Narrowing My Tobacco Choices...

[rmbittner]

I admire those folks who can smoke one tobacco, day-in, day-out. I've never been like that. I've sampled over 150 different blends since I started, and I've got 70+ different blends represented in my cellar.
But sometimes I get weary of trying new blends; I just want something I know I'll enjoy. And sometimes I have so many choices, I don't know what to smoke -- and I end up not really enjoying much of anything.
I'm wondering if it would really benefit me to narrow down my choices a bit. To focus on all the styles I like and rejigger my cellar so that I only have those styles (and maybe only one or two blends in each style).
I don't know. . . I'm still thinking about this. But I'd love to know what others do in this regard.

 

[flakyjakey]

Bob, sorry I can't help you much, except to say that I am narrowed down to the point of NEVER smoking aromatics!! LOL

 

[rmbittner]

flaky:
But that brings up a good point: One fear I have about "narrowing" too much is that I won't be taking my changing tastes into account. For instance, this year one of my resolutions is to step more outside of the "tobacco" box I've been living in and try new or previously unliked blends: Aromatics, Lakelands, and blends with perique. I'm probably never going to be a big aromatic smoker, but I've been surprised by how much I've enjoyed the Lakelands I've tried. And I'm teaching myself to handle perique as well. I do think it's good to stretch yourself, try new things, explore new territory. But that argues against the kind of narrowing-down that I'm thinking about.
Maybe I'm just not naturally inclined to be "faithful" to a limited number of blends -- maybe I'll always be someone who "smokes around" -- and I need to live with the occasional frustration/ennui that results from that. After all, at someone's suggestion here, I've just discovered -- and enjoyed -- Hamborger Veermaster. So I keep finding new things that interest me. . .
Bob

 

[cosmicfolklore]

When I was a cigarette smoker (as most of us cig smokers did) I smoked the same brand, day in and day out. And, no matter how nasty the taste, your brand tasted fine, and all of the other brands taste funny. Bumming a smoke was always hit or miss if they didn't smoke your brand.
When I started on the pipe, I was smoking off a bag of RYO Turkish (a Camel-like brand), and I was fine with it after a few first odd tasting bowls. Now, after I have built a cellar with a nice rotation of tobaccos, I can't imagine doing that. But, try smoking any blend a few times in a row. After the first bowl, you really don't taste any of the nuances of the flavor. After a few more, I am only satisfying the addiction (yeh, I know, pipe smokers say they aren't addicted, as they hoard tobaccos like there's no tomorrow [and I do NOT inhale; I'm just honest with myself]). So, maybe rotating tobaccos just keeps the flavor fresh, allowing us to pull more nuances of taste from the tobacco?
If I did chose a tobacco and stick with that one blend, I'm sure I'd be just fine with whatever it was, as a cig smoker is fine with whatever brand they became first addicted to. That said, I limit myself to a very narrow margin of blends, mostly Va and VaPers, with one or two aros, maybe try a Lat blend if the mood hits. I think that by this, I am able to balance my cravings for the taste of tobacco with the senses of those around me. If I were to decide on just one blend, I think it would be whichever Virginia is the cheapest; but honestly, which blend doesn't matter, as I'm sure after a few days, I would no longer be tasting it.
Just my opinion, but your welcome to it, lol.

 

[terrygoldman123]

Nothing wrong with aromatics. I for one cannot tolerate perique/latakia blends. To each his own.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

No, there is nothing wrong with aromatics at all. To each his own. I am curious, Terry, do you smoke the same blend of aro more than once in day? If you did, would the taste become drab for you? or do you smoke for the aro taste at all? I'm just curious, in the context of my previous post.

 

[jah76]

I definitely have a narrow focus when it comes to tobaccos due to the fact I don't smoke but maybe 5-8 bowls per week. I do enjoy trying new blends, but by and large due to the short number of bowls I smoke a week I like to "concentrate" on the blends I enjoy.
I also only order tobacco 3-4 times a year. Often I grab at least 3-5 tins of something new and the rest is all made up of the 6ish blends I cellar. I ALWAYS have some blends on hand, but others I just buy one tin a year because it's not something I want to smoke everyday.
Bob like your experimenting, I am going to focus on C&D this summer. I've tried several of their blends and they just seem a "miss" with me. I find myself fitting into McCelland's line up much easier. But this next order I'm definitely going to hit up some of their offerings like Sunday Picnic and Bayou Morning (again).
I do notice I tend to stay within the confines of VaPers, VaPerOrs, VaPerCavs, and light Englishes (with a Oriental leaning). I find myself just whittling them down, finding the blend I like.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

Oooooo, just mentioning Sunday Picnic makes me salivate. You're going to love that blend, if you like VaPers. Mmmm...

 

[rmbittner]

Jah:
Yeah, I have managed to "winnow" out some of the brands that just don't seem to work for me. So that helps me focus a bit. For me, McClelland, Pease, Esoterica/Germain, Dan Tobacco, and Rattray blends tend to make up the bulk of my cellar, along with some Dunhill, MacBaren, Samuel Gawith/Gawith & Hoggarth, and one Brebbia blend I really enjoy. But that's a pretty wide range! I've learned that C&D and H&H just don't appeal to me, no matter what blends I've tried -- so that helps me focus a little bit.
But I love English, Balkans, straight VAs, VA/burley flakes, along with one or two Lakeland blends, a few mild VA/perique blends, and one or two aromatics. So I'm all over the place.
Bob

 

[psychpipes]

Choice is a good thing. While I don't think it would be a good idea to get pigeon holed into only a handful of blends, I understand your point about the problems of too much choice. Sometimes, there can even be a feeling of obligation that you have to continue to try new blends to avoid flavor stagnation. I would approach the situation similarly to having too many pipes (blasphemy I know). Figure out what you definitely aren't giving much attention to, and use those blends to get money or trades. Start the slimming process that way. Aren't smoking that particular blend? Post it on here and see what you get for it.
I would also think about what you go for the most at the present. Focus on that blend, and when you get bored of the profile give yourself a week's break with some other variety. You seem to have a very eclectic taste, and I doubt you would be happy with just a few blends. It could also just be a little bit of over thinking on your part as well.

 

[rmbittner]

"It could also just be a little bit of over thinking on your part as well."
Oh, it wouldn't be the first time for that!
Bob

 

[cosmicfolklore]

I enjoy overthinking. It goes well with the pipe, me thinks :wink:

 

[crazypipe]

I'm in the same boat as you, over 50 years of pipe smoking has gotten me so much pipe tobacco that I will never live to smoke . Maybe I can take it with me ::

 

[rmbittner]

"Maybe I can take it with me"
We probably can if we end up in heaven. Hell is having an endless supply of tobacco, with not a light in sight.
Bob

 

[psychpipes]

Maybe I can take it with me.

Like the pharaohs of old. Incidentally, this gave me the great idea for when I die. Viking boat funeral, loaded with all my accumulated tobacco, a single flaming arrow as I float out to sea. Here I come Valhalla.

 

[aquilas]

I think of the difficulty of narrowing down is with this day and age, it's hard to just stick to one blend. By that I mean, with how easy it is to get information nowadays, you're always bound to learn about new tobaccos, hear about tobaccos that everyone raves about, order tobaccos online, whereas, in the old days, people just got what they could at their local tobacconists and what they heard from their local pipe clubs. Now with many online forums, blogs, youtube videos, and online stores, our tobacco interests are piqued at maximum nearly all of the time and it gets difficult to just having the few blends you like.
I'd like to be narrowed down as well, but I like variety just way too much.

 

[salewis]

I think many seasoned pipe smokers, while constantly seeking that wholly grail of a tobacco blend while others do not care to since they are content with constantly experimenting. Finally, I think that most pipe smokers, like me, while trying many different blends have one to four or so that they hold out as special and always return to since they are their special blends. I fall into the latter camp and my go to tobacco blends are Gawith's Squadron Leader, McClelland's Virginia #27 and my favorite Orlik's Golden Slices.
Whether you continue to search and experiment or try other tobacco with some base favorites you will always be right since pipe smoking is an adventure.

 

[rmbittner]

I've been smoking long enough that my constant exploration of new blends isn't about finding something new that I'll love. I've found enough of those already, I think. But I really do enjoy trying blends I haven't tried before, just so I can talk/write knowledgeably about them and better understand the range of flavors out there.
Plus, I think it's fun, when folks here are seeking recommendations, to not just trot out the most-familiar names or my favorites all the time.
"Smoking around" has also helped me make some connections I'd have never thought of before. . . like the fact that SG's Perfection has a lot in common, flavor-wise, with Frog Morton on the Town, but with a bit more body. Or that Brebbia's Preludio Mixture No. 60 -- a blend I never hear anyone else recommending -- has a lot in common with the discontinued Raven's Wing from GL Pease (including Syrian latakia).
Just some thoughts...
Bob

 

[lestrout]

Bob - shhh on the 60. Besides it's now off the shelves due to Mideastern shortages.
But if it's worth doing, then it is worth overdoing. I seem to be well over 1100 blends on hand now, all in the last 7 years, plus I've puffed another 150 or so at Morley's, NYPC and Golden Gate meetings and pipe shows that I decided weren't going to get to come home with me.
I'm definitely in accord with narrowing my focus, which used to be just Lats but my Virginias Project caused me to branch out into those along with the variants of VA/Per, etc. I am trying very hard to drop my Cellar down to the Top200. Any resident thereof is represented by my estimate (30 years) of a lifetime supply of just that blend, within the context of the whole entity; so I'm not just a hoarder. Maybe a little promiscuous, is all. I do like variety in the rotation, and I do get bored easily, or maybe it's just another manifestation of Attention Deficit Disorder.
hp

les

 

[erichbaumer]

I'm trying to do something similar, but on a much, much smaller scale. I want to narrow down to five or six blends that I always have on hand, so my plan is to nail down what those are while I smoke the last few new-to-me tins, and only buy that handful. For now, since I really only smoke English blends, I think that five of those and one odd VA/Per will offer enough variety to keep everything fresh.