Finding What you Really Like

[didimauw]

It took me probably 4 or 5 blends before I discovered I liked Burley/virginia blends. Then about 2 years later, I discovered i like Burley/Virginia blends the most. Then about 7 years in after trying probably 100 blends, I realized that I just can't smoke anything but Burley/Virginia blends ( old dark fired is grouped in here too)

I have also tried a blend for the first time, thinking this was the end all be all tobacco ever. Then on my second or third bowl, absolutely hated it. So it usually takes a new smoker a few bowls to be sure. Now a days I know if I like something or not halfway through the bowl. Anything I can smoke a whole tin or pouch of is something I stock up on immediately.

 

[monty55]

I fear tins will eat all the money the horses, harleys, shooting, hunting rabbit holes I already have

And we call that TAD ... Tabacco Aquisition Disorder

 

[mortonbriar]

I kept a spreadsheet for the first 150 blends or so...sigh...

I think the main thing I found was to enjoy whatever I had in my bowl at any one time. It might take a while to find absolute favourites, but finding blends that you quite enjoy should be enough for a repeat purchase!

 

[kcghost]

Well, it could be a long search, but you know that.

 

[LeafErikson]

I’ve probably tried 30 blends or so. About half of those are blends I’d repurchase and 3-5 of them are go-to, all day smokes for me. Once you find out what blend family or families you like, you might also discover that there are certain blending houses you prefer. All of the blending houses (Sutliff, Kohlhase & Kopp, Cornell & Diehl etc.) have their own proprietary style of processing and blending their tobaccos.

 

[OzPiper]

Tastes change
As does your palate from day to day
Blends I absolutely loved 2 years ago, I still like.
But no longer smoke as often, as I find other blends or genres to explore.
I have over 70 blends open at the moment.
I love variety
The blends I did not enjoy were passed on (with full disclosure)

 

[Bob the bear]

About 25 blends and still going

 

[The Clay King]

I've settled on Virginia / Cavendish blends after trying a lot of different ones. Any Virginia or Virginia / Cavendish suits the King's Clay most admirably...
I don't like the taste or smell of Latakia, although I did smoke 1 clay bowl of Latakia at Nottingham pipe show. Finally got to try a clay pipe of McClelland at Nottingham as well, can't remember what blend it was...

 

[Egg Shen]

I nailed it on the 1st try.

 

[dog_park_piper]

I didn't find what I needed in pipe tobacco until I stumbled upon Lane's BLWB at a small local smoke shop. It got me in the direction of burley

 

[cosmicfolklore]

It isn’t the tobacco as much as learning to smoke and taste. But, to learn to taste you do have to keep smoking a variety, to teach your senses what is what.
I can smoke just about any tobacco now. Sure, I do like some better than others, but it’s more about me than the tobacco.

Focus of slow smoking and savoring the smoke. It will come to you.

 

[judcole]

First - why does there have to be just "one"? I smoke Virginias, burleys, lat blends, even an aro now and then,

Second, I would suggest that a large part of your problem is technique. You need to learn to smoke a pipe before you can decide what you like. Get yourself a tub of Prince Al, or Carter Hall - or one of each - and smoke those simple, forgiving, all-day blends until you have your technique well-established. Then start looking at some other blends. Pick up an ounce or two of several good bulks, and get to know one or maybe two at a time. Smoke them in different pipes - some blends will like certain pipes better than others. This is kind of an old-timey way to do it, but I think that you will get good results.

Patience, young grasshopper.

 

[Piping Abe]

Took me about a year or two. What worked for me would be to try each blending house, sutliff, MacBaren, C&D, GL Pease. And then if I liked what the blender did I would continue through their catalogue. While also going through others. It took a few years, you don’t wanna miss something.

I found out quicker what genre of blends I like. Virginias, Aromatic, etc. Try the top ones from the genre you like from each blending house. Thats what worked for me anyway.

 

[rmbittner]

Like many others here, I smoke a wide range of tobaccos. The only thing I’m not particularly keen on are blends that have more than a pinch of perique, since I’m very sensitive to that leaf. Other than that, though, I think I smoke and enjoy blends from just about every genre. (My all-time favorite, though, is Penzance, which was the 67th tobacco I ever tried. But that was when it was readily available. Nothing has yet replaced Penzance. The closest contender: Germain’s Balkan Sobranie, and that doesn’t get me anywhere…)

I had the advantage of working at a Tinder Box (a now almost-defunct mall-based tobacco/gift shop, for the young people here) very early on in my pipesmoking. We had to try every single Tinder Box tobacco (which were all Lane and Stokkebye bulks, I believe), every cigar, and every tinned blend the store sold. Although I didn’t understand half of what I was smoking, that experience really helped to ground me in a wide range of blends that I’d never have tried otherwise. It was a great time of discovery for me. (I’m also extremely grateful for the opportunity it gave me to smoke a number of blends that are now gone: Sullivan Powell’s Gentleman’s Mixture, Cope’s Escudo, Bell’s Three Nuns, a range of A&C Petersen and Elephant & Castle blends, the 80s versions of Balkan Sobranie and Bengal Slices, and a bunch of Dunhills that don’t exist under any brand name now.)

All of that to say: I’d encourage you to smoke as widely as you can and see if you can find something to enjoy—or at least learn from—in every blend you try. That might be a more pleasurable journey than worrying whether this current blend in your pipe is “the one” or not.

 

[pappymac]

First - why does there have to be just "one"? I smoke Virginias, burleys, lat blends, even an aro now and then,

Patience, young grasshopper.

It's pipe smoking, not "The Highlander" where there can be only one.

I started smoking pipes in 1972 and I still haven't found "The One" that I want to smoke all the time. I'm having too much fun exploring all the different types of blends.

That being said, I have found some tobacco blends that I won't buy again.

 

[BDIC]

I've only been smoking a pipe for a few years (coming off cigars) but I find I'm still trying out new blends and finding new favorites. Cigars seemed more one dimensional across the spectrum - they all tasted like a cigar. With pipe baccy, it's different. The flavor profiles are vastly different from family to family and even within families. Plus what you eat and drink on a specific day, what type of pipe with what blend, how you're feeling, hydrated or not etc. All of it affects the flavor.

Short answer, you'll find favorites and keep going. I didn't understand virginias until about a month ago and now I can't get enough.

 

[Grangerous]

Before I’d ever entertained the idea of a pipe, I’d worked with a devoted Half n Half devotee. This was back in the 80’s. So, when I started in ‘94 it was a pouch Half n Half that I’d tried. — Half and Half of what?? “Burley and Bright” was what the package read. Whatever that meant.

From that point forward I’d tried aromatics and whatever smelled nice. My first Latakia was MM965. But after a time I’d discovered that Burley and/or Burley and VA blends are my thing. So I could say, just ONE.

 

[Peterson314]

I feel like your question is the essence of the hobby.

My list of "Favorites" is an ever-evolving list. But in the end, there are only three types of tobacco blends:
1. Blends I will buy and smoke
2. Blends I will smoke if you buy it
3. Blends I am not going to smoke

Once you find a blend that ticks all the right boxes, that can be your blend, and you can call it good. But if you decide to quest for tobacco nirvana, go ahead and clear off a shelf and apologize to your wallet and join us!

 

[Scottishgaucho]

For years Condor used to be my automatic choice of blend. Until I came to live in Argentina and found it wasn't available here. So I had to decide what I liked best all over again. No bad thing as I have now tried more blends over the last 15 years than all my pipe smoking days going back to the 70's.
I do tend to stick to stronger blends especially flakes and twists.

 

[HawkeyeLinus]

Tastes change
As does your palate from day to day
Blends I absolutely loved 2 years ago, I still like.
But no longer smoke as often, as I find other blends or genres to explore.
I have over 70 blends open at the moment.
I love variety
The blends I did not enjoy were passed on (with full disclosure)

I still feel bad I passed along a well aged Dunhill blend to my Secret Santa match last year that I later determined I hated - hope he liked it, lol, but if he put it out on the lawn to kill raccoons it wouldn't hurt my feelings.