Do You Pprefer to Know What Tobacco Blend You are Smoking?

[hawke]

When I first started I was gifted about a pound of tobacco if I would pay the shipping. I did and enjoyed the tobacco. I jarred it up in separate containers. As it aged I really became fond of it. So much so that I have been trying to match it ever since. Now the reason it was given to be was the person stated he "didn't like to smoke tobacco of which he didn't know what it was". In those early days quality tobacco was just fine to me, I hadn't developed any real preference at that time except maybe flakes. That was in Jan 2014. I now have a decent knowledge of the different types along with how different pipes smoke. I find more and more as I amd putting together my own mixtures I really want to know myself "what I'm smoking".
How do others feel about this?

 

[aldecaker]

I've never had any unidentified tobacco. Was it something like the "Best of the Rest" thing from P&C?

 

[hawke]

No, just something he had had for so long he forgot what it was. I narrowed it down with help to some mixtures of a McClelland rubbed out flake and a Lane 1Q type combination.

 

[bigpond]

The only time I won't ask what I'm putting in my pipe is when it's something green and stinky. Those days are long since past though.

 

[deathmetal]

I like to know, to match up the flavors with what I already recognize. It expands knowledge. But I think I'll give anything a try. It's useful to be open-minded, and then learn from the experience and make up that mind.

 

[mso489]

The idea of having a jar that is a sort of an ongoing puzzle is entertaining, but I think finally it would be more annoying than not. Part of the pleasure of a pipe is the creative control I can exercise, pairing the blend with the situation, or mixing blends or blending tobacco to get the proportions right for future enjoyment. The unidentified jar is a bit like a cigar; it's engineered by someone else, and I don't even get all or any of the information on the constituent leaf(s). So while the mystery jar is fun for an ounce worth, on principle, I would rather know what blend or blends I'm smoking. That is an intrinsic part of the pleasure, not to be given up lightly.

 

[stvalentine]

I like to know the blends that I smoke and even started to do a bit of blending on my own. The be able to reproduce my results I bought a little precision scale and take notes of every blend.

 

[prairiedruid]

I like to know because I've only been smoking 6 months so it helps me find other blends I might enjoy.

 

[jpmcwjr]

I've just not run across a situation wherein I'd be smoking a tobacco that's unknown. Unless you count picking up a pipe half smoked and trying to remember what it was loaded with yesterday!

 

[lestrout]

I do have several unmarked baggies from pipe shows and club meetings that are mysterious. It is fun to try to decipher their identities, since I did know what they were at the time.
hp

les

 

[haddoken]

I've bought bulk from B&M's that put their own names on blends and not the source names. I find myself searching for the real names based on description or flavors. Fyi if anyone says a blend is their "best seller" it's 1Q.