How Many Tobaccos in Your Rotation?

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kylef

Starting to Get Obsessed
Oct 17, 2018
232
498
Cape Ann, MA USA
Okay, so I've been smoking a pipe, albeit somewhat infrequently, for a little over two years.
I've made it a point to try a whole range of tobaccos, all kinds of aromatics, English and Virginias. I think I've tried about 15 different ones so far. A couple of them have stuck out for me as favorites, particularly MacBaren's 7 Seas Regular, but really, I've liked virtually every one I've tried.
But when I read all the descriptions of all these hundreds of different blends, I just want to keep trying new ones.
What do more experienced pipers lean towards, as far as how many blends do you rotate? Do you primarily smoke a favorite, and occasionally mix in something else? Do you have four or five blends that you go back and forth with?
Right now, I pretty much never smoke the same thing twice in a row--I love the variety.
I know there's no "right" answer, but I'm just curious as to what others do.

 

unkleyoda

Lifer
Aug 22, 2016
1,126
69
Your mom\\\'s house
My rotation has 2 types English and Virginia types
My English rotation:

965

Nightcap

Blairgowrie

Star of the East

Latakia Flake

Balkan Delight

Dunhill Standard Mixture
Virginia Mixes:

Escudo

PS Luxury Navy Flake

Bullseye Flake

Royal Yacht
I have a few others that come into and out of the rotations, but that is my core.
Proper English

HH Vintage Syrian

HH Bold Kentucky

Irish Flake

Old Dublin

The Solent Mixture

Golden Sliced
and a few others.

 
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bnichols23

Lifer
Mar 13, 2018
4,131
9,554
SC Piedmont
Hi, Kyle, & welcome! Me, I go pretty much across the board. I like aromatics, but also heavy latakia blends too (as well as just straight). Any good curly cut (any of the 3 Nuns blends, for example) or a good flake or cake. My favorite cake is Black Frigate by Cornell & Diehl; they also make some other very good blends. Just about anything of theirs is worthy. McBaren's Navy flake is a favorite too. Lane's BCA is probably my preferred aromatic. 1Q is also good, along with Sutliff's 245 ZBC. For me personally I prefer the lat-bombs, 3 Nuns, & others, but to be around people I generally smoke aromatics.
Bill

 

artificialme

Can't Leave
Mar 15, 2018
317
3
my current cellar / rotation now is :

1. PS English luxury

2. Robert mcConnell Scottish Cake

3. Timm London Blend 1000

4. Formosa - Indonesian made English Blend

5. Dwipantara - Indonesian made Virginia Flake

6. Warunadwipa - Indonesian made Burley base blend

7. Mr Tambourine - Indonesian made Oriental blend with tambolaka in it

8. 2-3 kinds of Indonesian oriental OTC Blend
I usually smoke 1 blend for 2-3 days and rotating them after. I Hope that I can smoke some dunhill blend in near future. those blend price is skyrocketing here in Indonesia :D

 

blackadderlxx

Can't Leave
Jun 17, 2018
369
10
My original intent when I switched over from cigars last year was to "keep it simple". Then I discovered that Frog Morton's Cellar was no longer available, so my search for why led me to here and learning of the FDA deeming. So I went from "simple" to try everything I could that was made after 2007 to see what I like and start stashing.
I say all that to say I have a lot of blends that are jarred up right now from trying them out. Of those if something strikes me as love at first light, I'll start buying it up like crazy. So far I've got pounds of Chelsea Morning, Plum Pudding, LNF and LBF. These are the blends that I can't live without. If Maltese Falcon ever comes back around, I'll add some of that too. These are the closest I have to a rotation. What I'm doing more than anything is exploring different things to stash before the hammer falls and trying to finish up the 25-30 open jars I've got. It's kind of ridiculous at this point.

 
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scloyd

Lifer
May 23, 2018
5,938
12,031
I have about 15 jars of tobacco in my rotation. Out of those I have 6 that I smoke on a regular basis.
John Cotton's Smyrna

Presbyterian

Sutliff Heavy English

Mac Baren Symphony

Sutliff Molto Dolce

Rattray's Exotic Passion
and just recently C&D Corn Cob Pipe with a Button Nose.

 

jaytex1969

Lifer
Jun 6, 2017
9,517
50,591
Here
I also fall into the "ridiculous" camp.
I came to pipe smoking from the vaping scene, where I learned all about the FDA deeming stuff, so I hit the ground running with the intent of building a cellar.
I accrued a retarded amount of tobacco in the last 16 months. It's 95% non-aro, many blends I've not even tasted.
I've smoked enough of each "category" to be confident that I'll enjoy it whenever I get around to it. The only two blends I've not liked, to date, were both tinged with kitchen spices.
I've three boxes full of ziplock bags of remnants from jarring or from buying "mixed lots" of samples or "odd & ends"
I'm about to add on the saltedplug wing to my house now......
jay-roger.jpg


 

mindglue

Starting to Get Obsessed
Apr 24, 2016
105
148
Lets add more chaos to the "ridiculous camp"

I picked up pipe smoking in 2015, and since that tried more than 300 hundred different blends. End result: have ~300 jars of different blends. So far, I finished only 3 or 4 tins completely. I cellared some tobacco tins, somewhere around 30-40 lbs., not really deep. I don't have aro blends, my cellar is mainly VA/VAPER (around 70%) and Oriental/English. I have no any specific rotation whatsoever, will pick up what I am in a mood to smoke.. I noticed that "Escudo", OGS, 3P's, "Balkan Blue", "Embarcadero", some Solani and Rattrays being smoked more often.

 

jpmcwjr

Moderator
Staff member
May 12, 2015
24,565
27,064
Carmel Valley, CA
8-12 jars or tins in active "rotation", though I tend to smoke more Smyrna, Fr. Dempsey, Vintage Syrian, Margate, Bagpiper's Dream, Balkan Flake. The latter two will not be replaced, so I am smoking them to clean house, so to speak. Not bad, just not my cuppa. Many other tins on the counter waiting to pounce.

 

tavol

Starting to Get Obsessed
Mar 23, 2018
175
172
When I first started pipe smoking, like most, I was keen to try as many blends as possible and at one point I had around 40 different blends open and it ended up being very confusing. I was taking hours to choose what blend to smoke and I was struggling to remember the subtle difference between blends from the same genre so I ended up limiting my rotation to a max of 12 blends. I have no fixed rotation but I normally have a mix of Virginia, VaPer and English blends open and a mix of new to me blends and old favourites.

 

judcole

Lifer
Sep 14, 2011
7,147
32,908
Detroit
There is what I am currently smoking - my rotation (usually about 20). There are the tins or jars that I am going to open as soon as I finish something off from the rotation - the pantry (6-8). And then there is the stuff that I am either deliberately again,or that I have a stash of for other reasons. (Lots.)

 

mikethompson

Lifer
Jun 26, 2016
11,287
23,315
Near Toronto, Ontario, Canada
The benefit of not having a lot of space to devote to pipes, tobaccos, and paraphernalia is that it keeps my rotation small. I have about 5 jars that I can pick from.
-Elizabethan Mixture

-Gaslight

-Captain Earle's Honour Blend

-Irish Flake

-Christmas Cheer 2015

 

workman

Lifer
Jan 5, 2018
2,793
4,219
The Faroe Islands
I started out sampling as many blends as I could. It left me with too many open tins and jars and I really like to keep things simple. So I tried to finish some of my open tins and scale down. Now I heve a rotation of 5-6 tobaccos that I consider daily smokes. One or two is always something new. And I also have 3-4 heavier blends for those late night smokes with a dram. ATM the daylies are: Marlin Flake, St James Flake, Capstan Blue Flake, B.S. Flake, Full Virginia Flake, Dunhill Flake, Acadian Perique, Mac Baren Navy Flake. Some of these are almost done. The Heavies are: Irish Flake, Old Dark Fired, Petersons Perfect Plug, Royal Yacht.

I try to cellar the ones I like best and buy single tins of blends, I think I might enjoy. I try to keep it simple, but sometimes my curiosity gets the best of me and I end up with more open tins than I'd like. Well, it's all very enjoyable. I have 14 blends on hand, that I haven't tried, and another 15-20 that I know I like. The 14 will have to wait their turn.

 
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blackadderlxx

Can't Leave
Jun 17, 2018
369
10
Do any of you other 'ridiculous' category people find yourselves working to finish up some of your open tins/jars just to have less open tins/jars? Maybe it's my OCD but my 25-30 open tins are kinda driving me nuts...

 
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