Cultivating a Taste for Tobacco

[winterlionpassing]

Hiya folks, im beginning to pipe smoke, I have a cob. would anyone mind sharing some input on their preferences on tobacco? I would like to buy an oz or two of each type... Virginia, burly, English etc and find out what I like and what I don't. what would y'all recommend? thanks

 

[proteus]

Recommend all that. Try it all. Read reviews on smokingpipes.com. Tobaccoreviews.com. think of it like this. You're at an ice cream shop and want to know what is good. Lots of people will tell you what they like and ultimately it will be every flavor. Only you will know. Buy an ounce or two and try it. This hobby does cost some money but it's not that bad as compared to other hobbies.

 

[PaulRVA]

I’d try Smoking Pipes.Com or Smoking Pipes EU and use the Tobacco Search function and choose one of each based on the strength you think you’d have a tolerance for. Another option is a local Brick & Mortar Store with the same requests.

Welcome from Richmond Virginia

 

[proteus]

Also why not introduce yourself in the new person forum and get to know the board a bit. Post location, profile etc etc.

 

[winterlionpassing]

thanks much. would you reccomend starting with average blends or good ones?

 

[winterlionpassing]

good thought

 

[mpjetset]

All good recommendations here so far, and great you started with the cob. The fact is, it's probably too soon to know what you're going to like. Your mouth first has to learn to avoid pain, and then how to avoid generating wet steam. The cob will help. Smoke anything that sounds interesting to you, but smoke slowly as often as your mouth will allow. Your mouth will learn on its own, with little conscious help from you. Keep hydrated. Give it a month gently and by then flavors will start opening up to you.

 

[mpjetset]

thanks much. would you reccomend starting with average blends or good ones?

Don't waste your money yet. See my other answer. Just go slow and don't have high expectations for the first month. Good luck!

 

[kcghost]

You will find a lot of contradictory advice on this forum. I would never recommend smoking any less than good tobacco. You will probably stay with aromatics, but I would prefer you start with mild English blends. Any local tobacconist can help you with that.

 

[lraisch]

First, I would recommend getting a decent briar. As for tobaccos, Stokkebye's bulk blends might be a good place to start. I can suggest their English Oriental Supreme as a mild English blend.

 

[lukifer]

I found myself overwhelmed at first by the variety so I went on pipesAndCigars and got an ounce of each type of straight blending tobaccos they had. That really gave me a general feel for each type of leaf and what it has to offer. Just bear in mind that when you put 2+ ingredients together, some notes get toned down and some are turned up and then there's the blending process to consider. A blend that is heated and pressed will always be slightly different(better imho) than a straight ribbon cut version of the same blend.

I would recommend picking up an oz of each type of blending tobacco and smoking a couple bowls of each to see what you do and don't like. Then buy blends with whatever ones are your favorites blended with other components to see how they play in proper blend. But your tastes will probably change as you progress.

I would advise you stay away from aromatics/flavored tobacco for now as they are a little more complicated to smoke properly and will confuse the pallet if you're trying to nail down what leaves you do/don't like. Many would like to stab me for saying this though.

 

[Sig]

As others have said, go to Smoking Pipes .com and read the descriptions of blends and buy an ounce of each.
I may suggest to stick with Cornell &Diehl maybe.
They have many blends of each genre and generally do it well.
And, they are only $3 an ounce.

 

[shanez]

Hiya folks, im beginning to pipe smoke, I have a cob. would anyone mind sharing some input on their preferences on tobacco? I would like to buy an oz or two of each type... Virginia, burly, English etc and find out what I like and what I don't. what would y'all recommend? thanks

I would suggest asking for what people think is an iconic blend in a certain category instead of their preferences. For example Peterson Nightcap is good example of an iconic English blend although some might prefer other blends over it.

 

[anotherbob]

Hiya folks, im beginning to pipe smoke, I have a cob. would anyone mind sharing some input on their preferences on tobacco? I would like to buy an oz or two of each type... Virginia, burly, English etc and find out what I like and what I don't. what would y'all recommend? thanks

the same thing I always reccommend. Which is whatever but stick with a blend or two for a week or so. A lot of times the first few smokes just don't really reveal themselves fully. But also just go with whatever feels right just take some time to get to know a blend before you form an opinion. A blend is kind of like a person if you talk to hundreds of people you kind of know hundreds of people, if you spend quality time with various smaller number of people you'll really get to know them and often see more of what makes them shine. Same with tobaccos. But that's my opinion. Also could be because before internet orders... I'd buy two ounces of a blend and smoke it straight though no matter if I thought it was great or o.k..

 

[TakeThisCobAndStuffIt]

I will expand on anotherbob's advice. I did not power through blends that I clearly did not like for whatever reason; such as flavor, intensity of the smoke, bitey or whatever. However, sticking to the same family has merit. For example, if you try to smoke say 507c Virginia Slices after smoking Petersons Nightcap (both pretty tasty tobaccos) you will most likely think that the Virginia sucks and tastes like cigarette smoke. Your palate will not be able to discern the subtlety of the Virginia after the potency of the Latakia flavor; at least not in a short window of time.

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[milk]

I just bought Solani Aged Burley Flake. I really want to smoke it but I need some encouragement because I do not like the smell of this stuff. Still, I want to try it. Tell me it gets better as you smoke it…that one gets used to it?

 

[Sobrbiker]

I just bought Solani Aged Burley Flake. I really want to smoke it but I need some encouragement because I do not like the smell of this stuff. Still, I want to try it. Tell me it gets better as you smoke it…that one gets used to it?

 

[dottlejockey]

Unfortunately, there are very few places online that will ship to Washington. I can (and will) help with intel on that.

Best way to find out what you like is to try everything. When you find something that really resonates, look for others of that genre and keep trying things. To find out what's in a blend, tobaccoreviews dot com is your friend. This process never stops. I've been smoking pipes for almost 20 yrs and 2024 was still a year of discovery with a handful of great finds that will now be part of the regular rotation.

 

[Sobrbiker]

Unfortunately, there are very few places online that will ship to Washington.

And then there’s that. Ouch.

I started with a dozen 8oz jars and a bunch of 2oz bulk samples of the genres I thought I’d like. Try everything you can, and don’t get rid of anything-your tastes will probably change as you become accustomed to the whole process.

 

[dottlejockey]

And then there’s that. Ouch.

That issue's handled once he checks his pm.