Oh the irony.
Thread starts claiming there's a lot of negative bias against Aromatics.
Everyone denies it or calls it fun and games.
New thread starts asking for first smoking experiences.
Third post:
http://pipesmagazine.com/forums/topic/your-first-blend
the VERY first pipe tobacco I smoked way back in 1987. He didn't like it, but remembered that I had told him I used to smoke it. So he gave it to me. I lit it up and. . . . YUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK. I DID NOT LIKE IT. Oh well.
It was Borkum Riff Whiskey. :rofl:
Followed by:
I started with, as happenstance would have it, a Peterson Dracula: I've since been a Peterson fan. But the choice of tobacco was terrible: I smoked Captain Black Gold, unaware that this particular blend bites like a rabid rattlesnake. Indeed, before discovering this forum, I didn't even know certain tobaccos can bit you viciously.
Skandinavik Mixture. Bleh...
My 1st blend was Middleton's Cherry Blend. After 2 bowls I threw the pouch away and didn't come back to pipe smoking for 2 yrs.
I went to my one and only local tobacconist and got a Brigham cherry aromatic, Wild Cherry I think. I had no clue how to pack a pipe or pace myself and had a horrible time with it. The pipe got red hot, I got terrible tongue bite and it tasted like ass. I put the pipe away and threw out the tobacco.
avoided the whole drugstore-OTC-cheap-varnished-pipe-garbage-tobacco scene and went straight to the good stuff. No doubt why I kept up with the pipe. I did try a slew of OTC blends later, some were not unsmokable, but none I ever put into regular rotation.
picked up a cob, and an ounce of some blend the (idiot)worker suggested. I dont remember the name of the blend, but it was from a Stag tobacconist. I think it had rum in the name of it. Didn't take long for me to experience all of the smokeing "hate" that the new pipers speak of here due to it being an aromatic, and not knowing anything about technique.
Some sort of house blend from a local tobacconist shop called Peach Brandy. Hell itself could not have been hotter. Didn't try smoking again for a month. That's how long it took before the doctors removed the sling my tongue was in.
I could probably quote half the thread. Anyway, the most consistent theme that I can pick out is:
A. People generally have a bad time with their first bowl.
B. Lots of people love English blends
From what I can see it's actually right to recommend Aromatics to people starting out, because if your first bowl is Dunhill De Luxe Navy Rolls then you're still going to hate it just as much as you would have Borkum Riff, except it would be hopeless to try and smoke a bowl of Navy Rolls on your first try because trying to keep it lit is going to be hopeless.
The confusion between "OTC" and "Aromatic" just reinforces the concept. OTC's aren't all Aromatic but some people lump everything that doesn't come from an expensive tin in the same box. The connection here is that they're common starter blends.
Then after these biases have existed for half a lifetime, the Internet pops up and all these people with pre-established opinions start shouting in an echo chamber and all of a sudden VaPer flakes are the greatest thing and Aromatics are a hot mess.
No one has a good time with their first bowl and if you start with a decent concept of what pipesmoking is then Aromatics probably are still the right choice.
I had just as much a terrible time with Scottish Mixture, Five Brothers, and Irish Flake. Five Brothers! The most pure, dry, easy burning thing you can possibly buy.
Most of the negative comments about Aromatic tobacco are probably imagined and self taught.
If someone doesn't like Captain Black they have every right to express that, but to imply that it is universally terrible for everyone is slanderous. Not very many people actually go that far, the rest just seem to be jumping to conclusions.
:]
