Greetings everyone, from the Noobiest Noobie in Nooville.
Short version: what are good tobaccos for getting to know Viriginias?
Longer version: I've been smoking a pipe for a little while now, long enough at least, it seems, to avoid tongue bite most of the time, to finish a bowl without using up a whole book of matches, and to realize that I prefer Latakia blends. I hear so many good things about Virginias, but so far I'm missing something. I've been working my way through a tin of McC's Dark Star and one of GLP's Cairo. Why do I not notice the famed sweetness of Virginias? I get instead a kind of bitter or hard tightness. It's not ashy, necessarily, but not far from it. Sometimes a huge wave of nicotine looms up out of nowhere and knocks me sideways. I know we're all supposed to smoke what we like; I just suspect that I'll like more things than I like right now if I go about educating myself the right way.
Relevant fact? I used to smoke RYO cigarettes, and my favorite brand by a long shot was Drum. I smoked bales and bales, quite happily. Also Three Castles, back when Three Castles still existed and the world was still young. Could it be that I'm just a dark, tarry, funky kind of guy?
Anyway, thanks very much for your help. I've found this forum indispensable. Now if I can only find a Virginia I can use to stuff my training bra.
Short version: what are good tobaccos for getting to know Viriginias?
Longer version: I've been smoking a pipe for a little while now, long enough at least, it seems, to avoid tongue bite most of the time, to finish a bowl without using up a whole book of matches, and to realize that I prefer Latakia blends. I hear so many good things about Virginias, but so far I'm missing something. I've been working my way through a tin of McC's Dark Star and one of GLP's Cairo. Why do I not notice the famed sweetness of Virginias? I get instead a kind of bitter or hard tightness. It's not ashy, necessarily, but not far from it. Sometimes a huge wave of nicotine looms up out of nowhere and knocks me sideways. I know we're all supposed to smoke what we like; I just suspect that I'll like more things than I like right now if I go about educating myself the right way.
Relevant fact? I used to smoke RYO cigarettes, and my favorite brand by a long shot was Drum. I smoked bales and bales, quite happily. Also Three Castles, back when Three Castles still existed and the world was still young. Could it be that I'm just a dark, tarry, funky kind of guy?
Anyway, thanks very much for your help. I've found this forum indispensable. Now if I can only find a Virginia I can use to stuff my training bra.