Time to break out the English Blends?

[Dixie Piper]

So I'm a seasonal smoker going from VA flakes in the summer to English and Balkan's when it cools off.

Today's cool weather has me thinking about English and I'm wondering if anyone else here is close to popping open an English tin like myself?

 

[Waning Embers]

Never having been a seasonal smoker, I smoked English blends whenever the mood hit when I still smoked them.

 

[The Benedictine]

I smoke whatever I fancy at any given time.

 

[Manawydan]

I am generally a seasonal smoker, but I don't hold to it if I have a hankering in the moment. I have been primarily smoking Virginias/VaPers/Aros but about every three weeks have sprinkled in an English or Balkan.

 

[FLDRD]

I'm like the replies above, so I've got various blends open all the time.
But the heat is soon returning......

 

[The Benedictine]

I'm like the replies above, so I've got various blends open all the time.
But the heat is soon returning......

Reason I smoke inside when the temp and humidity are high. No one told me Indiana gets so muggy.

 

[ziv]

Cool? Still above 90, feels like 100+ here.
But I am smoking Engine 99 right now haha.

 

[khiddy]

Reason I smoke inside when the temp and humidity are high. No one told me Indiana gets so muggy.

Sorry we forgot to warn you about the Hoosier summers. Last week was particularly gross when it comes to smoking, I only managed to get in three or four bowls, before the weekend arrived with pleasant weather. Today is ideal, probably going to enjoy some Father Dempsey on the patio.

 

[SBC]

My tastes are also often seasonal, with VAs seeming to fit spring and summer, and latakia seeming to fit fall and winter.

It's not rigid, of course -- I'll have a few bowls of English through the summer; and, even in the winter my smoking is more than half VA just because I get burned out on too much latakia.

But I get the seasonal associations. I feel that too and they do influence my proportions.

But it's early August. No way is that happening yet. I think I start feeling that around archery opening, mid-September.

 

[Servant King]

Also a seasonal smoker, but here in the SoCal mountains, it'll still be a bit before I get that first English hankering. And even when that does happen, I'll be reaching for any one of a dozen jarred blends. No tin cracking until I whittle down some of these jars! Got to stay disciplined...

Besides, I usually ease into the cold weather with some VaBurs and heavier aromatics, then start sprinkling in Englishes/Balkans around them.

 

[folkleaf]

right there with you... been smoking the heck out of CD Dawn. In the fall and winter I'm more of a plum pudding and all of it's variants type of guy.

 

[filmguerilla]

I smoke an English every morning, year round. I do like Quiet Nights and 1792 in the fall/winter, though, but we are far away from that right now...

 

[OzPiper]

No seasonal variation for me - whatever takes my fancy on the day.
Sometimes predicated by my choice of pipe(s) - my pipes are loosely dedicated to genres

 

[OzPiper]

No seasonal variation for me - whatever takes my fancy on the day.
Sometimes predicated by my choice of pipe(s) - my pipes are loosely dedicated to genres

Perhaps I should preface that by saying I live in Sydney, Oz which has a temperate climate year round.

I’ve lived in various parts of Sydney since 1968, and never encountered snow ever. Frost yes, but never snow.
It does get hot and humid at times in summer, but not for weeks on end.

 

[BriaronBoerum]

I've been smoking less, and smoking half bowls, just because it's too damn hot lately, unless you go for it early in the morning, which doesn't always work for me.

And I have been doing more Va's and VaPers, with the occasional burley blend, but if I do a late night smoke an english like Quiet Nights or a lighter English like C & D Stratfordshire, or even some of the Peretti blends work fine for me in summer.

 

[irishearl]

I've been smoking less, and smoking half bowls, just because it's too damn hot lately, unless you go for it early in the morning, which doesn't always work for me.

And I have been doing more Va's and VaPers, with the occasional burley blend, but if I do a late night smoke an english like Quiet Nights or a lighter English like C & D Stratfordshire, or even some of the Peretti blends work fine for me in summer.

I'll get an urge to smoke a latakia blend only rarely, but Stratfordshire is my favorite of that genre. Stratfordshire is a Scottish style blend.

 

[khiddy]

Wow, the thought that Stratfordshire is a “lighter English” makes me fearful of what you guys consider to be a “heavy English.” Don’t get me wrong, I love Englishes and am a bit of a lat-head, but there is not a single universe in the multiverse where the very delicious Stratfordshire is a “light English.” Even TR has it solidly at medium (only 19 reviews, but precisely zero of them list it as light or mild).

 

[Pypkė]

So I'm a seasonal smoker going from VA flakes in the summer to English and Balkan's when it cools off.

Today's cool weather has me thinking about English and I'm wondering if anyone else here is close to popping open an English tin like myself?

IMHO it's always time to smoke an English blend - in hot or cold weather.

 

[BriaronBoerum]

Wow, the thought that Stratfordshire is a “lighter English” makes me fearful of what you guys consider to be a “heavy English.” Don’t get me wrong, I love Englishes and am a bit of a lat-head, but there is not a single universe in the multiverse where the very delicious Stratfordshire is a “light English.” Even TR has it solidly at medium (only 19 reviews, but precisely zero of them list it as light or mild).

Fair point! What I should have said is that, to my taste (and I'm new enough at the pipe that my palette is still evolving!), Strat is relatively light in Lat influence compared to some other Lat bombs that I like, and not as complex as some of the B & M blends that are also faves of mine, so that it's what I reach for when I want a good, not too rich or complex English blend, particularly when it's too hot out for a long, contemplative smoke.

As always, I appreciate other people's experiences are different, and I'm always interested in hearing them!

 

[Pypkė]

...particularly when it's too hot out for a long, contemplative smoke.

That's a fair point. Just now I was driven indoors because of the heat. I was enjoying what I hoped would be a 45-minute bowl of Father Dempsey. I was partially in the sun and it just got to be too much. The English blend was quite nice though.

Mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the midday sun - with their pipes I presume.

Other English favorites that I have enjoyed in a shady spot during the summer:

GLP Westminster, C&D Constellation, HU Khoisaan, Arango Balkan Supreme.

For some reason I prefer Quiet Nights in the evening. Must be the name.