New Pipe Smoker English Blends

hurkman · Nov 28, 2012

I was just wondering if it is strange for a new pipe smoker to only enjoy English blends? I started out smoking aromatics because there were more flavors that smelled pretty good and they were easier and cheaper to get ahold of. but I could never get any good flavor out of them. However, the English blends have given me a much more powerful and tastier flavor. I just always thought english was what you lead up to and was only for the more veteran pipe smokers. just want to know your thoughts, Thanks.

judcole · Nov 28, 2012

If you like 'em, you like 'em.

Did you have any smoking experience before? Cigars?

austinxpipe · Nov 28, 2012

Hard to say, I can see why you might think this.
But something more important that I've learned is to do what you like! I'm also fairly new and if I've learned ONE thing so far, it's that there really aren't any hard and fast rules, or "norms" of many sort. You should smoke what you like and like what you smoke. Don't worry about smoking one thing or another to fit into a role you think you need to fit into. I love many English blends, and I love many Aeromatics that I'm sure some would turn their nose up at, perhaps trying to prove how discerning their palate may be.
Smoke what you like, and enjoy the company of all the awesome people who are on this site to join you on your smoking journey!

guitarguy86 · Nov 29, 2012

I haven't been smoking for more than four months, and I'm already loving English blends. My favorite one being Black House. I'm beginning to lean more to English blends than aromatics.

yorkshirepipe · Nov 29, 2012

I agree with the others above, you smoke what you enjoy. I've heard of people that start with english blends, who have never smoked anything before in their lives and stayed with them and there are a lot of aromatic smokers who will smoke nothing else (Cherry & Vanilla springs to mind!) - I started the pipe 4 years ago and still have a balance of English and aromatic, don't think I will ever go just English. Just my two cents

undermidnight · Nov 29, 2012

I always thought the aromatics were more for the benefit of those around you

I will still smoke my aromatics, although I am enjoying the english blends more and more.
Jason

loneredtree · Nov 29, 2012

+1 to all of the above.
I do not think your experience is unusual. It did not take me more then 3 smokes to take up the English blends. I walked into a shop and smelled the Latakia and knew what I wanted. I have found the Virginia blends to be nice also.
:twisted:

Bulldog · Nov 29, 2012

I too prefer the English blends. I wonder if this is because I came to pipes by way of cigars? I had difficulty at first with aromatics, however I found that they are also enjoyable under certain circumstances... like when your wife wants to sit next to you while you smoke.

baronsamedi · Nov 29, 2012

No. It isn't normal at all! You are a total nut! Luckily, you are in good company here. :rofl:

irishsmoker · Nov 29, 2012

@baron!!! HahahHah!!! :rofl:

bubblehead33 · Nov 29, 2012

nothing wrong with that at all. im still a new smoker as well and i really dont care much for the aromatics at all. smoked Stokkebyes English Oriental Supreme all day and im smoking a bowl of Newminster No. 17 English Luxus right now. Love the Latakia!!

ohin3 · Nov 29, 2012

Like the others have said, no need to question, just smoke what appeals to you. I started with aromatics and I almost walked away from pipe smoking because it didn't seem to be what I thought it would be. Then I tried an English blend and here I am 15 years later hopelessly hooked. I am just recently starting to get into aromatics. Just do what makes you happy bro.

zanthal · Nov 29, 2012

There are a lot of... less than appealing... aromatics out there, if you ask me, I don't think it sounds strange.
You might like SHCP Great Hiatus, SPC Plum Pudding, or any of the Frog Morton's, for English blends. : puffy

:

matchstickman · Nov 30, 2012

No. It isn't normal at all! You are a total nut! Luckily, you are in good company here. [:rofl:]

Yup, its a pretty quiet life here in the nut house, but Im still pissed about the fact that the mods are required to wear white coats and they changed dinner time to 4:30 :mrgreen:
In all seriousness regarding the OP, I agree with everyone elses response that you should smoke what you like, nothing odd about it. There are a few pipe smokers that hang out at the local B&M down the road, and they are all pretty hardcore English blend smokers, and when we all meet up we swap samples of some of the different tins we have open. I headed down there one day and the only thing I had on me was my tin of MacBaren Golden Extra. I love Burley blends as well, but a lot of the guys never had any experience with them. I let them each take out a bowl or two and when they tried it they said it was the most awful thing they had ever smoked, but I still love it. Lifes too short to smoke something that you dont enjoy.

hurkman · Nov 30, 2012

Thanks for the help guys. I actually never smoked anything before I tried pipe smoking. I was going to school for respiratory therapy. To say the least, I have changed my career decision and what I want out of life. I was a big dipper for a few years though. that might be why I like the strong spicy flavor.

mustanggt · Dec 6, 2012

When I first got into good cigars I only smoked mild ones. When I got bored with that I decided to try a Hoyo Excalibur #1 maduro. Wow!!! Real toungue slapper there. I had to put it down and thought I wasted $5. So the expense is what drove me to stay with it and smoked it all later. I guess my taste buds weren't ready for something so powerful as that. It is typical to go from aromatics to more complex and powerful tasting blends but some people never aquire a taste for Guiness so they can't get past Bud light.

hawk60ce · Dec 6, 2012

I only wish i had gone to balkans, English's, and VA's much sooner.

tmilz20 · Dec 6, 2012

It's about whatever you like. Like wine, good is in the palette of the beholder. Purists will say drink red with meat and white with fish. My 400 bottle wine cellar serves me what I want regardless of the meal. If I'm in the mood for a good red, or a softer white, I'll drink that regardless of Wine Spectator's policy. I, as one of the rare ones here, don't like English blends, even after 30 years of pipe smoking. I just smoke and drink what I like for me, not what others like

aristokles · Dec 6, 2012

I liked Scotch from my very first taste. Many folks do not. I smoked aromatics for two years -tongue bite, goopy bowls and all - until my first bowl of Dunhill My Mixture 965. From that day on, English blends rocked for me.
Today, 58 years later, they still do (and I still like Scotch). :D

pstlpkr · Dec 7, 2012

I enjoy both very much.

But, I find that English blends can be a bit painful and expensive as well.

The War Department told me she was tired of putting dents in the skillets whenever I smoked a bowl of something English.

So... I smoke mostly Aros now...

It's amazing how much I've saved on OTC pain relievers.

I think I'll have a bowl of Sillem's Black... and take a couple of Tylenol...

Just in case. :D

: puffy

:

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