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- Thread starter balkisobrains
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You can quit looking for a better English blend, you've already found it. Exotique, it doesn't get any better than that, friend.
Wow. I admire your enterprise. I take a much more relaxed approach to piping, but your way looks invigorating and exciting. One piece of advice: I'd go ahead and smoke the GLP Westminster. It's a lovely somewhat complex blend, but when the edge goes off the Latakia, it gets really mild, and the overall blend doesn't lend itself to bolstering by mixing in blending condiment tobaccos. So I'd smoke it up and enjoy it while it's fresh. I still smoke my tin, but it has lost its personality. I enjoy it when I want to shift from my mostly full-strength rotation to something way-mild.
Interesting. I like reading through your progression on these. I'm also working through my goal list as well haha. H.H. Vintage Syrian has come out to be one of my top favorites. I love that stuff. I'm pretty fond of Pease's Gaslight and Westminster too.
I noticed you still have Dark Star to try - that one I had to put in my PITA to prepare category.
I noticed you still have Dark Star to try - that one I had to put in my PITA to prepare category.
Came back to try Odyssey, which was sitting in my "hold" line, to decide if I should buy some more, since I wasn't sure about this one due to some occasional cigar-like flavors that I was getting when I first tried it. It's been hanging out in the jar for a month or two since I last smoked it, and interestingly, no cigar smells or flavors showed up this time around. In fact, nothing unpleasant occurred during the smoke at any time. Early in this bowl, the VAs and the Latakia complimented each-other, and then later-on the Orientals stood out as the main interesting thing about the blend. That's pretty much what happened the first few times I tried it, except I was getting occasional cigar notes then. The Orientals didn't seem quite as unique as they did the first times around, so I decided not to buy more of this, but the remaining contents of this jar will stay near the front of my "hold" line to enjoy occasionally until it is exhausted, rather than be relegated to the "pass" box. I made some more final decisions about some other blends in my "hold" line, and I ended up moving Ambassador's Blend,In-B-Tween, Katerini Classic, McClelland bulk Blended Turkish Ribbon, Meat Pie, Samovar, and Yenice Agonya to the "pass" box.
Piping plans/goals for the immediate and somewhat-immediate future:
-Fix my Brebbia 602 Author.
-Snag a few more tins of new Balkan Sobranie at a reasonable price. I bought one tin and like it more every time I smoke it. I was able to jump on some Penzance a couple times this summer, but not this stuff.
-I am mainly focusing on smoking through the D&R Blenders Bench Orientals & Latakia, smoking them straight, and soon will also start smoking some basic B.B. Oriental + McClelland / Wellauers Latakia blends to see what happens, and to decide which of these Orientals I really like the best.
-Got some fresh Penzance a couple months ago that I have not opened or tried yet. So far the freshest that I have had was between a year or two old when I opened it, and I also have some 5-year old stuff, so should be fun to compare them all.
-Baked a tin of Wilderness in the oven about a month ago to see if it might make it burn a little better, and have yet to crack it, but keep meaning to.
-Planning to further compare a couple McClelland blends based on tin date, specifically Yenidje Highlander '14 & '16, and 3 Oaks Syrian '14, '15, and '16.
-Eventually start trying the new-to-me VAs & VA/Ori tins that I have stored away to see what is good.
:puffpipe:
Piping plans/goals for the immediate and somewhat-immediate future:
-Fix my Brebbia 602 Author.
-Snag a few more tins of new Balkan Sobranie at a reasonable price. I bought one tin and like it more every time I smoke it. I was able to jump on some Penzance a couple times this summer, but not this stuff.
-I am mainly focusing on smoking through the D&R Blenders Bench Orientals & Latakia, smoking them straight, and soon will also start smoking some basic B.B. Oriental + McClelland / Wellauers Latakia blends to see what happens, and to decide which of these Orientals I really like the best.
-Got some fresh Penzance a couple months ago that I have not opened or tried yet. So far the freshest that I have had was between a year or two old when I opened it, and I also have some 5-year old stuff, so should be fun to compare them all.
-Baked a tin of Wilderness in the oven about a month ago to see if it might make it burn a little better, and have yet to crack it, but keep meaning to.
-Planning to further compare a couple McClelland blends based on tin date, specifically Yenidje Highlander '14 & '16, and 3 Oaks Syrian '14, '15, and '16.
-Eventually start trying the new-to-me VAs & VA/Ori tins that I have stored away to see what is good.
:puffpipe:
Quite an ambitious undertaking. You seem to have a good handle on things. lestrout, a venerable member here, is the only guy I know that has a top 200 blends list. You're well on your way to that.
Stay with your plan. On the other hand I have really been into plugs for the past few years. A most enjoyable pursuit. So many things to try.
balkinsobrains, your posts are like a freaking master-class on ways to taste/move through various blends of tobacco. I can't wait for your smoking journey updates. I'm learning so much from people on this site. Thanks for posting your thoughts & impressions.
I love this thread man! Good stuff. I'll have to come back and read it more thoroughly when I get a bit more time though.
Jolly Smoggo!
Jolly Smoggo!
If you want it to just burn better, I would simply let it dry a little first.
To each their own, but if asked, I think you are over-complicating things. Rather than juggling 216 things all at one time, I think it better to break things down into THREE simple, major categories. Once you sort things out at that level, then take what you've learned and break that down again by three, finer and finer, until you find your way. You don't need to smoke the whole gamut of tobaccos on the planet to know what it is you like.
I generally divide tobaccos up into aromatics, Virginia predominant and English/Balkan types. Since aro is a very broad term, I tend to consider a blend "aro", though short of the technical term, if its predominant flavor and aroma to be purposefully different from pure tobacco itself---- such as fruity, honey, caramel, cherry, et al. The virginias are sweeter and the English may be smoky latakia forward or just pure tobacco. Once you find a category you prefer and lean towards, then you can further divide that one to find trends you prefer. Considering that you've only reintroduced yourself to the pipe a year ago, you are involved in a staggering array of brands!
The point being that (and maybe this is the wrong thread to say this) considering the current climate of anti-tobacco efforts and attitudes, companies pulling out, brands closing, FDA regulations, I wonder the wisdom of working oneself toward a point where your tastes are narrowed to only a few specific brands, types or flavors as your daily gotos which you depend upon? No matter how you stock (and by "you" I mean anyone reading), even if you have 200 pounds, any given one blend will eventually run out. What is a tin, a week? Two? Then what? What if it is gone by then?
My strategy is to, rather than becoming more discriminating and selective, to instead become more tolerant and forgiving. I have found only a very few blends I do not immediately care for, and I'm sure in time I could learn to like them. I am a survivalist, and to survive in the likely future tobacco climate, I must assume the worst and am working towards getting along with what I have, what I can get, making what I have and can get better and more to my liking. Buying bulk tobacco that stores and ages well, learning how to blend my own, learning how to age and alter tobaccos taking the master's efforts and accomplishments as the guidepost for what is possible and finding ways that years down the road, I know that I can make an aro, a Lakeland, a Virginia, English, Balkan type on my own to my satisfaction.
Anything else, tins I collect, unique blends, are the icing on the cake to enjoy as long as I can get them, but not to depend on, and to learn from them, how they are made, what was put in them, how they were cut, while I have them still here to study.
If I have to, I will grow my own.
Worst case scenario, I am better prepared for whatever comes, best case scenario, great blends will continue affordably in the marketplace for a long time to come. But never, NEVER underestimate the stupidity and arrogance of the governing class to do exactly the opposite of what the broader common sense of the consumer might suggest!
The point being that (and maybe this is the wrong thread to say this) considering the current climate of anti-tobacco efforts and attitudes, companies pulling out, brands closing, FDA regulations, I wonder the wisdom of working oneself toward a point where your tastes are narrowed to only a few specific brands, types or flavors as your daily gotos which you depend upon? No matter how you stock (and by "you" I mean anyone reading), even if you have 200 pounds, any given one blend will eventually run out. What is a tin, a week? Two? Then what? What if it is gone by then?
My strategy is to, rather than becoming more discriminating and selective, to instead become more tolerant and forgiving. I have found only a very few blends I do not immediately care for, and I'm sure in time I could learn to like them. I am a survivalist, and to survive in the likely future tobacco climate, I must assume the worst and am working towards getting along with what I have, what I can get, making what I have and can get better and more to my liking. Buying bulk tobacco that stores and ages well, learning how to blend my own, learning how to age and alter tobaccos taking the master's efforts and accomplishments as the guidepost for what is possible and finding ways that years down the road, I know that I can make an aro, a Lakeland, a Virginia, English, Balkan type on my own to my satisfaction.
Anything else, tins I collect, unique blends, are the icing on the cake to enjoy as long as I can get them, but not to depend on, and to learn from them, how they are made, what was put in them, how they were cut, while I have them still here to study.
If I have to, I will grow my own.
Worst case scenario, I am better prepared for whatever comes, best case scenario, great blends will continue affordably in the marketplace for a long time to come. But never, NEVER underestimate the stupidity and arrogance of the governing class to do exactly the opposite of what the broader common sense of the consumer might suggest!
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