Never-Tried Blends in the Cellar?

[rmbittner]

Whether through reviews or recommendations or the desire to just roll the dice on a blend and see what I get, I’ve got several blends in the cellar that I have yet to try. Fox’s The Bankers Mixture, C&D’s Pirate Kake, Macbaren’s Original Choice, and Samuel Gawith’s Skiff come immediately to mind.

Bankers has been with me the longest, from around 2006. It’s an English featuring cigar leaf. For some reason, whenever I’m in the mood for that style of blend, I reach for Robert Lewis’s 123 Mixture and pass over the Bankers. So there it sits, continuing to age. Or maybe just gather dust.

Anyone else have tins of blends they’ve never tried but plan to get to “some day”?

 

[Chasing Embers]

I never put something back without trying it first or it's contents are similar to other blends I enjoy.

 

[vosBghos]

Been stocking up on various blends going wide so that when I find what I truly like I can go deep but I've been waiting for my palate to stabilize post covid.
I figure there is no reason to crack a tin that could just sit and age if I'm not going to be able to truly taste the contents and make a proper judgment.
I'm using EMP as my benchmark when it finally tastes like it used to as I smoked it every day before covid I'll start cracking tins of all my untried stuff.
Also waiting for certain untried blends to hit marks of age 5,7,10, years since I bought some out of production stuff.
Hopefully by my 50th B day in August, things will be back to normal.
I'm getting hints here and there of them old trusted flavors.

 

[AcesAndEights]

I’ve got LOTS of blends squirreled away that I haven’t tried. I can’t help myself. Limited releases drop, I read a bunch of positive reviews, etc., and I buy a tin or two. The deepest I’ve gone on one blend so far is maybe 8 tins. At this rate, I’ll be in a perpetual state of “trying” blends.

That’s kinda my thing though, I guess. I just GOTTA try it all! I was into smoking BBQ before I was into smoking pipes. My spice rub cabinet is an absolute poo-show. My tobacco cellar isn’t far behind! Lol

 

[The Amish Tyrant]

I was into smoking BBQ before I was into smoking pipes. My spice rub cabinet is an absolute poo-show.

Name your king.

Dollar Tree has a basic Memphis rub that does the trick and I'm a fan of the Mccormick line. But I know there are some other legit rubs to up my BBQ game.

 

[prairiedruid]

I have some tins of aromatics that I got for free back when Pipes and Cigars would throw in some mystery tins in their IPSD package.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

My list of untried blends in my cellar is extensive. I buy three to ten tins of new to me blends… thinking I will at least try one before they age, but I have so many already that I forget. I will get to them one day.

 

[hoosierpipeguy]

I have zero untried blends in my cellar. Even if I trajectory a flyer on a small batch release, I promptly try it to see if I want to keep it, get more or get rid of it.

 

[rmbittner]

I have zero untried blends in my cellar. … I promptly try it to see if I want to keep it, get more or get rid of it.

Despite my own behavior, I feel like your approach is what I should be imitating. It just makes logical sense.

 

[Architeuthis]

You are not alone in buying a variety of stuff to try out and not having got around to trying it all yet. For example, a couple of C&D blends I've had sitting in the cellar for several years, Sunday Picnic and Interlude, will finally get popped open this summer...

 

[Peter Turbo]

I've never "cellared" something I've haven't tried. Big yikes.

 

[Davy]

For the most part, I have cellared tobacco I had previously sampled. There are still a few exceptions, such as Mac Baren HH Pure Virginia, HH Latakia Flake, Vanilla Rolls, and HH Burley Flake but I knew I would like them based on the other Mac Baren I had tried. In much lesser quantities, I cellared some HH Rustica, Latakia Rolls, Dunhill Flake and Germain's Medium Flake that I had never tried before (but tried all of them since beside Rustica; I feel this one will need some years before I enjoy it).
There are probably some I am forgetting, simply because I have stopped keeping track of what I have a few years back.

 

[PA Piper Mike]

I have a few, mostly because I'm a slow smoker (4-8 bowls/week) and I have a current rotation of 35 tobaccos (I like variety, so sue me ) Some off the top of my head that I have are at least tobaccos I know I'll most likely enjoy, such as the Carolina Red Flakes (few different years), PH Dark Strong Flake, SotE Flake, SG FVF and Old Gowrie.

 

[ThermionicScott]

Looking at my spreadsheet, I have 33 (!) blends in the cellar that I haven't tried yet. It's just the result of consuming tobacco at a low rate (a tin per month at most), but ordering a handful of blends I want to try each month. Many of them are "gold standard" type blends, or otherwise from reputable blenders like GLP or SG/GH or H&H or Dunhill/Peterson, so I'm pretty confident that I will like them when I get to them. To be frank, my cellar is probably much less diverse than I think it is; I expect to crack some tins and think "oh, this is like that other one, it's good."

Worst case, if I don't like something, I should be able to find a new home for it with another forum member.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

I think it also depends on how finicky you are. First, I avoid blends with reports of heavy casings or toppings. And, I tend to gravitate towards certain types of blends. I also, have had very few blends that repulse me to being unable to finish a tin. (Mixture 79, I’m looking at you, you nasty thing)
Trusted blenders like C&D, where even if the label suggests it has the same tobaccos as another, I know that not all Virginias, burleys, or even orientals taste the same, but I can be assured that I will probably like it, and it will be different.

Some blenders… I approach more cautiously. But, I am sure I won’t be repulsed by it.

I would think that someone who does like Mixture 79 would smoke any old shit, ha ha.

 

[Peterson314]

I only stock up on blends that I have tried (and like!), but I have A LOT of singleton tins in my cellar I haven't tried. And that's just because I'm slow and it is just so easy to hit "Add to Cart".

 

[sjohnston0311]

I tend to only stock up on things I've tried and really liked. But with that said, I think most of my cellar right now is random single tins of stuff I bought to try but haven't had the chance to yet. I only smoke about 4 bowls a week on average, and I'm trying to get into the habit of finishing already opened tins/jars before opening something new.

 

[boston]

I went through a long period of buying multiples of tins that I never tried. And I still get multiple tins of limited release blends before trying. I gift some but the piles of tins accumulate. I smoke at a super slow pace, like once a week or less. So I do view my acquisition patterns as an illness. TAD for sure!

I have many many tins / different blends have been waiting for me to try them. Many 2 decades old or more. Makes no sense at all. I will likely sell half of them someday.

 

[sablebrush52]

There are a couple of HU and KBV blends that I haven't gotten to, otherwise I've smoked everything that's in the cellar.

 

[wyfbane]

This very post is predicated on the notion that folks will blind purchase tobaccos they haven't tried. Some do, some don't. Then those who do usually try tobaccos they get, while some may experience circumstances where those tins hit the cellar and events conspire to prevent sampling... I am in this category.

When I first dove in, I found I liked nearly every blend I tried. I read up on reviews at tobaccoreviews and followed Jim's reviews on here. I bought tobaccos that followed my taste profile. I made many orders in this time. Many of my orders included 1-2 oz samples of blends that sounded fun while others gave free sample. The tins I did open went into the tiny jam jars so they didn't dry out. Over the course of about 3 years I ended up with about 60 jam jars full of opened tins/samples of tobacco.

I have never been a prolific smoker. I had a young kid at home, my new wife is awesome but doesn't love any tobacco smell that isn't a deep aro, and I just often had things going on that didn't enable a ton of smoking. In this system, I felt it kind of silly to keep opening new tins until I had finished at least some of the little jam jars.

This did not stop my buying, however. There were $5 tin sales on some pretty amazing blends and I would go, why not? Did I try all of them? No. I was buying at a good time when many people were saying the end of tobacco as we know it was nigh. As a result, I am sitting on more than 300 lb of tobacco and I have not tried quite a few of these blends. When I do, if I don't like them, they will be liked by someone and well aged. I figure they can trade out for stuff I do like at a pretty favorable rate.