New to You Tobacco: Any Process?

[isaac]

Title edited for caps and brevity. -jpm Please see Rule 9. Former title:

"What is your process when you receive new to you tobaccos?"

I've have been exploring more Va/Vaper blends. I usually will give a sampling in a cob or meer to attempt a cleaner tasting. But, that brings me to the next part and the question i pose. Do you all work your way down all your various pipes to find that one that pairs nicely?

The thing that can be frustrating with pipe smoking, I have always found, is the variability. I find some pipe really bring out the flavor of certain tobaccos where others leave them flat. Some blends of tobaccos seem lack luster until i find that right pipe.

Currently going through my pipes with Robert McConnel Red Virginia. Some have been better than others

 

[olkofri]

Transfer them to mason jars and store them.

 

[jpmcwjr]

Smoke a bit and jar the rest.

 

[pipingfool]

I generally smoke new blends in a pipe that I am very familiar with and have smoked similar blends in.

If it fairs well in that one, then I'll smoke the new blend in my other pipes that I use for that particular style of tobacco. Sometimes I'll come across a pairing that blows my socks off, but usually I just come away with some good/great smokes. Sometimes one ends up tasting flat for one reason or another, but I'll always revisit it because a number of variables could have played a part, and I'll be pleasantly surprised by the outcome.

Enjoy the adventure. That's part of the fun.

 

[warren]

A new blend gets smoked in one of my meerschaums. Unless it's particularly vile, very rare, three or four bowls worth. If it's worthy I may add to semi-regular blends. I have three blends I smoke daily. The others are around for a change of pace. Otherwise, it's simply a blend I tried once.

 

[workman]

Dry it and smoke it. If I like it, I keep smoking it, if I don't, I don't.
I don't pair blends with certain pipes. I can't claim that it doesn't work at all, but in my experience any blend can be smoked in any pipe if it's a good pipe.

 

[fireground_piper]

I only keep a handful of pipes, so there’s not much choice. I also don’t buy much new blends now but when I do and I like the first bowl, I’ll keep it out until it’s gone. I just did that with blockade runner, and about half way through the tin bought 1.5 pounds to set aside.

If I put a new blend away after the first bowl, I probably won’t ever buy it again.

 

[Streeper541]

I open the tin, smell it, prep it, the smoke it. I don't put alot of science into it.

I generally, but not always, smoke Burley blends in my rusticated pipes, Virginia blends in my sandblasted pipes and English blends in my smooth finished pipes. I smoke new stuff somewhere along those guidelines.

 

[mso489]

Don't get up tight about a new blend. Some are love at first puff. Most blends, for me, require a little familiarization and learning. Sometimes I don't like the first go-around much at all, but the blend will get better each go-around as I get the idea of the blend.

Trying it in different pipes can be part of that process. But I wouldn't frantically go from pipe to pipe. Perfection is nearer with some experience, not by hitting on the right pipe and blend all at once. Go easy and let the blend come to you, like a cat, if you like cats.

 

[AppalachianPipe92]

Open and jar it for a couple weeks, then smoke it. I usually smoke it in one of my smaller "sampler" pipes. Depending on how much I enjoy it, I chose the next pipe accordingly.

 

[sablebrush52]

I generally smoke new blends in a pipe that I am very familiar with and have smoked similar blends in.

If it fairs well in that one, then I'll smoke the new blend in my other pipes that I use for that particular style of tobacco. Sometimes I'll come across a pairing that blows my socks off, but usually I just come away with some good/great smokes. Sometimes one ends up tasting flat for one reason or another, but I'll always revisit it because a number of variables could have played a part, and I'll be pleasantly surprised by the outcome.

Enjoy the adventure. That's part of the fun.

^^^^THIS^^^^

If the result is promising but not quite right I'll experiment with packing and moisture content. Occasionally I'll try out a differently sized chamber.

Most of my pipes smoke whatever I put in them in a satisfactory manner.

 

[DonutLuvr]

I’ll generally try a new blend in several different pipes, mostly in pipes that have already smoke the same type of tobacco components. Meaning I won’t sample a new Virginia in a pipe I smoke English blends out of. But its not really rocket science I generally know right away if I like a blend. If I’m undecided, I’ll tuck it away and try it again after several months of age on it. The ultimate decision is if something is cellar worthy and that’s what I try to decide with new blends.

 

[Chasing Embers]

"What is your process when you receive new to you tobaccos?"

I buy a new pipe to smoke it in.

 

[anotherbob]

open the tin and wait a week. If it's a goopy blend wait two weeks. Then smoke that blend mostly until the tin is gone. Of course the day I open it I have the most disappointing smoke possible and then wait a week. If it's bulk jar it right away but tins don't go in jars (unless it's a weird one that I know I'll only crave strongly every once in a while).

 

[judcole]

I generally smoke new blends in a pipe that I am very familiar with and have smoked similar blends in.


^^^^THIS^^^^

Let me join that parade.

I'm a firm believer in both that, and the flip side: I get a new pipe, I get to know it with familiar tobaccos.

 

[pappymac]

I like to smoke an English or straight Virginia blend immediately before smoking the first bowl of a new-to-me blend in one of my clay pipes. For some reason, this seems to bring out the flavors of the new blend.

After a bowl in a clay pipe, I rotate the new blend through a meerschaum, briar and cob.

 

[pipingfool]

Let me join that parade.

I'm a firm believer in both that, and the flip side: I get a new pipe, I get to know it with familiar tobaccos.

Yes. This too.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

I don't have any special process for a new one that is any different from any tobacco. I just dry it out, and smoke it. If it is a new one, I may spend a little more time differentiating flavors, but that's all.

 

[DanWil84]

Unless the tobacco is ghosting I try them in different pipes. Generally a VA or vaper sings for me in briar where a meer doesn't do anything with them. A burley or vabur like golden extra sings in a meer for me.

 

[The Clay King]

I can't see myself smoking a pipe that isn't made of clay...