This article was originally posted on 21 May 2021. Parts of it have been edited for this 2nd (2022) ed. That original post happens to have been the second-ever bit of Sherlockiana I published to KM. Ipso-facto, this is a bit of an anniversary for me. I am thankful for the acceptance my Holmes writings have garnered among my tobacciana readership. I am equally thankful for new to the fold Holmes readers who have accepted the cigar and pipe content. Chuffed, really.
Sherlock Holmes Day. You'd really think it would fall on 2/21 in homage to 221b Baker Street. Or maybe that's just me. Nevertheless, it's May 22. That's fine. After all, it is Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's birthday. With a wink and a nod, without the literary agent ACD, perhaps we'd never know of Watson's constant chronicling. Still, how about September 26th to mark the end of The Great Hiatus via the publication of The Adventure of the Empty House? A hero back from the dead! A bit too Easter-ish? I digress.
Or perhaps I simply and finally begin.
Holmes was a man who smoked wisely. Meaning Doyle (we back away from The Game here) was a man who knew how to smoke. An accurate portrayal of vice, say. By which I mean, of course, of lifestyle. In loose-broad strokes, it went like this: pipes for contemplation, cigarettes during agitation, cigars during socialization. All quite good there. However, the care and maintenance of his premium tobaccos were, well, weird & shitty, at least according to Watson. But was it really all that terrible?
"But with me there is a limit, and when I find a man who keeps his cigars in the coal-scuttle, his tobacco in the toe end of a Persian slipper," The Adventure of the Musgrave Ritual [MUSG]. This is all ::: very ::: odd at first blush, certainly. But does it somehow hold up? Meaning, how long and well would the leaf last? You may ask that--at least I hope you may--because answering that is pretty much the crux of whatever this is. So that said, may you please?
Bear in mind Sherlock didn't fuck aro*nd when it came to burning thru his stash. "My body has remained in this armchair and has, I regret to observe, consumed in my absence two large pots of coffee and an incredible amount of tobacco." Hound of the Baskervilles [HOUN]. Elsewhere in the book, he alludes to smoking a pound of shag in a marathon sitting of elementary deducing. So perhaps long-term keeping wasn't the goal.
Nevertheless, I'll now employ my own powers of deduction to handicap some shelf-life timeframes & therefore measure the successes of these apparently outrageously absurd methods. We'll begin with his cigars. Might I also begin with an aside? Sherlock's era straddled two eras--the Victorian & Edwardian, to be precise. During the Victorian era, smoking was banned other than in private clubs and homes. No public smoking. Then came King Edward and his immortal smoky decree of "Gentlemen, you may smoke."
Okay, then. They were Cubans. Holmes smoked Cubans. That's right, we're back on track here. Important to realize is that he did so before humidors existed as we know them to exist today. He smoked even prior to what would now be considered antique humidors, which were lined in either copper or tin. This specific lining was used because inert metals impart no flavor and also inhibit the growth of mildews & molds. Wait for it... coal-scuttles were made of at times made of copper & our man looks less odd, maybe.
Also, we don't know how many smokes he kept on-hand. Too, we don't know how many he smoked a day. But I did do some online window shopping & found that coal-scuttles and 10ct. travel humidors are in the same ballpark size-wise. So, 10 cigars, say two a day (one for him, one for a guest or Watson), is five days in the (perchance) copper albeit open confines and I daresay no worse for wear than when first purchased. Probably because they were dry as a bone to begin with. Cigars were often dipped in spirits while smoked, in order to be resuscitated. Brandy, a famed 221b drink, would do the trick.
Smart. Sherlock Holmes is super smart. I'm envious. Now onto his shag pipe tobacco. In short, it was dark, likely Black Cavendish, and well-coarser than today's cut. Also of fairly lower quality. He smoked pipes more often than cigars. When we learn he smoked that aforementioned pound, I feel he smoked his cellar. I do recall him, at other times, asking Dr. Watson to buy a pound of the stuff when he ran low. Let's again look at his consumption. A typical smoker gets 3 months off a pound. Holmes is a prodigiously prolific smoker, at least whilst working a caseload of three-pipe problems.
Holmes knows his needs, not the needs of those others. Tobacco is what fueled him. He could put down a pound in not months, not weeks, but days. Days would be how long pipe tobacco lasts in a cloth or leather tobacco pouch. Cloth or leather is what Persian slippers are made out of. This is looking quite less and then quite less again odd. Let's go a step further in our ideating. The pointed toe of a Persian slipper really packs in the freshness & jamming some new more-moist shag down atop old, adds said moisture. If my guess of Black Cavendish holds, that is a known wet variety. For the record, I imagine he predominantly smoked Virginia leaf.
Now it's time for a breakdown. Tobacco storage is always a topic of discussion amongst imbibers. Particularly amongst nascent imbibers who go in deep right off the bat by buying too much. Here's my suggestion: stop worrying so much about what's good for your tobacco & what others might think. Let your tobacconist handle the former and simply drop the latter. Start worrying about what's good for you. Know that. You might not be able to be Batman, but you could be Holmes in this context. Have a good for you amount on-hand, stored humbly. You know where you can get more. Stop letting your habit, by which I, of course, mean hobby keep you up at night.
Or perhaps I simply and finally begin.
Holmes was a man who smoked wisely. Meaning Doyle (we back away from The Game here) was a man who knew how to smoke. An accurate portrayal of vice, say. By which I mean, of course, of lifestyle. In loose-broad strokes, it went like this: pipes for contemplation, cigarettes during agitation, cigars during socialization. All quite good there. However, the care and maintenance of his premium tobaccos were, well, weird & shitty, at least according to Watson. But was it really all that terrible?
"But with me there is a limit, and when I find a man who keeps his cigars in the coal-scuttle, his tobacco in the toe end of a Persian slipper," The Adventure of the Musgrave Ritual [MUSG]. This is all ::: very ::: odd at first blush, certainly. But does it somehow hold up? Meaning, how long and well would the leaf last? You may ask that--at least I hope you may--because answering that is pretty much the crux of whatever this is. So that said, may you please?
Bear in mind Sherlock didn't fuck aro*nd when it came to burning thru his stash. "My body has remained in this armchair and has, I regret to observe, consumed in my absence two large pots of coffee and an incredible amount of tobacco." Hound of the Baskervilles [HOUN]. Elsewhere in the book, he alludes to smoking a pound of shag in a marathon sitting of elementary deducing. So perhaps long-term keeping wasn't the goal.
Nevertheless, I'll now employ my own powers of deduction to handicap some shelf-life timeframes & therefore measure the successes of these apparently outrageously absurd methods. We'll begin with his cigars. Might I also begin with an aside? Sherlock's era straddled two eras--the Victorian & Edwardian, to be precise. During the Victorian era, smoking was banned other than in private clubs and homes. No public smoking. Then came King Edward and his immortal smoky decree of "Gentlemen, you may smoke."
Okay, then. They were Cubans. Holmes smoked Cubans. That's right, we're back on track here. Important to realize is that he did so before humidors existed as we know them to exist today. He smoked even prior to what would now be considered antique humidors, which were lined in either copper or tin. This specific lining was used because inert metals impart no flavor and also inhibit the growth of mildews & molds. Wait for it... coal-scuttles were made of at times made of copper & our man looks less odd, maybe.
Also, we don't know how many smokes he kept on-hand. Too, we don't know how many he smoked a day. But I did do some online window shopping & found that coal-scuttles and 10ct. travel humidors are in the same ballpark size-wise. So, 10 cigars, say two a day (one for him, one for a guest or Watson), is five days in the (perchance) copper albeit open confines and I daresay no worse for wear than when first purchased. Probably because they were dry as a bone to begin with. Cigars were often dipped in spirits while smoked, in order to be resuscitated. Brandy, a famed 221b drink, would do the trick.
Smart. Sherlock Holmes is super smart. I'm envious. Now onto his shag pipe tobacco. In short, it was dark, likely Black Cavendish, and well-coarser than today's cut. Also of fairly lower quality. He smoked pipes more often than cigars. When we learn he smoked that aforementioned pound, I feel he smoked his cellar. I do recall him, at other times, asking Dr. Watson to buy a pound of the stuff when he ran low. Let's again look at his consumption. A typical smoker gets 3 months off a pound. Holmes is a prodigiously prolific smoker, at least whilst working a caseload of three-pipe problems.
Holmes knows his needs, not the needs of those others. Tobacco is what fueled him. He could put down a pound in not months, not weeks, but days. Days would be how long pipe tobacco lasts in a cloth or leather tobacco pouch. Cloth or leather is what Persian slippers are made out of. This is looking quite less and then quite less again odd. Let's go a step further in our ideating. The pointed toe of a Persian slipper really packs in the freshness & jamming some new more-moist shag down atop old, adds said moisture. If my guess of Black Cavendish holds, that is a known wet variety. For the record, I imagine he predominantly smoked Virginia leaf.
Now it's time for a breakdown. Tobacco storage is always a topic of discussion amongst imbibers. Particularly amongst nascent imbibers who go in deep right off the bat by buying too much. Here's my suggestion: stop worrying so much about what's good for your tobacco & what others might think. Let your tobacconist handle the former and simply drop the latter. Start worrying about what's good for you. Know that. You might not be able to be Batman, but you could be Holmes in this context. Have a good for you amount on-hand, stored humbly. You know where you can get more. Stop letting your habit, by which I, of course, mean hobby keep you up at night.
What Would Happen if You Were to Keep Your Cigars & Pipe Tobacco as Sherlock Holmes Kept His? Maybe you'd be a bit happier, sure--you'd at least be less annoying in online forums. "Just smoked my first cigar. How do I store the other 499 I bought?" I really impressed myself with this one, Gentlepersons. [Although as time wears on I find myself less-impressed in all honesty.] I'm [still] glad you got to read it, as I'm sure you are as well. Happy Sherlock Holmes Day!
Now, on a final note, remember: Doyle wrote Sherlock to be smarter than Watson; expertly-so here.
::: very :::