Best tobacco for beginners?

wirtsleg · Oct 12, 2015

Hey everyone, I currently smoke cigars but only occasionally, about twice a month at most, but I am currently building my own briar pipe and learning alot about making them, it's a very interesting way to smoke tobacco, and also looks badass to smoke a pipe vs cigar. I am wondering what a good flavored tobacco would be for a beginner and where to get it, i like the chocolate/vanilla sort of tobacco currently but what is a great one to start with?
any tips appreciated thanks. :D

warren · Oct 12, 2015

First, try and relocate the the shift key. Also, the rules ask for a semblance of proper sentence construction. Doing so makes posts so much easier to read.
To answer your question, if your smoking as an affectation I suggest you leave tobacco out of it and just let the pipe hang from your jaw. Barring that, stop by your local tobacco shop or drug store and try a bit of Sir Walter or some such.

aggravatedfarmer · Oct 12, 2015

Well if you like aromatics (those chocolate, vanilla, cherry, unnaturally sweet blends) I suggest Lane 1-Q.

cobguy · Oct 13, 2015

Welcome to the forum Wirtsleg! : puffy

:
Do you want suggestions based on liking cigars or for aromatics that are flavored?
Starting out with some OTC's such as Carter Hall and Prince Albert are not a bad plan ... they are easy to pack and smoke.

blackbeard · Oct 13, 2015

Ok, if you're wanting aromatic easy for beginners there is one cheap I highly recommend to give a go. pipesandcigars.com has a line called "Out of Office" I haven't had the others, but the "Gone Fishin'" is sweet, can taste the caramel, and has no bite. Unlike other tobaccos the flavor is uniform; no matter how hot you smoke it never seems to change it. I would grab a cob up as well being as it lingers in the pipe. So, that's a cheap, smooth way to give it a go on the side and get you used to it.

frozenchurchwarden · Oct 13, 2015

I don't really think there's any such thing as a "beginner" tobacco. Most of the highly recommended blends here I liked from my first bowl. If it's got good flavor pretty much everyone wants it.

hawke · Oct 13, 2015

I wish I had bought a batch of cobs and dedicated each one to a type of tobacco, so I could compare each to one another without ghosting and blending of the types.

blackbeard · Oct 13, 2015

I agree frozen; however, I think he is asking more for something to start with to ease into it. Like, you don't give a small child sour candy even though most with age love it. Unless you want to be mean....then you could do something like send someone after blending perique....which I have heard is like a mouth full of pepper.

disinformatique · Oct 13, 2015

Stay away from regular aromatic pouches.
Here are my suggestions:
Aromatics/Flavored - C&D Autumn Evening, Sutliff Molto Dolce, GL Pease Virginia Cream (coming soon)

English - G L Pease Westminster, C&D Sweet English,

Virginia Perique - G L Pease Six Pence

Virginia Burley - G L Pease Navigator
This will do for now.
Chris

brass · Oct 13, 2015

You might want to try a quality aro. I'll suggest Bob's Chocolate Flake. It will convert even English blend smokers - at least some of them.
Pax

cortezattic · Oct 13, 2015

wirtsleg, welcome to the forums! :clap:
Since you come from the cigar smoking world, your palate and taste for tobacco are probably ready for anything the pipe world can throw at you. Try an ounce or two of Russ Ouellette's Clasic Burley Kake. The crumble cake format is easy to light and keep burning, the taste is pretty much what you're asking for, and it's a world apart from cheap drug store aromatics. It's very highly rated among reviewers.

frozenchurchwarden · Oct 13, 2015

Some of the first blends I ever tried were MacBaren Scottish mixture and Samuel Gawith St. James Flake, and St. James Flake immediately struck a cord with me.

A few months later my first bowl with Latakia was a 50/50 mix of blending Latakia with G.L. Pease Cairo, and it was love at first sight. I blended it down to 25% Lat on the second bowl and that had more variety, and Gaslight tasted almost the same.

I have no doubt that if Gaslight were one of my first bowls ever my reaction would have been no different.

In my opinion the Lat-bomb is one of the easiest flavors to pick up and understand, and the VaPer isn't far behind.

pritch13 · Oct 13, 2015

I don't recommend any OTC blend whatsoever to begin with. It will give you a completely false representation of what pipe tobacco has to offer. Order a sample of lane 1q, or just go to pipesandcigars.com and order an aromatic sampler for 25 bucks. Comes with 5 different 1 ounce samples that will be sure to get you headed in the right direction.

foolwiththefez · Oct 13, 2015

Another suggestion, tobaccopipes.com offers samplers when you sign up for their newsletter as well. Also, Milan Tobacco has great house blends and sells a sampler.

dude · Oct 13, 2015

In my opinion the Lat-bomb is one of the easiest flavors to pick up and understand, and the VaPer isn't far behind

I agree, especially if you are like cigars. I would get one aromatic suggested, an English blend, and a Va-Per or Virginia.
Everyone's taste is different, but I find aromatics way to tasteless, I mean subtle. Don't be afraid to try English blends. They taste good, even if they don't smell like ice cream.

dude · Oct 13, 2015

Ok, Frog Morton Cellar. That is a good one, easy to get your head around.

mso489 · Oct 14, 2015

Carter Hall in a pouch, or Pipes and Cigars matching blend Chatham Hall are flavorful but mild beginner smokes that are good for breaking in a pipe. Frog Morton Cellar is a good suggestion. Starting out simple is a good idea.

fitzy · Oct 14, 2015

I think Lane 1Q or Frog Morton Cellar would both be great introductions to the wonderful world of piping. I love latakia but I don't think a lat bomb is exactly the best for beginners. Most I know of had to be gently coaxed into loving latakia's by starting with something mild like Frog Morton Cellar.

brudnod · Oct 14, 2015

I don't smoke the 2 tobaccos that I started with; one is gone and the other just doesn't suit my tastes anymore. The selection somewhat depends on whether you have a reliable local pipe store (B&M), a place that sells pipe tobacco (and probably a lot of other unrelated stuff) or rather limited to the Internet (which is not particularly limiting these days). Since you are a cigar smoker already you might have access to the first. They are usually good at getting the beginner started and can help with adjusting your tobacco for your tastes. Good luck and welcome.

aggravatedfarmer · Oct 14, 2015

Spencer makes a good point about starting tobacco's. Usually we evolve to something different. All my Arro's have been dedicated to my work pipes.

Best tobacco for beginners?

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