What I'm Doing Wrong

(Author's note: "What I'm Doing Wrong" will be an ongoing series, as there appears no immediate danger that I will run out of things to chronicle.)

There are flavors in tobacco beyond the obvious one. Sure, there's this single overarching taste and aroma, but tobaccos (good ones, anyway) also have subtle undertones. At least, that's what I'm told.

I'll be honest, I haven't noticed any except for a time or two. I can't say that I'm doing anything different than other pipers have done. I have my pipe — a poker made by a member of our pipe club — and my tobacco. I pack and light and puff and tamp and light and tamp and puff. Still, the subtleties don't come.
At least I'm preoccupied while I wait. I'm watching the first season of "24,"which I find sadly contrived. I mean, amnesia? Come on! And, of course, I'm writing. I'm always writing, or trying to write, wracking my brains to find the right words to convey the right action or emotion. If all that fails, I have iTunes and Pandora and lots of CDs. Even then, I still hear noises coming from outside the garage, and I'm nosy enough that I feel I need to see what's happening in the street. Call it a nervous habit.
But at least I still have my pipe to keep me company, puffing away and sending out little smoke signals. I get the flavor of Virginia or latakia or burley, whatever the major tobacco is in the blend. I'm sure I'll find them. Someday. Until then, I'll busy myself with a bowl and some entertainment and pass the time as I punch keys on a computer.

(The solution: Like everything else in life, smoking is best done slow and with a proper amount of focus. If you want the most out of your tobacco and your pipe smoking experience, sip the tobacco and focus only on it. That being said, there's nothing wrong with smoking as a supplement to other activities, as long as you don't expect as much from it.)