Your "Must Have" Blends

[CLRV]

Brothers-

The "if your state bans tobacco sales over the internet" thread has sparked an interesting discussion/poll/whatever. What are your must have blends which would cause a serious problem if you could no longer get them (easily, IE had to drive to another state or what have you).

Mine are GLP Kensington and Chelsea Morning, Bob's Chocolate Flake, FMOTT, and Ten Russians. Those are the blends I am actively cellaring in anticipation of Oklahoma losing its mind like MD. However, we tend to do the "take my freedom from my cold dead hand" mentality here in Okie land, so I don't expect a crack down any time soon.

Maybe that's just wishful thinking on my part because as some will know from other posts, I don't have a single decent tin B&M here in Tulsa. If the internet goes, I'll be screwed until the pipe shops get it together and start carrying the good stuff. :no:

 

[raf66]

Yay I'm first! Bob's Choc Flake would definitely be first, followed fairly closely by Orlick Golden Sliced and Peterson's Irish Flake. Well hold on, I'd also have to have some Escudo and Hal O' The Wynd. This could take a while... Let's just hope that all of our faves will be available to us for a good while.

 

[Blackhorse]

For me it would be the blends that no one carries in the local B&M's...several of which have a pretty good cross section of blends. But they don't stock items from other "smaller" blenders like Peretti's, John Patton (AT 4-Noggins), Hearth & Homes, etc. Of this kind of thing I'd truely miss "Stormfront" and "Stogie" and "Cuban Mixture". And then there's the Gawith & Hogarth stuff like "Dark Plug" and "Dark Flake Unscented" and "Sweet Rum Twist"...that sort of thing. I sure hope things never get to that point...it's crazy AND insulting to any freedom loving citizen.

 

[talrmn35]

Chelsea Morning, PS Lux Twist Flake...those are my most regular smokes. Hope nothing stupid happens here in Illinois...again.

 

[forsooth]

At this point in my "smoking career," I could minimally make do with 3 Lane blends: 1-Q, BC-A, and RLP-6.

Then there is a mix-and-match second tier of blends, which serve to augment the above, such as Autumn Evening, Mocha Black, and the 7 Seas series.

As you can see, I'm not a English smoker (yet). I smoked some Billy Budd recently in the garage and my wife came out of the house to alert me that someone was burning trash.

 

[mac]

Don't know that I've really found a must have hoarded blend, but Va's and VaPers are always kept.

 

[Muddler]

I've sometimes thought of what I can do when I can no longer get tobacco from the USA. The local stuff is terrible but I'd adapt. What I do know is that I'm not giving up my pipes.

Must have blends: FVF, Union Square, Fillmore, Chelsea Morning, PH Special Curly, Meridian. I could survive with these.

 

[Harlock999]

Presbyterian.

 

[MisterE]

Well, I don´t think there are any blends I "couldn´t live without". That notion was dispelled when the Dunhill blends were absent for a while. I thrived during that time actually. Discovered a bunch of new things that I like just as much or more.

Anyhow, that said, I´d prefer not to have to live without:

Escudo
Reiner LGF
GLP Fillmore
EMP
Orlik GS

 

[eon]

I've sometimes thought of what I can do when I can no longer get tobacco from the USA. The local stuff is terrible but I'd adapt. What I do know is that I'm not giving up my pipes.

I know what you mean. I have woken up screaming at night at the mere thought!

Yes, I know, I know, I can still get FVF and all the other Gawiths over the counter around here. But, frankly, they are not my favorites at all.

I guess I could prolong a miserable existence for a year or two on Red Rapparee and the golden trinity of Charles "Kohlhase-Kopp" Rattray. But not much longer without Three Oaks! Nay Sir!

A rare instance indeed where I sincerely hope that the status quo will prevail indefinitely.

 

[cakeanddottle]

Robert McConnell Scottish Cake
Rattray's HOTW
McClelland Three Oaks Syrian

Hopefully some of the unopened and untested tins in my cellar

 

[Zeno Marx]

McClelland 2015
McClelland 2035
McClelland Bombay Extra
Samuel Gawith Squadron Leader (though I haven't had any for a long while)
Samuel Gawith Commonwealth Mixture (though I haven't had any for a long while)

still looking for that Pease that pleases.

 

[Natch]

Well, I don´t think there are any blends I "couldn´t live without".

I agree. There are so many good blends out there and my personal smoking regime seems to migrate all over the place, so I wouldn't stay with a few select blends regardless. Right now I'm absolutely enamored with PCCA Virginian and Millennium, but I don't smoke more than a bowl or two a week (they were both limited runs from the early to mid 90s, so how many tins can there still be out there?). Even if hundreds of tins were found and miraculously sent to me, I'd probably still not smoke them that often, or they would loose their "specialness".

An interesting question, what tobacco we "must have" rather than just prefer/want. There are numerous threads about our favorite three or five tobaccos, or what would we want on a desert island, but this puts the question of our preferences into a different light. Rather than individual tobaccos, I'd think more towards types of tobaccos. I have to have a Lakeland flake at least every other day or so, but Glengarry, Rum, Chocolate, Sam's, or any of a few others will do. I also need an aged sweet straight Virginia at that same rate, but Marlin Flake or most of the McClelland broken Va flakes can fill that need.

Either I'm not able to hone in on any particular blend, or I can't make up my mind, or I'm just your basic, drifter of a tobacco-whore?

Natch

 

[Kapnismologist]

... just your basic, drifter tobacco-whore

Classic. A candidate for a new signature line?

 

[lordnoble]

Well, as it stands right now, I'm in league with Blackhorse. If I can get it at one of the B&M's locally, I'll be OK with most of my favorites. That said, I'd have to find a way to get these:

W.O. Larsen Signature

Rattray's Bagpiper's Dream (This one I'm not sure about. One of the B&M's I go to has other Rattray blends so I might be OK here)

C&D Consolation (Actually, any Pease/C&D blend could go here)

Mac Baren Vanilla Flake

I'm sure there's more but I can't remember them right now.

-Jason

P.S.- I'm stealing that classification, Natch. Tobacco-whore creates a great mental image.

 

[LIPIPE]

Sweet Nicotina. She is truly a lady of the evening!

 

[Eric]

C&D Opening Night
Dunhill Flake
SG Full Virginia Flake
SG St. James Flake

I might as well have to drive state lines given the (un)availability of the latter two blends.

 

[dshpipes]

Fortunately, I've got a great B&M close by that stocks my favorites. However, if the tobacco apocalypse were imminent, I'd trade off all of my other tins for:

Telegraph Hill
Grey Havens
Bombay Extra
Bombay Court
Squadron Leader

 

[jj1015]

This list changes a lot, as I'm always sampling new blends. But, at the moment, it would be:
Filmore
Chelsea Morning
Odyssey
Northwoods
Bosun Cut Plug or Ennerdale
Blackwoods Flake
and, as always, CARTER HALL

 

[sand18f]

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