Is there a general consensus on what blend a new piper should start on?

[sablebrush52]

I am a new pipe smoker, originally I wanted to try every blend available at my local tobacconist to broaden my horizon, but I have just realized each blend burns differently so I figure I'm going to have to slow down a bit and take more time on each blend. That raises the question, Which type of tobacco is best for a new piper to learn the art of piping, and how frequently did you go to a new blend for a new taste?

When I started out, 50+ years ago, the tobacconist who helped me gave me a sample of an OTC, a mild English, and a mild aromatic to experiment with. People used to recommend Carter Hall for breaking in pipes and pipe smokers. These days it's "whatever". But a mild OTC like Carter Hall isn't going to be pricey, will be pretty easy to use, and might be an easier intro than a great many other blends.

 

[BarrelProof]

I think a lot of folks get drawn in by the way certain blends smell. Let’s face it, you can crack a jar at a B&M and swear to god it’s somehow full of grandma’s blueberry pie. There’s usually a rude awakening when you get home and light it up.

It’s typically followed by a lot of frustration, perhaps even to the extent of quitting. However, the dedicated are rewarded by an epiphany once they experience a bit of departure from what they think it should be and arrive at what it is.

The blend that’ll do that for folks is vastly different, limited only by your own taste buds.

For me - Nightcap. That English blend really flipped everything on its head. I wasn’t burning my tongue searching for apple pie with caramel and molasses anymore, I was just seeing what it could be for what it was and appreciated it. I’m not suggesting you’re going down the aromatic rabbit hole from the outset, but I do think that’s the case with a lot of folks.

Taste is entirely too subjective to make a recommendation that will be foolproof, but I will second some type of English/Balkan because they’re typically easy to smoke and have enough flavor to get you on the right path. As for sticking with one blend long enough to learn about it - that’s predicated on your capacity for learning. Some folks stick with a single blend until the tin is gone, others understand it by the end of the bowl. This is also blend specific.

My absolute best and most sound advice I can give you is to have fun and enjoy it. If something isn’t enjoyable, stop it. If you don’t like a blend, don’t mess with it; there are thousands of others. If you are worried about having spent the money and feel obligated to get an ROI, jar it until you have met the requirements to buy/sell/trade on here and I’m sure someone will swap with you.

The second best bit of advice I can give you is to take everything you read on here with a grain of salt. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again right now: the only thing pipe smoker A and pipe smoker B can agree on is that pipe smoker C is doing it wrong. Well, that and that pipers are people who play bagpipes; otherwise that partridge in a pear tree song has a new twist.

Welcome and have fun.

 

[The Amish Tyrant]

I have a terrible job where I am surrounded by ignorant, socially toxic, drug addled degenerates that still live with their parents)

Restaurant?

 

[BarrelProof]

Restaurant?

Literally any job in Portland.

 

[Zamora]

Captain Black is a pretty common one to suggest but I'd recommend Lane 1Q or RLP-6. They're identical to Captain Black, Gold and White respectively, but without the preservatives and is cheaper. Honestly there's no point in buying Captain Black unless you live in a jurisdiction where online pipe tobacco sales are illegal and you don't have a B&M nearby.

 

[anotherbob]

find the harshiest blend everything will be easy after that.

 

[mikethompson]

I am a new pipe smoker, originally I wanted to try every blend available at my local tobacconist to broaden my horizon, but I have just realized each blend burns differently so I figure I'm going to have to slow down a bit and take more time on each blend. That raises the question, Which type of tobacco is best for a new piper to learn the art of piping, and how frequently did you go to a new blend for a new taste?

As a new pipe smoker, the only thing there is consensus on in the pipe community is that there is no consensus on anything.

 

[Chasing Embers]

Honestly there's no point in buying Captain Black unless you live in a jurisdiction where online pipe tobacco sales are illegal and you don't have a B&M nearby.

Or because you just like it. 1-Q's got nothing on CBR.

 

[Sgetz]

I am surprised anyone wants to associate themselves with bagpipes. An evil instrument. Not for nothing are bits of them called drones.
Music can soothe the savage breast! It can also give you headache later

 

[jerry]

It’s a grand experiment. Take notes.

 

[judcole]

There is no consensus on this. There is so much about pipe smoking that is based on individual preference, that consensus is hard to come by.
I can't tell you anything about my own journey, because it happened over 50 years ago. What worked for me would probably not work for you. I recall smoking a lot of Borkum Riff, and then falling in love with Troost Special Cavendish - now discontinued. I also smoked a lot of Sail Yellow, when I was new at this. These were all commonly available drugstore blends at the time, and not very expensive, as suited the budget of an impoverished college student.

 

[Sobrbiker]

Just starting out, as I did a few months ago, I found tobbaccoreviews.com to be a great “guide” to deciding what to try-but there’s a caveat: don’t expect to taste all the described nuanced flavors. I’ve been smoking multiple times a day for 3+ months (except for days off from burning the heck out of my tongue a few times), and am barely past “I like this, or I don’t”.
If you can buy online where you live, I’d recommend researching a bit on the different main genres (English, Balkan, Aromatics, Burley blends, Virginias, etc), and order a couple small (1-2oz) samples of bulk blends from each. Set aside what doesn’t float your boat, because a couple months later after your palate and technique have some miles on them you may have a different appreciation.
I’ve got 24+ different small jars and now know what general directions in each genre I prefer (kind of).
I was wanting to find an “all day, every day” smoke, but now know for me that’s fallacy at this point, but I do have at least a half dozen that I reach for, and a few I like enough I have 4-16oz of.
It’s the journey, not the destination that’s intriguing in a hobby. Pipe smoking isn’t (nor will be in the foreseeable future) my main nicotine delivery platform, so I now enjoy a mixed bag to pluck from daily.
YMMV, and I could be doing it all wrong, but I’ve got no one to impress and am enjoying myself!

 

[NomadOrb]

Carter Hall pretty much smokes itself, it's a great blend to practice packing, lighting, and, cadence.

I would then venture into a latakia blend to see what that's all about and slowly make your way through genres until you figure out what you like.

When you're new, I would stick to bulk blends and 1oz sample sizes until you figure out what you like to save some money.

 

[rmbittner]

I am a new pipe smoker, originally I wanted to try every blend available at my local tobacconist to broaden my horizon, but I have just realized each blend burns differently so I figure I'm going to have to slow down a bit and take more time on each blend. That raises the question, Which type of tobacco is best for a new piper to learn the art of piping, and how frequently did you go to a new blend for a new taste?

Sorry, but there is no “best” here. Traditional wisdom for the last 50 years or so has typically advised starting with a mild aromatic, so the smoker can ”ease in” to the experience. But often this leads to a choice of tobacco that invites tongue bite, burns hot/wet, and fails to deliver any true tobacco flavor. That advice may have contributed to more people trying then leaving the hobby than anything else.

I’ve seen a turn now toward encouraging new pipesmokers to start with a mild English—not something that will blow them away with latakia (or nicotine) but a blend that will introduce them to genuine tobacco flavor right out of the gate. In this area, I’d recommend Rattray’s Black Mallory (which also includes unflavored cavendish, which can help to smooth out a blend), both GL Pease’s Maltese Falcon and Kensington, and Peterson’s Standard Mixture. For a basic, easy-going bulk English, I’d suggest Lane‘s HGL.

But, honestly, anything’s fair game. I would just encourage a new pipesmoker to take the time to learn about the blends he or she is trying, so they understand their own reactions and tastes better. The only blends I’d suggest avoiding at the outset are any that require experience or practice to truly enjoy—whole flakes that may take practice to prepare correctly, Virginia-only blends that require an especially slow cadence before they reveal themselves…that kind of thing.

 

[telescopes]

Not a joke. Definition of a piper is just that someone who plays bagpipes. We are pipe smokers. And I am a piper also. I have played bagpipes for over 20 years before stopping.

My reason for pointing out this is simple. I have this strange feeling some new folks do not want to associate themselves with smoking. Calling pipe smoking something other than pipe smoking. Hobby, collecting, piping.. If a person likes pipe smoking then accept the fact it is smoking. If he feels that smoking is so shameful he can't even call it what it is, maybe he shouldn't smoke. It's simple problem with a simple solution. Smoking might not be popular, or healthy, but a person should not feel so bad about it he will have to name it something else. If they feel so bad, quit.

This begs the question, "If I go lunting, am I not a lunter?"

 

[rmbittner]

This begs the question, "If I go lunting, am I not a lunter?"

Does it?

Not to be all pedantic, but: If you play a pipe, you’re a piper. If you smoke a pipe, you’re a pipesmoker.

Would you also say that someone who fixes the pipes in your home is a piper as well? No, that would be a plumber. There are specific names for each.

 

[Briar Lee]

Carter Hall

 

[RustiePyles CPG]

I generally encourage people to start on Carter Hall. Its cheap, mild, easy to smoke, and comes out of the tub at about the right moisture level.

 

[Briar Lee]

I generally encourage people to start on Carter Hall. Its cheap, mild, easy to smoke, and comes out of the tub at about the right moisture level.

I learned on Half and Half and to this day I smoke more Half and Half than any other drugstore blend.

But Carter Hall is milder.

Carter Hall was formulated in modern times, in the fifties.

It was likely the last famous drugstore blend, and smells good, tastes good, and won’t bite.

 

[UB 40]

I came to pipe smoking from two years abstinence of smoking hand rolled cigarettes, dark shag, from the age of 14 on.

First I smoked a small sample of MB dark fired Kentucky, which put me in nicotine trance immediately, i puffed it much to fast. Then I tried some light danish aromatic, which caused some headaches to my spouse.

Then I decided to go for some of the most beloved Tolkien Virginias, Capstan Blue. It didn’t do much for me (until today) taste wise, than to put me under the spell of nicotine kick again. Indian Summer was unsmokable for me, it scorched my tongue every time.

I tried three nuns then, and suddenly there was something going on in my taste buds that was different, and enjoyable. MB Navy Flake was another i liked.

It took two months when I decided to have some 965 I read about in tobacco review, because of the Latakia and orientals. That one really was a revelation. it was the first time I realised what pipe smoking could be to me.

And I still enjoy a nicotine kick with Perique or Kentucky, not so the Latakia blends. And I like Virginias that don’t bite, Hamborger Veermaster and a lot other is one of them. I avoid aromatics until now because they scorch my tongue regularly.

I like SG twist, yes pipe smoking without nicotine won’t win. Let’s be honest about that. It’s not a hobby, it’s seriously an addiction.