One or Many?

[jhe033]

So, as a returnee to the pipe smoking world, I've now gone through a major TAD phase, and except for one recent order on Monday, all of my choices are sitting in my cellar.

I already know what I like, roughly, and while I am trying some new things like Lakeland and higher-end aromatics, I have a decent feel for what I'll enjoy.

So last night I was watching some YouTube reviews and trying to make a decision on what to smoke and I wondered: "Is it better to finish a blend and get to know it, or to bounce around and try a lot"?

So for you veterans, what is your approach? Do you stick with a blend for a day/week/month and then change up? Do you move throughout the day from bowl to bowl? Is it some combination of the above?

I'd love to hear some thoughts from others.

 

[Chasing Embers]

Just depends on mood. Sometimes I can stay on one blend for days or weeks, other times I bounce around. Hundreds of blends in the closet and I just smoke what seems right at the time.

 

[seanv]

I like variety and I have way too many jars open. I will sometimes go on a run of a certain blend for a few days or maybe a week but I mostly smoke a different blend each smoke or at least day.

 

[TinCup]

I’m not in the veteran camp but I just smoke whatever I’m in the mood for or what I'm doing, its like getting dressed for different situations

I have every day ‘work’ tobacco, tobacco I use for special occasions and tobacco I use if I’m going to certain locations/activity (considering the room note for others etc)

 

[Tommy Boy]

I like a variety as well. If i get a new blend ill smoke it for a few days with different drying times to see if i like it. Other than that its whatever cetches my eye or a blend my wife asks me to smoke because she wants to enjoy the smell.

 

[BarrelProof]

I downloaded a randomizer app and loaded all of my blends into it. When it’s time to smoke, I just open the app and let it tell me what I’m about to smoke...

 

[stogie37]

Ultimately, I don’t think you can go wrong either way. I’ve been at this for 30 years now, and my practice for the last decade or so has been to limit my rotation to a dozen open blends - some absolute favorites that I know I’ll enjoy, a few that are occasional treats or change-ups, and then a few that I’m trying for the first time. I will offer this: having a few different blends in rotation actually helps me learn how different leaf “speaks” - so when I keep an oriental forward blend like GL Pease Ashbury, a favorite, in the rotation it helps me to identify oriental presence in another blend more distinctly. This increases my overall enjoyment and informs my palate of what it is specifically that I enjoy or want to avoid in the future. At 2-3 bowls a day, I tend to complete about 3 tins a month, which is perfect, for me, to keep things “fresh”. 30 years later, I still look forward every bit as much to opening a new tin - never gets old!

 

[sablebrush52]

Used to be variety. But I got tired of all the open tins, jars, etc. Now its more like I'll open a tin and smoke it till it's gone.

 

[kcghost]

I open three or four tins and smoke them until they are finished.

 

[smokeyweb]

I’m like kcghost. I work through 3-4 open tins at a time. When one jar gets low I smoke that one up and throw a new one in the mix. Gives me enough variety without being overwhelmed with decisions of what to smoke. But I always have some Penzance on standby for special occasions!

 

[shanez]

Ignoring the term tin vs loose/bulk I like having as many as a dozen blends in rotation at any given time. (My problem is I have closer to 3 dozen but that's another story.)

Sometimes I feel like a mild aromatic, sometimes a fruity aromatic, sometimes a tangy VaPer, sometimes a sweet VA, sometimes something with Latakia in it, sometimes...

I'll even smoke a variety of blends in a single day.

It's really more a function of my smoking habits. I don't smoke everyday, sometimes even several weeks between smokes. Occasionally I get time/opportunity to enjoy a single bowl. Other times I have the whole day, or weekend, to smoke as much and often as I want.



The other story:

Not long ago I was ordering an oz or two of about every available bulk blend I could. Sample, sample, sample was my motto. Now I have leftovers in jars that I just need to smoke and be done with. As I find blends I really like I start focusing on that particular genre to see if I can find something I like more before committing to cellaring. The blends I try but don't make the cut, while good blends in their own rights, have just piled up.

 

[ray47]

All of what I have is in jars and everything is in my rotation. There are days when I'll smoke just one blend, especially if it's a new to me blend. Otherwise, I mix it up and smoke several different blends in a day. Like chasingembers says, "It depends on my mood".

 

[augiebd]

I have done both, different tobacco every bowl and smoke same thing until the tin is done. Enjoy both, starting to shift to repeated bowls but problem is I have many open tins to finish and don’t often smoke more than a bowl a day. Then there are days I don’t smoke. Looking forward to the distant day when I have a manageable number of tins open.

 

[Sonorisis]

I haven't observed any pattern to my choices of tobacco to smoke.

 

[jhe033]

Thanks everyone for their thoughts! I think I’ll stick with my adult squirrel method of whatever strikes my fancy.

Earlier was G&H Rum Flake and now I’m working on Picayune.

 

[gervais]

Alot of open jars to choose from here. I like to mix it up

 

[Dandy Pipesmoker]

After many years of experimentation I have reached a point where I have some favourites that I smoke regularly.
I still like to try something new from time to time but I no longer have the desire to taste everything I find...
I like having 2-3 open blends that I know well and 1 new or that is less familiar to me and I already had in the cellar.
Sometimes I smoke several days always the same tobacco if I don't know it well otherwise I alternate.

 

[stokesdale]

I smoke about 4 bowls or so a day, usually of 2 to 3 different blends out of 6 blends I have narrowed my tastes to over the last 35 years. Over the course of a week I'll touch on all 6 at least once.