Hobbit’s Weed
For years, the former Tewksbury & Company’s Hobbit’s Weed was one of the most popular aromatics in America. The company shuttered operations after the passing of the draconian Tobacco Control Act of 2009, but the tobacco blend lived on. At this point, the recipe is pretty much public domain. While anyone can mix a batch up, collecting the ingredients, which we carry in our regular stock, in sufficient quantities and blending it effectively is a pain that most pipe smokers would rather leave up to professionals.
- 2 lbs Lane BCA (aka Black Cavendish)
- 1 lb Lane Very Cherry (we’re tempted to tinker with the blend by replacing the Very Cherry with something like Gawith & Hogarth’s American Black Cherry)
- 1 lb Sutliff 1M (Vanilla)
Butterbeer
The oldest known (and the only) actual buttered beer recipe is from the 1594 book “The Good Huswifes Handmaide For The Kitchin” by Thomas Dawson. The spelling, punctuation and capitalization of this recipe is perfectly recreated in this post, so it’s hard to read.) The recipe in the book is:
“Take three pintes of Beere, put fiue yolkes of Egges to it, straine them together, and set it in a pewter pot to the fyre, and put to it halfe a pound of Sugar, one penniworth of Nutmegs beaten, one penniworth of Cloues beaten, and a halfepenniworth of Ginger beaten, and when it is all in, take another pewter pot and brewe them together, and set it to the fire againe, and when it is readie to boyle, take it from the fire, and put a dish of sweet butter into it, and brewe them together out of one pot into an other.”
Thomas Dawson
Some 400 years after this recipe was published, Butterbeer is mentioned in the Harry Potter book series as a nonalcoholic drink which the kids drank, made with vanilla ice cream, cream soda, butterscotch ice cream topping and topped with whipped cream.
While our Butterbeer’s flavor and aroma is decidedly modeled after the modern mixture, its inclusion as a staple in our tobacco shop is inspired by the Colonial concoction, which The Ancient & Honorable Tuesday Club Of Annapolis In Maryland’s members may very well have enjoyed at their meetings in the mid 1700’s.
Milk & Cookies
When you stick your nose in a bag of Milk & Cookies, you’re immediately reminded of Oreo Cookies. Chocolate and vanilla doesn’t come together much better!
Chocolate Covered Cherries
We blended Chocolate Covered Cherries in memory of my Mom. When we brought all the flavors together, I was instantly transported to childhood memories of my Mom’s annual Christmas box of Cella’s Chocolate Covered Cherries, which she shared with my brother, sister and myself. The crunch of the hard chocolate shell, followed by the gush of rich cherry syrup and the actually, almost unnaturally sweet, maraschino cherry in the middle.
Atwell’s Preferred
Atwell’s is a blend I got from Francis, the former owner of Annapolis’ The Smoke Shop, which had been a Maryland Ave staple going back to 1947. Named for a former instructor at the US Naval Academy, the tobacco was a favorite of one of my friends from high school’s fathers. Back in the 1970’s, when we finally got our driver’s license, his father would send us from Bowie to Annapolis to buy a supply of this tobacco. Obviously, in more reasonable times, it was no big deal to send your kids to buy a pack of cigarettes or a pound of pipe tobacco. (Most Dad’s were always more protective of their change than from us sneaking a smoke back in the old days.)
The blend is very English in nature, except, rather than having a large quantity of Virginia tobaccos, the recipe calls for Burley as the base ingredient. This makes it much more forgiving if the smoker is predisposed to the tongue bite that comes from the higher sugar content of the Virginias.
Due to FDA regulation, we’re highly limited as to what we can offer in the way of House Blend tobaccos. All of our recipes were being used and commercially marketed as pipe tobacco prior to February 15, 2007 and are not subject to FDA review.
