Hall of Fame Logo Contest

Posted on September 26, 2008
Filed Under Site News | Leave a Comment

Okay, I am not in any way shape or form, a graphic artist. I have been trying to come up with a logo for the Pipe Tobacco Hall of Fame and have failed miserably. So I am asking for your help.

We need an official PTHoF logo to promote the hall and the tobaccos selected for inclusion, so let’s have a contest to select it. Send me your ideas for the hall of fame logo!

Requirements

How to submit

Please mail your logo to administrator(at)tobaccoreviews.com. You should include the following information to it.

Entries should be submitted in both a vector and raster format.

acceptable vector formats

  • Scalable Vector Graphics (*.svg)
  • Encupsulated PostScript (*.eps)
  • Adobe Illustrator (*.ai)
acceptable raster formats (no larger than 200 x 200 pixels)

  • Portable Network Graphics (*.png)
  • Graphics Interchange Format (*.gif)
  • Joint Photographic Experts Group (*.jpg)

Fonts should be embedded into the image file.

Deadline

Wed Oct 15 23:59:59 UTC 2008

Winner Selection

I will post all of the potential designs here, and open them for comments. After that, with the input of the community, I will pick the winner based on being the best fit with the existing site.

Good luck!

Second Hall of Fame Inductee: Balkan Sobranie Original Smoking Mixture

Posted on September 25, 2008
Filed Under Features | 15 Comments

It is my pleasure to introduce you to the second member of the inaugural class of the Pipe Tobacco Hall of Fame; Balkan Sobranie Original Smoking Mixture.

As DrDNA says in his review:

For the better part of the 20th Century, this blend was made by Sobranie House under the aegis of the Redstone family. On July 1, 1968, Gallaher Tobacco acquired the blend and the trademarked name. The blend was found to be too costly to manufacture and so it was simplified, being produced by Gallaher through the 1970’s, 80’s and then finally ceasing in 1995, with the last tins reaching eager pipesters in 1996.

I still have not finished up the Hall of Fame graphics and code, but I am working on it, so hang tight. There’s more voting to come as well.

First Hall of Fame Inductee: Prince Albert

Posted on September 19, 2008
Filed Under Features | 31 Comments

Sorry for the long delay there folks, a family emergency required my attention two states away, so I haven’t had much time for the site. anyway, on with the show!

We have our very first inductee into the Pipe Tobacco Hall of Fame. Prince Albert is a worthy inaugural inductee, as I doubt that there is a pipe smoker in the United States who hasn’t smoked this classic. First offered in 1907, and continues to be the best selling pipe tobacco in the US a century later.

I’ll get to work on all the fancy-schmancy logos and such now, while you continue voting for other blends to be inducted or not.

Reviews Are Reviews, Nothing More

Posted on September 10, 2008
Filed Under Site News | 29 Comments

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Some of you have forgotten that Tobacco Reviews is a database of reviews of tobaccos. It is not a place for you to display your ego. Do not, under any circumstances, reply to the review of another reviewer in your review. State your case about your experience with the tobacco in question and leave it at that.

I will not tolerate any meta-reviews or critiques of other peoples reviews. That kind of infantile posturing and the incessant sqaubbling it brings about will not be tolerated at all. There will be no warnings, no second chances, no repreives.

From right now, you have exactly one week to clean up your reviews, eliminating all unneccesary editorializing about other reviewers. All reviews found to contain such silliness after that week has expired will be summarily deleted. Repeat offenders will be banned.

Sorry to be such a hard-ass about this, but I have the sole responsibility for keeping the database useful, and I intend to do exactly that. If anyone would like to snitch out reviews that violate this policy, please wait for the week to expire, and then email me privately with a link to the offending review(s). Anyone using this topic/thread to vent their spleen about other reviewers will also be summarily banned. You have been warned.

Sincerely,

Your Dictator For Life

p.s. All of you with empty (or nearly empty) reviews who are using the database as a way to keep track of some wish list or other silly purpose are next on my list, so you might as well go write a real review now. I’ve had enough of this crap as well.

More on the Hall of Fame

Posted on September 3, 2008
Filed Under Site News | 2 Comments

Okay guys, I had no idea how many deserving blends there were out there, so we may have to change this up a bit for the first year. Based on some suggestions, I think perhaps we should induct an inaugural class of “classics” into the Hall, and to do so, I want to switch up the voting a bit.

I am going through the nominations now, and pulling out the obvious classic blends. Each of these will get their own yes/no poll question open for one week only. Voting will be solely as to whether or not they deserve to be in the Hall of Fame all by themselves, as opposed to the other voting procedure, which pits them against each other to determine the most deserving.

Once we get through the old classics, we will see about getting back to the original idea for the voting/induction. Sound good?

If there is no serious opposition to this plan by tomorrow morning, I’ll start putting the polls up for voting.

Pipe Tobacco Hall of Fame Expanded Criteria

Posted on August 18, 2008
Filed Under Features | 16 Comments

I have been reading all of the nominations with interest, and thinking more about what really should be the criteria for membership in the Hall of Fame. Here is what I have come up with so far:

So there it is, short and sweet.

In addition, I have been thinking through how the selection process will work for new nominations. Something along the lines of:

I am thinking that right now, with so many deserving blends and none in the hall yet, that we will take the top 5 vote getters in the balloting, though thaat will probably drop to 2 or 1 in the future.

The upshot of this is, keep those nominations coming until the end of the month, and then we’ll start voting.

(I doubt anyone would be silly enough to try to market their tobacco via inclusion in my silly little Hall, but just in case, this is legal notice that I am asserting my copyright and Moral Rights over the phrase “The Pipe Tobacco Hall of Fame, “Pipe Tobacco Hall of Fame”, “PTHoF”, and  “Hall of Fame Tobacco”. If anyone is aware of prior use of these phrases that will make me look like an idiot, please let me know.)

Pipe Tobacco Hall of Fame

Posted on August 11, 2008
Filed Under Features | 46 Comments

I have been thinking lately about the great blends that have existed throughout the years. Some of them are destined to be benchmarks against which all other blends, or at least all other similar blends, are measured.

What I really wonder though, is if this list of blends I have in my head as being the ultimate list of blends matches up with what others consider to be those blends. Let’s find out.

Nominate a blend for the Pipe Tobacco Hall of Fame by posting a reply to this thread with the name of the blend and why it should be included in the PTHoF. Absolutely no “me too” or “i also vote for X” posts. I will delete them summarily. You must explain WHY you think the blend deserves to be included.

Once we have a fair number of blend nominations, I will put one (or more) of them up for a vote to see which one will become this years inductee into the Pipe Tobacco Hall of Fame, which will become a new section on Tobacco Reviews.

Other points to consider:

Women Smokers?

Posted on August 2, 2008
Filed Under Help Wanted | 52 Comments

Dierdre writes in:

I found your site only this week and have been reading reviews every time I have a break!  What a wonderfully informational site you’ve put together.

I’m glad the members here don’t mind sharing their thoughts.  Until recently I had never smoked at all; but I have always like the smell of a pipe - often straying into tobacco shops just to sniff around.  I used to consider purchasing a humidor and some nice tobacco just to take the lid of and enjoy the aroma occasionally.  But I’m also drawn to the “ceremony” of pipe smoking and there is a nostalgia factor at work (my dad was a smokeless user, but he occasionally enjoyed a pipe - I distinctly remember seeing Borkum Riff Original Blend, but he smoked a couple of others, too) - so …
I recently purchased a Savinelli briar churchwarden along with some samples of a few different blends from a local tobacconist (Hardwick’s Briar Shop) in nearby Fresno, CA and have been trying to get the hang of it. I like the packing and lighting process and the challenge of trying to stay lit - all very zen, if you will; but I’ve only leisure to smoke once a week or less, so mastering it will be a slow process.  At least this way I won’t become addicted to nic and my teeth will stay white.
After reading on yours and some other Internet forums, I believe I might have made a “rookie mistake” of starting out with aromatics.  The blends I am sampling are supposedly “mild” aromatics, but I have experienced what is referred to as “tongue bite” - even when I’ve tried to be very careful to let the tobacco dry out some and to smoke slowly; and now I think if I get away from the aromatics I might have better luck.  Obviously, though, as a newbie, I want to try some mild smokes first; and I’d either smoke outside or at least try it outside first because I’m particular about how my house smells (that female thing, I’m afraid ;)  My problem is that I’m having trouble finding any consensus about what is meant by “mild”.  Is that a word used for low nicotine or does it mean low flavor and aroma - or something else entirely?
Another problem I have is finding the tobacco blends I become curious about!  So many blends I read rave reviews about turn out to be no longer available - like the Norden “hunter” blends, and my dad’s old standby, Borkum Riff.
You can see my problem, I guess.  I want to learn the dance, but I don’t have anyone to show me the steps - husband isn’t into smokes, we have some friends who smoke, but only cigars; and there’s a neighbor across the street who smokes a pipe, but he strikes me as a sort of glutton - smokes really fast and hot and has burned up several briars - I don’t think he can show me what I want to learn - I want to use pipe smoking as a form of meditation and relaxation - kind of like a Japanese tea ceremony.  The old fellow who runs Hardwick’s is a peach and I enjoy his company when I can, but the shop is way out of my way… hence the Internet and, finally, tobaccoreviews.com.
So… any recommendations for a newbie trying to avoid tongue bite, a stinky house and getting hooked on the evil leaf?
If you want to forward this to some of your other readers who might be able to help, feel free.  Especially any other women, who might relate to my situation more than the boys (?).

Poll Questions

Posted on July 25, 2008
Filed Under Help Wanted | 24 Comments

That’s it folks. I’m all out of new questions for the polls. If you have any ideas, leave a comment here with your poll question and some possible answers, and I’ll post ‘em up!

Small Update & a Question on Pipe Screens

Posted on July 25, 2008
Filed Under Help Wanted, Site News | 14 Comments

Yep, I’m still breaking things and fixing them - getting some deeply ingrained kinks worked out of the code. Anyway, drop me an email if something seems broken, just so I don’t miss anything.

In other news,Claud writes in:

Can we possibly put the subject of pipe screens up for discussion to the membership to possibly educate me and others about what some of our experts know about them and their use? I have seen advertisements for these things and in all my years of puffing have never actually seen one and know nothing about them except that they keep tobacco away from the bowl outlet. I have searched Google about this and the only info I have found so far is supposedly how to clean one.

There you go Claud. Let’s see what everyone has to say. I personally have no experience with them.

keep looking »