Made my own blend last night

I call my home concoctions "mixes," since they involve no pressure, stoving, or other processing. This is one of the fundamental benefits of pipes, the ability to vary and control your blends by simple mixing. For us amateurs, best to try with limited ingredients, for me generally only a few single leaf tobaccos or one condiment added to already blended tobacco, for best results. The big adventure is in trying different proportions. The simplest recipe is equal parts Virginia and burley with perhaps a pinch of additional single condiment such as unflavored Cavendish, Turkish, dark-fired, etc. I'm a little biased that Latakia and Perique are already over-represented, so I seldom add them, but others surely do. You can go wild and make a mix of every leftover on your rack, but simplicity has often rewarded me, whereas random mixes are often just kind of muddy in the flavor department. The joy is, it's all to your taste; do what you want. Go wild or be deliberate. It's your kingdom as a pipe smoker.

Deck', minus a touch of some rum & ignoring most of the vanilla, & it sounds like it could almost be close to Black Frigate. It's the amazing thing, like cooking, where just a touch added or taken away, & you've got something completely different. It's a marvelous thing. Enjoy the heck out of it!

Often that way,yeah. Biggest Rule? WRITE. IT. DOWN!! -laugh- If it's good you'll be able to revrey it, & if it's bad you'll be able to *avoid* it! }

Glad it's working for you.

It's always great to experiment, and come up with flavors nobody has tasted before.