A newbie's Guide To Brands/Blends Tobacco

[EvoRussell]

If you would I am very eager to learn from you guys. What I have not been able to find and I feel would be a great resource would be a list of what you consider to be the 5-10 major categories of tobaccos in your opinion, and what you feel would be the best example of that particular segment....

For newbies like myself, I like to start with good examples of a category rather than purchase at random in he hopes of finding something that serves as a representative.

For Example:
Gravel:
English: Beck's ol' Limey *******, Penzance, Squadron Leader
Virginia: McCranie's Red Flake, Orlick Golden Sliced
Aromatic/English Crossovers: Torben Dansk Black Velvet, Just For Him Shortcut to Mushrooms, Boswell Northwoods

Puff Daddy:
Burley: Uhle's blend 00, and Perfection Plug. Wessex Burley slices, MacBaren Burley London blend.
Englsih: Skiff and Squadron Leader from Samuel Gawith, Maltese Falcon by GL Pease.
Virginia: Astley's 109, Samuel Gawith Medium Virginia (or Golden Glow, same exact thing with different packaging).
Oriental: McClelland's Orient 996

Kyle Weiss:
Burley: Wessex Burley Slices
It has what most Burley blends do not--flavor, character and mildness.
(Alternate: Pipeworks & Wilke Nut Brown Burley--a mild and honest Burley experience)
English: Dunhill Early Morning Pipe
Mild to medium, but full of character, a little Latakia and suitable any time of day (contrary to the title).
(Alternate: SG's Squadron Leader--incomparable to any other tobacco, but medium-bodied and lots of personality.)
Oriental: McClelland 2050 Bulk Oriental Cavendish
A nice way to be able to taste Turkish/Oriental tobaccos due to the cavendished process used. A little sweet, but pleasing to the senses.
(Alternate: *shrug* I'm not well-versed enough to suggest much more than that in the Oriental category)

Monbla256:English/Balkan - Only one, Peretti's Royal Blend IMHO
Virginia - For the BEST straight Virginia's, NO one beats ANY of the VA offerings from McClellands JMHO
Oriental - McClelland's Oriental #14 JMHO
Virginia: SG's Best Brown Flake
Bold, mild, naturally charismatic and an easy Virginia to get into.
(Alternate: GLP's Union Square -- bright, grassy, toasty and full of flavor, but takes some patience.)

 

[gravel]

Here are some I've enjoyed.

English: Beck's ol' Limey *******, Penzance, Squadron Leader

Virginia: McCranie's Red Flake, Orlick Golden Sliced

Aromatic/English Crossovers: Torben Dansk Black Velvet, Just For Him Shortcut to Mushrooms, Boswell Northwoods

 

[Puff Daddy]

My first thought is this: You are new so you have to go through the learning curve. The learning curve is personal, and everyone's tastes will provide different results. Start trying stuff that you hear recommendations for, and stay away from high octane stuff for awhile.

That siad..... My own likes:

Burley: Uhle's blend 00, and Perfection Plug. Wessex Burley slices, MacBaren Burley London blend.

Englsih: Skiff and Squadron Leader from Samuel Gawith, Maltese Falcon by GL Pease.

Virginia: Astley's 109, Samuel Gawith Medium Virginia (or Golden Glow, same exact thing with different packaging).

Oriental: McClelland's Orient 996.

 

[tiltjlp]

Ask 100 people and you'll get 200 answers. I would sugges starting with Mac Baren blends, which are top quality and value priced, being 100 grams for what many other blender ssell 50 grams for.

 

[Kyle Weiss]

(Moderators: kindly suggest this go in the Tobacco Jar?)

More like, ask five people and you'll get 200 answers.

While I encourage you to do what you're trying to avoid (blindly testing and tasting, that is--it's all part of the deal) here's my take, just for fun:

Burley: Wessex Burley Slices
It has what most Burley blends do not--flavor, character and mildness.
(Alternate: Pipeworks & Wilke Nut Brown Burley--a mild and honest Burley experience)

English: Dunhill Early Morning Pipe
Mild to medium, but full of character, a little Latakia and suitable any time of day (contrary to the title).
(Alternate: SG's Squadron Leader--incomparable to any other tobacco, but medium-bodied and lots of personality.)

Oriental: McClelland 2050 Bulk Oriental Cavendish
A nice way to be able to taste Turkish/Oriental tobaccos due to the cavendished process used. A little sweet, but pleasing to the senses.
(Alternate: *shrug* I'm not well-versed enough to suggest much more than that in the Oriental category)

Virginia: SG's Best Brown Flake
Bold, mild, naturally charismatic and an easy Virginia to get into.
(Alternate: GLP's Union Square -- bright, grassy, toasty and full of flavor, but takes some patience.)



These are simply a few selections in no particular order, one for each category.

...find yourself a B&M store to visit and try some tobaccos anyway. They'll let you. 8)

 

[jefe1037]

I like your organization, and these gentlemen are not giving bad examples, but before you go out buying more than one tin of anything, pick up something you find recommended or "just want to give a try" or simple accessibility (prince albert and carter hall come to mind). Smoke a nice big tub of PA and you will learn more about your pipe, your smoking style, and just that general "how to" of this pastime. you have a lifetime to get through all the flavors and blends. heck, start buying them now and put them away and let some age get on them. The biggest part of the learning curve is learning how to slow down and get the most out of a pipeful. when you are constantly changing tobaccos, it is this much harder. I am tempted to try new stuff all the time, and was really bouncing all over the place thanks to a few samples that the brothers were nice enough to send my way. I now have a one tin at a time policy, and though, i smoke less (not more 10 bowl in a row marathons, but then again wifey was out of town for that one) but i really am exploring what i like and why i like it.

Just wanted to shoot something your way that I picked up as useful.

 

[monbla256]

EvoRussel,
You've asked a good question for which there is no really good way to answer! IE, take ten pipe smokers and ask 'em "what is a good example of the Oriental type of blend?" and the first will say "oh, that would be blah blah" the next one would say "...oh blah blah is good, but THIS blend is really what you want", then the next would answer in the same manner till you would have ten DIFFERENT "typical" blends, which would be examples of the type, but their really are no "typical" generic examples, just many, many blends/mixtures of all the "types" available to smoke.

As for MY preferences here goes:
Burley - Can't recomend ANY. I don't like Burley

English/Balkan - Only one, Peretti's Royal Blend IMHO :roll:

Virginia - For the BEST straight Virginia's, NO one beats ANY of the VA offerings from McClellands JMHO :roll:

Oriental - McClelland's Oriental #14 JMHO :roll:

Now there will be tons of folks who will disagree with my selections but this is what you will run into with a question such as you asked !

If you have a B&M near you that has a selection of tinned tobaccos, see what they offer and try one or two tins of a "type" at a time, finishing each one, make some notes, either mental or written down, then go back and try some more. It's really only when you put a match to the tobacco that you will begin to learn. Besides, you've got the rest of your life to "get" it with this tobacco thing! Sit back, load up a bowl, light it and relax

 

[SpeedyPete]

Ask 100 people and you'll get 200 answers. I would sugges starting with Mac Baren blends, which are top quality and value priced, being 100 grams for what many other blender ssell 50 grams for.

And tongue bite is included for free!!! That's why it's cheap and it's aka Mac Bite :twisted:

 

[tiltjlp]

Ask 100 people and you'll get 200 answers. I would sugges starting with Mac Baren blends, which are top quality and value priced, being 100 grams for what many other blender ssell 50 grams for.

And tongue bite is included for free!!! That's why it's cheap and it's aka Mac Bite :twisted:

I've never had tongue bite from any blend, probably becuase I follow the advice my dad gave me back in 1959.

The Vernon Cool & Dry Method


Dry your tobacco more than you think you need to.
Pack looser than yout hink you need to.
Smoke slower than you think you need to.
Tamp less, and more lightly, than you think you need to.
Clean your pipes after every smoke, using pipe spirits.
​

 

[EvoRussell]

Updated the main post, and ordered some of these tobaccos.

I greatly appreciate the time people took to respond.

I am sure if people continue to put in thier 2 cents this thread could be useful.

As for the suggestion to just buy randomly...I kind of look at that along the lines of eating an entire cow hoping to find the steak. You go through much garbage when you could simply ask the guys who have done it before where to start...

 

[jefe1037]

i like the analogy, so i will continue it: you arent looking for steak in a cow field, you are looking in a butcher shop.

There are very few BAD tobaccos out there. If you are looking at reputable tobacco retailers, online or B&ms, you will run into stuff you don't like as much as others, but BAD tobacco has been "filtered out" of the marketplace wher most of us shop. you can still find smokers pride and borkum riff (ask kyle for a sample, he will send you plenty if you'd like the worst of the worst). however, c&d, esoterica, mcB, McC glpease, rattrays.... these are all known blenders that put out quality product.

even the most expensice tins of tobacco retail for 20 bucks or so, so go to town! if you find you dont like something, post it over on the trading post and see what you can get for it, you will be pleasantly surprised.

 

[Smoker99]

English--My benchmark is Dunhill London Mixture
Oriental--Rattray Red Raparree
Virginia--Rattray HOTW, Old Gowrie, Marlin Flake. SG FVF. C&D Opening Night, Solani 660.
Burley--C&D Big N Burley, Burley Flake #3, Burley Flake #2, and Burley Straight #808.

 

[KevinM]

I'm a fan of keeping it simple, so I'd concentrate at first on the major tobacco food groups: Va., Latikia, Oriental, Aro.

I'd go into a good tobacco shop and ask the proprietor for his rec of a couple ounces of each. After some enjoyable puffing you'd know what to look for in each tobacco group.

Meanwhile, I'd also be visiting boards such as BoB as well as review sites such as tobacco reviews dot com. I'd pay particular attention to the content of exch misture, which is given at the beginning of the review. I'd try some of the mixtures, guided by the reviews.

I'd also keep some notes on vocabulary: What does "topping" mean? "English?" "Sweet?' "Smokey?" "Body?"

Pretty soon your training wheels will be off, and you'll be on your way.

Enjoy your journey.