“ Ever think of the many changes that have taken place in the realm of pipe smoking?
Grandpa tells of the old store-keeper who used to keep his tobacco in a barrel underneath the counter.
A customer would come in and ask for glimpse of his best grade, to which the storekeeper would respond with a handful from the trusty barrel.
One sniff and the customer would ask "How much?" and back would come the price, "Five cents a handful."
"Nothin' better than that in the place?"
in the queries the customer. "Well,
got some jes' came in, but I get 10cents fer it," is the reply. “Let's have a smell," and up comes a handful from the same barrel.
"That's more like it. I'll take two handfuls." And out of the store he would go with the best the storekeeper had.
Quite a bit different these days. Wonder how that old storekeeper would have fared if they'd had an O.P.A. then.
Perhaps he would have said both tobaccos were a nickel, but one was fresher than the other, or at least superior in some way.
Funny what a package will do. We go in a store, see those pretty little boxes on the dealer's shelf, then say something like
"What's a good armatic blend?"
and expect the dealer to know exactly what will fit our taste. It's the impossible, and he knows it, but he has to answer our question, so he names half a dozen and waits for our selection. This one says "Mild and aromatic," and the one next to it says "From an old English formula." Some of the names are familiar, but there are a lot of new ones on the shelf. Finally we must make our choice. And then isn't it fun to open that little package, and smell the fragrance and aroma of a new blend for the first time? We fill the bowl and light it, giving our undivided attention to that first taste of a new blend.
Is it as good as the favorite in the canister at home? Well, at least it's different. It has its good points. Perhaps as additional pipefuls are smoked we can get a better idea of how it compares with the others we have tried. It's not bad at that.
Bet Jim would like it. He sort of favors this type of tobacco. We'll tell him about it. Isn't it nice to know that the next we buy will be just like it-same box, same label, same wrapping. Poor grandpa had to rely on what the storekeeper wanted to shove off on him. Packaged tobacco was unheard of back in those days.
But grandpa must have been satisfied, for he won't even try a modern blend. He still likes it strong from the barrel. Grandma threatens she'll run him out of the house and burn up all his pipes.
Funny how times change. Wouldn't be much fun to have to get tobacco out of some strange barrel, and just when you discovered some you liked they'd ship a barrel entirely different the next time. That's always been some sort of a mystery to some of us, how they can prepare a certain blend the same day after day.
One would think the seasons, weather, and all those factors would affect the plant at times. Guess we don't realize the extent to which the preparation of a good pipe tobacco has become a highly specialized science. “
