Time for pipes!

Now that I have a 'bad-ass' camera, I think it's time to take some nice pics of my tobacco pipes! Since 2005 I enjoy smoking my pipe. It started as a joke; I saw a couple of pipes laying in a store and joked about me walking through the streets with one of those things in my mouth (imagine me walking with one hand on my back and the other one holding the pipe, doing some old-man-walk). A few months later, after I've walked-by that store a couple of times, I've decided to enter and just buy it. And so I did. Of course I've only started to do some research AFTER I've bought my smoking device...

My first pipe wasn't a great one. I've bought it in Brasil and right now it's broken. I won't even post a photo of it... My first tobacco was Captain Black, Cherry flavor, also not of great quality.

Now let's go to the real work! My first pipe:

Poul Stanwell - Collection 925 - 15, Sandblast

A Poul Stanwell - Collection 925 - 15, sandblast. And I have to be honest, it's not my most expensive pipe, but it's surely one of my favorites! Maybe it's even my #1. When I can't decide which pipe to bring, I always pick this one. It's familiar, smokes great and is robust. It's the sandblast version, so when I hold it, I feel a nice grip. I also have the feeling that it's less sensitive for small scratches.

Peterson System 307

A Peterson System 307, my second pipe. I've bought this pipe in 2006 at the local tobacco store, right before it closed its doors forever. 8 times they were robbed by armed dick-heads, so they've decided to retire a bit earlier than planned. I've bought the pipe with some discount (because of the closure), but of course I would be happier if the store was still there!

About the pipe... It has a large bowl! The first few years I would smoke anything in it. I didn't really dedicated a pipe for one special tobacco, so this big guy would cost me almost 2 hours to smoke! Now I only smoke Semois in it, a very dry and fast burning tobacco from Belgium. Now it only takes me 1 hour to smoke this pipe and to be honest, for a strong taste like this, that's more than enough!

Peterson System 303

A Peterson System 303, the pipe that I've bought in 2009 for my own birthday. A nice smoker that looks a lot like her older sister, the 307, but is a lot smaller. This is actually a very small pipe that's just perfect for smoking Latakia. Of course I've used it for any type of tobacco in the first few years, but hey, everybody needs to learn!

Peterson Rock of Cashel (model number unknown)

I've bought this one in Dublin at the Peterson store end 2009. When I've bought it, I was totally crazy about it. Then I suddenly didn't like it anymore and took it out of my collection for almost a year. I've thought about giving this pipe away, but then suddenly I started to like it again. Weird... It's back in the collection, only I still have to start smoking it again. If you would like to see some photos of the Peterson of Dublin store, search the blog for Dublin and you'll find some short stories about my travel.

The next 3 pipes were a gift from a friend of mine on the Dutch Pipe Smokers Forum (Pijprokersforum.nl). I've received a package at the end of 2010, if I remember well. There were about 5 pipes, but I've given 2 of them away. Not that I didn't like them, but because I already had something like that. Then I rather make someone else happy with it.

Here are the ones that I've kept and that will never leave my collection!

Mastro de Paja

 I just love this pipe! It's very pretty. Just look at the grain! Because of the narrow chamber, I prefer to smoke flake in it. It burns well and... Ah! It's a great pipe.

Winsløw

 Also a very good smoker. What I like about Winsløw pipes is that their smoke channels are always very well balanced. They're also a little bit wider than other pipes, what makes them a bit more comfortable to me.

Winsløw

 Another Winsløw. I'm not sure yet of what I'll smoke in it. I've tried Latakia and Flake. They both taste great in this pipe... Life's hard!

Falcon (straight stem) with a rusticated Apple bowl and a Hunter Dover bowl.

 I'm really surprised about this one! I've always thought about Falcon's as the most ugliest pipes around, but then some people on Pijprokersforum.nl convinced me that they're very handy and easy to clean. And that you only have to screw another bowl on it to smoke it again within 10 minutes! Then I slowly started to get more and more interested and right now I even think they're beautiful! I'm still planning to buy myself another stem (bent) and some more bowls. Talking about bowls; the Apple I use for Latakia and the Dover for any other tobacco (but no flake).

Parker

 A very light and elegant Parker that I use to smoke Latakia. The chamber is not to high and almost as wide. Perfect for Latakia. What can I say about this one? I've bought it for a very low price on Pijprokersforum.nl.

Old River

 This was a gift from my sister. She has bought it on her vacation in Austria. It's roughly rusticated as you can see and it's very short. This asks for a slow burning tobacco. I use it for Latakia, but I really need to smoke slowly, otherwise I'll burn my tongue with this one!

Vauen - Gandalf

Gandalf's pipe! Well... Now it's mine! A very nice pipe, made by Vauen. I don't smoke it too often and that's weird, because it smokes great! I'll work on it.

Turkish Meerschaum

 A Turkish Meerschaum. This was a gift from 2 of my best friends from Brazil. I'm totally crazy about this one and I don't even touch it with my bare hands, because that might cause fat-spots on it. During the first year you have to take some extra care for this, otherwise you'll be stick with those spots forever. Later on I'll be able to touch it during the smoke. I would like to thank them again! Amazing gift, guys!


And of course there is a cactus on this blog!

Maihueniopsis darwinii

This Maihueniopsis darwinii is actually growing on my balcony! This cutting was a gift from someone of the Cactiguide.com forum. The guy that has sent it to me is also from the Netherlands and he grows this species in his garden. They can even survive our sucky winters! I've kept it inside up till 2 weeks ago without any growth. Now it's outside for 2 weeks and look what's on top of it! Yeah... It's doing well. Let's just check out if it'll survive our 'brutal' winter!

Hmmm... No photo of Wonnie. Shall I take one? Okay! 

Wonnebald

Always when I or my wife is behind the computer, he has to lay between the keyboard and the monitor. He's just always around! He's almost 6 months old now and I really don't want the vet to take his balls... I really don't! I hope he won't piss around in the house and won't hump things. Hmfff.... We'll see what the future brings! I'll keep you up to date about his balls, okay? Deal!

See ya later!

Selenicereus (again) and Echinopsis subdenudata flowering (also again)

Hi! Welcome (back)! Another blog about cacti. This time about Selenicereus (I've written about them before. Check THIS LINK to see the article). Do you remember that small part of cactus that I've borrowed from some public place? Well... It has grown to what you can see here below!

Selenicereus pteranthus

The borrowed part was about 25 cm long and if you look well, you can see it laying there inside the container. Within 2 years a 1.15 m branch has grown on it. Strong growth for a cactus if you ask me! Earlier this week, to my surprise, I've spotted something on top of it...

Selenicereus, branching

Believe it or not, but when this branch had just appeared, I hoped it would turn out to be a flower (as you might know, selenicereus species have one of the most pretty flowers of them all!). 2 days later it appeared to be another branch... This thing just won't stop growing!

Talking about growing, here are the babies! I've sown them on April the first, 2011 (last year).

Selenicereus Grandiflorus in the front and S. Hondurensis in the back

 I've given about 10 of them away to friends and family and just look at what I still have. Because of their horizontally growth they use much more space than other cacti. That's why I can say that I have way too many of them. If you're interested, don't hesitate to contact me. I would love to send you some!

Selenicereus Hondurensis on the left and S. Grandiflorus on the right

These last 2 photos look a bit vague, but if you click on them to enlarge them, you'll see a bit more details.

That's all for now about Selenicereus. Next time I hope to show you some nice photos of one flowering!

Echinopsis subdenudate flowering, again...

The bad thing about this plant is that it flowers at night and you need be very lucky to spot them flowering in the morning after. Besides that it's a very cool and easy flowering cactus.

Wonnebald!

No Blog without Wonnie anymore! Nope! We're all very crazy about this latest family member. Between the regular meals we feed him raw flesh like chicken parts and he's growing like a Selenicereus! He'll be a tough guy in the future.

Nothing more to mention! LATER!

Good day to you! On April the 1st 2011 I've also been sowing stuff as you might know. Most of it is growing well, some better than others and a couple of them have already been given away. That's the way you do it to keep a collection like this in a suitable size.

Aztekium ritteri

Aztekium ritteri

Yeah... I'm having some problems with this tiny species. I've sown 40 of them and they just didn't pop up. If I remember well, only 8 did and only 4 (as you can see) have survived. That's alright for me. It was one of the first times that I've been sowing cacti. Last year I've tried this species again and guess what? Nothing! Arg... I'll give it another try next year and do some more research before I start.

I've read that they should germinate in closed containers or bags (or whatever method you use that works for you) and be kept inside this closed environment for at least 2 years. The seeds are very tiny so I guess you should be careful not to crush them.

Carnegiea gigantea 

Carnegiea gigantea (Saguaro)

17 germinated (15 sown! Huh?!), 2 of them died in the first year and 2 of them I've given away. I'm satisfied with these results. I definitely don't need a lot of these giants in my house, even though they grow very slowly and probably won't even have branches during my life...

Carnegiea gigantea, double-headed

On the right you can see a double-headed Saguaro. I guess some can have branches during my life (if I may call it branches). Two headed cacti, it happens once in a while. During the last 2 years it has happened twice to me.

Trichocereus terscheckii

Trichocereus terscheckii (Cardon Grande)

My 'largest' cacti seedling! This fat-ass seems very healthy to me and I really have no idea how quick it will grow in the future. They say that E. Terscheckii won't be as big as the Saguaro, but that it certainly grows a lot faster! 

I've sown 15 of them, 7 popped out of the ground and these are still alive today (I've given 3 of them away).

Peyote news!

Lophophora Williamsii (Peyote)

The one in the front and the one on the left are sown here and the other two were a gift. As you can see, the one on the left side looks a little weird. That one and others of the same package were starting to rot and die, so I've tried to graft this one. Guess what happens... The grafted part died and the leftover started to grow again.

Lophophora williamsii v. Nuevo Yucatan (another Peyote)

A variety from Nuevo Yucatan. Tiny fat green little balls, growing well and looking good.

Lophophora williamsii v. La Popa Nuevo Leon

The most successful package of all 3. This variety from La Popa Nuevo Leon seems to grow really well. Lots of survivors and I guess this is a very strong variety. I'll try to grow some more of these again in the future.

The end of Peyote-News.

Trichocereus bridgesii

Trichocereus bridgesii

I don't really understand the growth of these little sticks... They are able to be up one day, laying on one side the day after and on the next day on the other side. The one in the middle is the prettiest of them all. The others are just weird and I hope they'll grow normal one day...

Astrophytum asterias

Astrophytum asterias

Growing slowly, but looking good. That's all I have to say about this species for now.

Browningia microsperma

Browningia microsperma

More or less the pride of my collection. I've obtained these rare seeds that were imported from Peru and almost every seed germinated and is now growing perfectly. I've already given 3 of them away and will probably keep the rest for myself. Amazingly pretty and healthy growing plants in my opinion! I'm starting to like the South American species more and more, mainly the ones from Brazil and Peru.

Mix package from a Dutch Hardware store

I'm not sure about which species I'm growing here, but they're doing well!

Some Ferocactus species?

Another Ferocactus?

Echinocactus grusonii?

Cereus something?

No idea...

That's about it. My ever-growing collection will soon need more space or at least some pruning. I'm thinking about a small greenhouse on one of my balconies (or on both) and later on a bigger greenhouse when I have the space for that!

Later!

A short photo-shoot of 2012's seedlings

Hello again! Here's a short photo-shoot of last year's seedlings, taken with our new camera; a Nikon D5100. This is the first time that I'm working with such an advanced (yeah I know, there are much more complicated ones around) camera, so I'm still learning. One day I'll buy myself a macro lens to make even better close-ups!

Back to cacti! So... What have I sown last year? Well, I'm about to show that to you right now! First I'll add an index about last year's sowing:

INDEX

1.  The beginning, sown at 1-4-2012 and one week later.
2. 15-4-2012, 2 weeks old.
3. 22-4-2012, 3 weeks old.
4. 29-4-2012, quite the same.
5. 20-5-2012, 7 weeks old.
6. 17-6-2012, 11 weeks old.
7. 20-5-2013, more than 1 year old.

And here are the pics:

Lophophora williamsii caespitosa

Epithelantha bokei

Frailea asterioides 'castanea'

Browningia candelaris

Pachycereus pringlei

Pilosocereus gounellei

Echinopsis candicans

Selenicereus grandiflorus

Selenicereus hondurensis

I´m planning to keep at least two of each, so I've already started to give away some of them. Especially the two Selenicereus species... I need to get rid of them! Check them out, each branch can reach a couple of meters in length. Wish me good luck (as I´ll wish you when I give you one!)!

Wonnebald (Wonnie!)

And how can I not post a photo of our latest family member, Wonnebald?! He's doing fine and he's liking it over here. Much better than on the street, where they've found him all alone while it was almost freezing...

See ya next time and hopefully with some more (and better taken!) photos!

Tobacco field, Chimarrão, cacti and Wonnie

And here's another piece of what I would like to share. Hello and welcome (back?) on my blog! If you check out my other 'articles', you'll see that they're not 100% consistent. I don't have 1 theme and actually I just write stuff down I feel like sharing at that exact moment. But does that mean that my blog is chaotic and vague? Maybe... But I'm sure that some of you ended up here Googling something that you're interested in. Maybe you were looking for photos of seedlings of that rare cactus species or maybe some type of pipe. It could be a nice single malt whisky (although I'm not an expert yet). Or you were just bored. Nothing wrong with that! Or... Hey! Maybe you're family, a friend or someone that I've met in real life. Nice! You came here to check out what Stan's doing, ah? Well, here we go!

My wife and I had some busy days lately. We went to Brasil, visiting family and friends and I can tell you that it was great! Next time we really need to stay longer, because we were seeing everyone in such a hurry.  Lots of great people and only a few days. Time passes fast when you're busy.

Between all the visits and meetings we've seen some pretty cool stuff again! My wife's grandfather owns a piece of land and there they grow different crops, depending on the season. And guess what season it was when we've arrived there?!

Tobacco!

Tobacco field

Exactly! Tobacco! Everyone who knows me well or who reads my blog once in a while knows that I'm a pipe smoker and that - of course - I like tobacco. Visiting this tobacco field was something that made me smile!

Me standing in a tobacco field

Nicotiana tabacum, the tobacco plant, sadly one of the greatest income of many governments. I have a theory about this, but I won't bother you too much with it. I believe that if the government would use all the money they make with excise tax to pay the problems of our bad-organized healthcare, people might be surprised of how low their monthly payment would be.

Of course, smoking a lot of tobacco might cause health problems, but I also believe that if someone smokes his daily pipe, drinks his glass of whisky and really take the time to enjoy it, that person might get a little older than someone who doesn't take the time to enjoy his life. Stress gives you more health problems than smoking!

Ready to be cured!

My wife's grandfather explained a lot about the process, but I didn't took note and thought; 'Ah, I'll rember!',  but no! Let me see. Ah yes! He told me that it's very important to harvest the tobacco plants on the right time. If you wait some days longer, you're stuck with useless plants that can't be used for tobacco production anymore (as he pointed at his neighbor's crops).

Below here I've added some photos of the curing process. They speak for themselves.

Me and my wife's grandfather

He doesn't work on the land anymore like in the old days. Right now he just rents his land and live in peace in his nice and calm house.

Tobacco leafs, hanging to dry and to cure

In here they burn wood. The oven is connected to some pipes that are used  for quickening the curing process.

The pipes I was talking about

Got it, right?

More tobacco, almost ready to leave

This part is even older than the rest. They used to hang tobacco leafs on sticks here

Okay, let's move on!

Chimarrão

Yerba mate

 This plant is used for a traditional South American infused drink. Dried out a little and cut, they put some spoons of it in a so called 'cuia' (which is a calabash drinking mug), put a little cold water on the herb to make it stick to the wall of the mug, then stick in the 'bomba' (which is a sort of metal straw) and then add cooked water. They say that it doesn't have any effect, but I don't believe them! Not that I've seen any weird stuff after drinking 'Chimarrão' (the name of the drink), but it woke me up as hell! I love it. It's a little bitter, but it's nice.

More green stuff...

Later on our trip in Brazil, we've visited the uncle of my brother in law, a very nice guy. His wife made me the best Caipirinha I've ever tasted in my life! Okay, back to nature!

Check out all the epiphytes! Amazingly pretty in my opinion!

Another epiphyte...

Are you seeing what I am seeing? Look closer!

Yeah! That's a cactus! A Rhipsalis species. 

I'm not sure about the full name yet, but I'll come back to that later (it's
Rhipsalis elliptica) This isn't the plant you think about when you hear the word cactus, but I can assure you that it is one. Many people confuse cacti with other succulents (even I did in the beginning), but today I'm going to learn you a little trick about how to recognize one!

Areoles!  Only cacti have them, so that's simple, right? Let me show you some!

Areoles

Cacti are the only plant group that have areoles. Spines, branches and also flowers grow from these small light to dark spots. Great! Now you can identife a cactus.

Take a good look at this plant. It has spines as you can see, but can you also see the areoles? Nope. This is no cactus, but an Euphorbia, a succulent plant from Africa. Very pretty in my opinion by the way! 

As I've already told you in my other article, I've ordered some seeds again and two species that I'll sow are from the Euphorbia family; Euphorbia platyclada and Euphorbia gorgonis. My wife thinks they're ugly (Hmmm... Shit happens!)

Cactolândia 2013!

2013's sowing

• Bottom left: Lophophora williamsii, L. fricii, L. Diffusa, Macheocereus eruca

• Top left: Lobivia silvestrii (Echinopsis chamaecereus), Sulcorebutia arenacea, Melocactus matanzanus

• Top right: Parodia ottonis, Notocactus turecekianus, Gymnocalycium erinaceus

• Bottom right: Euphorbia platyclada, Euphorbia gorgonis, Pachypodium rosulatum, Haworthia sordida

Just four containers this time! (ow, and one in the bottom right corner; Brighamia insignis, seeds from my own plant. Check Out my other article on this one!)

What can I say about my choices... I'm crazy about Lophophora species. I like the way they're spineless and I like their interesting history. Lophophora williamsii has many other names, but the most famous one is 'Peyote'. I've already written a lot about this plant, so I suggest you should search my blog if you would like to read a little more about it.

Macheocereus eruca, the creeping Devil! I like that name! Haven't I already written about this spiny fellow? I don't think so. Not that I can remember. This species is called 'The Creeping Devil', because he actually creeps. He grows horizontally from one side and dies at the base. This process makes this plant transport himself from one spot to the other. If you Google this plant and check out the huge spines, you'll probably also imagine the Devil-part of the name (imagine stepping on one!)

I've chosen Lobivia silvestrii and Sulcorebutia arenacea because of their pretty flowers and interesting way of growing. Melocactus matanzanus interests me because of its weird cephalium. I've never grown a species of this family, so I'll let them surprise me!

Parodia ottonis, Notocactus turekianus and Gymnocalycium erinaceus were a present of someone from the cacti-forum on Cactiguide.com (thanks again, Arjen!).

And then there are the plants my wife hates. Offff... Well, they're not THAT ugly, I think. Okay, they're weird, but weird is funny and funny makes you happy and isn't being happy what it's all about? When Euphorbia platyclada is in the rich years of its life, it looks kind of dead. Check Google for this one! Euphorbia Gorgonis is named after a female Greek mythical creature with snakes on her head. The plant looks like the head of this Gorgon. After searching a tree-look-a-like-tiny-succulent for days, I've found Pachypodium rosulatum. What more can I say? Haworthia sordida is similar to the other species of the Haworthia family, but differs in its colors; blackish/reddish, very pretty!

And then I would also like to say that a friend of mine, who always orders seeds together with me and sow around the same time has asked me to pick out one extra species. 'A columnar cactus that will reach about 1,4 m max. Surprise me!' were his words. Well... He'll be surprised, because I've settled him up with the following species; Harrisia pomanensis, also named 'The Midnight Lady'. Yeah, that will cause a mess in his house, but it's also funny I think and funny makes you happy and that's what life's about! Right?! Uhmmm... Next!

I would also like to say that I'll write with more details about the species I've named above in the future. It's just that I don't feel like stealing pics online and would rather to use my own. Ow, by the way! Our camera has died in Brazil, DAMMIT! Now we'll have to buy a new and better one. Finally a good reason!

Peyote News!

The photos below are all taken with my old Nikon 2100 with 2.0 effective Megapixels that I've bought in 2004. My other camera has died as you've read above. But okay, Peyote News! These seedlings are all from 2011, except 2 that were a gift from someone.

Lophophora williamsii, La Popa, Nuevo Leon

Lophophora williamsii, Nuevo Yucatan

Lophophora williamsii (the 2 right seedlings are the gift I was talking about)

Last but not least...

Wonnebald

I would like you to meet our latest family member, 'Wonnebald'! You can also call him 'Wonnie' and in Germany they would call him 'Wunibald' or 'Wuni'? Anyway, we think he's great!

That's it for today! See ya next time (hopefully with some seedling-photos taken with my new bad-ass-camera!)!