What a great (and kind of wet) meeting we had!

Three members brav’d the impending rain to gather at Eric’s place in Stittsville under the protection of the backyard gazebo.

Luc and Jeremy brought the snacks – wow! Huge meat and cheese tray with boutique crackers, spreads, dips, and even Swedish berries. I had some leftover “Manjit sauce” that we dip’t our blue coloured stone chip corn tortillas in.

Did I forget to mention there was some booze? I was gifted a beautiful bottle ‘o rum. Luc brought their ‘infinity’ bottle to sample. The listing of what is contained therein is posted in the photos. We agreed that it was superb, but missing just a little something in the base notes of the flavour profile. It miraculously maintained its grip on the peaty aspects, which was very surprising given the age and amount of blends added over the years.

Jeremy and I started our smoking journey with our meerschaum pipes. He had a large calabash pipe that he was enjoying very much. I regret that I forgot to get a photo of it for our readers – next time – I promise. For his initial smoke, I cut up some Black XX from a chunk of rope I received from another generous gentleman of our coterie. The smoke was quite tasty and smooth, and the young lad handled it with aplomb.

There were jars upon jars to choose from; McClelland Dominican Glory, Bufflehead Redhead Decoy, some straight burley (Pronto air cured), Hobbit’s Weed, the leftover B.S. Flake from our previous meeting. I brought up some Peter Stokkebye Cub Cute Burley to which I added a smidgeon of Deer Tongue to make a ‘poor man’s’ Crooner. That was a delicious start for me.

We were able to enjoy our time together out of doors without much fuss. The rain abated and mercilessly gifted us with about two and one half hours of sunshine and muggy steadiness. The thickness and weight of the air hung suspended as we smoked and drank away under the gazebo.

Near the end of our time together, a tin of Mac Baren Burley was offered up for sacrifice. We cracked that open just as the clouds, wind, and general feel of the cooling breeze in the air (along with my wife who came to poke us) that the weather was about to get pretty nasty. Thunderstorms were being predicated in the area so we sadly had to pack up that whole table of goodies in quick measure to get somewhere dry. We’re going to have to have at that tin during our next meeting in July.

Details for that July meeting to follow!