Irish satisfies, also. The preparation of ropes won’t get the nicotine in you faster, but gives something tobacco-wise to do with your hands.
@TerrapinFlyer I have been using three of those actually. The three shag tobaccos I already have are Dark Blend, Dark Birdseye and Rumbh. I also have a bit of pigtail, and half a bowl of that gets your whole face tingling. :))
@50ft_trad. Well, I guess that wasn’t helpful. I’m not familiar with Rumbh Shag, but I know the others work! I don’t know if you have brown or black pigtail. The brown is stronger and–to my tastes–far superior in flavor. Peterson’s Irish Flake has plenty of nicotine, if that’s available. I get satisfaction from the impossible-to-find-here plugs, like Condor, Velvan, Revor, and Warrior. I’d be a happy man to pick up Velvan at my grocer’s, but alas…
@TerrapinFlyer It was very helpful indeed. I didn’t know how they compared, but have a better idea now. I might have confused you with the Rumbh, as that might me a tobacconist bled rather than a Gawith blend. It’s certainly in the same ball park though. The pigtail is brown thankfully. I originally got it to try as chew, but it was too much for me. Works much better for me coined up in a small bowl. At the moment I have to work with what is already in my possession. Buying new tobacco is not an option right now. One of the things I do want to try when the cash starts flowing again is Ennerdale Flake. I have started out on the learning curve for pipe smoking with some very robust tobaccos which are normally recommended for the more experienced pipe smoker, which has made things a little more interesting. It would be nice to try something mellower which still has the nic delivery. I don’t expect to be in a position to buy anything new for at least two months though, so I’m glad I have got these tobaccos already (the 3x shag, the pigtail, a bit of Bobs Choc Flake and an almost full tin each of Squadron Leader, Commonwealth Mixture, and 1792 Flake). Getting the hand of most of them, but the CM is taking a little more figuring out.
Yeah, I get the zero budget thing. 1792 is polarizing; I love it! Most don’t. It has plenty of N. I’ve not had Commonwealth and I’ve been off Latakia for a while. Squadron Leader’s a good more medium-guage smoke, though. I smoked ready-mades for over 25 years and occasionally smoked a pipe during that time. Pre-Internet, the tobaccos of which I was aware just could not satisfy my want for nicotine. When things get better: Ennerdale is polarizing, also. My first bowl, I thought, this was for people a century ago who really didn’t like the taste of tobacco! My second bowl, six months later, I liked it a little more and started tasting the tobaccos. The more I smoked, the more I came to realize how brilliant was the seamless junction of tobacco and added scents. It’s really fine stuff, just not for everyone. Slightly less N, but still strong in that regard. Of Ennerdale, Grasmere, and Glengarry, it’s probably my favorite. My favorite Lakeland/scented might be Broken Flake #7, Scotch Flake Scented, or Brown Flake Scented by GH and 1792 and Kendal Cream Flake by Sam Gawith, depending on the day. These are all med-strong N with moderate to heavy scent applied (1792 is big in both flavoring and N). I think you can get 1792 as a plug there, too. I only started with these in the last 18 months or so. Do they sell the plugs I mentioned where you are (probably not Condor Plug)? Mick McQuaid and Yachtsman also come to mind. They are typically full bodied, strong N, lightly to moderately topped. I hear they are the equivalent of our drugstore tobaccos in the US–for availability, not necessarily quality. What do they sell for, if they do? Those shags and pigtail should keep the beast at bay. @50ft_trad
@TerrapinFlyer Many thanks for the insight there. I went from a 30+ a day RYO habit, down to between 5 and 10 a day for a couple of weeks (plus snuff and vape), and haven’t had a roll up for 3 days now with using the pipe too. Half a moderate sized bowl is enough to get me through the desperate “chewing the desk” moments, so I’m confident that in a week or so I’ll be well on the way to having broken the habitual aspect of the roll ups. As to availability and prices of tobacco, there is a huge amount of stuff over here, but as you can imagine, at this stage I haven’t got the first clue what any of the descriptions actually mean until I start being able to buy stuff and try it. Realistically, I’m limited to whatever I can buy locally anyway. Thinking more indepth about it, anything that comes for me from outside the borders will be hit with huge duties, plus VAT, plus release fees, plus whatever else I’m not aware of. I think the easiest thing to do is give you a link for where I would buy most of my stuff from. http://www.mysmokingshop.co.uk/index2.php?mod=catman&nc=PIPE%20TOBACCO&cat=69 Certainly not short of options as you can see :))
Congratulations. That’s about what I figured as far as prices.