Make Maltan Your Tobacco
Total catastrophe rained upon my head yesterday.
It started off as a normal sort of day. I pootled around as usual minding my own business. I had to go to the library later but they didn’t open until three so there was no rush to go out.
At three I went down to the village and my first port of call was to stock up on baccy. No baccy! They were out of Condor. As usual they tried to sell me rollie tobacco and as usual I told them it wasn’t pipe tobacco.
Being a resourceful sort of chap, I didn’t panic and using my incredible powers of lateral thinking it occurred to me to call into the other shop where they also sell baccy. But they had no fucking Condor either!
Now I wasn’t out of tobacco altogether so if I were a weather forecaster I would have declared a Status Yellow instead of a Status Red, but nevertheless this was a serious situation. Wars have started over less.
Once again, my powerful intellect came into play and I realised I could try a different baccy for a change. They had tons of Maltan, which is a tobacco I used to smoke nearly fifty years ago. I think I may have even started my pipe smoking career on Maltan so maybe it was time to renew acquaintanceship?
When I first started buying it it came in nice little one ounce tins which were excellent for storing nails and the like. Now of course it comes in plastic packs which aren’t much use for nails but it does give the Anti-Smokers greater scope for images that are supposed to scare me.
Now I’m not sure what I am supposed to make of their little picture. I presume this is supposed to be someone just discovering they have lung cancer but to me it’s more like a woman who has just woken up [after a rough night] to discover she has spilt tomato ketchup on her sheets after the little feed of chips the night before. I’m not quite sure why they put a woman in in the first place as generally women don’t smoke pipes? Or maybe they are just trying to be Politically Correct?
I don’t quite know what to make of Maltan. It has a very faint sort of spicy or even herby taste to it. It’s not as bad as those continental blends such as Balkan Sobranie, but it lacks the richness of Condor. It’s somewhat akin to supping American Bourbon when you’re used to Irish Whiskey.
I think I know why I switched to Condor though.
And they used to advertise pipe tobacco long after cigs were banned from TV (found some TV ads for Condor from the 1980s I believe on YouTube). Now we have the same sh*t plastered on every tobacco product, goes to show how sick in the head the TC is.
On a different note, I recently switched to a pipe (didn’t enjoy the cigs anymore) and I really like the experience. I even put some tobacco from the cigs I have left in the bowl and smoked it – the room note and taste are different from cig smoking – perhaps due to the cig paper? (I burned it separately and it really stinks). Anyway, the aromatic pipe tobacco (I’m on Captain Black currently) really is something else. The only drawback so far is the tongue bite (not really painful but annoying) – do you still get those? I’m not sure if it’s the pipe (currently have a cheap Chinese one, but ordered a couple of briars to see if there’s a difference) or the tobacco. What would your advice be? Thanks.
Welcome Vlad! The main problem I had when starting was wet tobacco. By that I mean that the tobacco in the bowl collected moisture at the bottom and the smoke became acrid. Add to that the goo that sucked through the mouthpiece [foul!] and it knocked some of the pleasure out of it. I switched to a metal pipe – first a Falcon and later a Ronson [sadly not made any more] and that cured the problem.
I have a custom built pipe now – expensive so I wouldn’t recommend it for a beginner! – and it gives a lovely dry smoke right to the bottom of the bowl.
I think I’m going to have to do a separate post on this subject!
Would love to try a genuine tobacco pipe one day, although sad to say it is an expensive hobby to even think about taking up in Aus… Pipes are rather expensive from the genuine “smoke shops,” i.e., not the Cloud9 franchise where most of the products are really intended for people smoking other things.
Then there’s the “baccy,” expensive as well and quite hard to find.
But one day, I WILL try it, must like a nice cigar.
https://www.tobaccoblends.com.au/
If you’re finding it hard to get pipe baccy in Aus you can get it in the post (see link).
Also if you want a pipe that is cheap but good try a Falcon. I use one myself.
I think that if you look where this tobacco is now manufactured it will explain everything.I like Maltan,but i don’t like the price of having it shipped over to the UK.Almost every great tobacco now tastes the same .Erinmore made in Belfast was excellent,Mick Mquaid Square cut made in Dundalk,was out of this world.Then came the brilliant idea of restructuring .Quality went down.The Tobacco Companies continued to screw the customer.Everything is now made in Denmark, and the result is they all look similar and taste similar.The last unique tastes and blends are those manufactured by the two Lake District companies.Not to everyone’s liking but at least they can’t say they are bland lol.
I had forgotten Mick McQuaid! The cheery old fella on the tin?! Condor used to be manufactured in Tallaght, west Dublin many years ago. A neighbour who worked there used to brig me home “free samples”. Of course that’s long gone now. I have no idea where it’s manufactured these days but it’s certainly not Ireland.
The ghoulish pix on cigarette packets don’t bother me: the packet goes in a smart, black, real leather case. (That started decades ago, long before the onset of ghoulish pix, when a posh leather case was the “in-thing”.)
Welcome Lisboeta! For years now I have been using a leather pouch for my baccy. I got one as a present and used it until it got lost/nicked in a pub. I bought another straight away as they are just more comfortable in the pocket than those horrible plastic packs. The lining in my current one is beginning to wear out so I may buy a new one soon. The original packaging goes straight in the bin along with all its visual porn and daft claims.
I smoke Condor in roll-ups. Can be done easily enough; all you have to do is to ‘ready-rub’ the tobacco a bit more in the palm of your hand. A ciggie lasts for ages, and has the great advantage of going out when it’s put down! Costs about £13 for a 50 gram pack – about 15 1/2 Euros, and lasts me 6 days at about 10 roll-ups a day. Never seen or heard of Maltan, though.