Review: John Marr

Tobacco Cellar

Editor’s Note:

Zack’s back! From the tobacco cellar comes not only a review but also a brief history lesson on Navy blends. His impeccable write-up on Captain Black compelled me to procure a pouch of the good stuff, which didn’t disappoint. I’m compelled to do the same after this latest entry in his Tobacco Cellar series.

Happy smoking.

- Frank Theodat

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If you haven’t already deduced this fact yourself, here at Pulp, Pipe & Poetry we prioritize action and experience over expertise. Better to do something several times, learning with each repetition, than wait for enough accumulated knowledge to try someday. This is the spirit in which we’ll be examining our next blend from the cellar. Venturing forward perhaps past our best judgment, offering opinions not yet shriveled up safely into meaningless truisms. You know, the place where all the actual learning and fun happens.

I happened to obtain several ounces of this blend right at the time when I chose to revisit Herman Melville’s most famous work of American nautical fiction. Now, if you’ve been an incredibly close reader of our ephemera, you may be aware of my public feud with

Brady Putzke

regarding our relative assessments of Moby Dick. And I’m happy to report that a second reading, far removed from my high school experience, proved me wrong (mostly). While the ponderous volume is still a meandering mess from the standpoint of modern conventions of novel-writing, it contains an electric Something that punches into your mind like a barbed harpoon. I defy you to forget the image of the Parsee lashed to a leviathan creature with the very ropes intended to capture the prize, displayed before the maniac captain as a grisly reminder of his own doom. Good stuff.

But this isn’t a review of Moby Dick. It’s a review of tobacco from Cornell and Diehl’s “Melville at Sea” series. Taking inspiration from a poem out of a collection Melville self-published called “John Marr and Other Sailors,” the blend gives a splash of exotic flair to the typical formula of a Navy blend. What’s a Navy blend? Here comes the history (or at least, the typically received lore). You see, being as sailors are typically heroic consumers of Nicotiana tabacum, but also far from resupply for extended periods, the story goes that what we now enjoy as Navy blends began as strictly practical affairs. Virginia tobaccos were stowed in casks, pressed into flakes or rolled into twists to slow deterioration and sprinkled with rum for flavor. Usually nowadays the Virginia is augmented with a second variety for interest; this reviewer is most familiar with Perique in this role, although as with all things in the world of pipe smoking, opinions differ widely and sharply.

Now this is where the blenders responsible for John Marr take a firm tack in another direction. Adding Orientals to the blend and substituting some of the golden Virginia leaf for its Red Virginia variety, they splash the whole blend with bourbon and vanilla instead of rum. It is almost enough change to move the blend out of the category, but it still reminds us of the smooth bready and sweet qualities present in standard Navy blends. The whiffs of dry spice, the warm sweet backdrop, the liquor top note, and the occasional gusts of pepper all feel like nods to the far-flung ports visited by the whalers on their yearlong cruises. Picking out the rather faint notes takes you on a sort of storytelling journey during your smoke that adds immensely to the experience. Is it Truly A Navy Blend? Please see the first paragraph of this review. There are many opinions, and this one is mine. It’s a smoker’s tobacco, is what, and quite the change from those formulated for passive puffing like our beloved codger blends. Best enjoyed when you have enough time to take a leisurely stroll around the deck, whether that deck overlooks storm-tossed waves or your back lawn.

Carefully stuff the battered old clay while eyeing the rolling thunderheads on the horizon. A quick practiced light, then the pipe is reversed toward the deck to protect its smoldering cargo from spits of rain. A hold full of rich proceeds trawled off whaling grounds from the baking Pacific to the frozen Kamchatka wastes, and the forecastle full of the crew’s personal hoards of exotic trinkets and presents for home. A prayer to God Almighty, the best defense against the fury of the oncoming storm. Make fast and furl, the deck a flurry of activity. Best hold fast, it’s going to be a rugged evening making the run into harbor. Rolling down to Old Maui again, lads.

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Tattooings, ear-rings, love-locks curled;
Barbarians of man’s simpler nature,
Unworldly servers of the world.
Yea, present all, and dear to me,
Though shades, or scouring China’s sea.
~ Herman Melville, John Marr