Moving Towards Va & VaPer Tobaccos

[kalvort]

I've only been smoking for about 4 years, and I have noticed like other members on this forum is that I am moving away from aromatics and heavy english blends, and more and more towards dark virginias and vapers. I feel as like I don't like the campfire taste any more, and as much as virginias are difficult to keep lit compared to other tobaccos, they still taste better and more satisfying for me, especially with a bit of perique added.
What about you guys? Have you noticed a similar or even opposite transition in personal taste?

 

[kanse]

Same exact thing here, started with aros, moved onto Lat blends, but now I really do prefer anything without a heavy hand of lat. As far as Aromatics go, I can enjoy some strong blends with toppings but none of the smokeable candy stuff.
For me, Virginia/Kentucky blends and straight Burleys work best for me for now.

 

[iamn8]

Ditto with me. Began with Lats though and heavier English, but switched to Va and Vapers. I LOVE high quality Virginia flakes. They are my goto tobacco with VaPers a close second. I can get lost in Virginia. Lats are wonderful, but it's so ever present, like a big guy standing next to you, punching you in your arm every minute to remind you you're smoking Latakia. The only exception being Exotique by Smokers Haven. I could smoke it 24/7/365, but otherwise Virginia all the way.

I wasn't ever a huge fan of aros. I tried a few, but never loved them.

 

[mcitinner1]

Ditto

 

[prairiedruid]

I like variety so I have several blends of each open. Helps prevent tongue fatigue for me.

 

[samcoffeeman]

My first experience was with an English blend. It was my gateway drug so to speak. I rather quickly moved towards straight Virginias and VaPers. It is pretty rare I smoke an English now.

 

[curl]

I started piping early 2014 and it seems my tastes have evolved same as yours.

I started with aromatics, fell in love with English blends, then learned to appreciate VAs and VaPers. And now it seems I put burley based blends in my pipe more and more often.
It's not that I don't like English blends anymore. It's more that my rotation is fairly evenly balanced between the types of blends.

 

[ray47]

I've have been primarily a Burley smoker for the past 50 yrs and have recently had urges for Virginias. My favorites have been Peter Stokkebye Luxury Twist and MacBaren Virginia #1. In the Va/Per realm I enjoy Peter Stokkebye Luxury Bullseye Flake.

 

[bluegrassbrian]

I started with aros and English, and moved to Virginia dominant blends within a couple months.
The first time I tried a full virginia (OGS) I had an epiphany..

"So THAT'S what all the noise is about.."

 

[mawnansmiff]

When I started on the pipe in Sep 2015 I pretty quickly settled on Condor (Ready Rubbed and Flake) and was quite content with that.
Then I joined this forum and my eyes were opened to a whole array of tobaccos I never knew existed!
I still do smoke my beloved Condor but my main smokes now are straight Virginias (FVF etc) and VaPers (St. James Flake and Plug etc) of which I am trying many out. I have just ordered a load from the US to try out and am itching to get my hands on them ::
There is so much variety regards straight Virginia out there and it is to the blender's credit what magic he can perform with just a single variety of leaf.
Regards,
Jay.

 

[jackswilling]

I still like Latakia, as I always have, in smaller measure, typically. I can't imagine ditching one genre. From the beginning I was liking blends like Tudor Castle, Blackwoods Flake, Cooper, and so on. Right now I am on a binge of HH Latakia Flake, Long Golden Flake, and Savinelli 140°

A Rainbow of flavor.

 

[toobfreak]

I think this is a pretty common theme to pipers. The vast array of aros with enticing names and flavors draw you in, but eventually you find that over the long term, other types satisfy better. I would not consider English-lats to be just a transition, and yes there are some really good aros I would never want to leave, but a really well aged VaPer is a fantastic combo that I enjoy year in and year out and best of all, they only reward you further with aging.

 

[PaulTheScandinavian]

Never got used with traditional latakia blends, now something like burley forward blends suit best for my current likings, and I keep rotating them between mellow sort of Virginia and Vapers, and I'm pretty much saticfied Nordic smoker,keeping it simple ( this could have get much worse)

 

[mawnansmiff]

Toob, your hair is on fire!.....someone send him the fire brigade 8O
Regards,
Jay.

 

[krizzose]

I think this bowl of Marlin Flake I'm currently smoking has significantly contributed to my enjoyment of this thread

 

[cosmicfolklore]

Maybe, we should think of it as "branching out" instead of moving away from or towards. I will probably always dabble in other genres of tobacco, while my true love is Virginias. But, if someone offers something interesting in other genres, I'll try it. There does seem to be way more crappy aromatics than great ones, IMO. But, when I find a good aro, I'll come back to it from time to time.
that said, I think you're going to love exploring VA's and VaPers. There's a whole world of wonderfullness out there.

 

[snoopy311]

I too like variety so I keep a little of everything open and ready to smoke. I’m trying to avoid getting tired of one type of tobacco hence the reason for so many open blends to rotate. Much of my choice depends on my mood at the time so its nice to have variety.

 

[sablebrush52]

I started with English and OTC's, which was a large part of what was available then, feel in love with Captain Black as a change from Balkan Sobranie, and generally stayed within the English/Aro framework, with occasional forays into matured Virginias, or other types. About 10 years ago I really burned out on Latakia to the point that the smell of it made me a bit nauseous. Until about 2 years ago, I smoked Va and Va/Per blends almost exclusively. Then I began to reintroduce Latakia back in, on a more condimental basis, and now enjoy smoking medium English and Balkan blends once again, along with the Va and Va/Pers. I also enjoy Burley's more. Sadly, Captain Black hasn't made the cut, and Balkan Sobrainie, the real stuff that I smoked, hasn't been made in decades.

 

[jpmcwjr]

I've been trying to get into VA and VaPers, with little success. I feel I am missing something. Oddly, I just loaded a small meer with some unobtanium that was very dry- and had my first nice bowl of a VA-burley mix. There's hope!

 

[aimlesswanderer]

I just kind of cluelessly amble my way though GH & SG blends, occasionally grabbing a pouch of something else along the way. For the most part I don't have much clue about what's in it until after I bought it, and then I'll look it up on the net.
If I like it, then I'll go buy another, but if I'm buying from a store I'll just point out whichever big green GH tub grabs my attention at the time, and say 50g of that one please. I have revisited blends quite a few times, so I've only tried a relatively small number of blends compared to most of the folks here.