GtrSmoker

I was born and raised in a small community in southern West Virginia. Since moving away in my 20s, I have lived in Portsmouth Virginia (nearly a decade), Louisville Kentucky (five great years), and Largo Florida (2017-present).

A little about my tobacco preferences....

I’m broadening my horizons as quickly as my budget allows. I’m not a fan of aromatics or latakia. Most everything else is fair game. Although I tend to avoid blends with cigar leaf. If I want that, I’ll have a cigar.

I try to purchase most of my tobacco in bulk. To me, the quality is still there, and my limited dollars go farther. I’ve been mostly a Virginia hound this year (2021), having nabbed a couple of pounds each (with the intent of allowing a portion of it a decent time for long term aging) of Newminster Superior Navy Flake, Sutliff’s bulk stoved Virginia and the bulk matured Red Virginia, as well as bulk Cornell and Diehl Yorktown and Bright Virginia Ribbon.

Not long after that, I had my first run-in with Rattray’s. I acquired (having never previously had any Rattray’s) several tins each of Brown Clunee, Hal o the Wynd and Old Gowrie.

I’d already been smoking as much burley and bright as straight Virginias by this point. I now developed a taste for a pinch of perique and a dash of Kentucky with my Virginias.

my take on various blends and houses...

I consider Gawith Hoggarth the gold standard for quality tobacco. I’m still exploring their substantial catalog, but I’ve experienced enough to recognize their greatness, to say nothing of their historical relevance. In my mind, nobody does bold, full strength tobacco better. And their flakes are in a class by themselves.

In the same quality level as GH, I’d include Sam Gawith, naturally, as well as Rattray’s and Peterson. I imagine there’s others, but it’s relatively early in my tobacco journey.

Mac Baren and others produce some outstanding tinned offerings, but there are bulk brands I’d put in the same class. Because of price, I gravitate towards those instead. These include Peter Stokkebye, Sutliff and a couple of Newminster’s blends.

I realize G.L. Pease is immensely popular, but I’ve been disappointed with most GLP blends I’ve tried. Stonehenge and, to a lesser extent, Triple Play are the exceptions

The more I explore Cornell and Diehl, the more I appreciate their output. I doubt I’ll ever consider them top shelf, but their bulk products offer an exceptional value for many smokers, myself included. I mean, why pay top dollar for GLP’s Union Square when CD’s Yorktown is very much in the same vein? I’m aging a little of both (much more of Yorktown, actually), so perhaps with time I’ll be forced to rethink my stance.

I look forward to being able to amend my thoughts on the various blends and brands I encounter.

Update 13 July, 2021: Kudos to Natch for providing me with some generous samples of quite a few GH flakes and various other Virginias and VaPers, all over a decade old. This has been my first extensive experience with pipe tobacco with that kind of age, and it’s been outstanding.

At the rate I’ve been buying tobacco, chances are I’ll end up with a decent amount of my own stock maturing to that level, even if I continue chain smoking at the rate I’ve been going since picking my pipes back up in December 2020.

I’ll close this update with a couple of tobaccos that have entered my radar since my initial post. GH Curly Cut Deluxe is a tasty, buttery, cashew-like smoke that I intend to stockpile if at all possible. I managed to get my hands on some recent production Curly Cut, and it’s got a ways to go before it’s as good as Natch’s sample. But it’ll be worth the wait. I’m going to get ahold of a couple of pounds of that if it kills me.

The other revelation comes in the form of Peterson’s Perfect Plug. Yes sir, a local pipe buddy hooked me up with a couple of bowls worth of 3P and that is definitely my kind of smoke. I haven’t yet had the opportunity to grab some for myself, but I will very soon. Luckily, that’s one of the few things that I consider a great blend that’s actually fairly easy to come by.

Stay tuned…

In the meantime, feel free to check out my reviews on tobaccoreviews.com, under the user name HRHF.