When i first started buying new (to me) blends, they quickly piled up. It wasn't long before I had a variety of tins and 2oz jarred samples of all sorts of stuff that I had yet to try. And there were loads more out there. I started deliberately opening and smoking all of my new blends. I didn't smoke the whole tin at a time, but at least 3 or 4 bowls before giving it a score. I'd occasionally dip back into some of the ones that scored high, but kept on working my way through the variety I'd accumulated. On average, I'd try around 3 new blends per week plus whatever tickled my fancy. Many were in the category of "perfectly fine, but nothing that I'd particularly seek out again". However, there were some that clearly rung the bell for me. Those I put on a list and I watched for sales to go deep on them. I don't know what I spent but fortunately lots of what I like was readily available at the time. I ended up accumulating around 200 blends all said and done over a period of 7-8 years. In spite of the variety, most of what I have in quantity is represented by 30 or so of my favorites.
