Have all of you (or almost all) started on cheap aros?
- Thread starter mrmachado
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I began the pipe last July and my first bowl was Gawith Hoggarth Scotch Mixture, followed by H&H White Knight. My first aro was Mac Baren Original Choice. At first, I didn't like it, but after sitting in a jar a few months I liked it a lot, and still do.
Tinder Box bulk, probably 1Q renamed and other standards, not especially cheap. However, along the way, I've smoked some inexpensive over-the-counter brands, and some were/are pretty good. Price is not a categorical gauge of pleasing taste. Some of the least good experiences have been with premium blends I just didn't like.
Waaaaaay back 1000 years ago in '69 I started on Kentucky Club's Greenbrier (a blend thankfully long since kaput) & another long gone blend by Peter Stokkebye called Marrakesh. I liked the taste of both, but Greenbrier bit my tongue like the hubs of hell (the other wasn't anywhere near that bad).
Between Greenbrier & Middleton's cherry, it's a minor wonder of the world that I'm still smoking! A good tobacconist & couple of decent blends from Tinder Box saved me!
Bill
Between Greenbrier & Middleton's cherry, it's a minor wonder of the world that I'm still smoking! A good tobacconist & couple of decent blends from Tinder Box saved me!
Bill
I started with Cherry Cavendish, first Borkum Riff because it was produced the town where I went to school in Sweden, then whatever they sold at the news stand in my college town in Colorado. I haven't touched the stuff in years.
My first blend was Mac Baren's Mixture Scottish Blend. I consider it an OTC, because where I live it's the only blend available in shops. But it's a decent blend and I smoke it occasionally. I haven't tried any of the cheap aro's, you guys talk about.
It's a misnomer some like to throw around. A 12 ounce container of SWRA costs more than a pound of many boutique blends.
Where I buy there is little difference in prices. Most blends cost the same, and a few are a little cheaper. Among the cheaper blends are the Capstan blends, St Bruno, most of Mac Baren's, Amphora and a few others. So it's got nothing to do with quality.
I drove around an hour to my closest big B&M and bought a tin of Dunhill Early morning Pipe, SG Balkan flake and SG Skiff mixture. I opened them all on the way home and had a bowl of EMP, that was my first experience of pipe tobacco.
I've smoked a handful of lakeland blends but I've never smoked a full on aromatic
I've smoked a handful of lakeland blends but I've never smoked a full on aromatic
My first was CH in a MM cob. After that, I tried various 1 oz samples of re-named blends that I purchased in a local tobacco shop. Many of those samples were aros, and I didn't care for most of them. I do like SWRA. And a friend gave me some Boswell's Bear Blend, which I like.
I started with pipe tobacco which was being marketed to the RYO folks. I preferred the Turkish blends. But, then I switched to Captain Black, and a few other OTCs... but yeh, what does it matter what tobacco you start out with, because you aren't going to have the trained tastebuds nor experience to taste anything.
Its hard for many to look back on those first few smokes and remember what it was like, but most of us had to develop our palate.
Its hard for many to look back on those first few smokes and remember what it was like, but most of us had to develop our palate.
Yes, I agree that me and beginners can't really differentiate flavors overall, but some things just taste plain bad or outright awful... I can also most of the times say what is bland, strong, harsh, sweet... Things that most people can perceive right away, I think.
As stated above, it takes time>
I've smoked a pipe off and on for almost 10 years (mostly off). Cigars were easy and I never quite got the hang of a pipe. It always seemed pointless to me and I smoked mainly for the room smell. I simply put up with the harsh taste.
About a year ago I picked up the pipe in earnest and started reading all I could about the hobby. After this first year, I am just now starting to pick out the individual tastes of the different blends. I can testify - it doesn't matter much what you smoke at the beginning, just practice proper technique and the flavor will come.
I've smoked a pipe off and on for almost 10 years (mostly off). Cigars were easy and I never quite got the hang of a pipe. It always seemed pointless to me and I smoked mainly for the room smell. I simply put up with the harsh taste.
About a year ago I picked up the pipe in earnest and started reading all I could about the hobby. After this first year, I am just now starting to pick out the individual tastes of the different blends. I can testify - it doesn't matter much what you smoke at the beginning, just practice proper technique and the flavor will come.
It varies. It probably took me a couple of months till I could detect a nutty flavour in 1-Q. That was from a bowl filled with the original batch that was my first pipe toby purchase; I've never bought 1-Q again.
For an English, the flavour mighta come sooner, but at the time I was still undecided about whether the flavour was latakia or the wet rag flavour of a pipe gone out.
For an English, the flavour mighta come sooner, but at the time I was still undecided about whether the flavour was latakia or the wet rag flavour of a pipe gone out.
My first pipe tobacco was either Super Value Buttered Rum or Captain Black (white). I'm not absolutely sure which pouch came first. But those two were the first blends I had ever tried. Obviously I liked them both enough to continue smoking a pipe.
I am only now starting to discern the different flavors to a satisfactory extent. I started noticing them gradually. I would have the occasional bowl that tasted great the whole way through, others that started fine then petered out, and others that were just terrible from start to finish.
The hardest part for me in getting to this point was slowing down. My cigar habits held me back, as I was trying to get a larger volume of smoke than is prudent. When I changed to a slower cadence and practiced the "Breathe" method things started improving for me.
Bourkum Riff cherry cavendish and my second was frog mortons cellar. I enjoyed the latter a bit more, but not a whole lot more.
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