Favorite Tobacco?

[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?

I started in the pipe hobby in September 2019. My plan was to get a couple blends in each genre, see what I liked, expand from there, try those, expand based on what I liked (genre and/or components), and so on. I am pretty much a tobacco omnivore as I like all of the genres. My favorite is definitely "Oriental forward," but I have picks in many of the major categories including aromatics, English/Balkan, Virginia, VaPer, and Burley. My approach has created a "cellar" of 78 different tins/blends and about 43 have been opened and tried at this point. I have 4 favorites so far that I would go deep on for the future, but sadly 3 of those are not really obtainable right now due to the particular brands/blends being very difficult to find in the USA. I continue to explore while going back to already opened stuff and favorites. I only smoke 3-4 pipes per week, so I generally pick a "theme" for the week and enjoy those blends already opened and sometimes decide to open a new one. Is it a great plan? I don't know, but I'm having fun with it and continually pontificate on how much the tobacco connoisseur hobby is like my homebrew and "craft" beer hobbies.

 

[hawky454]

I started in the pipe hobby in September 2019. My plan was to get a couple blends in each genre, see what I liked, expand from there, try those, expand based on what I liked (genre and/or components), and so on. I am pretty much a tobacco omnivore as I like all of the genres. My favorite is definitely "Oriental forward," but I have picks in many of the major categories including aromatics, English/Balkan, Virginia, VaPer, and Burley. My approach has created a "cellar" of 78 different tins/blends and about 43 have been opened and tried at this point. I have 4 favorites so far that I would go deep on for the future, but sadly 3 of those are not really obtainable right now due to the particular brands/blends being very difficult to find in the USA. I continue to explore while going back to already opened stuff and favorites. I only smoke 3-4 pipes per week, so I generally pick a "theme" for the week and enjoy those blends already opened and sometimes decide to open a new one. Is it a great plan? I don't know, but I'm having fun with it and continually pontificate on how much the tobacco connoisseur hobby is like my homebrew and "craft" beer hobbies.

As long as you are having fun with it, I say it’s a good plan!

 

[kschatey]

I started in the pipe hobby in September 2019. My plan was to get a couple blends in each genre, see what I liked, expand from there, try those, expand based on what I liked (genre and/or components), and so on. I am pretty much a tobacco omnivore as I like all of the genres. My favorite is definitely "Oriental forward," but I have picks in many of the major categories including aromatics, English/Balkan, Virginia, VaPer, and Burley. My approach has created a "cellar" of 78 different tins/blends and about 43 have been opened and tried at this point. I have 4 favorites so far that I would go deep on for the future, but sadly 3 of those are not really obtainable right now due to the particular brands/blends being very difficult to find in the USA. I continue to explore while going back to already opened stuff and favorites. I only smoke 3-4 pipes per week, so I generally pick a "theme" for the week and enjoy those blends already opened and sometimes decide to open a new one. Is it a great plan? I don't know, but I'm having fun with it and continually pontificate on how much the tobacco connoisseur hobby is like my homebrew and "craft" beer hobbies.

So, speaking of the beer hobby... I have been relaxing and drinking while baking a Cinderella cake for my daughter's birthday and posted the above reply. Then realized that this thread was started 2.5 months ago and that I already replied not once, but twice! Oh well, I reread what I posted and it makes good sense, so I don't feel bad. Hopefully @Pipelady20 has been having some success on this topic and enjoying some good stuff along the way. Prost!

 

[kschatey]

As long as you are having fun with it, I say it’s a good plan!

Except that the tobaccos that I love are nearly impossible to get in quantity right now!

 

[hawky454]

Except that the tobaccos that I love are nearly impossible to get in quantity right now!

That is a problem for sure but you can make the hunt fun! I know it’s not ideal but ya gots to work with what ya have. I do wish you guys & gals that are working on your cellars right now had an easier time doing so but at least you started when ya did. It’s going to be a lot harder on the new folks who start up in a year or two when those regulations come in full force. When is it again? August 2021?

When the blends get the axe (whichever blends that may be) they will reach legendary status, that’s just kind of the way it goes, humans want what they can’t have and people that do have it, tend to flaunt it.

 

[hawky454]

Wilke #111 is an oriental blend with some burley. This is a well balanced blend that for me is my favorite everyday-all day smoke, if I had to choose just one. The latakia in it is only condimental so you hardly notice it and the burley adds an element of sweetness to it that for me is just right. It was recommended to me by John at Wilke Pipe Co. when I found out the blend they used to make that was supposed to be their version of the old Balkan Sobranie had been discontinued.

I had tried Sutliff's match of Balkan Sobranie and while I liked it ok it wasn't quite what I was looking for. #111 fit the bill for me. Not as strong as the Sutliff match and a little sweeter. Absolutely no bite. I would recommend a couple of oz to try if it sounds like what you're looking for.

You still got a stash of Condor, David?

 

[--dante--]

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.

Have you tried the Sutliff Match Prince Albert or the Hearth & Home Prince Andrew? I like PA, but I pick up on the PG taste once in a while. So far I'm liking the Sutliff match, and will probably try Prince Andrew as well.

 

[davidintexas]

To Hawky: Yes indeed. I treasure it. Use it sparingly but enjoy it immensely every time i smoke it. I understand Simon's obsessive taste for it all these years. Nothing like it

 

[Richmond B. Funkenhouser]

Have you tried the Sutliff Match Prince Albert or the Hearth & Home Prince Andrew? I like PA, but I pick up on the PG taste once in a while. So far I'm liking the Sutliff match, and will probably try Prince Andrew as well.

Jiminks say's they're good. I should definitely try them. Also worth mentioning, his reviews of the two are nearly the same. It's just hard to pull the trigger on those particular Match blends, because the original is so readily available and inexpensive.

 

[anotherbob]

found it by not looking. Just trying out what's out there. And then noticing a sadness of not still having particular blends to smoke. It's rare for me not to like a tobacco but it's also rare for me to miss a particular blend. It's one of those things you'll know when it happens and there isn't a formula for how you'll find it.