A fun experiment with tobacco

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Brock

Lurker
Mar 26, 2022
12
44
A friend of mine called me this weekend to come over for an experiment. He smokes four different tobaccos (two Virginias, a Latakia and a rum flavored Virginia) depending on mood. For the past six months he has been dumping any left over tobacco in his pouch into a mason jar. So he ended up with a random mixture. Not being sure what would be the result he and I loaded up our pipes and lit them up. To our surprise we had a reasonable tobacco in the bowls. It wouldn't be my first choice two smoke, nor my second, but it wasn't bad. Has anybody else tried this experiment? I would but I only smoke a boring two brands.
 

chopper

Lifer
Aug 24, 2019
1,480
3,317
A friend of mine called me this weekend to come over for an experiment. He smokes four different tobaccos (two Virginias, a Latakia and a rum flavored Virginia) depending on mood. For the past six months he has been dumping any left over tobacco in his pouch into a mason jar. So he ended up with a random mixture. Not being sure what would be the result he and I loaded up our pipes and lit them up. To our surprise we had a reasonable tobacco in the bowls. It wouldn't be my first choice two smoke, nor my second, but it wasn't bad. Has anybody else tried this experiment? I would but I only smoke a boring two brands.
"a boring two brands"? Sounds like me before I found American on-line tobacconists.
Choice of pipe tobacco blends is extremely slim here in Nanny State Australia [and extremely expensive at $140aud for 50 grams]
Where do you live where you're restricted to just two blends?

To answer the question; nothing goes to waste here.
An internet friend sent me a heap of tobacco that included over a dozen 1/2oz bags of different vanilla type blends that I threw together in one jar.
A month later I tried a bowl and it was rather good.

I've also ordered other blends that weren't to my liking though there wasn't one that I couldn't 'fix' to suit my tastes.
One of my favourite home blends was a mix of roughly three parts of Mark Twain to two parts of London Squire.
MT was too sweet and moist, the LS was a bit astringent and was too dry.
Mixed together it made a rather nice crossover at perfect hydration.
 

chopper

Lifer
Aug 24, 2019
1,480
3,317
Yep, I like to sample different tobaccos and any tobacco I don’t particularly like after a few bowls I dump into a giant mason jar and let it mix with the other remnants. I call it the random cr@p jar. Surprisingly it’s actuallly pretty good., no idea what’s in it though
There was one blend that I did not like one little bit when it was fresh; Aj's VaPer.
So I jarred the pound and stuck it in the back of the cupboard with the intention to use it as a mixer when supplies got low.
Around 4-5 years later I tried a small bowl and the difference to fresh was remarkably different.
Aged Aj's VaPer is now one of my favourite non-aro's.

Another blend I didn't like was Firedance which has a disgusting blackberry topping.
After I left the lid off for a couple of weeks the topping dissipated and it wasn't too bad.

Some blends are worth a little patience before throwing it into the 'crap' jar.
 

vosBghos

Lifer
May 7, 2022
1,523
3,362
Idaho
I do this with what’s left on my drying tray when the night is over but I keep the Burleys with the Burleys , Virginias with the Virginias and so on and so forth as blends go I don’t want to get to Frankensteiny…
 

DanWil84

Lifer
Mar 8, 2021
1,689
12,607
39
The Netherlands (Europe)
I did this for a while with scotch bottles which had 2 drams in it, just trow them into another bottle with 2 drams in it. The effect was quite remarkable, especially when you don't pay attention to what you throw together, so not just islays together or one distillery. Nice experiment, I think I'm going to do that with tobacco to.
 

Dublin Old Man

Might Stick Around
Aug 22, 2020
55
128
Dublin, Ohio
A friend of mine called me this weekend to come over for an experiment. He smokes four different tobaccos (two Virginias, a Latakia and a rum flavored Virginia) depending on mood. For the past six months he has been dumping any left over tobacco in his pouch into a mason jar. So he ended up with a random mixture. Not being sure what would be the result he and I loaded up our pipes and lit them up. To our surprise we had a reasonable tobacco in the bowls. It wouldn't be my first choice two smoke, nor my second, but it wasn't bad. Has anybody else tried this experiment? I would but I only smoke a boring two brands.
I experiment with mixing blends most of my smokes. I rarely smoke a single blend without mixing. However, I use known proportions so that if I like it then I can create it again. I have no interest in mystery blends.
 

Alejo R.

Part of the Furniture Now
Oct 13, 2020
832
1,643
48
Buenos Aires, Argentina.
A friend of mine called me this weekend to come over for an experiment. He smokes four different tobaccos (two Virginias, a Latakia and a rum flavored Virginia) depending on mood. For the past six months he has been dumping any left over tobacco in his pouch into a mason jar. So he ended up with a random mixture. Not being sure what would be the result he and I loaded up our pipes and lit them up. To our surprise we had a reasonable tobacco in the bowls. It wouldn't be my first choice two smoke, nor my second, but it wasn't bad. Has anybody else tried this experiment? I would but I only smoke a boring two brands.
Yes, it is a fairly widespread custom among smokers, the same is often done by Whiskey drinkers, they call it the Infinite Bottle.
 
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pipingfool

Can't Leave
Sep 29, 2016
369
1,475
Seattle, WA
Yep. I have a jar labelled "House English Blend" that is surprisingly good and very potent for some reason.

I also have a whiskey decanter that is my "Infinity Bottle" that has mostly Bourbon or Bourbon-like whiskies in it, but there are some very good whiskies in there and it is surprisingly good as well.
 
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Searock Fan

Lifer
Oct 22, 2021
1,862
5,217
U.S.A.
Small world. I have a Mason jar of tobacco that a friend gave me a couple of weeks ago. He did not say what it was, but just that he thought I might like it. Boy was he right. This is some of the best English blend I've had in a while. When I asked him what it was he said it was small amounts of leftovers from 5 or 6 high quality English/Balkan blends that he threw together. Wasn't even sure exactly what all of them were or how much of each, so there won't be any more. What a pisser! :(