Favorite Tobacco?

[gervais]

I'm not too picky, I like anything with a nice tobacco-flavour. Not really a huge aromatic smoker, but I have a few on hand incase. I just love the flavour of tobacco

 

[ray47]

Back in I believe 2009 I corresponded with the late Bob Runowski, who blended some of the C&D blends and was a favorite of mine on Tobacco Reviews. Knowing I was primarily a burley smoker, he sent me some samples of blends he created and blends he was working on and I fell in love with Pegasus and to this day it's my favorite everyday smoke and comprises a good portion of my cellar.

 

[Reginald]

As a newb, sugestions here were the main influence for me. It got me trying all of the different catagories.

Also, as was suggested here, my tastes are changing as time passes and my technique improves. I am definitely jarring those I am unsure of for future revisits.

 

[kschatey]

I'm on the hunt for my preferred or favorite tobacco, how did you fins yours? Right now it's FMC, and I enjoy Balkan Sobranie. That will have to change.

Because I like to keep things simple I'd be happy to just find one or two that I could order and stock up. Right now I have a number of tins and have been putting opened tins and bulk tobacco in Ball jars.

My question to you, how did you find your favorite? Advice from others? Your B&M made a suggestion? You kept buying tobacco until you knew it was the one?

Not sure of any other way than to keep trying stuff until you find something you like and then focus on that genre and keep trying! I was lucky because the neighbor who got me into pipe smoking started me on English blends and shared his last bits of Samuel Gawith Squadron Leader and Esoterica Penzance with me. Those set me on a path and then I quickly settled into Oriental-forward blends once I understand more about what I was tasting. Arango Balkan Supreme is currently my favorite. I do also enjoy aromatics and my favorite is currently a toss up between Dan Tobacco Devil's Holiday and Samuel Gawith Bob's Chocolate Flake.

 

[mso489]

As a point of reference, and as I've often mentioned, my dad, a minesweeper skipper during WWII, smoked only Granger in foil pouches for fifty years, from high school until age 65 when he quit cold turkey. He's the most brand loyal pipe smoker I've ever known close hand.

 

[Country Bladesmith]

As a point of reference, and as I've often mentioned, my dad, a minesweeper skipper during WWII, smoked only Granger in foil pouches for fifty years, from high school until age 65 when he quit cold turkey. He's the most brand loyal pipe smoker I've ever known close hand.

I would venture to say that’s probably not uncommon for the fellows of his generation. My grandfather had a small country grocery/convenience store that I pretty much grew up in. It was not just a store, but kind of a hangout for most of the men that were my grandfather’s age or older. Kind of like the way barbershops used to be. There were lots of “regulars“ that would escape the wife and come in and head to the back room of the store and have a drink and a smoke, and usually some very interesting conversation to a small kid with big ears ?. Every one of them had a particular brand of tobacco they smoked, and they were just as loyal with their choice of drink as well. I was young, but I still remember what most of them smoked/drank.

Myself, I like variety. I am particularly partial to Balkans, but I like so many different blends I couldn’t possibly narrow it down to one.

 

[elasmo]

I have over 200 different blends...(many I haven't tried) and Nightcap remains supreme.

 

[PaulTheScandinavian]

I am a banal man and so are my preferences in tobaccies, there these Amphoras, ODF, Condors and St Brunos,and alike,yet I drink time tested, more or less affordably priced blended scotch whiskies

 

[Pipelady20]

Nice. And thanks for the suggestions.

Try Black Frigate and Pasha's Dream.



Trial and error. I started smoking long before the internet, and even longer before I met another pipe smoker or even knew about B&Ms. Didn't even know there were chat sites and forums until 2014. I've got over 100 blends in my closet, and at most I can say my favorite genre is Virginia/Oriental.

 

[Pipelady20]

I'm still new at this, does the type of pipe matter?

After trying a large amount of blends I started to figure out which type of leaf combinations and which blending houses I liked the most. In most cases when a blender I am familiar with comes out with a new blend I will know if I will like it or not just by the contents. It just takes time. I would also suggest taking notes of what you are smoking, the pipe, and your thoughts on it. In the early days it can be a benefit to hone in on your likes and dislikes and give you some focus moving forward.

 

[Pipelady20]

Thanks for this. I keep reading how peoples' tastes change, i find that interesting. I will always like chocolate cake, peanut butter, and French vanilla coffee. How does taste change with tobacco? Is it because of the manufacturer? Who's blending it? Perhaps our bodies are changing?

I'm a variety enthusiast like many Forums members, so part of my enjoyment is trying new blends that strike my fancy, though compared to jiminks and some others, my life list is fairly modest. However, if you want an old standby, I'd look around among the old tried and true blends that have withstood the test of time. Examples of such blends that I enjoy, I'd suggest Sir Walter Raleigh Aromatic; Carter Hall or a similar blend from pipesandcigars, Chatham Manor, which is also available from Sutliff; or a mild English like Peter Stokkebye's English Luxury. There are hundreds of similar blends that have earned a following over decades or a century. And there are so many good blends that are more obscure, that are just as good. Remember, your tastes will likely change, so it could be some years before you winnow it down to two or three blends, or one, with which you are content. I'd buy in small quantities for several years, even if you find one you really like, to accommodate your evolving tastes.

 

[Pipelady20]

See that's perfect. I'm hoping I can find what I like that will be out for much longer. Then I can hoarde that tabacco

So far, my favorite is Prince Albert. I ordered a bunch of stuff when I first started. I was trying to stop smoking cigarettes, nothing I ordered scratched that itch. My stepson suggested PA because it had in the past been used in both cigarettes and pipes. I fell in love with the flavor, and how easy it was to burn. This really helped me "get" how to smoke a pipe. It never really scratched the itch that a cigarette does, but I'm usually too busy smoking PA to smoke a cigarette.

Its by far my favorite, I hoard it. Haha Even though it will be one of the blends that survive a lot of the new laws, I know it will be expensive soon and gone eventually. I smoke other blends everyday. It seems like no matter how good a blend is, it gets old if you don't give it a break every few bowls.

 

[Pipelady20]

I hear about Nightcap so much.

I have over 200 different blends...(many I haven't tried) and Nightcap remains supreme.

 

[Pipelady20]

Same, though I do have some favorites that I stumbled upon by basically trying as much as I could of the types of tobaccos that I'd previously enjoyed. So if I enjoyed Frog's Cellar and Sobranie I would be on the hunt for full Balkans and boozy latakia blends. Sobranie in particular has so many tribute blends that finding something in the ballpark shouldn't be too hard. Searching for new tobaccos is probably the best part of piping to me!

You're right, I'm finding i like the Balkan blends or a "crossover" English.

 

[Pipelady20]

Yes. I have built up quite a number of jars of "unsureds" so far.

As a newb, sugestions here were the main influence for me. It got me trying all of the different catagories.

Also, as was suggested here, my tastes are changing as time passes and my technique improves. I am definitely jarring those I am unsure of for future revisits.

 

[python]

Thanks for this. I keep reading how peoples' tastes change, i find that interesting. I will always like chocolate cake, peanut butter, and French vanilla coffee. How does taste change with tobacco? Is it because of the manufacturer? Who's blending it? Perhaps our bodies are changing?

Taste for a certain tobacco is the same as food to me. Just as you mention, there are certain things that you like, but you don't want them all of the time or you may become tired of them.

Sometimes you may want peanut butter, and other times you may be more in the mood for chocolate cake. Same for tobacco in my opinion. Sometimes I may want to smoke a vanilla flavored aromatic, but other times I want a straight Virginia blend. It could also depend on what I am eating, drinking, etc. having a factor on what I may want to smoke at that time.

 

[Pipelady20]

I like your Dad's simplicity. Thanks for sharing this.

As a point of reference, and as I've often mentioned, my dad, a minesweeper skipper during WWII, smoked only Granger in foil pouches for fifty years, from high school until age 65 when he quit cold turkey. He's the most brand loyal pipe smoker I've ever known close hand.

 

[stokesdale]

Grew up smoking local leaf from the farmers around here, nearly always virginia leaf. My granddaddy worked in the tobacco auction house over in Winston Salem, we always had whole leaf around. Hard to get though as now it's all sold directly off the farm to buyers mostly and my granddaddy is dead of course. I still sell some hay to a tobacco farmer friend of mine that has some cows and sometimes I get some leaf from him, but to be honest, what I can get from C&D is better. My favorite from them is Carolina Red Flake and Interlude, both virginias and both relatively straight.

 

[Pipelady20]

Why can't you smoke the sample? It's clearly over my head.

Horrible question:
Peterson's Sherlock Holmes
Peterson's University Flake
but if I had to only smoke one: Boswell's Northwoods. I was sent a reasonable sample of this and it was cruelty as I have not been able to smoke it since!

 

[bullet08]

Right now, it's Ashton's Artisan's Blend for English, and GLP Telegraph Hill and Peterson's Elizabethan Mixture for Va/Per. I'm rather sure it will change in the future, but right now they are what I enjoy the most.

I started with blends most mentioned on the forum. From there, I try the same type of blends from same brand to see what the difference was and which I liked the most.