Advice on Blends for New Smoker

[SaigonPipeEnjoyer]

Greeting, I just got into pipe smoking from ciggies, and for 2 months I'd accumulated 5 briars and 1 meer-lined briar.
And I also got a few 3-stars blends on reiew sites, which are: C&D Star of the East, Autumn Evening, Bayou Morning, Billy Budd; Peter Stokkebye 52, luxury bullseye flake; Dan Tobacco Alter Friese and Father Dempsey.
Currently enjoying PS52, Billy Budd and Autumn Eve and Father Dempsey. Not really much for the rest. I really want to enjoy VaPer. Any tips?

 

[BingBong]

The eternally unavailable Cabbie's Mixture? I think I bought most of this year's production, though.

 

[dottlejockey]

Welcome! Grab one of everything and get to smokin! :p

 

[bullet08]

Try Peterson Navy Roll. Once the tin is opened, put everything in a mason jar and leave it alone for a month or two. Try it. You'll like it.

 

[proteus]

Va per try escudo and evening flake.

 

[lukasstrifeson]

The generic version of Dunhill (now Peterson's) Elizabethan Mixture - Match Victorian - is probably the standard bearer for VaPers.

Samuel Gawith St James Flake is a personal favorite (pre-2017 if you can get your hands on some).

Bulk order some Luxury Bullseye Flake or get a tin of Davidoff Flake Medallions, both are fun coins to try.

 

[kcghost]

There are a scad of VaPer flakes out there. My favorite is Six Pence from Pease. It can be purchased from all the online retailers.

 

[SaigonPipeEnjoyer]

Sorry, English isn’t my mother tongue so I will try to clarify
Although I think I’ve got some of the best VaPer blends, I still can’t enjoy the flavor as I enjoyed English (or Balkan?). I tried packing loose, smoke slowly, etc. and it keep tasting like cigarettes which I don’t like.

 

[proteus]

Oh and I will add WCC has amazing va per when they are in stock for some of them.

 

[Scottmi]

Sorry, English isn’t my mother tongue so I will try to clarify
Although I think I’ve got some of the best VaPer blends, I still can’t enjoy the flavor as I enjoyed English (or Balkan?). I tried packing loose, smoke slowly, etc. and it keep tasting like cigarettes which I don’t like.

I'd second the Match Victorian, and jar it for a few months. Also, if you can get it, Seattle Pipe Club Deception Pass is billed as a vaper, but I think is more of a crossover English/Vaper. I think it is wonderful.

 

[minerLuke]

My recommendation is to get a couple of tins of Dunhill/Petersen Elizabethan Mix and 100gr or 4oz of PS Luxury Bullseye Flake. Open them up, let them air out for about 30min to an hour and put them into air tight glass canning jars. After a month or so, try a bowl of each and see if you are finding anything new taste wise. If nothing yet, keep them in their jars and revisit them periodically, perhaps once a month, while you are smoking blends that you do like.

I wouldn't be surprised if at some point in a few months time, you will have your Wow! moment. Just give it some time and some practice.

 

[minerLuke]

I should mention that the PS Bullseye flake does appreciably better after a couple of years in the cellar. It's certainly a decent smoke fresh, but age is very kind to the Peter Stokebye Virginia flakes.

 

[tmcg81]

PS Luxury Navy Flake. I loved it when I started smoking a pipe and still love it now. It's priced reasonably and ages well.

 

[seanv]

Sorry, English isn’t my mother tongue so I will try to clarify
Although I think I’ve got some of the best VaPer blends, I still can’t enjoy the flavor as I enjoyed English (or Balkan?). I tried packing loose, smoke slowly, etc. and it keep tasting like cigarettes which I don’t like.

Leave the vapers alone for a while in mason jars. Keep smoking the English and Balkan blends you are enjoying. Try some burley blends and mix in the odd smoke of a vaper. Eventually it will click or it won't, you can't really force it

 

[Doctor Chopper]

If you don't enjoy VaPer's, don't smoke them! Abort, jar, and try again in 6 months to a year. Tastes change.

 

[RookieGuy80]

I'll dogpile on here. My first tobacco purchase was LBF (along with some others I got at the same time, but LBF was the first jar I pointed to). I didn't get it at all, so I banished the coins to the cellar. Two years later when I found them again, either I had developed or they did.

My suggestion would be to get some more LBF or Sutliff Victorian and let them serve anywhere from six months to a year before trying to get into them. I have personally found it takes a better havens on technique before understanding anything heavy Virginia forward. Packing, cadence, age, and an understanding of subtle flavors contribute too much for me to have enjoyed them too early in my journey. And I still prefer my English and burley blends to vapers. It's part of that YMMV attitude we tend to have here.

I would heartily recommend you don't force yourself to like any blends or any genres. That is never a recipe for success. Smoking a pipe is supposed to be enjoyable, otherwise you'd still be smoking cigarettes. If a blend isn't for you, there's no shame in that. Put it in a jar and try again later. If it's still not for you, donate it to a friend who wants to learn to smoke a pipe.

If a genre/family/ type (English or vaper or aromatic or Lakeland etc) isn't for you, that's fine too. There's not a special page on SP.com that unlocks when a pipe smoker levels up.

 

[newbroom]

While I encourage your samplings, I advise you to get one large amount of one blend, preferably something in the codger burley based line, and smoke lots of it until you begin to hone your packing, puffing, and palate. It may surprise you to find new flavors in the same blend after having smoked it awhile.
I guess the reason I suggest a codger blend is due to their popularity and longevity, but any burley based blend can suffice. Burley usually bites less, provides more nicotine.

 

[Sobrbiker]

Sorry, English isn’t my mother tongue so I will try to clarify
Although I think I’ve got some of the best VaPer blends, I still can’t enjoy the flavor as I enjoyed English (or Balkan?). I tried packing loose, smoke slowly, etc. and it keep tasting like cigarettes which I don’t like.

If you don’t like VaPer as a blend it doesn’t matter how “top shelf” a blend is.
I do not favor Latakia, so I don’t waste money trying to find a “better” blend that has it. I’ve got a three English/Balkan blends that I picked up starting out, that are probably 10g lighter than when I bought them 18+ months ago. Every once in a while I’ll try one out just to see if my interest has changed and I usually dump half the pipe and they sit until I forget that I don’t like them and try again.
The ONLY person that has to like what I smoke is me. I do this for enjoyment, and like almost every aspect of my life I couldn’t give a rat’s ass about what someone else thinks of what I do or like (provided I don’t infringe upon their enjoyment of their rights).

 

[Sobrbiker]

While I encourage your samplings, I advise you to get one large amount of one blend, preferably something in the codger burley based line, and smoke lots of it until you begin to hone your packing, puffing, and palate. It may surprise you to find new flavors in the same blend after having smoked it awhile.
I guess the reason I suggest a codger blend is due to their popularity and longevity, but any burley based blend can suffice. Burley usually bites less, provides more nicotine.

I would have quit smoking a pipe if I went that route, but that’s just me.

 

[jbfrady]

Sorry, English isn’t my mother tongue so I will try to clarify
Although I think I’ve got some of the best VaPer blends, I still can’t enjoy the flavor as I enjoyed English (or Balkan?). I tried packing loose, smoke slowly, etc. and it keep tasting like cigarettes which I don’t like.

I had this exact thing happen. I wanted to acquire a taste for VaPer blends, but I simply didn't like them. But, like you, I could appreciate English and Balkan.

In my opinion the trick is to find English/Balkan blends which employ perique for added flavor. Then, once you've acquired a taste for it as a condiment in blends you're predisposed to like, you can pivot to VaPers.

For me, 3 blends helped this happen. SPC's Plum Pudding, C&D's Mad Fiddler Flake, and Sutliff's Anonymous (now out of production) served as my foray into Perique.