Finding What you Really Like

[SBC]

How many non-favorites a fellow needs to smoke before finding favorites will be determined partly by how many non-favorites he smokes first.

For instance, if your palette were simply going to love VAs and dislike burleys, and if you smoked 1000 burleys before trying a VA, well then I guess it would take you 1000 non-favorites to find a favorite.
You know what I mean?

So diversify sooner rather than later. There are a set of categories to work through.

(But as others have pointed out, {a} none of this counts if you haven't honed your smoking and tasting, which doesn't happen overnight; and, {b} your tastes will change over time -- what you latch on to at one point, you may grow a distaste for later.)

 

[hawky454]

It takes time to taste tobacco. Even now, if I stop smoking for a month or two I have to let my palate readjust to taste the flavors, otherwise it just tastes like smoke. Find something you enjoy from the get go and stick with it for awhile.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

I forgot to mention that I am still looking.

 

[reloader]

It probably took 3-4 months of sampling blends. Ordered 1 oz bulk bags as you did. One of the members suggested Haunted Bookshop since I liked a burley blend and it clicked. Still have some of those samples in my cellar. I a member that smoked some of the stuff I enjoyed posted that they were smoking a blend over and over again I ordered a sample to try. Figured if we had a tendency to like the same thing, it might be worth looking into the other blends they smoked as well. Hell, I still do that.

 

[anotherbob]

I fear tins will eat all the money the horses, harleys, shooting, hunting rabbit holes I already have

skip the rabbits and sell the harleys. Trust me the horses will eventually get used to it and pick up new hobbies. They might be stubborn but they're not mules.

 

[woodsroad]

I’m new to pipe smoking, my father pre-inherited me a nice collection of pipes that haven’t seen service in close to 50yrs.....

Cheers!

Maybe pipe smoking isn't for you.
Worse things could happen.

 

[Ben.R.C]

I really like many, and will continue to try many, including Latakia heavy blends. I stock up on classic vapers and pure Virginias, as those are my fav, but then also old dark fired

I’ve probably tried about 50 and consider new blends to be part of the fun. For example, a typical order might be 10 tins of orlik golden slices and 2 tins of a new blend to try.

 

[anotherbob]

if I am honest. I like almost everything I have smoked. Minus a few notable exceptions. But the question is more do I like them enough to buy them again?

 

[anotherbob]

For instance, if your palette were simply going to love VAs and dislike burleys, and if you smoked 1000 burleys before trying a VA, well then I guess it would take you 1000 non-favorites to find a favorite.
You know what I mean?

Wow I need to pay more attention. I had no idea there were that many burley options!

 

[Oddball]

I hear you . I have had some ups and downs with blends in my journey as well. Sometimes I pop a fresh tin and it's wonderful, then a week later it loses everything, then a month later it's wonderful again.

I've also taken some meh blends and added x y or z to them and tried them again vs throwing them away, to great success.
I've also collected tin remnants into a jar and in a pinch, that kaleidoscope of blends can be wonderful.

As far as how long did it take to find the one, or ones, etc. I think that's a fluid quest and not a finite effort. Find ones you like fresh, opened with some time(weeks to years between opening) and some that is aged, all the while collect some that sound good and throw them in cellar.

I have more blends in my cellar than I have tried all aquired over the last couple of years. That being said if I had nothing but one or two blends, well, that would still make me a happy piper.

It's a very individual journey. I think a good rule of thumb is if you find one you really like, stock up on a few of those then do a onesie twosie approach buying more.


Frankly, that's part of the fun.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

@Oddball I've hesitated to ask, because I don't want to be impolite or rude... but is that a picture of yourself in your avatar? I mean, if you were born that way or recovering from some terrible accident... I totally understand, and it looks painful. Do you need help?

 

[Oddball]

@Oddball I've hesitated to ask, because I don't want to be impolite or rude... but is that a picture of yourself in your avatar? I mean, if you were born that way or recovering from some terrible accident... I totally understand, and it looks painful. Do you need help?

If you know you know.

 

[mso489]

I've been pretty open minded about blends, so though there is no one blend I consider ultimate, I enjoy many of them. I'm not looking for euphoria, just a solid tobacco, often burley or burley inclusive. And variety is pleasant, not being tethered to one blender or blend. And I also enjoy a good Virginia or Va/Per, cigar leaf smoked by itself, a Cavendish, or a well crafted aromatic where the flavoring brings up the tobacco flavors and doesn't block them.

 

[Zeno Marx]

@Oddball I've hesitated to ask, because I don't want to be impolite or rude... but is that a picture of yourself in your avatar? I mean, if you were born that way or recovering from some terrible accident... I totally understand, and it looks painful. Do you need help?

That's Donald Sutherland. I'm guessing from either the original MASH movie or Kelly's Heroes.

Now, back to the OP. I'm going to offer a counter-argument to more more more. I feel one of the issues with newer smokers is trying to absorb the giant pipe smoking learning curve all at once, or at least in a very short period of time. More isn't always better, and in this case, a great number of options is not the best route. I'd recommend a more focused method. I'd hit each category of tobacco with a single representative. A burely. An English. A straight virginia. A virginia/perique. An aromatic. et cetera. Take mental notes, if not written ones. Chances are that you'll really take to one or two of them, and as/if you do, then dive deeper into that category. Unless you have a terminal illness or plan to die soon, there's plenty of time to go back and re-visit the lesser categories, and while you develop your smoking technique and palate, you'll be more inclined to enjoy your smokes and fall in-love with the hobby with flavors that easily appeal to you. It won't be a drudge through constant experimenting with things you don't really like. Once you've found your footing, you can then likely appreciate those lesser categories on some level. Of course, it's not a mandate that you have to smoke all categories of pipe tobacco, but if your curiosity grows to outside your wheelhouse, you'll have the smoking skills and developed taste to find value elsewhere.

I think we often give really poor advice to new smokers, encouraging them to try to leap over the learning curve with too many blends, too many pipes, quick to aging and cellaring, and too many options period. Pipe smoking isn't a hare. It's a tortoise.

 

[PaulTheScandinavian]

Quite a many, in the past I had my fair share of Latakia blends but then I quit smoking those and moved on to Burley forward blends and Va Burs/ Va Kentucky blends

 

[Coreios]

Personally I enjoyed most all of what I've tried, just some more than others.

 

[AppalachianPipe92]

Start with bulk. An ounce of different kinds of blends. Don't like English or Scottish blends? Cross em off the list. Like Burley and sweet virginias? Ask for recommendations similar to what you like. After a year or a couple, revisit some of these blends you didn't like when you first started. Your taste will probably change with time.
Have fun, lots of fantastic info and resources here to guide you on a fulfilling journey through the hobby

 

[The Clay King]

It isn’t the tobacco as much as learning to smoke and taste. But, to learn to taste you do have to keep smoking a variety, to teach your senses what is what.
I can smoke just about any tobacco now. Sure, I do like some better than others, but it’s more about me than the tobacco.

Focus of slow smoking and savoring the smoke. It will come to you.

@cosmicfolklore The reason I was puffing furiously on the clay pipes when I first got one was the fear of it going out...

 

[Briar Tuck]

That's Donald Sutherland. I'm guessing from either the original MASH movie or Kelly's Heroes.

Kelly's Heroes. He played a tank commander nicknamed Oddball.

 

[ADKPiper]

To narrow it down to favorite 10 is a difficult task.