Have I been unfair to aros?

[alexnc]

As an outspoken aromatic hater I read some good things about and tried Rattray’s Exotic Orange - and really liked it!
So I’m wondering how unfair I’ve been to the genre in general. I maintain a store of my rejects, stuff I didn’t like, or gifts I didn’t think I would like. I checked out my store for other aromatics I may have tossed to find a few I’m wondering if are worth trying.
Gifted: CAO Moontrance, Black and Eileen’s Dream - are these decent quality worthy of trying? Not sure how to qualify, they seem to rate well on tobaccoreviews
Gawith Hoggarth - 6 or 8 blends. Any favorites with G&H? I saw I had Bob’s Chocolate Flake, Brown Flake Scented & Sweet Maple Twist - and don’t recall trying any of them.
I’m assuming Aeros will ghost badly? The cob I used to sample Exotic Orange with still smells like it several days later. Should I avoid exposing my briars to aeros until I’m more sure I’ll be including them?

 

[cosmicfolklore]

Moontrance is about the best tinned Aro that I have tried. I did not like Eleen's Dream, but I just don't like chocolate flavorings in my tobacco. Some do, just not my thing. The twists, yes, yes, and yes, do it. I haven't tried the Bob's Chocolate Flake. I've just not been in the same room with it yet.
Aros, like any other blend, some can, and some don't ghost. I have some briars that I will switch between aros and latakia blends. The latakia blends seem to kill the aro, and the aros tend to benefit sometimes from the latakia.

 

[mso489]

I think most of "us" (Forums members) like at least a few aromatics. I'm partial to distinctly tobacco-forward blends where the flavoring supports and enhances the constituent tobaccos in the blend. All pipe smokers must keep firmly in mind, aromatics constitute about 95% of the pipe tobacco market, so support the minority of us in our great love of non-aromatics. If it weren't for the expansive market of aromatics, the non-aromatic selection would be paltry. Other than Lakeland blends, most aromatics don't pose a ghosting problem. You might get a little afterglow for a bowl or two with some highly flavored blends, but only the most discriminating (fussy) will require designated pipes for their aromatics, other than the Lakelands. A few of my preferred aromatics are Royal Yacht, Iwan Ries Three Star Blue, and Edward G. Robinson, but there are some others as well. I find them a beneficial change-up, so when I go back to non-aromatics mild or full strength, I experience them more vividly. Good aromatics are good blends.

 

[bassbug]

Ghost, shmost...If you're convinced you can taste a previously smoked blend in a pipe, just give it a deep cleaning.
You have 9-11 tins of "never even tried it"
How will you ever know unless you try?
I'm curious as to how you became an outspoken aro hater?

 

[toobfreak]

First of all alexnc, they are aromatics (of an aroma) not aeromatics (of or about the skies), but yes you are being unfair to say you are an outspoken aromatic hater unless you have tried every single one on the planet, for they are as different and as varied as the stars in the sky, and as others have pointed out, constitute nearly the whole body of pipe tobaccos!
Every self-professed aro hater eventually caveats that even he has some he likes.
Very few blends can righteously say they are absolutely not without a casing or top flavoring of some kind. And you have just proven the point by trying an aro that you found quite good. The problem is that there are so many aros, and so many badly done or cheap aros that it is very easy to smoke one you don't like then write all the others off.
Try the blends you have. Give them a chance. Maybe designate a pipe for this and smoke several bowls of each and give your taste-buds a chance before you write it off. You might smoke one bowl and because of the pipe, what was previously smoked in it or your own prior taste bias, might not like it at first. That does not mean it is bad or that you won't like it in the future.
I would not worry too much about ghosting unless you start smoking one extreme heavily then want to switch to the far extreme in the same pipe. If a pipe does ghost a little, cleaning or continued smoking of the other blend will eventually change that.
Now see what you have been missing?
BTW, a good idea might be to get a new cob or two and use it/them to try out these new found flavors. They are more taste transparent generally than most briars IMO.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

Even though I smoke aromatics occasionally, :::cough cough::: I still don't like to admit it, even to myself. I buys a tin of some aromatic and tell myself, this is for research reasons. I am not an aromatic smoker. I am a snobbish Virginia Man, and I will always self-identify this way. I love being a snob. Other Virginia/VaPer guys love it when I am snobbish. Plus, aren't all aromatic smokers, really just beginners or dabblers. Are there really hardcore smoke all day kind of guys, who smoke peach or custard flavored tobaccos?

I smoke aros... but in private, once the guys have all gone home, the poker game is over, I can put on a pair of yoga pants, fix me a Fresco on ice, and smoke some Moontrance while finishing my nails. :: But, this isn't the real me. This is the aro-curious me. The real me, is the guy who fires up some McCrannies just before he brings down that deer, or tills the ground for the new year's crops, or fires up some Key Largo before pulling the engine to change the plugs. Maybe it's a phase. I'm not sure. I think I need to go piss off a bridge and think for a while. ::

 

[alexnc]

Q - How did I decide I hated Aeros without trying a bunch? Probably from being a cigar guy before a piper and associating aeros with flavored cigars, which typically were not a sign of quality IMO. (Fuente or Grape Swisher Sweet? I have both!)
And friendly ghosts? I actually intentionally ghosted a cob with Exotic Orange and then smoked some Union Square through it. I may be becoming a pipe villain.

 

[fitzy]

I smoke a few Aro's. I'm partial to some of McClelland's bulks like Creme Caramel. Also C&D's Autumn Evening and Mac Baren vanilla flake are both delicious.
Then there are tobaccos with a virginia base that aren't traditionally considered aromatic but I consider them to be as they have some type of flavored topping. Some of my favorites would include the likes of PS luxury twist flake, F&T cut virgnia plug, Sillems Mayor 1814 Flake, McClellands No 2000 fragrant matured cake and Mac Baren modern virginia flake.
Do you smoke any of those and do you consider those aromatics?

 

[alexnc]

Cosmic may have my number - he may be an online therapist. Maybe is just hard to admit I'm aro-curious

 

[davet]

Yes :mrgreen:

 

[alexnc]

I've not tried any of those but will. I do like Royal Yacht & 3 year matured Virginia though I've never considered them to be aeros while some do

 

[sallow]

I have been unfair to aros too.
I will not explain exactly how, though.

 

[deathmetal]

Aros are like domestic beer: sometimes the right balance between price/convenience/performance, but frequently not. And so, a rare experience around here, but sometimes the right experience.

 

[sittingbear]

<p>I find I like some"types" of aros over others. I don't think it's fair to lump all blends with flavoring under the blanket term "aromatic" necessarily. For example, there are Danish style aros, American style aros, Lakeland aros, Navy Flakes, Codger Burleys, etc. I would add that processing a tobacco over a fire, like you do with Latakia or dark fired Kentucky, could qualify as "flavoring," as well, but no one seems to balk at that!

 

[sittingbear]

There are also the limbo blends that no one is sure how to classify, like PS LTF or Newminster #400 (I think they're aros myself). Having said all that, I'll admit that I enjoy Autumn Evening and RLP-6 on occasion!

 

[aimlesswanderer]

I refuse to say anything without my solicitor being present.....

 

[grue]

Last week I went to buy some pipe cleaners and left the shop with a pouch of 7 Seas Regular. I haven't smoked an aromatic since the beginning of Summer but it somehow enticed me to try it. Well, the pouch note makes me gag but I've smoked 3 bowls so far and it's interesting. I will need to try a few more times for a verdict.

 

[toobfreak]

RLP-6. Another aro like 1-Q and BCA that is immensely popular with a lot of people yet I've tried them all and fail to see why. I have pretty much given up on all the Lane blends except for Dark Red.

 

[mso489]

Aros sustain the market. No aros, not much else.

 

[alexnc]

I popped the Moontrance. Not bad - pleasant even, I enjoyed it. But it does seem to leave me wanting a smoke. Got into the C&D Exclusive after. I think I need something a bit fuller. Maybe I'll try the G&H Sweet Maple Twist next - anyone tried Mac Baren Halberg Green?