Combining Blends?

[Mike N]

I’ve been smoking pipes long enough to realize I’m not a tobacconist and try to stay in my lane when it comes to combing blends I like on their own. It seldom works.

But tonight I brought out a jar of Milan’s Our London Dock for my evening walk. When I went to dump some in the tobacco tray, I realized I still had about half a bowl left of the Davidoff Flake I had smoked this afternoon. Because I had already put the Davidoff jar away, I mixed the two to fill up my pipe. About one minute in, I was enjoying the best smoke I’ve had all year. Let’s just say I may have stumbled my way into something I really like. Now, I was smoking one of my favorite pipes, a lightweight Reid Robertson billiard with a perfect button, but it was more than that it seemed.

Anyone else successfully combine blends, and if so, what are they? Thanks.

Mike

 

[bullet08]

I don't smoke pipe often enough to do it, but whatever tobacco left in a jar that wouldn't amount to any will go into the mystery jar. When the mystery jar gets near the top, mix and smoke. Most of the time it's interesting.

 

[kcghost]

A number of people here follow the "mystery jar" routine. I just can't convince myself that I would ever get anything worthwhile.

 

[Joe H]

I do combine blends frequently, but I'm a fan of aromatics with a soft spot for cherry blends (so take my comments from that perspective). Recently I smoked my way through a dozen OTC blends that my deceased father smoked during the '40s through the '70s. I took the remnants of the five that I found least exciting, dried, then rehydrated with cherry liquor, stoved, and finally mixed in a pouch of Captain Black Cherry as a topping. After a couple months of rest in tightly hand-pressed storage, the blend is really good (to me). I get the easy-smoking burly OTC style with a deep, tart cherry undertone and bright candy-like cherry from the Cpt Black. For sure it gets a lot of compliments from passers-by when I smoke the mixture on a walk. I'd rather experiment with tobaccos I don't like rather than throw them away or donate them to someone else.

 

[Sigmund]

I combine stuff constantly.

Psychoanalysis:
Your favorite perique forward vaper
A bit of salty dogs
A pinch of latakia

HU Delight:
Half directors cut half Edward g
A good pinch of perique

African Chocolate:
Hu makhuwa plus latakia or a healthy pinch of any lat forward blend

Thats a few.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

I combine a lot of stuff from time to time, and I rarely find a combo that I don't enjoy. But, taking a flake of LTF and LNF and stacking them and then twisting them together and stuffing, is my absolute favorite. The casings for both are rather strongly applied but compliment each other. I call it the Cosmic Twist.

 

[dingdong]

I tend to mix blends just alleviate certain flavours..either to reduce harshness or increase some taste (latakia for smokiness, etc)..in my short experience, some time is required for the blend to properly mixed.
Ideally it should be pressed (into flake) but if we can't, some time in the jar would definitely do the job. at least few days for things to settle down.

 

[Sigmund]

I agree about needing time but oddly I have found when adding perique you have to add much more in a sitting blend than when just mixing a bowl full. I appreciate the way it stands out when indidually added. As a result, now when I mix HU Delight I add about 5 percent perique to the large mix and then an additional small pinch when I smoke a bowl.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

Some blends I like aged together, some do well freshly mixed. It just depends.

 

[khiddy]

I have had several bowls of a blend I made a few weeks ago that has been resting, and has turned out delicious.

Not Frog Morton
1x/7g Sutliff Matured Red Virginia 515RC-1
1x/7g Blending Latakia
0.5x/3.5g Sutliff Medium English
0.5x/3.5g Sutliff 504C Aromatic English
0.5x/3.5g PGJ Bold & Strong (rubbed into fine ribbons)
0.5x/3.5g Sutliff Stoved Virginia 507-S
Blend tobaccos well, lightly mist with bourbon. Rest for several days before smoking.

When I blend my next batch I may switch up the topping slightly to a 50/50 mix of bourbon and vanilla schnapps, but as it is this has a fantastic room note and tastes very pleasant with excellent burning qualities - I can set it down to go refresh my beverage and not need a relight when I return.

Oh, and I’ve never smoked any of the Frog Morton line, so I’m in no way comparing it to the original. I built the blend based on tasting notes from reviews and have no pretensions to match.

 

[lukasstrifeson]

I’ve been smoking pipes long enough to realize I’m not a tobacconist and try to stay in my lane when it comes to combing blends I like on their own. It seldom works.

But tonight I brought out a jar of Milan’s Our London Dock for my evening walk. When I went to dump some in the tobacco tray, I realized I still had about half a bowl left of the Davidoff Flake I had smoked this afternoon. Because I had already put the Davidoff jar away, I mixed the two to fill up my pipe. About one minute in, I was enjoying the best smoke I’ve had all year. Let’s just say I may have stumbled my way into something I really like. Now, I was smoking one of my favorite pipes, a lightweight Reid Robertson billiard with a perfect button, but it was more than that it seemed.

Anyone else successfully combine blends, and if so, what are they? Thanks.

Mike

There's a home-blending thread out there somewhere in the archives where people shared their favorite recipes. My favorite was a third of Shortcut to Mushrooms and two thirds Mac Baren Dark Twist.

Also, to stretch my Penzance longer, I like to blend whatever crumbs I have left over with a strong va/per. The two balances each other out really well, you can taste the creamy latakias and orientals but it smokes more like a va/per. Absolute bee's knees.

 

[Richmond B. Funkenhouser]

I've found that I like just about everything mixed 50/50 with straight perique.

 

[BingBong]

The standard in the UK is Ogden's Mixture, which is St. Bruno and Gold Block mixed 50/50. As they now come in 50g and 40g pouches respectively, my effort was more 56/44 but after a few days in the jar, it was a decent smoke with its own individuality.

 

[makhorkasmoker]

When I was exploring different blends and genres,and as a result buying lots of different tobaccos I did not care for, i tried the mystery blend method, just mixing up everything I did not care for, and the result was usually better, for me, than any of the individual blends that went into mix. The one exception was when I threw in too many Latakia heavy blends, but in general I have found that Chance is a pretty good blender

 

[AcesAndEights]

I mix aros with Latakia blends now and then. Usually makes for a nice smoke.

 

[Hutch Piper]

I love the Milan bulk blends!

I have tried mixing many blends. The only one I have stuck with is a C&D Yorktown and Exclusive mix.

 

[Christos D. Tsatsaronis]

I call the Mystery Jar: "Frankenstein Mixture", it's always a surprise. A good one.

 

[metalheadycigarguy]

I've created some "Frankenstein Blends" over the years and those have been okay. I've created my own English blend, (Metalhead Blend) with some blending tobacco's which contained, Latakia, Turkish/Oriental, and a touch of perique. That was a nice smoke. I also created a Red Virginia blend with a variety of Red Virginia blends, and it's decent. I'm still tweaking that blend.

 

[mingc]

I don't mix per se, but I always enjoy the bowl of whatever in the same pipe in which I've smoked a heavily scented Lakeland like Ennerdale, Canon Plug, etc., earlier. I get to enjoy the ghost of the same Lakeland topping, but with other tobaccos.

 

[telescopes]

Much of my celler is jarred blends of my own recipes. I find that it is easier to blend from scratch than try to buy rare tobaccos that aren’t really any better