Distinguished Ruffian

Beard 101

You want to grow your beard and/or you’ve started. Well congratul-fucking-ations and welcome to the club. I am a 28 year old man whose had a beard for the better part of 7 years and been growing a good thick one for the past 2 years. To you beard newbies I say welcome to the club, and to you beard veterans I say cheers. On my beard campaign I’ve tried to amass a good amount of information for you beard growers, new and old alike.

IT’S GENETICS AND AGE
Nothing else. How old you are and what hair growing genetics are bred into you will determine your beard growing capability. Let no one ever fucking tell you otherwise. The older you get, the more likely you are to grow a nice thick beard, but if you couldn’t when you were in your mid 20’s, chances are you won’t ever have an epic thick beard. I couldn’t grow a decent beard until I was about 21, so for you late blooming teens, there is still hope.

KEEP GROWING IT
A lot of questions get asked, like does this look good? What do you think? Should I keep it going? FUCK YES. Keep growing it. At least for 6 months. See how she grows and see what kind of personality your beard will take. It will be the best thing you can do for both of you. Everyone’s beard is different. And everyone’s will grow in different shapes and sizes.

BEARD PRODUCTS ARE YOUR FRIEND
No, it’s not a trend. Even the Vikings traveled the seas and conquered everything with beard oil, and you, as a male in 2015, NEED to take care of your shit and make sure it’s presentable. Beard oil is honestly like crack for your beard and she will thank you for it. Don’t look too much into brands or even what goes into it, most of them have worked well enough for me. I use oil and balm. I put balm in before I go to sleep for deep conditioning and oil in the morning. This may seem backwards to most, but it’s what works for me and you need to figure out what works for you.

DON’T WASH YOUR FUCKING BEARD
I mean you can, but avoid it. Maybe if you get clam chowder in it or something and you don’t want to smell like Red Lobster. Shampoo will dry that shit out, and make it frizzy. If you shampoo, use conditioner as well to help.

THE DAVID BECKHAM EFFECT
My wife is a hair stylist. She has to deal with 100 dudes bringing in pictures of David Beckham, male perfection, and demanding their hair too look like his. Well, tough shit Jr, you don’t have the same hair type as Mr. Beckham. You can’t make your hair type change to EXACTLY match what he has. The same will happen with your beard. You will see 1000 pictures of a ‘sick beard’ when you type that shit into google but it won’t be what yours will look like. Which leads me to…

FIND YOUR BEARD SHAPE
EVERYONE and I mean EVERYONE has a different beard. Find your shape. This is something that even as a beard veteran you will have a hard time coming to terms with. I rarely have beard envy and when I do, it’s usually over someone who has a comp
letely different type of grow/hair type as me. I have a curly, coarse, thick, red beard. So when I see joblo with a slick, straight, shaped beard, of course I get envious. But this was the card I was dealt and I have to deal with them.

DO NOT BE AFRAID TO TRIM
Should you trim? Yes. After a good amount of time some of your hairs will be like FUCK THIS FACE, I’M OUT and leave the rest of your beautiful beard high and dry. Well, say peace out those hairs and cut. them. Once you think you found a shape you like, don’t be afraid to trim that beast. Get the fly-always and split ends, both of which are going to be impossible to avoid. Finding a good beard shape and length will help your beard fill in on spots you may have thought weren’t going to originally. I always used scissors and never use my clippers, I’ve always felt it was a safer route than facing a potential fuck up for being a huge spaz.image1-2

 

Hope some of these tips help you newbies out and cheers my bearded brothers!

Review by Distinguished Ruffian member @Whiskeyfe

McClelland Tobacco Company’s Blackwoods Flake

McClelland1Blackwoods Flake… This is a very interesting smoke, it is complex but at the same time it is simple… I know, I know oxymoron. Here’s what I mean you can taste all sorts of things as you smoke it, but by the end of the smoke and the aftertaste is straight up creamy butter (and it is great!)

Ok so opening the tin up it is the standard ketchupMcClelland2 vinegar smell of this brand. The first light was of hay and nuts. The second light was even better it was a buttery nut kind of taste. I sat back and started my relaxing session. This entailed some reading, and stopping here and there to get taste of what the smoke was like. By ten minutes in I was experiencing pecans and butter; it reminded me my childhood and my love for roasted pecans.

Half way through it was like having a bowl of nuts, stone fruits, and raisins it was just continuing to get better and better as time progressed on. The baccy does tend to smoke a little hot but this is because of the sugar content, if you go slowly it won’t bite at all. I also noticed that the slower you went the more complex the smoke was. The last bit of the smoke was reminiscent of dates and cream; it was a really nice way to finish off the smoke. I did end up with a little bit of tongue bite but it wasn’t too serious at all. I think everyone who like Virginia based tobaccos should try this.

McClelland3

Pipe used- Old School pipes Oval Shanked stubby Billiard

Tobacco age- 2 months

Notes

Tin- Standard ketchup vinegar

Room note- mild

Nicotine- low to low medium

I give this smoke a 4.5 pints of 5.

Website: McClellandTobacco.com

 

Reviewed by- @scottishruffian13

Ventura Cigar’s PSyKo Seven

IMG_8394I was fortunate enough to get my hands on a two pack of the PSyKo Seven cigars from Ventura Instagram a week or so ago and had been anxious to try them. From what I had been hearing about them through other people and between what I had heard and the packaging (I’m a sucker for clever packaging) I wanted to see what they were all about.

The two pack arrived to me in the small wooden box with a Boveda pack in the bottom, which kept the humidity level in an excellent range. The cigar was still firm but easily pliable between the fingers. The cigars could easily be squeezed without the fear of cracking the wrapper yet, there were no noticeable dead or empty spots throughout the body of the stick.

The Maduro wrapper of this cigar is a nice rich brown nearly matching the color of coffee beans. The veining is minimal and the seam is almost invisible. The smell of the body is a bit of hay, earth, nuts, fruit and of course cedar. The foot reveals the same notes only stronger.

The light is easy and the draw was firm but not difficult and the cigar produced plenty of smoke from each pull. The smoke was not what I would call heavy on the tongue but still dense and full. From lighting it burned evenly and held a good solid ash. The flavor from the parade of tobacco used to make this cigar was excellent. While it shared a lot of the same flavors as it did in odor the nuttiness and fruit/citrus notes were more noticeable along with a spiciness. As I work my way through the cigar the flavor stays fairly even with little change. However, the flavor does become fuller putting this well into what I would consider to be a good medium to nearly full body cigar.

I thoroughly enjoyed smoking these cigars and can’t wait to pick up some more. If you are looking for something that has complex flavors and isn’t going to kill your budget look no further than the PSyKo Seven from Ventura Cigars. At $7.00 a stick it is really a cigar to beat in both price and quality.

Wrapper: Dominican Hybrid

Binder: Mexican Sumatra

Filler: Multiple Country Blend – Nicaraguan Ligero, Peruvian Pelo de Oro, Honduran Seco, Dominican Hybrid, Pennsylvanian Ligero.

Shapes: ROBUTSTO: 5.50” X 50 – TORO: 6.25” x 48 – GORDITO: 4.00” X 58 – GORDO: 6.00” X 60

Country of Origin: Dominican Republic

Taste: Mild-Medium with Distinct Transitions

 

Website: http://venturacigar.com/brands/psyko-seven

Cost: Around $7.00 a stick.

Rating 4.6 pints out of 5.