NotATankEngine

I'm heading down to Peru in a few weeks and am need of some recommendations. I'll be doing both a bus trip and the Salkantay trail (~75km hike) to Macchu Picchu while I'm there. Since I'll be spending a lot of time outdoors and in the mountains, I'm hoping to bring a pipe along and a tin of tobacco to enjoy along the way. My problem is I'm not sure what to bring. I've really enjoyed Virginias lately (PS Navy Flake, Orlik Golden Sliced, FVF, etc.) so I'm thinking something similar. However, I will be with my girlfriend who doesn't mind me smoking a pipe but I would like to try to pick something a little nice on the nose. Any suggestions? I'm hoping to bring down one tin along with a cob (or m

Hey everybody,

So I've been studying for about 2 months now and have finished up content review. I have a little over a month left and I decided to take a half-length (NS Diagnostic) today due to not having enough time set aside for a FL. Well, I did not do well. I'm actually getting worse as I study more. Here are my scores in order:

Gold Standard 1/3 length - 124/125/125/125 = 499

NS1 - 126/126/125/129 = 506

NS2 - 125/127/126/126 = 504

NS 1/2 length - 123/125/125/129 = 502

I have no idea what to think. I've heard that NS2 is harder than the first, so that makes sense but I have no idea why I scored so poorly on the half-length diagnostic. I can't be getting worse, can I? What shoul

I'm nearing the end of my content review but I'm getting increasingly frustrated with Examkrackers books and practice problems. The lectures teach one thing and the practice problems test another. The answer explanations introduce formulas not taught in the lecture and the practice problems are almost always calculation-based (C/P) when the lectures do absolutely no walkthrough problems. Each lecture takes me forever to get through and I'm feeling really frustrated. Not sure what I'm looking for here. Reassuring words, maybe? Or maybe I just wanted to rant. Ugh. Anyone else experience this? Any suggestions? I think I'm still doing well (scored a 506 on NS1 after a month and a half of content

Hey everyone! I just started smoking a pipe a couple days ago thanks to this awesome community so I wanted to say hello and a kind thank you.

I've been reading through all the basics and whatnot but am unsure on what to do when I near the bottom of the bowl. So my questions are, when do I call time of death, is it typical to have to relight more frequently near the bottom, and is stirring the bottom common practice to get all that unsmoked tobacco?

As a side note, my girlfriend is interested in my new hobby and tried a few puffs of my pipe with me. She enjoys it but not the lingering smell afterwards (i.e., on my wool coat). Would aromatics be more friendly on her nose? I've been consider

Alright so I've been dabbling in coffee (french press, aeropress, but mainly v60) for quite some time but never got around to buying a gooseneck kettle. That was until today. I had a bit of birthday money left over and decided to buy something I wouldn't normally buy myself so I took a bus halfway across town, spent a little more in a local shop as opposed to Amazon on a Bonavita stove top gooseneck, got home, cleaned the new kettle a fair bit, then brewed an absolutely amazing coffee in my Hario v60. However, here's where things got fun. While cleaning, I dropped and cracked my v60 in the sink...yes, my only pour over is now broken. So now I have this brand new kettle for pour overs and no

Alright so there's this coffee shop down the street that makes a really great cup. However, I purchased a bag of their beans for the first time and I'm having trouble drinking the stuff. The beans are incredibly oily, all I smell is burnt, and the taste is really burnt too. They small batch roast their beans locally to a dark roast but this is like French roasted and then some. What should I do? Should I complain to them that they're burnt or just accept this it for what it is and find a new place? I've never had this happen before and am in need of advice.

Hey fellow Canadians (if you're out there),

I've decided to pull the trigger and buy a Baratza Encore but I'm having trouble deciding where to buy from. Everywhere in Canada I can find seems to start around $160 (plus shipping and tax) and only goes up from there. The Canadian dollar is also shit so no luck buying from the states without breaking the bank and Baratza doesn't sell refurbs to Canada.

So where should I buy from? I'm almost tempted to buy it from my local coffee shop since I'm probably going to end up paying ~$200 either way but it's $169 plus 15% tax there. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!

Edit: Well, a local high-end kitchen store had a pretty amazing deal on a Brevil

Hey fellow roasters. I just purchased a pound of organic Sumatra Gayo green beans and I notice that they're enormous in size. Like nearly twice as big as an Ethiopian bean. Is this typical of this origin? Also, any suggestions for roast? I always see Sumatras advertised as a dark roast. Thanks!