Whittling Down

deathmetal · Jul 20, 2017

mawnansmiff writes:

I am slowly whittling down my tobacco collection and reckon I will be left with no more than ten blends in all that I will continue to buy.

I am in the same boat. I do not crave variety so much as variation, and there are a few blends that stick out as both excellent and something I enjoy on a regular basis, and as time goes on I am enjoying more of them in rotation. These little squat jars with wide lids hold about an ounce or two, depending on packing and moisture level, of a blend and so I divide favorites into those (if not from a tin, like the delicious Royal Yacht) and can rotate among a couple jars for a week with full satisfaction. Ten blends might be too few, but my guess is that it will be fewer than twenty.

jefff · Jul 20, 2017

I agree. The lure of exciting new blends is mostly lost on me. I probably have and 30 cellared but the vast majority is 15-20 different blends.
At this point I probably have enough to get me to the end.

hobie1dog · Jul 20, 2017

At this point I probably have enough to get me to the end.

Same here, no more than the one to two bowls, and then only 3-4 days a week, a bag of Penzance will last a year.( with some others I throw in occasionally)

tomnernas2ndson · Jul 20, 2017

Interesting. I also use the smaller ball jelly jars. I have 150 plus varieties.then I have a dozen or so quart jars with my favorites. And finally two one gallon clear glass jars: one containing Morley's Best and the other Milan's Christmas Cheer. Beyond that I have an 8 ounce silver plated humidor of the original Blue Boar tobacco and a several odd 8 ounce bags..penzance, Valle crucis, etc. I've given away about 60 samples in the past month. Less seems better.

ashdigger · Jul 20, 2017

I have a fairly narrow, but deeeeep cellar. I know what I like, after hard trial and error (including catastrophic mistakes) my cellar is set until I'm worm food. Unless I die sooner than later.

jefff · Jul 20, 2017

I am interested in any Wilderness anyone doesn't want......
Other than that, I'm good.

jpmcwjr · Jul 20, 2017

The Sierra Club wants to hear from you.....

fitzy · Jul 20, 2017

I keep expanding trying new stuff. Never know when I may find a new favorite. Stockpiling the one's I like.

deathmetal · Jul 21, 2017

Not a bad approach. It is always good to keep an open mind. I find that what happens is that I try new stuff, appreciate it, and then dig out an old favorite and find myself thinking, "Hmm. This actually is a bit better, so I'll order another pound of this and smoke it compulsively."

glassjapan · Jul 21, 2017

I've been in the whittling down mode also for the past year. I was just updating my online cellar and ended up counting 30 different tobaccos total that I'm down to. Of those, I have 9 opened right now. I can see myself heading towards 12-15 tobaccos total. I'm finally winding down the "must try more mode" and just enjoying what I know I love.

deathmetal · Jul 22, 2017

I am following the unofficial motto of this forum:
"Like what you smoke, smoke what you like."
In this case, I'm smoking a well-insured warehouse for a friend. Hope they don't notice the accelerants or cigarette fuses. Fingers crossed.

indianafrank · Jul 22, 2017

When I got back into pipe smoking about 3 years ago, I started to buy every tobacco I could. Now I've settled on Carter hall as my go to smoke. I have tins of unopened, and a few bottled I will probably never use.

deathmetal · Jul 22, 2017

It is good to know what always brings joy. Everything else may be irrelevant!

oldgeezersmoker · Jul 22, 2017

Not a bad approach. It is always good to keep an open mind. I find that what happens is that I try new stuff, appreciate it, and then dig out an old favorite and find myself thinking, "Hmm. This actually is a bit better, so I'll order another pound of this and smoke it compulsively."

Pretty much my experience. I am finding that what tastes best to me is pretty much what I liked best when I gave up pipe smoking back in late 2001.

jefff · Jul 22, 2017

I have recently found a genuine appreciation for Latakia, something I never had in 30 years of pipe smoking. Somehow it seems I anticipated this because I have a great deal of Lat blends in my cellar.
I am feeling pretty good.

wyfbane · Jul 23, 2017

I enjoy variety a lot. And there are times when I get a hankering for this or that. I am also rather new still and am hedging my bets against a changing palatte as I get older.
I have a ton of different blends. But like Hobie said, a bag will go a long ways when you are not a heavy smoker. I figure I have enough for about 150 years at the rate I smoke. So that should cover myself and my son for our lifetimes when he gets older, I die, and he inherits my stash.

jaytex1969 · Jul 23, 2017

As a new guy and in consideration of the FDA crap, I'm casting my net far and wide.
Many options will still be available after 8/18, but many won't.
If I find at some future date that I've cellared something that I don't enjoy, I'm confident that someone else will enjoy the opportunity to get an aged and no longer available tin of it.

okiebrad · Jul 24, 2017

I generally rotate between 10 blends but I still like trying new tobacco's.

deathmetal · Jul 24, 2017

It is hard to resist the call of the new and unproven.

PaulTheScandinavian · Jul 25, 2017

with our prices here in Eu(and UK) its pretty costly business to build up descent tobacco cellar /or try all given varieties

Whittling Down

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