Comparing Blends

[cwpiperman]

Aye, ya all will be ready ta make me walk the plank soon, and no mistake. Too many questions, too much time?
Anyway, I'm curious on how you all compare blends? I like to compare one to the other, and try to distinguish, as I try to train my palatte, the different flavors contained within the many blends I have on hand. As you may have noted in my response to the question of tobacco rotation, I have several different blends from each of Pease, SPC, Dunhill, Escudo, Mac Baren, Lane, C & D.
My comparison technique, in order that I don't blow my brain out with the magic vitamin N, is pretty simplistic: I have several pipes (Briars, Cobs and a Meer)that I have dedicated to general blends: VaPers/VaBurs/Navy in some, English in others, and Aromatics in cobs. I will pack a bowl 1/3 full in, say, 3 pipes: depending on the day, might be comparing Plum Pudding to Gaslight, Navy Rolls to Elizabethan Mixture (and I DID hammer myself pretty good with EM...quite the Nic sledgehammer in that one), or a VaPer to an English.....it all depends on what I'm trying to taste. The point is that I don't wind up smoking more than one full bowl, but in thirds of different blends. Yes, it sounds like a lot of work, but it's fun....kind of like wine tasting.
Do any of you do such comparisons, or do you smoke a single blend for a bit, get to know it, then move on? I find I don't have a great memory for flavor experiences yet, so my technique is well-suited to my addled memory.
A final note, my newest first impressions were Dunhill's My Mixture 965, C & D's Star of the East Flake, and I'm just about to try Belmont Station. I'd love to start doing Blend reviews, but I'm not going to try THAT until I feel comfortable separating out the flavors. However, I do get an overall experience from each, and, having been a total non-smoker until now, I'm finding that the Vitamin N has some odd effects, and is certainly different between blends.
Love to hear your thoughts....yesssssssss, I jumped in with all appendages....
CW

 

[Chasing Embers]

I just enjoy a blend as it is in its totality. I don't try to smoke and go, "Well there's the Virginia, and there's the Yenidje". I just enjoy the composition as the flavors of the constituent tobaccos combine to make one blend unique from another.

 

[madox07]

depending on the day, might be comparing Plum Pudding to Gaslight, Navy Rolls to Elizabethan Mixture

Not sure what you are trying to achieve ... it's like comparing bourbon with rum. I mean, yeah, sure ... they are both distilled drinks, they are both roughly 80% proof, arguably they are both sweet, but non the less they are fundamentally different and are meant to be appreciated in themselves. By analogy, both elisabethan and navy rolls are pipe tobaccos, both contain virginia and perique, but at the end of the day they are meant to be appreciated separately being unique blends within themselves.
Personally I look for the distinctive taste of each individual tobacco that I taste, and always compare it to my personal tolerance and taste - which is also constantly shifting. I take notes, and whenever I smoke a particular blend again, after a period of time, I compare my current evaluation with my past notes. Sometimes they match, sometimes my taste has changed. Also, a certain series of aromas is usually detectable, and I have taken this from the wine world. So in this sense you have your spices series, your animal series (e.g. leather aroma, honey, etc), your fruit series, your acetic series, etc etc. For example navy rolls obviously has a rum aroma (acetic), due to the casing; while your Elisabeth is peppery (spicy). So can you compare the two? Yeah sure you can, or at leas in terms mentioned above. Is it fair co compare the two? What do you achieve by comparing the two? You cannot determine which is better among the two by comparing them in such a fashion, or in any other fashion by that matter. Not to mention, just like different wine glasses influence your wine tasting experience, so does using different pipes influence your tobacco tasting experience for a certain blend. At least for Cabernet Sauvignon, for example, we know that it is recommended a certain type of glass ... while for Elisabethan there is no authority that tells you which pipe to use - it's all up to the consumer, and there is no wrong way of smoking that particular blend. So at the end of the day, again, what is the point of comparing tobaccos. You either like it or not, you will smoke it again or not, and a year from now you will think the same or differently of that blend.

 

[matchstickman]

I just enjoy a blend as it is in its totality. I don't try to smoke and go, "Well there's the Virginia, and there's the Yenidje". I just enjoy the composition as the flavors of the constituent tobaccos combine to make one blend unique from another.

Yeah...what that guy said :mrgreen:
In all fairness I try to liken the tobacco taste as it compares to food. When I smoke a good Virginia, some are tangy, some are a little earthy, some have what I like to call that "fresh baked bread" kinda thing. If it's an English, there's bitterness, woodsy flavors, and others depending on what else its blended with. I don't dedicate pipes anymore and don't go as deep into the process as some other people, but when I'm smoking something I've never tried before I might say to myself, "This tastes like (blend X), but maybe a little sweeter. Or this English blend tastes like (blend Y) but a little stronger in nicotine and flavor." That's about as close as I get to comparing blends anymore.

 

[madox07]

This tastes like (blend X), but maybe a little sweeter. Or this English blend tastes like (blend Y) but a little stronger in nicotine and flavor

Point well taken. I guess that there are certain blends that are very similar, for example MM965 and the Aperitif.

 

[warren]

I'm more akin to embers, I take each blend as a different entity and really make no comparisons. Do I like it? Do I not like it? But, I strive to keep my smoking experience as simple as possible and not dissect or complicate it too much. Also, I'm not a "blend explorer." I find and then smoke blends that give me a satisfying experience. I do pay a certain amount of attention to Jim's ruminating's. I think are palates are fairly similar, his much better developed of course. I rarely go looking for a "new" blend, it's not why I smoke. But, if all were like me, blenders would starve.

 

[sablebrush52]

If part of this is to be able to better discern the contributions of the various types of tobacco in a blend, the best way to learn how to do that is to buy some blending tobaccos and smoke them separately. That will help you become familiar with the flavor of each separate component. You will be better able to recognize them in the blends that you smoke, and to understand a bit more about how combinations of tobaccos work.

 

[npod]

Do any of you do such comparisons, or do you smoke a single blend for a bit, get to know it, then move on?

I have and still do compare blends. But that is more of a refined exercise after smoking a few years. For example, earlier this year I spent a few months comparing the various VaPer coins to see the nuanced differences between each one. I smoked tens of bowls of each and often side-by-side. It was a rewarding task and I learned a lot from doing it proper. However, that is an extreme example. But it did help me step up my palate to a new level.
Example below (and that does not include Curly Block or Doblone d'Oro), you get the idea. Lots of nuance to each blend, but all are in the same family so to speak.

 

[cwpiperman]

If part of this is to be able to better discern the contributions of the various types of tobacco in a blend, the best way to learn how to do that is to buy some blending tobaccos and smoke them separately. That will help you become familiar with the flavor of each separate component. You will be better able to recognise them in the blends that you smoke, and to understand a bit more about how combinations of tobaccos work.

Very interesting idea. Along with simply enjoying what I'm tasting at the time with a particular blend, this does make a lot of sense. Sounds like fun as well.....
Ok, who swiped me Black Frigate??????????
CW

 

[bnichols23]

Just as I'm not a musicologist, I'm not a tobacconologist either. For me the test is, do I like it, or do I not. Some may call that heresy, but as the man said, "I may not know art, but I know what I like!"

 

[newbroom]

In the beginning I was sampling from the drug store.

Then I found this web page.

Then, the fun began.

I did find myself attempting to develop my palate and my technique using the codger blends, starting with Sir Walter Raleigh.

Contrasting the baseline from a consistently smoked 14 oz (or is it 12?) tub of SWR helped with the whole process.

 

[timt]

Started out by grabbing some over the counter tobacco - Captain Black White, Carter Hall and doing a quick search as to what is the most popular pipe tobacco and was led directly to Lane 1Q. After smoking those for a bit and checking out this site and others I bought a few tins of various genres. I'll never forget the first bowl that I really really liked (OGS) and knew which direction I was probably heading.
Being a not so young guy and impatient to boot, I'm not looking to be a connoisseur. I just explored the major genres and know what I like (va/vaper) and what I don't so much (aromatics and latakia). Not real concerned that my tastes will change and I'm not looking to try every blend under the sun. There's too damn many! 8O
Having said all that, I love the threads on everyone's five favorite tobaccos and discovered a couple of keepers for myself from those lists. Oh crap, who am I kidding? Can't wait to order some new stuff soon! Any recommendations?

 

[mso489]

My first reaction is that I'm too much of a hedonist to do close comparisons of blends. I just pack one I want, or mix one I want to my own satisfaction, and enjoy. But I seldom smoke two bowls in a row of the same blend, so though I don't have partial bowls lined up in a row, sometimes I get the comparison in the process of just enjoying a sequence of blends. Usually, I retain the impression and experience of a blend, and multiple blends, to a surprising degree. As with dining on good meals, I can compare something I smoked a year ago to something I'm smoking today ... or even five or eight years ago ... and feel I am making genuine and informed comparisons. Especially if blends are especially good and memorable.

 

[bigpond]

I keep a note pad at my side when I’m trying to get a sense of a new blend as a mental exercise. It helps me to focus on my technique and my perception. Over time I may go back and change things as I come to know a blend a bit better. I think it helps not to view this as writing a review because that assumes comparison rather than evaluation. I think of it as a taste log and use this as a resource for remembering what I will no doubt forget next time I need to load up a shopping cart.
If I can’t get a mental picture of what I’m tasting, like if it’s too general or a color by numbers, then I’ll delete and try again.
Anyway, I wouldn’t worry too much OP you can post your reviews here for feedback before posting at tr if you like. I don’t think anyone here is @sswhole enough to tear you up too badly lol

 

[cwpiperman]

Anyway, I wouldn’t worry too much OP you can post your reviews here for feedback before posting at tr if you like. I don’t think anyone here is @sswhole enough to tear you up too badly lol

LOL. No worries there, as I be used to keelhaulin' from way back. No ego to bruise in piping, because I'm a total n00b, and every criticism is a learning exercise in some fashion.
Jus keep yer hands off me cellar...Savvy?
CW

 

[mso489]

cw', a certain amount of badgering on Forums is pro forma, but compared to online venues in general, we are practically courtly. Which is good. So opine away. Most of us value hearing from the other members. If we have a different experience or a different taste in blends, most of us can say that without degrading the other opinion. Sometimes people are struggling with other life problems and lash out by way of venting. But most of us have made peace with ourselves enough not to do that, so go with the flow. Mostly, it seems, posts are welcome.

 

[techie]

If part of this is to be able to better discern the contributions of the various types of tobacco in a blend, the best way to learn how to do that is to buy some blending tobaccos and smoke them separately. That will help you become familiar with the flavor of each separate component. You will be better able to recognize them in the blends that you smoke, and to understand a bit more about how combinations of tobaccos work.

As a noob myself, I was thinking this very thing a few days ago, and began adding straight tobaccos to my wishlist ... virginias, burleys, etc. I haven't tried anything other than English blends so far, which I think I'll stick to for the time being, but I have a difficult time tasting the differences between them. They all taste similar and I haven't found one that I don't like or that stands out as being more desirable.
So here's a question:
Do you develop your palate for tobacco similar to how one develops a palate for Scotch or Bourbon? When I started drinking whiskies, I took the advice of seasoned drinkers and had at least an ounce every day until I was able to get past the alcohol and begin discerning the flavors. Took me a little more than 3 weeks. Now I can easily identify subtle flavors and the differences between different brands. I don't know if my inability to do this with the tobaccos I have tried is due to the similarities between them (being all English), or an undeveloped palate.