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terry

Part of the Furniture Now
Oct 7, 2011
778
1
Anyone else have a hard time picking a tobacco blend from tobaccoreviews.com? If a listed blend has 20 reviews, you get 20 different responses.

 

pipeinhand

Lifer
Sep 23, 2011
1,198
0
Virginia
I have learned to catch the similar words and distill a pretty good total. The more the better in my mind. Look for patterns.

 

markw4mms

Lifer
Jun 16, 2011
2,176
2
Bremen,GA
Yep, that's pretty much the way it is. What you have to do to get the best results is just read them all, and look for what the reviewer mentions as their tobacco of choice for their normal smoke. They will usually compare the reviewed tobacco to it. If the kind of blends they usually smoke is similar to what you like, you can give the review a little more credence toward making an informed decision on trying it yourself.

 

lordnoble

Lifer
Jul 13, 2010
2,677
14
Just don't trust any of my reviews on TR.com. Except on the Villiger Mid Day. That one stands...
-Jason

 

riptide

Part of the Furniture Now
Jul 27, 2010
662
12
Colorado
every time i buy a blend that has gotten rave reviews In wind up hating it. I try the ones people here recommend hit and miss so far but more hits than misses.

 
Jul 15, 2011
2,363
31
To me, tobacco reviews are kind of like saying, "Jazz music is better than rock music." Everyone has their own personal preferences and different body chemistry reaction to certain kinds, blends, and makers of tobaccos. About the only reason I ever go on tobacco reviews is when I hear about a blend and I don't know how makes it, for instance, I had to do this when I first found out about Shortcut to Mushrooms, or to find out what tobaccos are in a blend when a website doesn't list them, which is few and far between. That being said, I do write a lot of reviews for tobaccos that I believe have merit, but I always include a disclaimer by saying, "If you like Latakia heavy blends, you might like this," or "If you are in the mood for a light Virginia, you might want to avoid this one."

 

baronsamedi

Lifer
May 4, 2011
5,688
5
Dallas
Yeah, if all you've ever smoked was CAO Cherry Bomb and then lit up a bowl of 3 Oaks, it would be like saying, "I've never listened to anything but one Van Halen album and then I tried listening to Charles Mingus. God he's terrible!"
I like luxurytobaccoreviews.com too.

 

juni

Lifer
Mar 9, 2010
1,184
11
When it comes to searching for tobaccos based on what components they have tobaccoreviews is still unbeaten. I really wish luxurytobaccoreviews had that feature.

 

terry

Part of the Furniture Now
Oct 7, 2011
778
1
lol..like I said..so far, I have gotten 7 different replies to this thread...not judging...just saying..But, I have learned more from this forum...what a great site!

 

judcole

Lifer
Sep 14, 2011
7,149
32,916
Detroit
Let's face it - any site like tobaccoreviews.com, which has a whole lot of reviewers, is gonna have reviews of different levels of trustworthiness. If I see a blend where reviews are all over the place, it says to me that this is neither a great blend, or a godawful one, but somewhere in between.
The way to use any tobacco review site is to find someone whose tastes are similar to yours, and pay attention to what he likes and dislikes. On a particular review, look for the guy who says something like, "I am not a big latakia smoker, but this knocked my socks off."
Pipe smoking is incredibly subjective, and a lot of factors come into play. In my little tobacco notebook, I write initial impressions during the first bowl - but it's not until I've smoked a whole lot of the blend, in a bunch of different pipes. :puffy:

 

lordnoble

Lifer
Jul 13, 2010
2,677
14
Jud has a good point about following certain reviewers. Makes buying a little more focussed. If you follow the "What Are You Smoking" thread, if a member here is smoking something you enjoy, see what else they smoke. I've done this and it's helped steer me toward some excellent blends that wouldn't normally have tried on my own.
-Jason

 
Jun 26, 2011
2,011
2
Pacific Northwest USA
When it comes to searching for tobaccos based on what components they have tobaccoreviews is still unbeaten. I really wish luxurytobaccoreviews had that feature.

When it comes to searching for tobaccos based on what components they have tobaccoreviews is still unbeaten. I really wish luxurytobaccoreviews had that feature.

That would be a +2!
As subjective as each individuals tastes and preferences can be I get little to no value from any reviews of any site. The exception being reviews that detail actual component composition and physical traits of the tobacco. Wet, dry, thick flake, loose krumble kake etc.
And did I mention that I really agree with juni regarding:

When it comes to searching for tobaccos based on what components they have tobaccoreviews is still unbeaten. I really wish luxurytobaccoreviews had that feature.

 

mlaug

Part of the Furniture Now
May 23, 2010
908
2
Iowa
My main issue with any set of reviews is the narrow focus on what the blend tasted like to the reviewer.
It doesn't help me a wit to know that a particular blend had a figgy fruit-like note upon the tin opening, with a deep earthy taste and a cloying hint of chocolate mid-way through the bowl. :|
I wish more reviews would contrast and compare rather than be purely descriptive. It would mean more to me if a reviewer would state "blend X is similar to blend Y, but with more perique up front, and less like blend Z".
Simpletons, like myself, categorize tobaccos into Like and Don't Like columns. I need simple information, not a thesaurus style listing of synonyms.

 

judcole

Lifer
Sep 14, 2011
7,149
32,916
Detroit
It would mean more to me if a reviewer would state "blend X is similar to blend Y, but with more perique up front, and less like blend Z".
But that would only be helpful to someone who has smoked both Blend Y and Blend Z. If you haven't smoked either of them, then the review is worthless.
If you don't like one reviewer's reviews, then for heaven's sake skip them! Find people whose reviews you find useful.

For example, Steve Fallon, AKA Pipestud, has 1,000 reviews on tobaccoreviews.com. I know Steve from Yahoo Pipesmokers II. Our tastes don't always coincide, but I have learned that if Steve strongly dislikes something, I probably will too.
It's not going to be handed to you on a silver platter. You have to put out some effort to get the best from reviews. :puffy:

 

eaglerico

Lifer
Jan 8, 2011
1,134
1
I think a lot / most of the reviews on there aren't worth reading. My example is Paladin Black Cherry. If you look it up it has horrible reviews. Yet it is the only tobacco Paladin makes and has been selling it for years. Somebody is buying. And there are many folks on here who say they like it.
I like the luxurytobaccoreviews better. It is run by the same guy that owns this site and most of the posts are from our members here as well. Most of the reviews are objective and very informative. If the reviewer didn't like it they explain why which will give a new person more insight... instead of the generic "This is crap" My only issues with the site is it is still a young site so there are a lot of blends with no reviews. But time will fix that.

 

philip

Lifer
Oct 13, 2011
1,705
6
Puget Sound
I enjoy reading the reviews. They at least tell me what kind of tobaccos are in a blend and the forums let me know whether the majority of smokers liked it or not.
I like hearing how others describe the flavors, too, but I don't put any trust in that. Personal tastes vary too much. I am sure I will taste different flavors form what you taste. Some will like an aroma, and others not.
The reviews can give me an idea of what I might like to try. But I never trust them to predict what I will like. Anyway I prefer finding out the hard way.

 

baronsamedi

Lifer
May 4, 2011
5,688
5
Dallas
Well it's no surprise that with the vast difference of people and tastes on here we would also have vast differences of opinion about reviews and websites, too. Most discussions about stuff like that end up turning into the Sermon on the Mount scene from Monty Python's Life of Brian, anyway.
Read, smoke and find the tastes you like and the opinions you trust.

 
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