Would you quit at 21 blends

[cortezattic]

Except for 6 or 7 bulk favorites, I have just one small jar or tin of about 200 different tobaccos --

half of which I am familiar with. At age 65, I have more tobacco than I will be able to smoke in my

remaining lifetime. With so much to explore, life is too short to invest in dozens of any one blend.

 

[cigrmaster]

Les, you are my hero, 1000 blends is amazing. I can't even imagine how many hundreds of pounds that is. Where do you keep it all? From now on I am going to contact you for a review on any tobacco I might be looking at, chances are you have smoked it.
Glad to hear you like the Cross Grain flake best, I was debating on which of Formers to try. It is interesting that the prices on his stuff is much cheaper then all of my favorite tins. Most of mine are in the 10 dollar range.
brudnic1, you definitely have a much wider selection than I do. I usually have all 21 of my favorites open at any given time, my open tins stay fresh for months in the plastic containers I use. I used to smoke English blends years ago but lost my taste for them, luckily I did or I would have 50 favorites. The only burleys I smoke are va/burley like Old Dark Fired and Stonehaven.

 

[mrenglish]

We are a sad lot.... At least that is what my wife says when she sees how much tobacco I have and mention what you guys have. :worship:
I've only got about a dozen blends that I dip into regularly but have around sixty jars that I smoke out of every now and then. I always think I am done and then something new pops up and the obsession sets in until I've stockpiled enough.

 

[cigrmaster]

Mike, my son was looking for something in my bedroom and he opened a few of my night stand draws which hold about about 100 tins each. He just looked at me and said are you kidding me. I laughed and said, you should see what is under the bed. With the prices going where they are, you can never have too much tobacco.

 

[guitarguy86]

I always add something new to a TAD list, because there are so many blends out there, I'll never be able to try them all. But, if I was able, I'd sure go for it. If this is what crazy is, I want to stay this way.

 

[morton]

Harris, as a hedge against inflation and an investment with a possible huge payoff (in selling aged tins - which you have already done, I believe) what you are doing with your stockpile is admirable. I also stockpile to a smaller extent - I always want to try new blends and usually buy at least 5 tins or 8 ounces bulk of whatever new for me blend that I choose. I now have upwards of 70 different "open" tobaccos in various jars and containers and a much greater number of the same 70 unopened. I really am lucky that I'm not really an aromatic lover or I might have double what I have going. I feel that if I don't give any new tobacco time and many different tries, I haven't been fair to the blender or the tobacco. I have only been sadly disappointed once in all those tobaccos and that one is bulk SG 1792. Can't get into it for various reasons and might get rid of it. Enjoy your collection and stockpiling and as you're not hurting anyone, more power to you! You are as normal as the next person who happens to be deeply passionate about something in his life.

 

[rmbittner]

OP:
Your post led me to check how many different blends I currently have cellared. So far, I'm up to 97, spread across 806 tins. (Most are 2oz/50g tins, but I also have a number of 100g tins and maybe 6 1lb tins.) I don't believe in bulks, so everything I have is in the original factory tins. I would say that fewer than a dozen of these are single-tin-only tobaccos, which are, for the most part, either discontinued blends that are now hard (or expensive) to find or tins I've received in trade that I haven't gotten around to trying yet.
I've been smoking a pipe long enough -- 30+ years -- to know what I like and how much variety I enjoy, so I've focused on those areas: English, Balkans, straight Virginias, matured-VA flakes, some Scottish blends, a few VA/burley flakes, and one or two aromatics, depending on how you define them. It's hard to draw a line and say "I'm stopping here," when there are so many good blends available these days. . . and no guarantees whatsoever that the blends you love today will still be available in the years to come. I'm not stockpiling against inflation; I'm stockpiling against companies going out of business, leaf becoming rare, etc. I've seen too many wonderful blends (and blenders) simply disappear from the marketplace.
BTW, I only keep about 5-6 blends open at any one time, one in each of my major categories. Penzance is always on that list; it's my go-to favorite. But right now, I'm also working on jars of McCranie's Red Flake, Pease's Raven's Wing, Samuel Gawith's Perfection, McClelland's Drama Reserve and Frog Morton on the Town, and one aromatic, Sutliff's Great Outdoors. Each fits a different mood and a different rack of pipes. It keeps things interesting.
Bob

 

[easydraw]

I have to say you guys are my heros. I thought I might be going alittle over the edge with an order list of 30 different tins and bulk tobaccos to try. The sad part for me was I had to slim down the list alittle to meet budget. :worship:

 

[jah76]

You people are crazy.
And I'm proud to say that this past month I started my own small humble cellar. It's an extremely interesting feature to me. My own private little collection not collected out of a sense of hoarding, but instead out of appreciation and with the full intent to consume it, share it, recoup investment from it down the line.
I've never had a hobby like that. Usually it's just stuff on a shelf. Now it's stuff I consume/share. There's a huge difference to me.
I personally find the tobacco more interesting then the pipes.

 

[cigrmaster]

morton, I do look at this as an investment if need be down the road. I did make a huge return on my investment with my old English tins I had stored for 10 years. Tins I paid 6.00 for were sold for 50-60. I wish all my other money could get that type of return. lol I am honestly not planning on selling my current cellar, but it is there for my kids if I don't smoke it all, and they know what to do with it and what it will be worth.
rmbittner, that is one impressive celler you have going. I guess I really need to branch out and keep trying new things, compared to you guys I am a one dimensional kind of guy with only 21 favorites. I do have things like Mac Baren Virginia flake and Navy flake in bulk( a few pounds worth) and GL Pease Union Sq and JackKnife Plug and Wessex Burley slice I am checking out to see if I am going to cellar them. The JackKnife has the most potential right now as it is leading the pack to make the cut. Hopefully their Navigator is something I will enjoy as well as Dark Star. I could add many different blends if I liked any other cut besides flakes and plugs, unfortunately ribbon cut, broken flakes and the like just don't do it for me.

 

[tobaccocabana]

Pipe tobacco is like sex. There is no such thing as too much.
Actually, it is very much like cooking. Don't be happy with just the blends that you have. Try mixing them together. One taste will quite often unlock many other flavors. I have over 80 different bulk tobaccos in my shop and can make well over 100,000 blends just by tweaking the mixes. Let the spirit of the mood move you. If you just finished an excellent Italian meal add a little "Red Wine" pipe tobacco to your usual mix , etc.

 

[mrenglish]

Totally agree with you, Harris. The actually never complains if there is something I want to try or stock up on. As long as the funds are available, she has never raised a concern. With the ways our laws are going, I can easily see a time when we will not be able to purchase online and our local prices will triple if not more. Heck, locally a tin of Dunhill DNR sells for $23 and change. At least with a good cellar, we will have plenty of tobacco to smoke when the hammer falls.
Bob - sounds like you have an excellent cellar!

 

[foggymountain]

cigrmaster: Time to stop. I do not have a count but I probably have about 20-21 blends too. And a 5-10 year celler (who knows?) I recently decided to stop trying more. It has to stop someplace.

 

[instymp]

Yup, for me. But....

 

[joshwolftree]

I would recommend keeping it at right around 21 blends. And I'm willing to help you out with that. Send your backstock of any blends you've already gathered to "JOSHWOLFTREE tobacco reclamation" and We'll ensure that your tobacco goes to the less well prepared for the coming zombie apocalypse. That way you'll be free to collect a whole new 21 blends.

 

[flyguy]

I have at least 21 different blends. Many of these are unimpressive blends I have tried and lay unsmoked. I, like a few others, am still searching for that Holy Grail. Cigrmaster, did you say McC Dark Star has no red virginias? I feel a TAD coming on!

 

[msandoval858]

Stop? Not happening for me. I think I currently stock somewhere in the area of 90 blends. I have many many more I look forward to trying.
All about variety. Never enough!

 

[lordnoble]

I don't think I know what my tastes are right now let alone what it'll be in 25 years which is why I never throw any tobacco away and I have just about one of every tin I have open. I love the adventure of trying and I can't ever see myself as narrowing down to just a few of my own accord. If that's all there is, fine. Otherwise, I'm looking forward to a diversified "portfolio" of blends with a healthy portion of it containing my favorites.
-Jason