How long did it take to find your fist favorite tobacco?

[jacko]

Picked up a few pipes that I quite like but I seem to be struggling finding a good tobacco. I have about 8 or 9 2oz bags from the local guys but nothing seems to be that great. Just got a tin of Peterson's L.E. 2010 blend which is quite nice. I'm not a cigarette smoker so strong tobaccos don't sit well quite yet.

 

[Sasquatch]

Jacko, I always enjoyed a pipe, or the idea of a pipe, but I never felt like I had a "favorite tobacco" or a "go-to" for probably.... 15 years or so. Like you, I am not a ciggy hound. I enjoy the occassional cigar but the nicotine can be too much. I liked some sweetness, and for the longest time was committed to a blend of the style of captain black, sure that this was going to be the best tasting stuff a pipe smoker could smoke! I had a very limited and brief run-in with a gentle English blend, and enjoyed it, and then in England had a very comical run-in with Standard Mixture Medium.... I thought it had rotted in the tin!

Taking the pipe more "seriously" for the last.... 5 years or so, I developed both a better palate and better technique, and got some better pipes. I started enjoying a wide range of tobaccos because I had lost my preconceptions.

I think a guy needs to try a lot of stuff, some "benchmarks" in different areas, to see what he might like, and it may take awhile to realize that you like something.

I always tell guys to try Frog Morton (or Ben Hartwell Chesdin), Mac Baren Navy Flake, Commonwealth from Gawith, or maybe Cooper from Low Country (smokingpipes.com) for a latakia experience, Presbyterian Mix for a sweeter oriental tobacco.... and maybe a "codger burley" like carter hall or prince albert, though I'm not a burley fan.

Personally, I settled on Club Blend from Mac Baren quite by accident. I liked how it sounded, a sort of toasted marshmallow taste, and I bought a tin. First time I smoked it I thought "Meh, that's all right I guess." Felt that way for awhile, but then it sort of dawned on me as I smoked other stuff "Geez I wish this was Club Blend" and I feel that way about almost everything I buy. Hamborger Veermaster, Tjordenskold, Tudor Castle, Best Brown Flake.... all really good, but just not quite "Club"!

So I feel kind of lucky that I didn't search for ever and ever and not find "my tobacco". But the search is awful fun too, and I suppose when I guy settles in and decides what kind of stuff he likes most, eventually something will click.

Best of luck to you.

 

[gandalfpc]

It can be hard to get your start - but a few good samples should start to point you the way to other blends. I made the jump from aromatics as soon as possible after a fruitless hunt - and although there are still a handful of aromatics I like, real tobacco is where the flavor is (though the room aroma may range from nice to burning sock

for some easy to find at B&M's, try samples of these to see what types you like:

1) Lane BCA - vanilla aromatic
2) Stokkebye Proper English - english
3) Stokkebye Oriental Supreme - oriental

not sure which is a good beginner virginia, and there are burleys too - hopefully others will chime in with some other good selections...

perhaps grab a tin of Gawith Navy Flake or Full Virginia Flake off the shelf it your B&M has it

 

[J_Rock]

It took me a while to just find what type of tobacco I liked. I started on OTC (over the counter) blends like Carter Hall and Prince Albert. I really liked these blends but I started sampling bulk tobacco at a cigar shop about 60 miles away whenever I was in the neighbor hood. Over time I found BoB and branched out even further. I tried as many highly talked about blends as I could. I finally narrowed it down to two catagories........Virginia & Burley. I kept trying more in those 2 catagories and narrowed it down to one......Burley. I try alot of burley blends because those seem to be my favorite for my tastes. I still smoke an english blend on occasion or anything else I have an itch for. It is nice to find a goto blend but there are a ton of blends out there to try. Once you do find "it" don't turn your back on everything else. Ok I am done rambling.........

 

[TallSmoke]

The first blend I tried I smoked exclusively for several years. It was the North Sea blend from the Tinder Box. I'm not sure which company makes that one, but I enjoyed it for some time. Then I bought a second pipe and discovered you can actually try different blends! So I started experimenting. Now I have 3 blends I smoke a lot and a few others when the mood hits.

If you're somewhat new to pipe smoking I recommend investing in a few cobs and get to know some blends by smoking them often. As your pipe gets broken in you'll get to know the taste much better than if you smoked it the first time in a new pipe.

 

[Anonymous]

No time at all.

First time I was ever in a real pipes-&-tobaccos place Balkan Sobranie Virginian Nr. 10 looked like it would be good.

It was better than that.

It was what Caruso was to opera.

Its disappearance is one self-evident proof that life is not always fair.

:face:

 

[Anonymous]

Not too long. I found a local blender here who mixed up a type of burley blend which I liked and then bounced from that to his VA house blends. Our OTC stuff is really bad.
Then I hooked up with Muddler and my education started. One can say I am still searching and on a weekly basis I find new stuff that blows my mind. I am not stagnant at all and see smoking different blends as an Education.

By hanging around here you will learn a lot. I have been on the pipe for some 16 years but my time here on BOB has opened big doors for me.
From learning about US otc to the really smart stuff like Escudo and the like.

The most important thing is not to give up, toss out that which you do not like and keep going.
The process is alot of fun. Hook up with some smoking friends. Muddler and I often sample new stuff together when I go over to visit. It's good to chat about it too. I find that friendships and bonds are strengthened over a bowl or two with some friends.

Enjoy!!!! :cheers:

 

[Muddler]

I started off with B&M blends, then moved on to Borkhum Riff Original, which I smoked for several years. Then I discovered pipe web-sites & a whole world of tobacco opened up to me. Even so, it took a while to discover - & appreciate - FVF, my favourite. Having said that, I continually try new tobaccos in a neverending search for the holy grail. Personally, I think this is a big part of the hobby.

 

[Slow Puffs]

I'm very much like Muddler. Borkum Riff, Sail blends for years. Then tried a good many blends at a local B&M, but after discovering the internet I accessed so many more different blend. I gave up on the "Holy Grail". It's the process and the journey and the adventure .

 

[Doc Manhattan]

I smoked cavendish house blends for a year before a good-hearted clerk at Barclay-Rex steered me towards Orlik Golden Sliced and "anything with the GL Pease label." (Also told me to go find 965 even though they were out. Good egg, that fellow.)

 

[ftrplt]

Haven't had a "go to" tobacco since BS 759 was CNX'd! Once that I figured out that I wasn't a Burley/aromatic type, the rest was easy. That did take me a while, but I enjoyed the journey. Just don't be disappointed if you don't settle on "one" favorite tobacco. There's just too darn many out there!! FTRPLT