Exploring a Blender’s Entire Product Line

[rmbittner]

It’s been a while since I’ve opened a tin of a new-to-me blend, and I’m thinking it’s about time I started exploring again. That got me thinking about picking a blender/brand with a manageable range of blends and going through them all, one by one, just for the education/adventure. There’ll be some blends, I’m sure, that I would normally avoid. But for the sake of the experience I’ll still give them a shot.

Has anyone tried doing this—smoking their way through a blender’s entire (available) product line? Anyone with blenders to suggest? (Forget C&D, Pease, and anyone with more than 15 or so available blends!)

 

[BarrelProof]

It’s been a while since I’ve opened a tin of a new-to-me blend, and I’m thinking it’s about time I started exploring again. That got me thinking about picking a blender/brand with a manageable range of blends and going through them all, one by one, just for the education/adventure. There’ll be some blends, I’m sure, that I would normally avoid. But for the sake of the experience I’ll still give them a shot.

Has anyone tried doing this—smoking their way through a blender’s entire (available) product line? Anyone with blenders to suggest? (Forget C&D, Pease, and anyone with more than 15 or so available blends!)

I have considered doing this. I was going to start with SPC because they seemed to have a reasonable amount of blends and a lot of them seem to be well-received, drama aside.

 

[Elric]

The Country Squire's non-aromatic line numbers about 16 but a few are unicorn-ish so 12 in round numbers.

 

[rmbittner]

Hmmm… Gotta say, Seattle Pipe Club wouldn’t have been on my radar. Ever. I’ll check them out…although I really can’t enjoy perique if it’s more than a whisper, and the blends I know them for are pretty perique-y. (I know I’ll probably have to at least try some perique-forward blends if I do this experiment, but I’d prefer not to.)

 

[rmbittner]

The Country Squire's non-aromatic line numbers about 16 but a few are unicorn-ish so 12 in round numbers.

I wouldn’t plan on limiting this to non-aromatics, though. I’d have to be all-in on everything.

 

[sablebrush52]

This is an interesting idea! Given the restriction on the number of blends, you're more likely to find something closer to the numbere by looking at individual tobacconist B&M operations where they do their own blending. That's pretty hard to find, especially if you want to be sure that they do their own blending and aren't labeling someone else's product. On top of that, you might want your choice to be someone who's recognized for excellence, a real boutique blender.

The only one that comes to mind, makes their own blends, has an international reputation, would be Wesley's of Johannesburg South Africa. Blog | Cigars | Smoking Pipes | Smoking Accessories | How to travel safely with your cigars | Tobacco | cigar lighters | cigar cutters | Cigars as gifts | Cigar Humidors | How to protect your cigars | Gifts for Christmas | Limited Edition cigars | Gifts for Men | Djarum | Turbo gas cigar lighter | Sticks for Walking | Wesleys Tobacconists South Africa - http://www.wesleys.co.za/siteguide.html

Good luck!

 

[Servant King]

Ashton seems pretty doable. Seven active blends, couple Englishes, one straight VA, and the rest aromatics. And at roughly a dozen bucks a tin, pretty affordable too. Gold Rush and Winding Road are certainly stalwarts in my rotation.

 

[Elric]

The Country Squire's non-aromatic line numbers about 16 but a few are unicorn-ish so 12 in round numbers.

I wouldn’t plan on limiting this to non-aromatics, though. I’d have to be all-in on everything.

Fair. Adding aromatics into the mix brings it up to around 38, which may be a bit unwieldy.

 

[BarrelProof]

Ashton seems pretty doable. Seven active blends, couple Englishes, one straight VA, and the rest aromatics. And at roughly a dozen bucks a tin, pretty affordable too. Gold Rush and Winding Road are certainly stalwarts in my rotation.

Agreed. I almost suggested this, too, after the recent Guilty Pleasure write up.

 

[rmbittner]

Ashton is definitely a possibility. But so are MacBaren and Rattray’s, Dan Tobacco. I’m curious about all of the “new” McConnell blends that are replicating the discontinued Dunhill blends (unless they are those blends but McConnell didn’t buy the rights to the original names).

Not sure how I’d handle all of the blends from these makers that I’ve already tried: try them again in context, or skip them and only smoke the ones that are new to me?

I will say I’m strongly biased toward tinned blends from blenders I have some knowledge of. (I’m showing my bias here, but my personal feeling is that if a blend’s worth smoking, it should be worth tinning.)

 

[canucklehead]

I've smoked all of the Low Country bulks except Vanilla, it's out of stock. I was wanting to do this with Dunhill's tinned tobaccos but then they changed names and available bends.

It would be a rather extreme undertaking to smoke C&D's entire catalogue.

 

[shermnatman]

It's probably not the answer you are looking for, but way back when I first got involved with smoking a pipe, I went through the entire Super-Value line - which number about one dozen.

I don't smoke anything like these types of flavored tabaks today; but, iirc, the 2 big stand-outs for me where their: Bourbon Whiskey, and, English Mixture.

What about trying all the various versions of Amphora, I think that's under 10 offerings? - Sherm Natman

 

[cosmicfolklore]

I have almost had all of the Astleys, and definitely all of the Dunhill branded stuff. I am currently taking on the C&D line. I just find it difficult to buy so many latakia blends.

 

[canucklehead]

I have almost had all of the Astleys, and definitely all of the Dunhill branded stuff. I am currently taking on the C&D line. I just find it difficult to buy so many latakia blends.

A few of my favourite blends are C&D Latakia and Burley blends, but they have waaay to many Latakia and burley blends haha.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

A few of my favourite blends are C&D Latakia and Burley blends, but they have waaay to many Latakia and burley blends haha.

I've had all of their Virginia blends, and I now think they are the masters of Virginias. But, there may be a few Burley blends I've yet to try, and many many latakia. Sigh... so if I skip all of their aromatics, can it still count? I can better smoke a latakia than a damned aromatic.

 

[mso489]

I've smoked enough different blends to know some markers for what I'll like and what i won't, so I don't have to go through the whole menu to know what will work for me. Likewise, some brands will please me with nothing, and others I can roam widely, keeping in mind what I know I like.

I can go through the inventory of various brands with fewer blends and spot the ones I won't like. Many blends with only one star or triangle for strength just don't deliver much flavor to me either, or it isn't a tobacco flavor, for one example.

So, no, that approach wouldn't work for me, but I'd be glad to hear from those who try this and have an interesting experience with it. It is an interesting idea, but not a plan for me.

 

[yanoJL]

I think I could make it through the Warped product line. When last I checked, they had 6 blends in production and only one (Scarecrow) is aromatic.

Or maybe Captain Earle's. But as previously mentioned, you'll need to love Latakia to smoke your way through that list.

 

[rmbittner]

I've had all of their Virginia blends, and I now think they are the masters of Virginias.

I have never heard of anyone talking about C&D in relationship to Virginias. To me, they’re the House Built on Burley. So, while this may not be the thread for it (or maybe it is), I’d love to hear more about your experience with the company’s Virginia blends and which ones you think are worth exploring.

 

[Redtech]

I'm working on something like this with Bob Runowski blends. I honestly don't know how many he had his hand in, so just working from what is listed on the review website. So far Haunted Bookshop, Bayou Morning, Bayou Morning Flake, Epiphany, Morley's Best, Pegasus and Old Joe Krantz.

 

[bullet08]

Started on GLP. Went through most of English/Balkan and some VA then stopped. Too many other brands I wanted to try. Maybe will pick up later.