One aspect of pipe smoking that I was immediately drawn to is how the culture around the hobby allows for—encourages even—a certain sentimentality. Not in a cloying way, but it's something about the emphasis and appreciation for the history and the tradition shared by many who engage in t …

A quick column today to usher in the most recent addition to the Barrel Aged Series from Sutliff Tobacco. Barrel Aged No. 5 goes live today at 6:00 PM eastern time.  The Barrel Aged Series in a limb of Sutliff’s Crumble Kake line. Red Virginia, English # 1, and Va Perique compris …

For this, the first 2023 regular installment of the Tobacco Files, I wanted to cover some classics. I also thought I’d change things up a bit and feature one of my favorite pipe tobaccos. Usually, the featured blends in these columns are new to me. When they aren’t, my experience is lim …

We are officially over the halfway point on our journey through the six Birds of a Feather blends. The collection of course features mixtures crafted by Mac Baren master blender Per Jensen here at Sutliff tobacco in January 2022. Actually, just as I’m writing this it hits me that this was …

Well, it's the last Tobacco File of 2022. Being that the year is coming to a close, I thought it would be fun to do a special column—a year in review. Instead of concentrating on two tobacco blends, I’ve been revisiting a handful of releases from over the year. I'll write a bit about each brand …

For this month's column, we have two absolute classics that have been gracing the palates of pipe smokers for decades; more than a century for our first blend, in fact. The imitable Aromatic Virginia introduced by Dunhill in 1912, now a staple of the Peterson lineup, we have Royal Yacht. Then t …

We’re back with yet another bonus column for the Tobacco Files, which means I’ve been digging into a new, soon to be released, tobacco blend. That new blend of course is this year's Cringle Flake, the annual offering from Sutliff Tobacco. The first year, released in 2019, featured a m …

Hello, hello! It has been a pleasant, mild October with one pleasant, mild blend and one, well, pleasant blend. I’ll be getting into  Cobblestone Camping from the Outdoors series and—a bit in theme with the spooky season drawing to a close—the Lovecraft inspired Dreams of Kadath from Co …

Another mid-month Tobacco File ushering in a new blend—Aberrant, from Sutliff tobacco.This is the third installment of the Birds of a Feather Series, a collection of six special mixtures that were concocted by Mac Baren master blender Per Jensen during a week-long visit to the Sutliff factory i …

Here we go, the first Tobacco File since going from bi-weekly to monthly for the regular column (there will be bonus posts for some new blends). I have to say, I’m very happy with this format, I had much more time to dig into these mixtures. To think I started the Tobacco Files—or, "What I Smoked Th …