How Do You Pick Your Next Smoke?

[renfield]

I used to have 10-15 things open at a time. I’ve since switched to opening a tin and smoking completely through it, with maybe a few bowls of something else from a jar scattered in there.

As far as how I pick something it’s very much a “What are we going to smoke tonight, Brain?” kind of thing. A spur of the moment choice.

I like variety but got tired of a bunch of open jars cluttering up the office.

 

[Auxsender]

I quiet my mind and heart and access the deepest recesses of my being and it tells me the general direction to go.
For example, it will sometimes clearly convey, through an unknown-to-me medium, “I want something fruity and fermenty” or “I want something dark and rich” or “I want a light Virginia” and from there I consider my ridiculously vast options. Every now and then my Id will request a specific blend but that’s unusual.
Once a blend is selected, I choose a pipe which doesn’t take long.
I never smoke the same thing twice in a row.

 

[Auxsender]

The dreaded double post. Drat!

 

[Brad H]

are you a firefighter brad?

i work for a good sized department in ohio. paramedic and ff. Should be promoted within a year or so to lieutenant. i have a lot to learn.

Used to be many moons ago. I could probably still pump a little water off the truck.

 

[telescopes]

I wish I knew or had a plan.

 

[ThermionicScott]

I smoke rarely, once a week. But since "she who must be obeyed" is traveling tomorrow to see daughter and her fam for an overnighter, weather permitting (outdoors only), I'll have something she finds too strong, - GLP Westminster. My weekend smoke is something more aromatic or so. Sunday morning, it was Mac Baren's Scottish Blend.

Ah yes, I will bust out the extra-stinky stuff when the wife is out of town.

 

[Mike N]

As far as whether or not to open another tin, it is a tough decision. But eventually I came to the conclusion that tobacco ages best in a mason jar and it allows easy access. I remove the tin label with a heat gun and put in on the jar with part of the label on the lid so it looks good on the shelf. No use letting a non-smoking great-nephew sell all those tins or give them away when they clean out the house. Enjoy them while you can.

 

[fireground_piper]

For the past year or so, I've been focused on clearing open jar. So I grab an open jar, and smoke only that until it's empty.

 

[PApiper63]

After 40 years of pipe smoking, I try to keep it simple. I generally smoke 6 to 8 bowls a day. Almost every day I smoke the following
1. One bowl of Carter Hall.
2.One Aro
3. One bowl of Pegasus
4. 3 or 4 VaPers including Elizabethan Mixture, Orlich Golden Sliced, Boswells Private Stock, Escudo

Beyond that I shake it up a little bit and like to try something new a couple times a week.

 

[Peter Turbo]

For the past year or so, I've been focused on clearing open jar. So I grab an open jar, and smoke only that until it's empty.

I've been trying to do this lately. Starting with the jars that are the lowest. Its mostly blends I'm never going to buy more of as well.

 

[larryspencer]

I have limited time, mainly weekends to enjoy my pipes/tobaccos, because of work. So while always gravitating towards vapers, I have, fvf, conniston cut plug, and #8 slice at the standby, or unopened squadron leader incase I change my mind. For me the pipe must match my mood, so rarely are there quick smokes, if so there's always a clay.

 

[WerewolfOfLondon]

I only really smoke one bowl a day now. That's at the end of the day when I like to pair it with a beer or two. If it's a pale lager, or a pilsner, I'll normally have a straight virginia, or in the high months of summer, a vaper. If I'm drinking a wheat beer, or a hells, I'll go with something less sweet, typically a virginia/burley. A couple of nights over Xmas I'll go all out and have whisky and a full strength kentucky, and on me birthday I'll have a cigar and American pale ale.

 

[Infantry23]

I pick my next smoke usually by looking at all my partial jars and deciding to cull the herd a bit. I try to limit the amount of space my open jars take up.

 

[Brad H]

I pick my next smoke usually by looking at all my partial jars and deciding to cull the herd a bit. I try to limit the amount of space my open jars take up.

Pretty hard to limit the open jars ain’t it?

 

[Gerald Boone]

I homeblend huge batches at a time. I mainly use two 5 pound batches I have in plastic (food grade) containers. I have one I made 3 months ago and one I made a month ago. To these I sometimes add even more perique (each batch has a lot of perique). So out of these two sources 99% of my tobacco is consumed. I have other tobacco I could smoke but this just tastes better.

 

[hobie1dog]

Seeing that life is going to be cut short, I'm going to smoke the remaining Penzance. Then I'll open the 8oz vacuumed bag of Pirate Kake (wuch to me it's the 1st cousin of Penzance). There might be a bowl of Ten Russians thrown in.

 

[wizhunter]

I used to find that if i enjoyed a certain blend i used to mainly stick with that. I really liked Royal Yacht and a couple of other Dunhill Blends but i am unsure what i will smoke this time round. I was recommended Squadron Leader last time round so may look into getting some of that. Think my 1st Pipe back will be Early Morning Pipe which is winging it's way to me. I really want to open one of the tins i have from 2017 but afraid it might just evaporate lol.

 

[JOHN72]

When my sense of smell was still working, six months ago due to the damn COVID, I started to reduce the amount of tobacco, blends, etc. I was using. I decided to focus on just three or four tins, glass jars, etc., open at most. I also chose to start smoking the best tobaccos, or the tobaccos that I have the least amount of, which are of a higher quality, so to speak. Because, honestly, tobacco has an expiration date, and degradation is unforgiving. So when I get my sense of smell back, I'll smoke what I like best, leaving the different, but not worse, tobacco for tomorrow. Everything I have is very good tobacco, although not the variety I would have liked. Still, I am very grateful. In summary, a couple of navy tobaccos in the morning, a couple of English tobaccos in the afternoon or evening. For example, a rich Capstan Gold or HH Pure Virginia in the morning, and in the evening, a C&D Mississippi Mud or glp# Spark Plug in the afternoon or evening.

 

[bobpnm]

My only routine is burley forward in cobs during the am. After that, it’s chaos.

 

[Oddball]

I like this post.

My selection is all about timing.

Sometimes it's pipe driven.
Sometimes it's blend driven.
Sometimes it's time driven.

If I don't have tons of time, always a Balkan/Latakia blend in ready rub. Those are easy and fast to pack and if I don't have the time to finish, so be it. Those are up front flavors.

If I have plenty of time, I flake, plug or coin in a large bowl and really slow it down and savor.

Usually a Virginia forward blend in between those two.