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Brothers of Briar

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Gaius Marius said:
Hey, Manawydan, its great to have you here!
We're a pretty friendly bunch. I've sure got parallels to you, 62 blends in my collection thus far. TAD is a fun problem to have! Do you have any favorites figured out yet?
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Thanks! My ‘rotation’ includes these blends at the moment: Nightcap, Northwoods, Quiet Nights, Mississippi River Rum Barrel Aged, Balkan Sasieni, Plum Pudding Bourbon Barrel Aged, Steamworks, Elizabethan Mixture, Haddo’s Delight, Boswell’s Best, and Cult Blood Red Moon. My overall fave at the moment (evolves over time) is probably Steamworks.

I am partial to bent bulldog/rhodesian pipes, but have bent billiard, apple, etc… as well from Savinelli, Peterson, Mark Tinsky, Boswell, MM, and Stanwell.
 
The only blends among that list I own are Nightcap which I have not yet cracked open, Quiet Nights, and Blood Moon. I'm really trying to not buy any more for a time as I've already got enough for at least a year or two of smoking at my current rate but some of your favorites sound like blends I'd like.
Your briar collection sounds good- better than mine. Have you tried a cob?
 
Gaius Marius said:
The only blends among that list I own are Nightcap which I have not yet cracked open, Quiet Nights, and Blood Moon. I'm really trying to not buy any more for a time as I've already got enough for at least a year or two of smoking at my current rate but some of your favorites sound like blends I'd like.
Your briar collection sounds good- better than mine. Have you tried a cob?
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I haven’t tried my cob yet — looking forward to that. What blends are in your rotation right now? I understand not wanting to get more right now — I have about 20 blends in my cellar that I haven’t tried yet. It’s hard though when I keep reading the forums and learn about all these wonderful options!

I have found that Savinelli, Peterson, and Stanwell all make really high-quality great smoking pipes in the $100ish range. Hard to go wrong.
 
I have found myself gravitating towards cobs. I have three thus far and while the first 4-5 bowls of a new cob are inferior to a briar, I find once you get the sides throughly coated and permiated with ash and flavor, they can offer a really nice smoke.

My rotation has quite a few, just like you.
As for aeromatics, I like Sutliff's Chocolate Mousse, their Vanilla Custard Cream, and Cult's Blood Red Moon.
Granger and SWR, PA are my favorite burley blends, in that order- all codgers.
My favorite Englishes are Early Morning Pipe and Three Sails.
I'm not generally a fan of perique so that limits what I smoke a little bit.

I'm busy at work and there are more blends in my rotation but I'm a little too distracted to brainstorm them out. I'll update you later when I have some more spare time. Really hectic couple weeks for me here, but all very good stuff. Just a lot of it all at once!

When you end up getting your cob going, tell me what you think of it!
 
Gaius Marius said:
I have found myself gravitating towards cobs. I have three thus far and while the first 4-5 bowls of a new cob are inferior to a briar, I find once you get the sides throughly coated and permiated with ash and flavor, they can offer a really nice smoke.

My rotation has quite a few, just like you.
As for aeromatics, I like Sutliff's Chocolate Mousse, their Vanilla Custard Cream, and Cult's Blood Red Moon.
Granger and SWR, PA are my favorite burley blends, in that order- all codgers.
My favorite Englishes are Early Morning Pipe and Three Sails.
I'm not generally a fan of perique so that limits what I smoke a little bit.

I'm busy at work and there are more blends in my rotation but I'm a little too distracted to brainstorm them out. I'll update you later when I have some more spare time. Really hectic couple weeks for me here, but all very good stuff. Just a lot of it all at once!

When you end up getting your cob going, tell me what you think of it!
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I’ll keep that in mind when I finally break in my cob. And interesting blends — I’ll have to check some of those out. I haven’t tried any of Sutliff’s aro’s. I have a tin of EMP that I haven’t opened yet.
 
Ranger107 said:
Welcome to our little group from Arizona high country. Another SoCal refugee, lol. Careful on the PAD/TAD or you will wind up like Jiminks in a few years, lol. I have over 60 pipes and a hundred plus blends in the cellar and can't find the time to smoke them all, lol.
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Thanks! I have 49 years to go before I am in range of JimInks. :) Both PAD and TAD are hard to rein in with all the variety out there!
 
Okay! I'm off of work and I can look at my tobacco drawer to give you a more complete answer.
Peter Stokkebye Pistaccio is another aeromatic I like. It's sweet and nutty. Peter Stokkebye 402 luxury twist flake is also a winner for me. I think that Lane Black Raspberry has a similar profile to Blood Red Moon but with raspberry instead of cherry- also at a much lower pice point.
That about rounds out my usual rotation however there are other blends I enjoy less often like Velvet, MacBaren Scottish Mixture and Virginia #1, C&D Founding Fathers, and some of the Villager blends.
I'm sure you'll understand what I mean when I say that with tobacco, I feel like kid in a candy store who wants to try everything.
 
Gaius Marius said:
Okay! I'm off of work and I can look at my tobacco drawer to give you a more complete answer.
Peter Stokkebye Pistaccio is another aeromatic I like. It's sweet and nutty. Peter Stokkebye 402 luxury twist flake is also a winner for me. I think that Lane Black Raspberry has a similar profile to Blood Red Moon but with raspberry instead of cherry- also at a much lower pice point.
That about rounds out my usual rotation however there are other blends I enjoy less often like Velvet, MacBaren Scottish Mixture and Virginia #1, C&D Founding Fathers, and some of the Villager blends.
I'm sure you'll understand what I mean when I say that with tobacco, I feel like kid in a candy store who wants to try everything.
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I've wanted to try 402 Luxury Twist Flake for a while now. Pistachio sounds delicious! Adding that to my list. Kid in a candy store indeed! Thanks for the welcome and the blend recommendations.
 
Welcome to the group! I have a collection of briar pipes that are largely just display since I smoke cobs as a rule. I also settled on G. L. Pease English/Balkan blends that have some proportion of Virginia, Oriental/Turkish and Latakia and no Burley components.
 
Balisong said:
Welcome to the group! I have a collection of briar pipes that are largely just display since I smoke cobs as a rule. I also settled on G. L. Pease English/Balkan blends that have some proportion of Virginia, Oriental/Turkish and Latakia and no Burley components.
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Thanks! And yes — I am definitely an English/Balkan/Oriental fan. Throw in some VaPer, DFK, and Aro’s for variety and I’m there!
 
Welcome! I usually say"pull up a chair and set a while" but you appear to be well installed. Glad to have such an enthusiastic piper join us. My collection of tobaccos is modest, I only keep 11 or 12 blends in rotation. My tastes vary, but I don't generally smoke aros. Most of my blends are actual blending components for other tobacco recipes. I don't cellar. My pipe collection stands at 18-20 if you include my cobs at work. I own briars, meerschaums, clays, cobs, a hardwood, and a porcelaine bowled sampling pipe. I look forward to seeing you in "what are you smoking pages".
 
Singed said:
Welcome! I usually say"pull up a chair and set a while" but you appear to be well installed. Glad to have such an enthusiastic piper join us. My collection of tobaccos is modest, I only keep 11 or 12 blends in rotation. My tastes vary, but I don't generally smoke aros. Most of my blends are actual blending components for other tobacco recipes. I don't cellar. My pipe collection stands at 18-20 if you include my cobs at work. I own briars, meerschaums, clays, cobs, a hardwood, and a porcelaine bowled sampling pipe. I look forward to seeing you in "what are you smoking pages".
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Thanks for the welcome! I am looking forward to adding a Meerschaum to my collection at some point, and the hardwoods also are intriguing.

I have nine blending components that I bought to taste-test and help educate my palette. I haven’t tried them yet — been too busy with the already-blended tobaccos. :) Are there any in your rotation you’d recommend?
 
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