Pipe Smoking

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"Prince Albert" remains a favorite for its cocoa-rum-raisin topping on top of massive amounts of pile Burley, which has the strongest Burley flavor because these are the thick old leaves, and when the topping is combined with the leaf you get a chocolate brownie flavor that is easy to smoke and enjoy despite the propylene glycol topping which periodically gives off the tell-tale cotton candy scent. I cut it with dark Burley because anything cut with dark Burley is immediately better and usually stronger, and then mix in a fair amount of "Black Twist Sliced," which creates a flavor like smoked molasses with a hint of chocolate. It also produces the most prodigious smoke of any blend ever to regulary touch these pipes, which is gratifying when out in public where there is usually a need to drown out the many perfumes, scents, cleaning products, and dumpster odors that flit through the modern metroplex.

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I went back to Fruit McBullshit. For those who have missed the last few years of pipe drama, Fruit McBullshit is a recipe that originally involved 50/50 shredded Cotton Boll Twist and Mac Baren Armonia. The latter is really the best aromatic I have ever smoked, a mixture of Virginias, Burleys, and "natural Cavendish" which is basically steamed dark fired Kentuck Burley, coated with some kind of uncomplicated ingredients in a complicated mixture of fruit, tea, flowers, and possibly the risen undead. It reminds me weirdly of Mixture 79 or the Lakeland Essence but gentler and lighter, a very cheerful scent and flavor. These days Brown Twist Slice gets added to the mix to kick up the nicotine and sweeten it a bit, since this is the sweetest natural blend that is not saccharine that I have smoked. The new Fruit McBullshit may triumph over even the old, although I badly miss those minimally-altered Burley ropes.

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The newest incarnation of Fruit McBullshit involves Armonia mixed with Cube Cut Burley and a scattering of shake from a bag for Brown Twist Sliced. It is strong enough, has the floral flavor that is cheerful and therefore relaxing, although they toss in fruits and chocolate as well. They claim they add rum, because of course everyone adds rum to every tobacco, but it seems to be a minor influence. The Armonia blend itself has the bittersweet flavor of Orientals and the sweetness of Virginia, but the "natural Cavendish" made from dark fired Kentucky Burley gives it its body. With the Cube Cut Burley this mellows and gains a little strength, diluting the topping and sweetness, and the small amounts of Brown Twist Sliced nudge it over the nicotine minimum. While aromatics are normally not my thing, this aromatic uses high-quality flavorings and has a subtle mix like that of Prince Albert which naturally melds with tobacco flavor and so is appealing in its own right. It is like fancy tobacco with a pleasant outlook, and that makes it perfect for a weekend of puttering and muttering around trying to fix things in an unfixable world.

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Switched unintentionally to a mixture of "Cube Cut Burley" and "Coniston Cut Plug" shake from the last jar. Turned out sweeter than I would have thought, but the Burley flavor dominates, and this makes it one of those long-lasting smokes that has only one dimension but shifts form enough within that to keep my interest. Also, no shortage of nicotine, which makes this perfect for a working weekend.

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Officers from the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) and Victoria Police have seized and destroyed $4.4 million worth of illegally-grown tobacco near Shepparton in Victoria's north.

A community tip-off led to the discovery of a 20-tonne crop of mature tobacco on 2.4 hectares, an area equivalent to more than 450 tennis courts, last Thursday.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-06-10/shepparton-illicit-tobacco-operation-ocean-ato-victoria-police/105397354

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Tobacco smugglers and black market salesmen are increasingly using technologies such as social media and drones to deliver cigarettes to smokers in Europe and avoid law enforcers, a report by consulting group KPMG published on Wednesday found.

In 2024, KPMG found that almost 40 billion illicit cigarettes were consumed across 38 European nations, based in part on a study of empty packs collected in those countries. It also cited interviews with law enforcement.

https://www.reuters.com/world/criminals-turn-drones-social-media-sell-illegal-cigarettes-2025-06-11/

When the taxes get too high, people turn to the black market.