Just Because

 

Yesterday (Tuesday), I woke up later than I had wanted, so I only ran 8 miles (~13 km) before I had to stop so I could get to the U on time.   So, with a more flexible morning today, I tried to make up for the number yesterday by running 15 miles (~24 km) this morning.  This allows me to today be a few miles ahead of my daily target in order to reach my weekly goal of 55 miles (~89 km).  

I have to admit, the long 15 mile run was rather exhausting today since I had ran ~16 miles on Monday.  Those are VERY long distances for me.

Since I was running on very smooth pavement, I could afford myself the opportunity to daydream a bit.  In terms of my daydream's focus this morning... somehow my mind chose to remember and reminisce the sheer delight of smoking a bowlful of a very old-fashioned, cube-cut, "corner pharmacy staple" type of pipe tobacco, called "Sir Walter Raleigh".  

Sir Walter Raleigh was one of TWO staple pipe tobaccos my Dad always had, and Sir Walter Raleigh was the very first pipe tobacco I tried, oh so long ago as a kid.  I can still conger up the memory of quietly going to the kitchen cupboard where my Dad kept his one pound canister of either Sir Walter Raleigh or Prince Albert Pipe Tobacco.  When I first quietly "borrowed" a bit of his pipe tobacco, the can present was of Sir Walter Raleigh.   

But in my imagination this morning, I was focusing on the feel, the tastes, the textures, and the beautiful physicality of indulging in a bowl of this simple, but blissfully pleasant pipe tobacco.  Being a cube-cut, instead of the more common "shag" style (little ribbons), the cube-cut leaf looks like a bunch of very small..... cubes.... about 2-3mm in diameter.  In my mind, cube-cut pipe tobaccos are especially nice because they offer a more uniform surface to ignite than do shag cut pipe tobaccos.  I can remember peering into the bowl after lighting, and the beautifully white ash atop of the ember would often look a bit like a snowy mountain due to the cube cut nature.  The smoke produced from Sir Walter Raleigh (SWR) also was especially noteworthy to me, because it always felt more palpable, more dense and substantial.  It is somewhat hard to describe, but the smoke had a beautifully "chalky" aspect to it as well.  And, its flavor.... mostly pure, simple burley leaf, but with gentle hints of bourbon and molasses to give it a sweetness as well. Drawing in the richly chalky, flavorful smoke would provide a nearly indescribable sense  calmness and feelings of  composure, tranquility, patience and satisfaction.  Just... so very beautiful.  

I have probably at least 40 of the big old pound sized cans (empty of pipe tobacco) in my garage and in my workroom in the basement, holding all sorts of odd and ends from over the years and decades. I have undoubtedly thrown many others away over the years and decades as well.   One is filled with old nuts and screws and bolts that I would extract from items I would dismantle as I prepared to throw something broken away.  Others are filled with a myriad of other things.  The very traditional color scheme of an "orange-ish-red" background with 'ole Sir Walter himself and print on the can in a blue-grey, nearly black hue is such a color scheme of its origins.   It is a very fitting look.  

My pound can of SWR that was my active can when I began to refrain is still approximately 1/2 full of the illustrious leaf.  I opened the canister up the other day to waft in some of its gentle aroma.  

PipeTobacco