For Veteran Pipe Smokers, How Many Types and Blends do you Enjoy on a Regular Basis?

[Dave760]

Started in '78, and I can't honestly say I smoke anything regularly because I smoke way too wide of a variety of blends for anything to become "regular."

When people ask me what types of blends I enjoy, my answer should be, "Yes."

 

[warren]

A more responsive answer, I stick to three blends more or less all the time. I can be induced, rarely, to try something new. Sixty years of smoking, 55 with the pipe in my nicotine delivery arsenal.

 

[tatter]

I have 12 jars in the drawer with currently smoking tobaccos. A few I smoke often, Stokabye Luxury Navy Flake, McClelland 27 & 2015 and Bob's Chocolate Flake. The rest not as much Watch City Old Dominion & 558, Dunhill EMP, Stonehaven and MacBaren Navy Flake. Yes....I am lucky to have what I have!

 

[krizzose]

I smoke mostly Virginia-forward blends, with burleys and aromatics regularly but less often. I don’t like Latakia or anything Lakeland floral.

Among the genres I smoke, I like many different blends, though I’d bet most of my bowls are of the same dozen or so blends.

 

[BingBong]

One favourite blend, a VaPer, two or three times a day. Three "guest" blends, one each a day. About 10 "old faithfuls" to hand, maybe one or two once a day. Samples on top of that. Virginias, VaPers, VaBurs, Burley, English, Aromatics/Flavoured. Plugs, kakes, coins, flakes, ribbon cuts, ready rubbed, ropes, twists.

Options are good!

 

[Sig]

Like many have said, I like it all.....except thick aromatics.
I'm about 30 years in, on and off.
If pushed, Id say my favorite is straight Virginia or Latakia based blends.

 

[PApiper63]

I have been smoking a pipe for many years. My tastes are eclectic but in general I smoke LOTS of Orlich Golden Sliced, Haunted Bookshop, and a large assortment of Boswell tobaccos including carious aromatics. But most importantly, since the late 70s I have had a pouch of the Carter Hall in my front pocket at all times. Its a rare day that I dont smoke a couple of bowls of CH. Its like an old friend.

 

[Normski]

Quiet Nights is a good tobacco.

I almost exclusively only smoke G&H now. Ropes, twists, flakes. They just taste and more importantly FEEL 'proper' to me. I grew up with the smell of my Grandad's Condor.

Nothing touches these tobaccos in terms of richness, fullness, flavour, strength or authenticity; in my humble opinion.

 

[philobeddoe]

I’ve been a pipe smoker since the summer of 1991. I like variety and smoke many different tobaccos, but I smoke the most of Margate, Briar Fox, Capstan Blue and MacBaren Vanilla Roll Cakes.

 

[filmguerilla]

Started smoking a pipe at nineteen years old in 1987. Early on I smoked aromatic blends from my local B&M, EMP, and Velvet. These days I'm always trying new stuff, but I keep three blends around at all times: Chelsea Morning, Elizabethan, and 1792. I usually have an English/Balkan I'm working on (a jar of Kramer English at the moment), but I don't really have a single favorite in that category.

 

[pappymac]

I only started smoking a pipe a few years ago - the summer of 1972, to be exact. I started out with Capt. Black, Borkum Riff and Carter Hall and started exploring other blends since then. I have smoked aromatics, English, Scottish, Balkan, Latakia, Virginias, Burley, Virgina/Periques and a few others. I have also smoked a wide range of different bulk blends from different tobacco shops.

I currently have open an English blend, a VaPer, a Burley, two made with Cigar Leaf and three or four different aromatics.

 

[carp rides again]

I started smoking a pipe in 2020, and it's generally been vapors or vapburs during that time

 

[anotherbob]

I've been smoking a pipe for right at 10 years.
I mostly smoke Virginias, VaPers, or Burley blends.
I usually have 4-6 tobaccos in the rotation at the same time. The 2 blends I smoke the most at the moment are Hal o' the Wynd and Peterson Irish Flake (was HH ODF but started smoking more Irish Flake when we found out it was going away). There's usually some Full Virginia Flake and Elizabethan Mixture in the mix as well.

Early on, I would sometimes have 20 blends open and jarred at a time but I was just trying to figure out what I liked.
I feel good about how it's going now.
I still enjoy trying new things, but not several at the same time. I have a few staples open and one new one.
For example right now I have a tin of Haddo's Delight open and it's the first time I've tried it. When it's gone, I'll open a new tin of something for the first time.

this smoking regiment doesn't get mentioned much but it's very close to my methods. So often people talk as if there are two options. Either you have a compulsive need to smoke every single blend out there while using half of your house to keep jars of barely smoked tins. Or you have one blend and if that's gone you might just have to jump off of the tallest thing you can find.
The I got a stable of less then ten blends I smoke regularly and I'll give something new a spin seems like a much more natural pattern (not better, just seems like where a person would be most likely to end up). I think there is a man bites dog thing going on here.
Just for those that don't know. Man Bites Dog is a headline because it's rarer then the none news of Dog Bites Man. The outliers get more attention and seem more common then they actually are.

 

[Butter Side Down]

I'm about 25 years in. I have blends that I enjoy across the whole spectrum but primarily I think I'm a Latakia fan.

I have maybe 10 all time favorites and I generally have several of those blends open at all times, and then a few more open that I'm trying on for size.

The longer I do it, the more I have a handle on the kinds of things I'm likely to enjoy (or not enjoy), but I still experiment from time to time just to make sure my tastes haven't changed. Sometimes it just reinforces my love for old favorites. But sometimes I discover something interesting. Like how I recently discovered that apparently I was wrong and I don't hate Burley. To be clear, I do hate *most* burleys. But a few are actually quite great.

But like others have said, just keep at it. Your technique will get better, you'll get a better idea what you like, and you'll enjoy yourself along the way.