Familiarty Breeds Contemp vs Variety is the Spice

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UncleRasta

Lifer
Sep 26, 2019
2,228
35,539
Monterey, CA
My tendency is to jump from blend to blend throughout the day. It takes an effort for me to finish an open tin (or jar) even of blends I quite enjoy, before opening something new. Sometimes it's a pattern such as Burley first thing in the morning. Va/VaPer later in the day. Latakia/Oriental at night.

I recently managed to focus on 2 blends (almost) exclusively for a few days (couldn't make it a week), and found that I enjoyed the growing familiarity.

How do other forumites feel about this? Perhaps you open a couple of tins and work them till they're done, or perhaps you jump around from blend to blend and genre to genre. I'd love to hear what and why, if you're minded to share.
 

theloniousmonkfish

Part of the Furniture Now
Jan 1, 2017
943
497
More of everything! Dirt cheap bags, extinct blends, whatever is good is good and moods call for this or that. For work it's a pouch filled with whatever is on the scraps dish that morning. At home it's anything that sounds good. It was all purchased to be incinerated, I'll open any tin/tub/jar on hand.
 

PipeIT

Lifer
Nov 14, 2020
4,376
26,150
Hawaii
My tendency is to jump from blend to blend throughout the day. It takes an effort for me to finish an open tin (or jar) even of blends I quite enjoy, before opening something new. Sometimes it's a pattern such as Burley first thing in the morning. Va/VaPer later in the day. Latakia/Oriental at night.

I recently managed to focus on 2 blends (almost) exclusively for a few days (couldn't make it a week), and found that I enjoyed the growing familiarity.

How do other forumites feel about this? Perhaps you open a couple of tins and work them till they're done, or perhaps you jump around from blend to blend and genre to genre. I'd love to hear what and why, if you're minded to share.


Life’s to short to smoke only one blend! ?

Where’s the, I’m going to smoke every blend before I die attitude! ?
 
May 2, 2018
3,747
28,669
Bucks County, PA
Smoking through a tin at a time would present an organization in my life. However, enjoying a bowl should not stifle a person into finishing a tin. I prefer to hop around and grab whatever strikes my fancy. I pull from jars mostly and let tins age. Variety is very important to me and there is typically not much thought in selecting a blend either. I prefer no pressure situations when it comes to life and my pipe smoking. ☕
 

seanv

Lifer
Mar 22, 2018
2,958
10,405
Canada
I have about 30 jars in regular rotation. Some things I only smoke occasionally like rum flake or black frigate. My regular smoking rotation is about 10 blends. I am not hard set with rules though, anything goes in my pipe smoking routine.
 

saltedplug

Lifer
Aug 20, 2013
5,194
5,097
I knew a guy who worked at Tinderbox who would buy a 100g tin and smoke it all the way through before buying another. Well, my smoking was hardly like that, and I'm not sure I see the reason in sticking to one blend before moving on; and what if you bought bulk? Why does the next tin always seem to suggest itself as the green in the grass along the way that you saw greener.

Who are you impressing by the discipline of a low number of blends in your rotation? No one cares. Perhaps if you are trying to fully taste a blend by a concentrated exposure to it you might only smoke one blend at a time.

But I think few of us aspire to be Jim Inks.