Don’t Like It. What Do You Do?

dottiewarden · Apr 10, 2014

With all the wonderful varieties and mixtures out there it has become a past time for so many of us to be constantly trying tobacco types, brands and blends. We’ve all come across ones we love, ones that are okay and then the ones we hate.
As a relatively new pipe smoker this is all part and parcel of discovering my personal preferences.
In this thread I would like to hear what other pipers do with the tobacco when they come across a mixture that is simply unsuitable to their taste.
In my case it was Irish Oak that I just couldn’t stand. I suppose if I lived somewhere with a pipe tobacco shop or community I could just pass it on to somebody else. Unfortunately, where I live decent pipe tobacco is unavailable and pipe smokers are nowhere to be found.
My decision was to try modifying it by mixing it with other tobaccos to create a distinct blend: a blend of blends so to speak. My first couple of tries were unsuccessful, but on the third attempt I not only managed to make the Irish Oak smoke worthy to my taste, I actually created a recipe that I love and can repeat. Now there is no doubt I will finish up the entire tin and enjoy every moment of it.
Irish Oak has now become an important ingredient in my special blend of blends!

papipeguy · Apr 10, 2014

Looks like you came upon a good solution. Another alternative is to offer it to other pipers here on the forum as either a gift or trade.

psychpipes · Apr 10, 2014

I generally send things I love and things I hate to my Dad. He has a different tobacco palate than I do. A recent example was when I went to try CAO Moontrance. I love aros,I love alcohol, and I love CAO Cigars: What could go wrong? I opened the tin and just about gagged at how powerful the smell of the bourbon was. I smoked 3 bowls of it and was done. I shipped it off to my Dad for him to try, and he loves it as a dessert smoke. Likewise, him not liking a tin of Molto Dolce is how I first tasted that delightful aro.

phred · Apr 10, 2014

I guess I'm fortunate - the only tobacco I've tried that I had a very negative reaction to was Sir Walter Raleigh (teminds me too much of cigarette tobacco), and I've only had one bowl of that, so I don't feel I've given it a fair shake yet... With anything I don't initially like, I usually set it back on the shelf for a while, and eventually work through my 'rotation' until I feel like trying it again - sometimes in the same pipe to see if it's still unpleasant, or sometimes in a different pipe to see if it's just one of those synergistic things that didn't work that one time.

grouchydog · Apr 10, 2014

My newb palate is still developing, so I've been hanging on to everything to try them again after some more experience.
Care to share what you added to the Irish Oak?

newsense · Apr 10, 2014

Still relatively new to the hobby myself, I was just thinking about doing the same thing with my opened tin of Irish Oak. I so wanted to like it, I have a thing for names and choose many tobaccos this way but after a few bowls I just couldn't get into it. So I was in the same boat, I know no one else that smokes pipe around my area and figured I might be able to make it (as well as others) more to my liking by blending them with each other. Now it looks as though it wasn't so bad an idea.

dread · Apr 10, 2014

I set them aside in a mason jar and let them age. Often, when you come back to it the taste will mellow out and they will be better.

cosmicfolklore · Apr 10, 2014

By the time I discovered pure Virginias, I had amassed a collection of 1 oz baggies of aros and latakia blends. I forced myself to smoke through the lat blends, but with the aros I found that mixing a tad aro to a bunch of Virgina to be to my liking. But, on a gamble that I would love lakeland blends, I had ordered about a half pound of several different blends of GH blends. Now, I have a couple of rose bushes that have a mulch that on a hot afternoon smells exactly like my great grandmother's bathroom, LOL.
Now, I would probably just take them to a pipe club meeting to pawn off on unsuspecting newbies, lol.

dottiewarden · Apr 10, 2014

Papipeguy
I love nothing more than have someone to trade with, but being a pipe smoker in Mexico leaves me on lonely street.
Psychpipes
With all the aro bashers out there I’m glad to see there are people, like you, who really enjoy them. The only one I’ve tried is Captain Black, and although it smells delicious, I can’t detect the taste of tobacco in it.
Phred
For you it was Sir Walter Raleigh, for me it was Irish Oak. I might not be a Va guy, at least for now, but IO tastes a lot like cigs.
Grouchydog
My mix:

1 part Irish Oak

1 part Cigar Leaf

1 part Exclusiv Royal (German OTC)
Exclusiv Royal is my go to smoke and is available at the Pipe Shop at

http://pipe-shop.net/Shop/cgi-bin/his-webshop.cgi?f=NR&c=em_5892&t=artikel_en
My mix seems to retain everything I like about IO and puts some complexity into the simple Cigar Leaf; Exclusiv Royal is heavy on the orientals and it just seems to tie everything together. I came up with the mix because I have an abundance of the Cigar Leaf and the German OTC.
Newsense
I’m competent in the kitchen so I seem to have a knack for knowing how tastes and textures can complement each other. If you’re unable to put together my recipe, just fiddle around with some stuff you’ve got on hand. Keep in mind it doesn’t always work; I tried breathing life into some Captain Black but I finally gave up and decided you can’t make bad tobacco good, but you can make good tobacco by mixing it with other good tobacco.

PS I will smoke the Captain again, but I’ll smoke it for what is rather than what it is not!
Dread
As far as jarring goes, I’ll pick up another tin of IO a leave it to age, coming back to it when I get the notion.
Thanks to all for your comments and ideas.

spartan · Apr 10, 2014

My decision was to try modifying it by mixing it with other tobaccos to create a distinct blend: a blend of blends

In the piping world this is called a Mixture.
When I stumble across something I will not waste time on I will mix them up in a bowl and them place them into an airtight glass jar to mellow for a bit while I enjoy other flavors. I only separate them into aromatics, and everything else.
I'm not sure why but it works really well. That overpowering cherry blend and all the other Cavendish tobaccos that weren't special become remarkably delicious after 6 months in a jar. All those off the mark heavy english blends, bitey virginias, and pitiful burley concoctions with some age mixed together also become something I really love. It's truly amazing to see how the jar changes every time I add something to it.
And If I like the jar the way it is and want to keep it that way I put away a few small mason jars worth of the stuff and continue to alter it with new additions when they do not please me.

cigrmaster · Apr 10, 2014

Anything I don't like, I make my dog smoke it, he will smoke anything.

rmbittner · Apr 10, 2014

If I don't like a blend, the last thing I'd want to do is add it to something I do like. The result would be a poor compromise, IMO. If I really can't stand something after giving it a fair shot, then I usually just toss it. If I know immediately -- after one bowl, say -- that it's just not for me, then I might offer it here as a gift. But I honestly don't have any problem tossing a blend that I just don't like.
This doesn't happen often, though. I've smoked enough different tobaccos to know what I should avoid -- blends with a healthy dose of perique, blends high in nicotine -- and I do my homework, so the "bad" blends are rare. I've also learned that there are a couple of blenders whose tastes just don't suit me, so I'm either very careful about what I try from them or I avoid them altogether.
But, again, if something is really unappealing, I don't have any guilt about just throwing it away. Especially when gifting it means spending time to go to the P.O., buying an envelope, and paying for postage. If I'm already looking at a $10 loss, why double that just to get rid of something? I figure I spent the $10 on educating myself and cut my losses there.
Bob

Rincewind · Apr 10, 2014

+1 on jarring it and putting it away for awhile to see if it mellows out or your tastes change. I have a shelf designated for these jars and every now and then I am pleasantly surprised upon revisiting a blend.

conlejm · Apr 10, 2014

One thing I try with a tobacco blend that doesn't impress me after the first couple of smokes is to test it in different kinds of pipes - shallow and wide bowls, deep and narrow bowls, etc. - to see if somehow the blend was not a good "match" for the pipe design. Some tobaccos will burn hotter or cooler depending on the bowl that it is being smoked in, and this can affect the flavor and the experience.
Just my two cents. Dot, it sounds like you created a winner!

tuold · Apr 10, 2014

I give all my failed tobaccos to my two sons who both seem to be a lot less discriminating when it comes to taste. To them it all tastes like..."tobacco". Bah!

mso489 · Apr 10, 2014

Tobacco being free sometimes picks up its flavor noticeably. That's my Scottish ancestry talking.

rootling · Apr 10, 2014

I keep a stock of blending tobaccos, if something doesn't hit I try pinches of this or that to try to bring it in line. Helps with understanding what the component added is bringing to the table. And the rare one that won't come in from the cold, goes to the junk jar( aka the thing that will be smoked somewhere near to the end of time).

tarak · Apr 10, 2014

Waiting on something to age is a good idea. For example: didn't care for fresh Escudo. I stuck it I a jar and forgot about it for 8 months....just revisited and....I liked it!
If you're positive you won't like it, someone on here may trade, buy, or accept as a gift

condorlover1 · Apr 10, 2014

On the odd occasions people bring me tins of tobacco that even I am not stupid enough to try and 'hop up' with Condor I put the unopened tins aside and give them to friends. No one I know other than my chum Andre will smoke the stuff I like so I make Christmas a great giving time!

wilson · Apr 11, 2014

It is very rare that there is something that I will not smoke. It has to be pretty bad, and I'm not that discriminating. On those rare occasions, I just dump it and chalk it up to tuition -- money spent to learn a lesson.

Don’t Like It. What Do You Do?

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