Heard an Interesting Stat at the Pipe Club Meeting but I Don't Know If I Believe
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I like to smoke. I love tobacco. I appreciate it all. Aromatics can be really nice and my wife lets me smoke them in the house which is a sign of the miracle power Aromatics have. However, I like everything under the sun as long as its good! Why limit yourself based on the perceptions of others? Some aromatics are a delight to smoke and some are awful. It's true with just about everything in life. I just try to keep an open mind, pack my pipe, and give something a try. The only tobaccos I've really walked away from are some OTCs. They just aren't as good. I keep em in the car and they do in a pinch though.
The stat, if anything, is low. It is probably closer to 80-90% aromatics. By aromatic I'm thinking of anything with a truly noticable top flavor. This is true not just here in the U.S., but around the globe. Safe to say that we forum folks are just one subset of the total pipe smoker universe. Like many, if not most, pipe smokers, I started with aromatics and smoked them almost exclusively for nearly 20 years (primarily CB and Lane 1Q). Ironically, now that I represent a portfolio that primarily consists of aromatics, I rarely smoke them. For the last year or so I have gravitated to what I think of as English blends (Latakia heavy) or Va-Pers. Again, I suspect this journey and transition is not uncommon, particularly for us forum folks. If I hadn't been 'forced' (woe is me) to sample just about every pipe tobacco on the planet over the past two years, I wonder if I ever would have shifted away from my pound-a-month purchase of Lane 1Q.
zo - any pipe club or similar group (such as attendees at pipe shows) is by self-selection more enthusiatic than average. They are also more prone to exploring new blends and maybe pipes, and such exploration would cause a progression in one's tastes. Most peeps, including pipers, stay squarely in their comfort zones for most things, so the Captain/Prince/etc puffers, puff away on their standard while they devote their attentions to other things. By the same token, I would think the number of Medicos and Dr.G's being bought and puffer outnumber the brands you see and hear about on forums and at shows and pipe club meetings.
In the same way, if you watched TV cooking shows, you might get the impression that most meals consist of fancy and intricate Italian and French dishes. Yet the public scarfs down more hamburgers and hot dogs than all of those other cuisines combined.
Believe what you see, but as Donald Rumfeld said, there's also the known unknown and the unknown unknown.
hp
les
In the same way, if you watched TV cooking shows, you might get the impression that most meals consist of fancy and intricate Italian and French dishes. Yet the public scarfs down more hamburgers and hot dogs than all of those other cuisines combined.
Believe what you see, but as Donald Rumfeld said, there's also the known unknown and the unknown unknown.
hp
les
I smoke one blend that I consider an aromatic and that is Peterson University Flake. So am I to be counted as an aromatic smoker, I guess so. I think that people should always smoke what they find pleasurable and never listen to anyone who would put down their choice of tobacco. If aromatics are your thing, it does not make you less of a pipe smoker, that is ridiculous thinking. I believe there is a bias at least on line towards aromatics like they are somehow less than. I don't care if OTC's are your thing, as long as you enjoy them you are a pipe smoker.
Or in Kevin's Shoe Room!
At my pipe club last night, I was the only aro smoker. I wrote somewhere else that I am an aro-only guy, though I like the codger burleys. I tried a couple of their high-end blends, but there's just no magic there for me. They all tasted the same - ashes and old socks.
I say lestrout above has his finger right on the answer:
lestrout has it right. Every other pipe smoker I've run into offline (admittedly, not a huge number) has been smoking an aromatic, usually a vanilla blend. These are all guys who probably do not collect pipes, go to pipe shows, attend pipe club meetings, or post in online forums.
We're all pipe smokers, but we're not all hobbyists.
We're all pipe smokers, but we're not all hobbyists.
Dr. Grabow produces 200,000 pipes each and every year. The guys buying those, they are your 70% to 80%. It's true, most pipesmokers are not pipe afficianados. Most pipe smokers are not pipe collectors. Most pipe smokers know no other tobacco than what is on the shelf at Walgreens.
You can be sure that the 70-80% does not include the folks here on this forum. Of all the pipe smokers in all the world, we are truly a minority.
You can be sure that the 70-80% does not include the folks here on this forum. Of all the pipe smokers in all the world, we are truly a minority.
Maybe it's that 70% of tobacco sold or produced is "aromatic" tobacco.
Pulvers said on the Radio Show a couple of weeks ago that they called 1Q something like "borrowed gold" (I think that was it) because they sold so much of the stuff.
I think it tastes like trash, no matter how good it smells. And I instantly know when I get an estate pipe where that was the favorite. BILGE!
Pulvers said on the Radio Show a couple of weeks ago that they called 1Q something like "borrowed gold" (I think that was it) because they sold so much of the stuff.
I think it tastes like trash, no matter how good it smells. And I instantly know when I get an estate pipe where that was the favorite. BILGE!
I do believe that most pipe smokers smoke aromatics, just like most wine drinkers drink inexpensive sweet wines (like Franzia or "two buck Chuck"). They're inexpensive and readily available.
Now imagine you see a notice for a "wine club" and you show up with your box of Franzia. The type of people who care enough about wine to start a wine club would probably give you the same sort of ribbing that you received when showing up at a pipe club meeting with your Cherry Cobbler. In fact, the average wine aficionado probably wouldn't be doing it "in jest".
Now imagine you see a notice for a "wine club" and you show up with your box of Franzia. The type of people who care enough about wine to start a wine club would probably give you the same sort of ribbing that you received when showing up at a pipe club meeting with your Cherry Cobbler. In fact, the average wine aficionado probably wouldn't be doing it "in jest".
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There is always room for more aromatics . The thing is when I get a new one and like it the second tin never tastes as good . There will always be explorers and shut-ins .
Every time I get a box of Gawith Hoggarth "Dark Flake Aromatic" I chuckle and wonder why the U.S. sites call it "Scented". Do they not want it associated with "Chocolate Creme Brulee" or some other (what the we in the states consider) aromatic?
Again, we need to figure out what an aromatic is before we're all on the same page.
Again, we need to figure out what an aromatic is before we're all on the same page.
So we recently had a guy from MacBaren at our club and he said that 90% of tobacco sold in the US is aromatic.
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