Pipe Blend Ponderings by a Grumpy Old Man Who Doesn't Like Anything

[RL Bucktails]

Same here. I just don’t have a favorite. There are just too many good blends out there. i don’t think I will ever get bored with smoking pipe tobacco like I did with cigars.

 

[HeadMisfit]

Same here. I just don’t have a favorite. There are just too many good blends out there. i don’t think I will ever get bored with smoking pipe tobacco like I did with cigars.

And it's more fun to see how an individual blend changes with air in the tin, or just rubbing it out a month in advance

 

[Skippy Piper]

Is it possible that maybe you are lucky?

You wont have to be bummed if something goes off the market.
No reason to hit tinbids

If you enjoy a number of them equally then why not?

There is that. Not being terribly attached to any particular blend does mean that I'm rather resilient to market changes and blends being discontinued, though I will admit I was still sad when Sutliff met their demise since they had so incredibly many blends I never got to try and I do wish I would have stocked up on their Strawberry Delight, Apple, and Taste of Summer blends while I still had the chance.

I think that's probably my only major regret from my time smoking a pipe, that I didn't buy up any of the Sutliff aromatics I liked before they were gone and now I'm out. I guess I figured since they were aromatics they wouldn't last more than a couple years in the cellar so they weren't worth stocking up on, but now that my jars of them are empty I sure wish I had a couple more years worth!

 

[ThermionicScott]

Do you have a master list of everything you've tried, @Skippy Piper ?

 

[tmcg81]

I bought so much tobacco when I first got into this. I have a gigantic stash of stuff that I'm probably going to need to sell because I'm never going to smoke it. I just bought everything that seemed cool, and I feel like I was in the same boat, I would just open a tin, smoke a few bowls, jar it up, and now I've got 50 Mason jars with three bowls smoked out of them. Luckily, I've narrowed down what I really like to a manageable number of blends, but unluckily, several of them are no longer available, and I'm sitting on pounds and pounds of stuff I don't particularly care for and my stash of the good stuff is not nearly as robust as it should have been. That said, I don't think there's anything wrong with not finding the "one" blend that you're gonna smoke all day every day.

 

[spearheadbill]

I’ll take that challenge. I’ll bet I love tobacco more than you. (And I’m not going to stoop to relying on a photo…)

I’ve *never* thrown a tobacco blend away. That’s how much I love tobacco.

I’m sitting at nearly 500 blends currently in my cellar, and I’ve smoked every one at least once (plus many other rarities I haven’t had the chance to cellar). And I’ve happily purchased a large number of Skippy Piper’s castoff blends. Some of them of course I haven’t liked at first smoke, and they’ve been set aside for revisiting later. They change. I change. Perhaps we’ll come to an understanding.

But throwing away tobacco is not something I’ve ever done. *That* is how much I love tobacco.

I challenge you to a sit down smoke! I will smoke you under the table and enjoy my tobacco TWICE as much as you do!!!!! Lol

 

[Sobrbiker]

I am a nicotine addict, and as such I have my “all day, everyday” nicotine covered via a different modality.

I enjoy pipe smoking, and at first sought that “all day, everyday” blend.
But I’ve come to realize that what I enjoy about pipe smoking is the variety itself, so I embrace and enjoy that.
I rarely smoke the same blend repeatedly, and if I do it’s usually a home mix I makeup a pound at a time of-just a little creation that ticks all the boxes for me enough that I can grab it when I’m not in the mood to choose a blend.
I’m sure even that will change over time.

I’m happy that I’ve found what genres I like and what components I do not like-I think that’s as good as it will get.

 

[Infantry23]

Skippy, I'm the same way brother. I have tried a bunch of different blends in a bunch of different styles and I am in a similar boat to you. I like almost all of the blends I've tried. I have some favorites like like DNR, Nightcap, and most Gawith blends, but nothing that I've bought pounds and pounds of. My cellar is wide, not deep. And that works for me. It goes a bit against the grain of conventional wisdom her to cellar deep. But, it works for me.

I see pipe tobacco like food. I like A LOT of foods, but I don't have my favorites every day because I would get burnt out. For me, the variety of tobacco is the spice of life. Some days an aromatic, some a lat bomb, some days a cigar, some days snuff or chew or dip.

 

[HeadMisfit]

I am a nicotine addict, and as such I have my “all day, everyday” nicotine covered via a different modality.

I enjoy pipe smoking, and at first sought that “all day, everyday” blend.
But I’ve come to realize that what I enjoy about pipe smoking is the variety itself, so I embrace and enjoy that.
I rarely smoke the same blend repeatedly, and if I do it’s usually a home mix I makeup a pound at a time of-just a little creation that ticks all the boxes for me enough that I can grab it when I’m not in the mood to choose a blend.
I’m sure even that will change over time.

I’m happy that I’ve found what genres I like and what components I do not like-I think that’s as good as it will get.

It's worse when you smoke once a day and have multiple blends that work. But can't pull the trigger on a bulk up because they change so much with daily weather changes

 

[Skippy Piper]

Do you have a master list of everything you've tried, @Skippy Piper ?

I do! I started keeping a list last year when I wanted to figure out why some blends gave me a sore throat after smoking them and some didn't, and while I have a sneaking suspicion that I may have missed a few the list did at least help me figure out what was going on. Basically, any blend containing Burley that hasn't been thoroughly cased in something sweet seems to bug my throat, as well as anything containing any amount of Perique and absolutely any blend manufactured by Cornell & Diehl... with the exception of BriarWorks' Peach Cobbler, which was the one weird outlier.

Anyway, here's the full list of everything I've tried! I went ahead and numbered them this morning to determine exactly how many blends I've tried at this point, and unless I forgot to write down any when I tried them by my count I've currently tried 159 different blends.


Blends That Gave Me A Sore Throat
1 Carter Hall
2 Condor Plug
3 Cornell & Diehl - Autumn Evening
4 Cornell & Diehl - Black Cavendish
5 Cornell & Diehl - Briar Fox
6 Cornell & Diehl - Carolina Red Flake
7 Cornell & Diehl - Cordial
8 Cornell & Diehl - Corncob Pipe (And a Button Nose)
9 Cornell & Diehl - Cube Cut Burley
10 Cornell & Diehl - Dark Burley
11 Cornell & Diehl - Haunted Bookshop
12 Cornell & Diehl - Haunted Bookshop Cake
13 Cornell & Diehl - Interlude
14 Cornell & Diehl - Kelly's Coin
15 Cornell & Diehl - Old Joe Krantz
16 Cornell & Diehl - Old Joe Krantz Blue Label
17 Cornell & Diehl - Pegasus
18 Cornell & Diehl - Sansepolcro
19 Cornell & Diehl - Star of the East
20 Cornell & Diehl - White Burley
21 Cornell & Diehl - Winchester
22 Cornell & Diehl - Yorktown
23 Daughters & Ryan - Ryback
24 Daughters & Ryan - Ryback Gold
25 Daughters & Ryan - Two Timer
26 Daughters & Ryan - Vengeur
27 Escudo Navy Deluxe
28 Five Brothers
29 Gawith Hoggarth & Co. - Coniston Cut Plug
30 Gawith Hoggarth & Co. - Dark Bird's Eye
31 Gawith Hoggarth & Co. - Dark Flake Unscented
32 Gawith Hoggarth & Co. - Dark Flake Aromatic
33 Gawith Hoggarth & Co. - Dark Plug
34 Gawith Hoggarth & Co. - Kendal #7
35 Gawith Hoggarth & Co. - Kendal Dark
36 Gawith Hoggarth & Co. - Rodeo
37 G.L. Pease - Union Square
38 Kramer's - Father Dempsey
39 Low Country - Santee
40 Mac Baren - HH Bold Kentucky
41 Mac Baren - HH Old Dark Fired
42 Mac Baren - Mixture Scottish Blend
43 Mac Baren - Three Nuns
44 Mac Baren - Vanilla Cream Loose Cut
45 Mac Baren - Vanilla Roll Cake
46 Middleton's - Cherry Blend
47 Orlik - Golden Sliced
48 Peterson - Elizabethan Mixture
49 Peterson - Irish Flake
50 Peterson - Nightcap
51 Peterson - Royal Yacht
52 Peter Stokkebye - PS41 Cube Cut
53 Peter Stokkebye - PS400 Luxary Navy Flake
54 Prince Albert
55 Samuel Gawith - 1792 Flake
56 Samuel Gawith - 1792 Flake Burnt Ends
57 Sir Walter Raleigh Aromatic
58 Super Value - Bourbon Whiskey
59 Sutliff - 507C Virginia Slices
60 Tabac de la Semois - La Brumeuse
61 Tabac de la Semois - Le Petit Robin
62 Tabac de la Semois - Reserve du Patron
63 War Horse Bar
64 War Horse Green
65 Watch City - Rouxgaroux


Blends That Didn't Give Me A Sore Throat
66 Arango - Balkan Supreme
67 Borkum Riff - Bourbon Whiskey
68 Borkum Riff - Mixture with Cherry Cavendish
69 BriarWorks - Peach Cobbler
70 Capstan Blue
71 Capstan Gold
72 Captain Black Cherry
73 Captain Black Dark
74 Captain Black Gold
75 Captain Black Original
76 Captain Black Royal
77 Country Squire - Trumpeter
78 Cult Blood Red Moon
79 Daughters & Ryan - Three Sails
80 Daughters & Ryan - Windsail
81 Erik Stokkebye 4th Generation - Morning Blend
82 Gawith Hoggarth & Co. - American Black Cherry
83 Gawith Hoggarth & Co. - Best Brown #2 Flake
84 Gawith Hoggarth & Co. - Bob's Chocolate Flake
85 Gawith Hoggarth & Co. - Bosun Cut Plug
86 Gawith Hoggarth & Co. - Bosun Plug
87 Gawith Hoggarth & Co. - Black Irish X
88 Gawith Hoggarth & Co. - Brown Flake Aromatic
89 Gawith Hoggarth & Co. - Brown Flake Unscented
90 Gawith Hoggarth & Co. - Brown Irish X
91 Gawith Hoggarth & Co. - Brown Irish X Aromatic Twist
92 Gawith Hoggarth & Co. - Brown Twist
93 Gawith Hoggarth & Co. - Curly Cut Deluxe
94 Gawith Hoggarth & Co. - Happy Brown Bogie
95 Gawith Hoggarth & Co. - Ennerdale Flake
96 Gawith Hoggarth & Co. - Glengarry Flake
97 Gawith Hoggarth & Co. - Kendal Black Cherry
98 Gawith Hoggarth & Co. - Kendal Gold
99 Gawith Hoggarth & Co. - Kendal Mixed
100 Gawith Hoggarth & Co. - Rum Twist
101 Gawith Hoggarth & Co. - Jamaican Flake
102 Gawith Hoggarth & Co. - Rich Dark Spring Dew
103 Gawith Hoggarth & Co. - Sweet Black Cherry Twist
104 Gawith Hoggarth & Co. - Whiskey Twist
105 Granger
106 Half & Half
107 Lane Limited - 1-Q
108 Lane Limited - BCA
109 Lane Limited - Black Raspberry
110 Lane Limited - BL/WB
111 Lane Limited - Buttered Rum
112 Lane Limited - Hazelnut
113 Lane Limited - HG-2000
114 Lane Limited - HGL
115 Lane Limited - LL-7
116 Lane Limited - RLP-6
117 Lane Limited - TK-6
118 Lane Limited - Very Cherry
119 Mac Baren - 7 Seas Red Blend
120 Mac Baren - 7 Seas Regular Blend
121 Mac Baren - HH Pure Virginia
122 Mac Baren - Vanilla Flake
123 Newminster - No. 400 Superior Navy Flake
124 Paladin - Black Cherry
125 Peterson - Early Morning Pipe
126 Peterson - Flake
127 Peterson - My Mixture 965
128 Peterson - Standard Mixture
129 Peter Stokkebye - PS6 Sweet Vanilla
130 Peter Stokkebye - PS9 Vanilla Creme
131 Peter Stokkebye - PS9F French Vanilla
132 Peter Stokkebye - PS24 Nougat
133 Peter Stokkebye - PS38 Highland Whiskey
134 Peter Stokkebye - PS52 Proper English
135 Peter Stokkebye - PS303 Peaches & Creme
136 Peter Stokkebye - PS402 Luxary Twist Flake
137 Presbyterian Mixture
138 Samuel Gawith - Best Brown Flake
139 Samuel Gawith - Black Cherry Cavendish
140 Samuel Gawith - Cannon Plug
141 Samuel Gawith - Commonwealth Mixture
142 Samuel Gawith - Fire Dance Flake
143 Samuel Gawith - Full Virginia Flake
144 Samuel Gawith - Full Virginia Plug
145 Samuel Gawith - Grousemoor Plug
146 Samuel Gawith - Skiff Mixture
147 Samuel Gawith - Squadron Leader
148 Smoker's Pride - Cherry Cavendish
149 Smoker's Pride - Rum Cured
150 Smoker's Pride - Vanilla Cavendish
151 Smoker's Pride - Whiskey
152 Solani - Green Label
153 Straus Tobacconist - Sleepy Hollow
154 Sutliff - 515 RC-1
155 Sutliff - Apple
156 Sutliff - Peaches & Creme
157 Sutliff - Pumpkin Spice
158 Velvet
159 WV Smokeshop - Holiday Blend 2025


Edit: Crud! I did miss one! Gawith Hoggarth #7 Broken Flake goes under the "Blends That Didn't Give Me A Sore Throat" category and makes 160 even!

Edit #2: Forgot Peter Stokkebye PS3 Cherry, which didn't bug my throat and brings the count to 161.

 

[Sobrbiker]

I do! I started keeping a list last year when I wanted to figure out why some blends gave me a sore throat after smoking them and some didn't, and while I have a sneaking suspicion that I may have missed a few the list did at least help me figure out what was going on. Basically, any blend containing Burley that hasn't been thoroughly cased in something sweet seems to bug my throat, as well as anything containing any amount of Perique and absolutely any blend manufactured by Cornell & Diehl... with the exception of BriarWorks' Peach Cobbler, which was the one weird outlier.

Anyway, here's the full list of everything I've tried! I went ahead and numbered them this morning to determine exactly how many blends I've tried at this point, and unless I forgot to write down any when I tried them by my count I've currently tried 159 different blends.


Blends That Gave Me A Sore Throat
1 Carter Hall
2 Condor Plug
3 Cornell & Diehl - Autumn Evening
4 Cornell & Diehl - Black Cavendish
5 Cornell & Diehl - Briar Fox
6 Cornell & Diehl - Carolina Red Flake
7 Cornell & Diehl - Cordial
8 Cornell & Diehl - Corncob Pipe (And a Button Nose)
9 Cornell & Diehl - Cube Cut Burley
10 Cornell & Diehl - Dark Burley
11 Cornell & Diehl - Haunted Bookshop
12 Cornell & Diehl - Haunted Bookshop Cake
13 Cornell & Diehl - Interlude
14 Cornell & Diehl - Kelly's Coin
15 Cornell & Diehl - Old Joe Krantz
16 Cornell & Diehl - Old Joe Krantz Blue Label
17 Cornell & Diehl - Pegasus
18 Cornell & Diehl - Sansepolcro
19 Cornell & Diehl - Star of the East
20 Cornell & Diehl - White Burley
21 Cornell & Diehl - Winchester
22 Cornell & Diehl - Yorktown
23 Daughters & Ryan - Ryback
24 Daughters & Ryan - Ryback Gold
25 Daughters & Ryan - Two Timer
26 Daughters & Ryan - Vengeur
27 Escudo Navy Deluxe
28 Five Brothers
29 Gawith Hoggarth & Co. - Coniston Cut Plug
30 Gawith Hoggarth & Co. - Dark Bird's Eye
31 Gawith Hoggarth & Co. - Dark Flake Unscented
32 Gawith Hoggarth & Co. - Dark Flake Aromatic
33 Gawith Hoggarth & Co. - Dark Plug
34 Gawith Hoggarth & Co. - Kendal #7
35 Gawith Hoggarth & Co. - Kendal Dark
36 Gawith Hoggarth & Co. - Rodeo
37 G.L. Pease - Union Square
38 Kramer's - Father Dempsey
39 Low Country - Santee
40 Mac Baren - HH Bold Kentucky
41 Mac Baren - HH Old Dark Fired
42 Mac Baren - Mixture Scottish Blend
43 Mac Baren - Three Nuns
44 Mac Baren - Vanilla Cream Loose Cut
45 Mac Baren - Vanilla Roll Cake
46 Middleton's - Cherry Blend
47 Orlik - Golden Sliced
48 Peterson - Elizabethan Mixture
49 Peterson - Irish Flake
50 Peterson - Nightcap
51 Peterson - Royal Yacht
52 Peter Stokkebye - PS41 Cube Cut
53 Peter Stokkebye - PS400 Luxary Navy Flake
54 Prince Albert
55 Samuel Gawith - 1792 Flake
56 Samuel Gawith - 1792 Flake Burnt Ends
57 Sir Walter Raleigh Aromatic
58 Super Value - Bourbon Whiskey
59 Sutliff - 507C Virginia Slices
60 Tabac de la Semois - La Brumeuse
61 Tabac de la Semois - Le Petit Robin
62 Tabac de la Semois - Reserve du Patron
63 War Horse Bar
64 War Horse Green
65 Watch City - Rouxgaroux


Blends That Didn't Give Me A Sore Throat
66 Arango - Balkan Supreme
67 Borkum Riff - Bourbon Whiskey
68 Borkum Riff - Mixture with Cherry Cavendish
69 BriarWorks - Peach Cobbler
70 Capstan Blue
71 Capstan Gold
72 Captain Black Cherry
73 Captain Black Dark
74 Captain Black Gold
75 Captain Black Original
76 Captain Black Royal
77 Country Squire - Trumpeter
78 Cult Blood Red Moon
79 Daughters & Ryan - Three Sails
80 Daughters & Ryan - Windsail
81 Erik Stokkebye 4th Generation - Morning Blend
82 Gawith Hoggarth & Co. - American Black Cherry
83 Gawith Hoggarth & Co. - Best Brown #2 Flake
84 Gawith Hoggarth & Co. - Bob's Chocolate Flake
85 Gawith Hoggarth & Co. - Bosun Cut Plug
86 Gawith Hoggarth & Co. - Bosun Plug
87 Gawith Hoggarth & Co. - Black Irish X
88 Gawith Hoggarth & Co. - Brown Flake Aromatic
89 Gawith Hoggarth & Co. - Brown Flake Unscented
90 Gawith Hoggarth & Co. - Brown Irish X
91 Gawith Hoggarth & Co. - Brown Irish X Aromatic Twist
92 Gawith Hoggarth & Co. - Brown Twist
93 Gawith Hoggarth & Co. - Curly Cut Deluxe
94 Gawith Hoggarth & Co. - Happy Brown Bogie
95 Gawith Hoggarth & Co. - Ennerdale Flake
96 Gawith Hoggarth & Co. - Glengarry Flake
97 Gawith Hoggarth & Co. - Kendal Black Cherry
98 Gawith Hoggarth & Co. - Kendal Gold
99 Gawith Hoggarth & Co. - Kendal Mixed
100 Gawith Hoggarth & Co. - Rum Twist
101 Gawith Hoggarth & Co. - Jamaican Flake
102 Gawith Hoggarth & Co. - Rich Dark Spring Dew
103 Gawith Hoggarth & Co. - Sweet Black Cherry Twist
104 Gawith Hoggarth & Co. - Whiskey Twist
105 Granger
106 Half & Half
107 Lane Limited - 1-Q
108 Lane Limited - BCA
109 Lane Limited - Black Raspberry
110 Lane Limited - BL/WB
111 Lane Limited - Buttered Rum
112 Lane Limited - Hazelnut
113 Lane Limited - HG-2000
114 Lane Limited - HGL
115 Lane Limited - LL-7
116 Lane Limited - RLP-6
117 Lane Limited - TK-6
118 Lane Limited - Very Cherry
119 Mac Baren - 7 Seas Red Blend
120 Mac Baren - 7 Seas Regular Blend
121 Mac Baren - HH Pure Virginia
122 Mac Baren - Vanilla Flake
123 Newminster - No. 400 Superior Navy Flake
124 Paladin - Black Cherry
125 Peterson - Early Morning Pipe
126 Peterson - Flake
127 Peterson - My Mixture 965
128 Peterson - Standard Mixture
129 Peter Stokkebye - PS6 Sweet Vanilla
130 Peter Stokkebye - PS9 Vanilla Creme
131 Peter Stokkebye - PS9F French Vanilla
132 Peter Stokkebye - PS24 Nougat
133 Peter Stokkebye - PS38 Highland Whiskey
134 Peter Stokkebye - PS52 Proper English
135 Peter Stokkebye - PS303 Peaches & Creme
136 Peter Stokkebye - PS402 Luxary Twist Flake
137 Presbyterian Mixture
138 Samuel Gawith - Best Brown Flake
139 Samuel Gawith - Black Cherry Cavendish
140 Samuel Gawith - Cannon Plug
141 Samuel Gawith - Commonwealth Mixture
142 Samuel Gawith - Fire Dance Flake
143 Samuel Gawith - Full Virginia Flake
144 Samuel Gawith - Full Virginia Plug
145 Samuel Gawith - Grousemoor Plug
146 Samuel Gawith - Skiff Mixture
147 Samuel Gawith - Squadron Leader
148 Smoker's Pride - Cherry Cavendish
149 Smoker's Pride - Rum Cured
150 Smoker's Pride - Vanilla Cavendish
151 Smoker's Pride - Whiskey
152 Solani - Green Label
153 Straus Tobacconist - Sleepy Hollow
154 Sutliff - 515 RC-1
155 Sutliff - Apple
156 Sutliff - Peaches & Creme
157 Sutliff - Pumpkin Spice
158 Velvet
159 WV Smokeshop - Holiday Blend 2025


Edit: Crud! I did miss one! Gawith Hoggarth #7 Broken Flake goes under the "Blends That Didn't Give Me A Sore Throat" category and makes 160 even!

Wow, I thought I could overthink things occasionally

 

[Skippy Piper]

Wow, I thought I could overthink things occasionally

"Hi. My name is Skippy and I have a pipe tobacco problem."

 

[ThermionicScott]

This is food for my engineer soul.

 

[anotherbob]

For years I never had a favorite. And wondered about people that did. Like how are they postioning themselves to miss out on all the experiences a pipe has to offer. And now I fall in the middle where I primarily smoke a small variety of blends that I really enjoy. Do still try and enjoy new things but for me it's just a matter of how it pans out. I don't see either style of smoking as preferable.
And if you seek out that blend it will be harder to find. If you just smoke through your variety there is a good chance you'll smoke something that you don't want to not have available and that you keep reaching for no matter what else you have.
For me right now it's three blends. Yorktown, Pegasus, and Five Brothers. All three of those I could enjoy every single day and it's always a treat to smoke any of them.

 

[anotherbob]

I love tobacco so much I became a Moderator of a pipe smoking forum.

Ever get written in as the President of a tobacco themed organization? I highly recommend not doing that. But if you do that and still love tobacco, that's like getting mauled to near death and still loving the animal that did it.

 

[wyfbane]

There is that. Not being terribly attached to any particular blend does mean that I'm rather resilient to market changes and blends being discontinued, though I will admit I was still sad when Sutliff met their demise since they had so incredibly many blends I never got to try and I do wish I would have stocked up on their Strawberry Delight, Apple, and Taste of Summer blends while I still had the chance.

I think that's probably my only major regret from my time smoking a pipe, that I didn't buy up any of the Sutliff aromatics I liked before they were gone and now I'm out. I guess I figured since they were aromatics they wouldn't last more than a couple years in the cellar so they weren't worth stocking up on, but now that my jars of them are empty I sure wish I had a couple more years worth!

I am cracking jars of aro samples I bought in 2013 and they are great. Its true some age better than others, but I have had great luck with tightly packed jam jars of tobacco.

 

[didimauw]

Ever get written in as the President of a tobacco themed organization? I highly recommend not doing that. But if you do that and still love tobacco, that's like getting mauled to near death and still loving the animal that did it.

Im not THAT crazy now.....come on..... lol

 

[trouttimes]

You may find as time ages you and/or the tobacco, your taste will change. Some blends I didn’t care for at first, I revisited a year or two later and I like it. It is the long trail,that is enjoyable sometime more than the destination.

 

[anotherbob]

Im not THAT crazy now.....come on..... lol

it's something that is done to you. One day you're minding your own business talking with friends about snuff and then next thing you know you're in charge of something and you realize why people in charge are always grumpy. It could happen at any time to almost anyone.

 

[Sig]

I am the opposite.
I fall in love with many blends.
But, I do not buy tons of EVERYTHING I love. There are only a few ive stocked deep.....MacBaren Va#1, SOTE, PS LNF, PS Balkan Supreme, Pegusus, 5100......
The others I have anywhere from a couple ounces to a pound of.