Desert Island Blend List

[MisterDearly]

Oh hi everybody! I've been on a big pipe tobacco renaissance lately. A bit of background for me: I spent most of 2024 very sick and couldn't smoke much. Since I started treatment for my autoimmune disease around Thanksgiving, I've found my love of smoking stronger than ever, and I've been trying so many new blends! It has brought me some peace during a difficult but forward-looking time! It's great to feel alive again after several years of struggling with my health. Even with all of this sampling, there are just the stalwarts that I always return to and love so much. That got me to thinking about my desert island blends. I'm curious what everyone else's choices are! So it's not too difficult, what are the five blends (and a similar alternate if you can't decide haha) on your list? Here's mine:

1. Haunted Bookshop (or its cousin Old Joe Krantz if I want more oomph)
2. Kendal Flake (or Grasmere because it's still in production.)
3. Black Mallory or Red Rapparee (depending if I want more sweetness or more spice)
4. Quiet Nights or Abingdon (similar story as no. 4)
5. And for the last one, the things I seldom smoke: Special Latakia Flake or perhaps And So To Bed.

 

[huntertrw]

1. The Balkan Sobranie Smoking Mixture
2. Dunhill 965 (Murray's version)
3. R.J. Reynolds Prince Albert
4. American Tobacco Company's Half-and-Half
5. Larus & Brother Edgeworth Ready-Rubbed and Edgeworth Extra High Grade Slices

That should be enough to keep me happy until the rescuers arrive!

 

[tracerbullet]

Have to be honest. I’ve never found a “true go to blend”
I do like Vanilla Flake and Squadron Leader but I am always trying something new.

 

[sablebrush52]

In no particular order:
State Express London Mixture
St. Bruno - Ogden's version - MacBaren gelded it.
Escudo - A&C Peterson or Cope's versions - not that crap STG puts out
Doblone D'Oro - 2014 and 2015 when it was a great Three Nuns clone, instead of the lump it is today
5100 aged 10 years

ask me tomorrow and it will be different.

 

[Servant King]

-Mac Baren Plumcake
-Mac Baren Vanilla Cream
-Mac Baren Virginia Flake
-Peter Stokkebye Luxury Navy Flake
-Sutliff Balkan Sobranie Original Mix Match

I wonder what the duties are like for this "desert island..."

 

[warren]

I suppose whatever was in my pocket when I abandoned ship. 3 Star Blue most likely.

 

[Chasing Embers]

Ribbon cut Yenidje

 

[Brad H]

#1 would be mac baren plumcake.
#2 would be Gilligan and the skipper. They make an island look pretty fun.
#3 Amazon Alexa because why not. I’m used to Alexa saying she doesn’t understand or know how to help with that.
#4 Samuel L Jackson because you can never have enough MF bombs dropped.
#5 a 1942 Douglas MacArthur pilot flask of water to stay hydrated.

Plan B, reinforce plan A with #1, don’t run out of Mac Baren plumcake.

 

[Cigar City Piper]

This would be tough for me because my tongue has ADD.

- Salty Dogs- Perfect Vaper for me.
- GH Dark Flake Scented or Unscented- When I want to get hit with a hammer.
- GH Sweet Brown Bogie- When I need a sweeter hammer.
- McClelland Aurora- I still hate myself for running out of this.
- Arango Balkan Supreme- Scratches the Latakia itch.

I could go on but that would be cheating.

 

[9mmpuffer]

3 oaks Syrian
McCl Wilderness
H&H Blackhouse
McCranies Red Ribbon

 

[metalheadycigarguy]

For me, no particular order;

McClelland - Blue Mountain/Balkan Blue (thankfully I still have 6 tins)
McClelland - 3 Oaks Syrian (thankfully I still have 2 tins)
McClelland - Black Sea Sokhoum (thankfully I still have 2 tins)
McClelland - Frog Morton Cellar (thankfully I still have a 100g tin)
McClelland - 5100 Red Cake (I sure miss this blend, but my substitute is Sutliff 515RC-1)
Seattle Pipe Club - Mississippi River
Seattle Pipe Club - Plum Pudding
Dunhill - Early Morning Pipe
Samuel Gawith - Skiff Mixture
Samuel Gawith - Perfection
Mac Baren - HH Latakia Flake (thankfully I still have 3 tins)
Esoterica - Penzance
Esoterica - Margate
Balkan Sobranie

 

[WerewolfOfLondon]

MacBaren Virginia Flake
F&T Vintage Flake
Peterson Flake
HH Pure Virginia
Germains Brown Flake

 

[Sidehatch]

Morning burley alternating between WCC DCC or KBV BMP.
Afternoon delight between PS LBF or Ennerdale
Evening Wilke Maple Plum Spice or Esoterica ASTB
Yeah. That would be just fine for me.

 

[sablebrush52]

This would be tough for me because my tongue has ADD.

- Salty Dogs- Perfect Vaper for me.
- GH Dark Flake Scented or Unscented- When I want to get hit with a hammer.
- GH Sweet Brown Bogie- When I need a sweeter hammer.
- McClelland Aurora- I still hate myself for running out of this.
- Arango Balkan Supreme- Scratches the Latakia itch.

I could go on but that would be cheating.

Aurora was a great blend.

 

[filmguerilla]

GL Pease Chelsea Morning
C&D Star of the East Flake
Esoterica Dorchester
Rattray's Black Mallory
Gawith 1792

 

[Skippy Piper]

I always like when these threads pop up, since my top 5 favorites do change a bit over time so it's fun to ponder and revisit the question. At the moment my favorites are (in no particular order):

Samuel Gawith 1792 Flake
Gawith Hoggarth Coniston Cut Plug
Peterson Nightcap
Captain Black Original
Lane Limited Very Cherry

 

[Sigmund]

Directors Cut
Quiet Nights
Peterson DNR
McClelland Beacon if I can have something no longer made.

Id have to think about the last choice.
I might also pare down the vapers in exchange for something else. Too much work and Im not getting on a boat soon.
I have a lot of blends but really there are only about half dozen I tend to really love.

On Deck would be: Salty Dogs, HU Edward G, Louisana Broken Flake and maybe something closer to a straight virginia that I have not yet discovered.

 

[Barry H]

Top dozen in alphabetical order (so far). Unable to get US blends in the Land Of The Brits, sadly.

Gawith Hogarth American BB
McConnell Maduro
McConnell Original Oriental
Rattray's 7 Reserve
Rattray's Old Gowrie
Robert Lewis 123 Mixture
Robert Lewis Orcilla Mixture
Samuel Gawith Best Brown Flake
Samuel Gawith Sam's Flake
Samuel Gawith St James Flake
Solani Aged Burley Flake Blend 656
Special Virginia (JTI)

 

[judcole]

Amphora Virginia
Sutliff Virginia Slices
Capstan Blue
MacBaren Mixture
Dunhill Flake (The Murray's version - never had earlier ones)

 

[Oddball]

SG Skiff Mix
C&D Sunday Picnic
C&D CRFw/P 2020
SG Navy Flake
Mac Baren Stockton.
SG St James Flake
McConnel Scottish Flake
G.L. Pease Regents Flake


Like sablebrush 52 said, ask me tomorrow and it will change.