I've always had pipes a couple tins around, but I recently retired from chain-smoking Reds to take up pipe-smoking full time, and I'm new to "serious" pipe-smoking. Two months later, all is good, got the basics down and enough pipes to make it work. Now I'm quickly accumulating a very haphazard cellar as I search for a rotation interesting enough to carry me through 7-15 bowls/day (without burning my tongue off). Pardon my preamble - just a caveat and an excuse for a noob question.
Uhle's 00 got me through the first stretch (still love it, but it gets a little boring), and then I tried C&D Billy Budd (tin), OJK and Haunted Bookshop and loved all three, especially the nutty-sweet note, so I figured that maybe C&D burley is my jam and ordered a bunch more bulk: re-upped on the HB and added Big n Burley, Morley's Best, Mountain Camp. I got in this second batch (same online retailer), and it all tastes like hell. It's just bitter and metallic as could be (I don't mind "cigarette-y" - give it to me!). I can't smoke any of it; well, I can, but it's no fun. I noticed that this second batch of bulk HB has a lot more big chunks of flake, less fine shake, and is more springy and moist overall. It seems to be from the top of a new tub/bin/bag/whatever. That got me to thinking: Maybe the fairly short period of time it takes for the store to go through a bin of bulk stuff is enough for the burley to age a bit and lose that bitter edge. So, I jarred it all up and socked it away. To finally get to my question: Would it be stupid to think that this stuff might get smokeable in a few months or so? I know there's only one way to find out, and that's to try it again in a while, but it would help to know in advance if I was totally barking up the wrong burley tree with this C&D stuff and should broaden the search further (I've already ordered some Gawith, Hoggarth burley blends). Thanks in advance for your collective wisdom, from which I've already benefited greatly while lurking on this forum the last couple months!
Uhle's 00 got me through the first stretch (still love it, but it gets a little boring), and then I tried C&D Billy Budd (tin), OJK and Haunted Bookshop and loved all three, especially the nutty-sweet note, so I figured that maybe C&D burley is my jam and ordered a bunch more bulk: re-upped on the HB and added Big n Burley, Morley's Best, Mountain Camp. I got in this second batch (same online retailer), and it all tastes like hell. It's just bitter and metallic as could be (I don't mind "cigarette-y" - give it to me!). I can't smoke any of it; well, I can, but it's no fun. I noticed that this second batch of bulk HB has a lot more big chunks of flake, less fine shake, and is more springy and moist overall. It seems to be from the top of a new tub/bin/bag/whatever. That got me to thinking: Maybe the fairly short period of time it takes for the store to go through a bin of bulk stuff is enough for the burley to age a bit and lose that bitter edge. So, I jarred it all up and socked it away. To finally get to my question: Would it be stupid to think that this stuff might get smokeable in a few months or so? I know there's only one way to find out, and that's to try it again in a while, but it would help to know in advance if I was totally barking up the wrong burley tree with this C&D stuff and should broaden the search further (I've already ordered some Gawith, Hoggarth burley blends). Thanks in advance for your collective wisdom, from which I've already benefited greatly while lurking on this forum the last couple months!