Option Paralysis

I'm sure you'll find plenty of volunteers to smoke for you. ::

On each order, buy what you love, and add a tin of something you would like to try. I do buy a lot of bulk.

I've recently bought a lot of bulk HH Vintage Syrian. With each order I've ordered quite a few 1 ounce samples of different tobaccos to try. Good thing too because I didn't like any of the small samples (Red cake, Bob's Choc flake etc). I only wasted a few bucks as to wasting a lot more if I had bought tins.

When it comes to placing tobacco orders I find its best to only order what I know I'll love. I suggest you do the same. I'll PM you a list of acceptable tobacco I love so that you can stick to that list. Please, order lots of Penzance and Stonehaven as I require a few more pounds of each. Thanks for asking.

Let the sales help you decide what to buy. Swhat I do.

That's good advice Eric!! I tend to do that as well... which explains my huge Dunhill inventory.

Tom it's great to read things are going well for you! There's no wrong way to buy pipe tobacco and the truth is very few of us have discipline enough to guide you in any meaningful way. I know what I should do and that's what I'll suggest. The easiest way to save money and really get to know a blend is to buy one thing in quantity at a time.
Some blends impress right out of the gate. Others take time to mature over the course of the tin and can become an altogether different blend from where they began. While other times, your taster just needs some getting to know you time with a new blend. Buying something in an 8 or 16 oz tin allows you the opportunity to experience the tobacco in a way that 4 2oz tins do not. Happens to be cheaper to boot.
Good luck and don't sweat the details.

With each order I've ordered quite a few 1 ounce samples of different tobaccos to try. Good thing too because I didn't like any of the small samples (Red cake, Bob's Choc flake etc). I only wasted a few bucks as to wasting a lot more if I had bought tins.

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I've actually been doing this as a new smoker, buying 1-2 oz samples of blends to see if I like them. I think it's going very well.
I was actually very organized about it--I first started going through by blend type (leaf/composition). I broke my purchases up into the following categories:

Virginia

Burley

Virginia/Burley/Kentucky

Virginia/Perique

Dark Fired Kentucky

English (Latakia)

Oriental / Balkan

Cigar Leaf

Aromatic

Lakeland

Misc. (Semois, tambolaka, etc.)
I've been trying two or three of the "archetypal" or classic blends from each category--so the archetypal English might be Nightcap, for aromatics, 1-Q and Autumn Evening, for Lakelands, Ennerdale and Dark Flake Scented, and so on.
I also have been trying to sample all of the cuts--ribbon, twists/ropes, plugs, flakes, etc.
I haven't even been smoking a year yet, but I've gotten through most of these, and it's really helped me develop a sense for where my palate gravitates toward.
Ultimately, however, I think since this is a hobby, you should just chill, relax, and approach it in whatever way seems the most fun for you. For me, being organized is a bit of the fun, since I'm somewhat obsessive in my organization. For other people, that would just suck all the fun and life out of it.

My thought is this:
#1 Look through your list and ask yourself what your must have blends are.
#2 Rank them.
#3 Decide whether you want to go wider, deeper, or split the difference.
#4 Your priority determines your course of action:

- 80/20 80% new blends/20% favorites (wide)

- 50/50 (split)

- 20/80 20% new blends/80% favorites (deep)
#5 Go deep on our current favorites in order of priority/rank
OR
Spend all your money, end up divorced, and the stress of it all will drive you to smoking cigarettes and you'll despise the pipe tobacco and sell it at 1/4 the value.
If you choose this option, please let me know and I will send you my contact information for the sale of said source of dissent into darkness.