Pipe Tobacco Blends

[jvnshr]

When you start smoking a pipe, you mostly start with Aromatic blends, then you try English, Oriental, Balkan, Va, Va/Per, Burley, Va/Bur, etc. Some smoke aros for many years, some stick to Latakia blends, some prefer Va and Va/Per, some only smoke Burley based blends. In my case, I started with an aromatic blend and I really liked it, then I smoked Oriental blends and I liked those as well. I tried a Balkan blend and guess what, I liked that also. Here are the blends I have tried so far:
-Captain Black Regular - Aromatic

-Cornell & Diehl Byzantium - Balkan

-Dunhill Early Morning - English

-Dunhill Royal Yacht - Virginia

-Erinmore Mixture - Aromatic

-Erinmore Flake - Aromatic

-Esoterica Tobacciana And So To Bed - English

-Hearth & Home Anniversary Kake - Va/Per

-Hearth & Home Chestnut - American

-Just For Him Shortcut To Mushrooms - Aromatic

-Lane Limited 1-Q - Aromatic

-Levin Pipes Klenderwood - Oriental

-Mac Baren Plum Cake - English

-McClelland PCCA Winter - Oriental

-Newminster No. 400 Superior Navy Flake - Virginia

-Peter Stokkebye Luxury Bulls Eye Flake (No. 403) - Va/Per

-Peterson Peterson's Perfect Plug - Va/Bur

-Scandinavian Tobacco Group C'est la Vie - Aromatic

-Sutliff Tobacco Company Rum & Maple - Aromatic

-Watch City Cigar Justice Mixture - Oriental
Among the blends above, I didn't like C'est la Vie (it had no character at all) and Shortcut to Mushrooms (I cannot eat mushrooms, apparently if you are allergic to mushrooms then you cannot smoke mushroom flavored blends either). Long story short, is there anyone else who enjoys all kind of blends? Or do you have just one type of blend that you prefer to others?

 

[aldecaker]

Variety is the spice of my pipe smoking life. I have favorites in each category that I always go back to, but I love exploring new blends.

 

[lotharen]

I just got an armful of different tobacco blends thanks to the FPP. I've tried almost all of them. Most of these have a strange smell - not unpleasant mind you, but its one I had not noticed in my OTC variety. I believe it to be Latakia although I'm not sure, it seems to fit since it is included in most all of what I received.
I like trying them all right now so I can narrow down what I like. Aromatics seem to have more flavor right now. Carter Hall for instance doesn't seem to have a taste right now - so I only get a smoke after taste, its the same with Prince Albert.
Perhaps I'm doing something wrong or my palate hasn't not matured yet.

 

[aldecaker]

If you're smoking Carter Hall after smoking a heavy English Lat bomb, you're not going to taste anything. It's like eating a piece of buttered toast after eating a dozen Habanero Poppers. I don't think anyone's taste buds re-adjust that quickly. By the way, anything that has a campfire or smokehouse smell BEFORE you light it is probably Latakia.

 

[lotharen]

@aldecaker Thanks, that was an awesome analogy. I seemed to remember the Carter Hall having a taste but then it didn't. I don't have a lot of spending money and wanted to get the best bang for my buck tobacco wise. Some of the more flavored brands are a bit more pricey.
How long would it take to readjust?

 

[samon]

Regarding palette adjustments/change etc. Depends on how often you're smoking. If you're a daily smoker of around 5-8 bowls like me then it can take a day to get the taste of strong latakia out the mouth, atleast a full sleep, teeth brushing and eating cycle. The longer you abstain from such dominant flavours the better you will learn the subtle ones.
I like to think I enjoy almost all, apart from sticky rank aromatics. But.. I've been known to have a go on an aromatic from time to time. I wouldn't buy it, but I would have a little try here and there and I guess Condor is classed as an aromatic and I have bought a shit load of the stuff! lol
I have a feeling I don't like Cavendish. I had a tin of Rattrays Black Malory and it was an utter bane to smoke through, sour, acrid, harsh, sticky and just bad. I think was due to the cavendish but I may be wrong. And I have no enthusiasm to spend money on straight cav' to try it out as I assumed it's just cheap flavourless stuff that the aromatic blenders use becuase it's bland already.
Actually, for those of you who know their cavendish, is it the black, flavourless stuff that's more than most of the time in lumps and blobs rather than ribbons etc?
I like English blends but I have a feeling I'm not a big fan of light weight oriental too, I had a tin of Robert Lewish tree blend, hated it. Too bland and acrid. Again, I'm assuming it was the oriental. I do absolutely love Latakia though!

 

[aldecaker]

Everybody is probably different, but if I go from Lat-heavies on one day, my palate seems to be re-set with one, at most two, days of smoking milder flavors.

 

[shutterbugg]

When you start smoking a pipe, you mostly start with Aromatic blends

Maybe you did, but not everyone. I started with an English. A lot of people started with an OTC like Amphora or Carter Hall or Edgeworth which are topped but taste primarily of their natural tobcacco ingredients, not an in-your-face hit of fruit or liquor. That's why I think "aromatic" is a misnomer. To me any tobacco that smells "pipey" vs cigarettish is aromatic, as in, has a pleasant aroma. What typically get referred to as aros nowadays should really be called by some other name, like "tobacco sundaes" perhaps.

 

[aldecaker]

Cavendish is a big red flag for me, too. I tend to associate it with wet, bitey aromatic blends that I usually will not enjoy. Even in higher quality blends, making the transition from an "English" to a "Scottish" blend by the addition of cavendish makes the blend more "fuzzy" and muted for me. (Lookin' straight at you, MM965.) Me personally, I struggle to find cavendish's contribution to the pipe tobacco world.

 

[jpmcwjr]

There are Cavendishes, and there are Cavendishes..... There is reading available if you care to learn more.

 

[aldecaker]

I'm not sure how reading about them is going to make them taste different to me, but I'm willing to give it a try anyway. I'm going to go out on a limb and say the reason I don't like the cavendish in MM965 is probably not because Dunhill uses cheap, shitty cavendish, though. Not saying the stuff is bad to other people; I'm saying it's bad to me.

 

[jvnshr]

Shutterbug, have you ever tried Erinmore Flake? Some won't even call it an aromatic.

 

[judcole]

I smoke a wide variety of blends. Certainly flavors are going to linger;being aware of that should be a factor in how you choose what to smoke. There is always some time between bowls, for me, and usually there has been something in there to cleanse the palate - a glass of water,if nothing else. A little thought will increase your enjoyment.

 

[newbroom]

Admittedly I don't smoke many blends with cavendish tobacco, but I don't reject it out of hand.

As mentioned, there are those and then there are those.

This is an interesting and informative look at the subject.

then there's this from the Scandinavian Tobacco Group:

Black Cavendish is not a tobacco sort, it is tobacco in a specific processed state. Basically, Black Cavendish is Burley and Virginia tobacco, but additionally processed. The colour is black and the aroma is sweet. Black Cavendish is steamed, heated and sugar is added. This makes the leaves ferment. The process takes place at the Scandinavian Tobacco Group Assens operation in Denmark. The Virginia and Burley tobacco are grown in the countries shown on the map below.

 

[jvnshr]

And as far as I know, Cavendish and Black Cavendish are different stuff.

 

[PlanxtyPipes]

I don't smoke a lot of aromatics, but there are a few that I like and smoke. Other than that, I pretty much smoke anything and everything. I usually tend to lean heavier on VAs and VA/Pers in the warmer months and heavier on Orientals and Latakia blends in the cooler months, but even that isn't a hard and fast rule. Last night I enjoyed some McCranie's St. Alban's Best which is a Virginia/Latakia blend.

 

[jpmcwjr]

I am speculating here, but it sounds like Cavendishes (as well as Perique) depend on a period of anaerobic fermentation. Can anyone say definitively?

 

[jitterbugdude]

Cavendishes are made by subjecting sugar laden leaf to high temperatures. This drives the Maillard Reaction that produces the fruity sweetness. "Sugar laden" can be either the natural sugars found in Virginias or by the addition of a reducing sugar to the leaf. Moisture is required for the process too so steaming leaf is an ideal way to make Cavendish.
Perique: Absolutely, anaerobic conditions need to exit for the yeasts to thrive.

 

[shutterbugg]

Shutterbug, have you ever tried Erinmore Flake? Some won't even call it an aromatic.

Yes I have, and I won't even call it tobacco.

 

[jvnshr]

Yes I have, and I won't even call it tobacco

No more questions, sir.