I saw this article on the ABC See inside Canberra's 100-year-old cork oak forest and thought some of you might be interested to know that Walter Burley Griffin's acorns have completed a 100 year lap.

A couple of years ago I visited the National Arboretum and walked through the cork trees. Acorns covered the ground so I took some to see if I could sprout them down here in Hastings.

I'd like to say I carefully researched the required growing conditions and took great pains to create the perfect microclimate. I didn't. I stuck them into a pot plant of top soil outside and watered them.

Months later five of them sprouted and just kept on growing.

As of last year they are planted at our new place and seem to be going great guns. In 25 years I may even get some cork and sit back in their shade contemplating where big things grow from.

The Complete AMA Schedule.

Review # 190-191

Blend Names: Peter Stokkebye 702 and Sutliff 212

Description on Tin: PS 702: A quality blend of fine Burley tobaccos, Cavendish processed for extra mildness. Medium Cavendish cut, non-aromatic. S212: Choice Burley is punctuated with a smattering of Virginia to give this fine blend its sweet character. The sweetness of the Virginia compliments a slight chocolate note to create a most satisfying smoke. Leaf:

PS 702: Generic brown ribbon, fairly dry

S212: Indistinguishable from 702

Tin Aroma:

PS 702: Raisin bran, heavy on the bran. Light vinegar note.

S212: Earthy, cocoa, fig newtons, and my wife says cinnamon right under the cocoa.

Age when smoked: Both 9-10 Months

Taste:

PS 702: Sweet and mildly creamy. Light mesquite and some salt. There’s a notable softness to the smoke. Coffee and cocoa which gives a bit of bitterness to balance out the sweet. There’s a fruity edge, apple peel and sour cream. Brazil nuts. A light pepper appears. A touch of vinegar. This smoke is so soft. Oily too. Licorice and red fruits, the sweetness hangs on. Buttery and fatty. This is a rich smoke. It shifts to cocoa, coffee, cola, hickory, salty, and butter for a good long stretch. About halfway through the salt ramps up to surgeon general snarling levels and a red wine plus red wine vinegar comes it. Rich, rich, rich. This is a burley treat. There’s coffee and cocoa in every puff. The pepper is there but just a tingle, the fruits compliment but don’t overwhelm the burley tastes. Raspberries and blueberries. Grows minerally again towards the end.

S212: This is very sweet right from the first light. Cocoa coffee and nuts. Vague fruits and vinegar. There’s a light mesquite smoke note and some salt. Hickory, butter, and heavy cream. Worcestershire sauce lightened by that fruitiness. It’s grown very salty. Macadamia notes, cocoa, and earth. The sweetness has faded some but it’s plenty salty. Sharp white vinegar. The smoke is now quite oily. Hazelnuts and coffee, which sticks around for a big middle chunk of the bowl. A big cola note comes in in the 3rd 3rd, not Coca-cola, but Pepsi, maybe even RC Cola. The hickory and mesquite really ramp up. Swedish fish and cocoa. The vinegar and salt still hang in there. Earth, well really, dirt. There’s a hefty chocolate phase towards the end of the bowl.

50/50 Mixture:

Gasoline and cumin. Where did that come from? Rich tobacco, like a oily cigar. Cocoa coffee and macadamias. Light salt. Th

Happy New Year everyone! I'd posted some reviews up until last summer on a now-defunct account , until I'd fell out of using Reddit. I've been away from tech for a while, and no longer carry a smartphone, but I missed you fine lot, and I thought I'd make a new account and re-join the discourse.

Manufacturer: Scandinavian Tobacco Group/Lane Ltd.

Blend Name: Sir Walter Raleigh Aromatic

Leaf: A mix of golden, tan, and deeper brown ribbons. Uniform ribbon cut - very fine, almost shag. Moist but not wet.

Tin Note: Heavenly. Rum-raisin ice cream. This syrup-like sweetness. Almost vanilla, almost maple. Fig Newtons - exactly. This is a jar of fig Newtons.

Tasting: First light is like black tea with too much milk. A breadiness rounds it out. Sweet bread - like those rolls you pull apart. Woody. Not like bourbon barrel, but like straw and wood chips. Sour cream. There is this acidic thing going on in the aftertaste. The body of it’s definitely that sweet-straw-nothing and it stays there for most of the bowl, but the aftertaste is like that feeling you get from really hot, really black coffee where it seems to find every crevice in your mouth. Smoke too fast and it gets sour faster. Like it’s gone to spoil.

Smoke: Thick, and hot. Surprised at how hot, since burley makes up the body of this stuff, but it bites if you don’t mind it. It doesn’t have much for fangs, but can give your tongue that hot-soup burnt numbness.

Nicotine: About a 3 out of 10. More than you’d get from the goopier true-blue aromatics, for sure, but even consecutive bowls while fasting are hardly “challenging.”

Room Note: Very pleasant. That toasted-marshmallow, natural-tobacco smell that most nonsmokers think of when you mention “pipe tobacco”. Faintly nutty and creamy, but mostly just that toasty-sweet. Reminds me a fair bit of Lane 1-Q’s room note, but a tad more natural and with some fruitiness.

Conclusion: A deliciously-scented but unwieldy OTC aromatic. It smells good, it tastes pretty solid, but there’s a sour funk ready to jump out at you, and this acrid quality to the mouthfeel, not to mention that it’s a wild brute when it comes to keeping it cool and flavorful. I intend to finish the tin, smoking slowly and probably pairing it with coffee. I’d recommend it if you like aros like 1-Q but are looking for something a bit fuller-bodied. If you don’t like aros, or burley, or want a very cool smoke, there’s plenty of fish in the sea, but this ain’t i

Hello, I’ve been smoking pipes on and off for the past 3 years or so and was wondering if you could recommend me some pipe tobaccos as I am still relatively new to the art of pipe smoking. My favorite blends I’ve yet discovered are Dunhill’s Elizabethan Mixture and Mac Baren’s Virginia No. 1. The only pipe tobacco blend I really wasn’t fond of was Dunhill’s Early Morning Pipe, I found the Latakia to be too smokey for my taste. I enjoyed Sir Walter Raleigh and Prince Albert’s burley blends as they were pretty easy to keep lit. I am also hoping to try some more English and Virginia blends. I also am curious to try some Turkish/Oriental blends. Also any aromatics that taste good and leave a particularly pleasant room note are welcome. In summary, it seems I have a preference towards sweeter tobaccos. Thank you for your time, all suggestions are welcome.

Howdy Mixers,

If you have been following this sub for some time, you'd be familiar with the occasional Front Page Recipe Posts. A front page recipe post is an opportunity for a mixer to describe in greater detail the idea they had for a recipe, the process of its creation, and the thoughts behind the decisions that were made to make that recipe. Often, these things are included in the notes if linked to a recipe post on ELR or ATF but sometimes not. For a few reasons a mixer may decide to take the time to explain in detail the longer journey behind how a recipe was developed, and they tend to be some of the recipes that intrigue me the most, frankly speaking. So let's see what 2021 offered us but first, let's review the rule...

Rule 8. Recipes Without Notes:

>Recipes belong in the monthly recipe thread, UNLESS they offer SIGNIFICANT development notes, or other information that will help others learn to become better mixers. Development notes include, but are not limited to: recipe creation process, flavor notes, and flavor substitutions. It is up to moderator discretion as to whether or not the notes are significant.

In this year's 2021 Recipe Roundup, you will find the recipes sorted by "Top". I did not include the monthly recipes as usually they've gotten that front page view and a post in the monthly thread, but sometimes they don't. So this year we are adding this follow-up post (and to the Roundup when I have time) to honor the effort that mixers have made to take posting their recipe creations with the bit of extra effort that they have afforded us as we look back at 2021. This will get updates as well.

u/bigtidder

has easily become one of my favorite posters to read. In case you missed it, check out this front page recipe post from 2020: Liquorice Milk. I can read those kinds of recipes like Moby Dick re-runs watching Ahab chase his White Whale in some kind of DIY Choose-Your-Own-Adventure of flavor madness. In 2021, u/bigtidder came out of their hungover state by around 11pm to share with us this lovely recipe: Wintermelon Mint. We get notes on the flavors chosen, a description of the juice, and even a safety warning on INW Natural Mint (which I also enjoy; make your own

Do your worst!

I'm surprised it hasn't decade.

For context I'm a Refuse Driver (Garbage man) & today I was on food waste. After I'd tipped I was checking the wagon for any defects when I spotted a lone pea balanced on the lifts.

I said "hey look, an escaPEA"

No one near me but it didn't half make me laugh for a good hour or so!

Edit: I can't believe how much this has blown up. Thank you everyone I've had a blast reading through the replies 😂

It really does, I swear!