Scientific Approach to Tobacco Choice?

[sablebrush52]

On the advice of some folks here I googled up a list of “gold standard blends” that are among the classics. Buy one of each and by the end of those tins you’ll know which categories might be to your liking, and then you can explore that genre further.

If you want to get more scientific about it, you could analyze anything you end up liking by its components and try other blends with similar components. Of course you won’t know precise ingredients or proportions, but you could determine that you like a blend that’s VA, Kentucky, and a certain Oriental and look for others like it.

Try something like-

Aromatic: Lane 1-Q
Codger/burley: Sutliff Ready Rubbed Match
VA: Sutliff 507C Virginia Slices
VaPer: Sutliff Victorian
English: Kramer Father Dempsey
Balkan: Sutliff Balkan Sobranie Match

Bonus is that all those are available in bulk so you can buy as little as 1oz of each.

That's a pretty decent selection of blends that are excellent and won't empty out you pocket.

 

[DanWil84]

Short answer, no there isn't, smoke as much as you can.

Long answer, yes there is, but it isn't exact. Tobacco is like food for me. I don't eat something sweet when i crave savoury flavors. Same with smoking, if I crave for something more saverous like earth, nut or chocolate flavor I don't grab a full Virginia but a Burley Flake like ABF. The only science behind that is that you can roughly determine on the contents how it could taste which isn't as exact as you wish it is. There are a few variables in that like blending proportions and how much to the flavor that percentage contributes. A virginia perique with 10% perique can still be kind of spicey or dried fruit tasting, where a virginia burley with 50% burley can still be Virginia forward. Also how sensitive one is for certain tobaccos, there are a lot of people that can't handle red Virginia, only taste Latakia when there is just a smidge of or absolutely hate any kind of other tobacco.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

I just throw chicken bones and do chants to find my tobacco favorites.

 

[HawkeyeLinus]

I just throw chicken bones and do chants to find my tobacco favorites.
View attachment 183491

Now I’m hoping “Live And Let Die” comes on - take that Hallmark!

 

[HawkeyeLinus]

OP, as a diminutive philosopher warrior once said, “Do, or do not. There is no try!”

So I’m “doing” the Peterson University Flake and it is now on the list of meaty, tobacco-y blends I like!

Experiment! Experience! Then you know!

 

[BriarsAndBottles]

I did the same with tobacco as I did with wine and before that beer. Cast a wide net, then narrow it down. Try as broad a spectrum as you can at first to figure out preferences. That means different blenders, leaves, flavors, cuts, etc. Then figure out what you like and what you didn’t and keep tightening the net. Tobaccoreviews.com is a great place
Search and sort by type, rating, and popularity.

 

[bullet08]

I just throw chicken bones and do chants to find my tobacco favorites.
View attachment 183491

'Tis the season. Bring out the turkey bones!

 

[cigrmaster]

I spent ten years plus testing different tins and realized my favorites were Virginia, Virginia/Perique and Virginia/Kentucky/Buley blends.

I would buy a test tin and if I really enjoyed it I would cellar it deep. Here is the list I came up with and the amount of variety works for me. A TR next to a name means ready to smoke out of the tin with no dry time. I prefer some moisture in my flakes and plugs for a cooler more flavorful smoke. Almost all of my cellar has ten plus years of age on it. I cannot vouch with some of the new blends that came out with the same name as other blends.

For example, all my Astleys no 44 Dark Flake is 2012. I tried a smoke from a fresh tin. The flakes were not the same as the new stuff was much nicer flakes. It tasted very nice fresh and I believe it will age great.
Fribourg&Treyer Cut Virginia Plug TR

Fribourg and Treyer VintageTR

Fribourg & Treyer Special Brown FlakeTR

Wessex Campaign Brigade Dark Flake

Wessex Brown Virginia Flake TR

Wessex Gold Virginia Flake TR

Wessex Gold Brick TR

Wessex Gold Slice TR

Samuel Gawith Best Brown Flake

Samuel Gawith full Virginia Flake

Samuel Gawith Kendal Plug

Hamborger VeermasterTR

Dunhill Flake TR…..discontined

Astley’s no. 44 Dark Flake TR

Astleys 109

John Aylesbury Luxury Flake now called Classic Flake TR

Rotary Navy Cut TR…..discontinued
Brigham Klondike Gold TR…….discontinued
Butera Royal Vintage: Dark Stoved discontinued





Virginia/Perique Flakes-8

EscudoTR

Solani 633 TR

Samuel Gawith St James Flake

Dunhill Deluxe Navy RollsTR

Peter Heinrichs Curly Block

Dan Tobacco Salty Dogs

Savinelli Doblone d’Oro

Cabbies Mixture





Virginia/Burley/Kentucky Flakes-10

Solani Silver Flake TR

Peterson Perfect Plug

GL Pease NavigatorTR

Petersons Irish Flake

Peterson University Flake

Esoterica Stonehaven

Mac Baren HH Old Dark Fired

Mac Baren Modern Virginia Flake TR

 

[solideogloria86]

Find something you like. Then find other blends with the same ingredients and try those. Repeat

 

[mso489]

Some might want to create spread sheets or keep a diary of blends they tried and grade the different ones. That's getting a little administrative for me. Rather, just pay attention to the blends you try. What is the largest proportion of a blend, what's called the base? Usually this is Virginia or burley. Then, what are the constituent tobaccos, the condiments? And in what proportion are they used?

One Virginia leaf can be the base and another a condiment, sometimes in an all-Virginia blend. As long as you are aware of these kinds of specifications and nuances, you will begin to be aware of what you like and why. Do you like Latakia? Perique? A little? A lot? How about Cavendish? Black or light? Flavored or unflavored? Orientals? Which ones? How about cigar leaf? And so on.

I don't think you need to develop a computer program to analyze all this. Just be aware and learn the different flavors, and decide what pleases you. Many variables are at play -- the sourcing of the tobaccos, the blenders, the age, the storage, and on and on. Your brain can probably do a better computation on all this than your computer can.

 

[chopper]

When I first found online tobacconists I had absolutely no clue of what was what.
www.tobaccoreviews.com helped me to choose untried blends but what helped me most of all was getting to understand the different types of leaf and genres.

I'm fortunate that I like most tobaccos [except for goopy aromatics and Latakia-bombs] so there were no real ordering disasters.

Keep in mind that your taste will change over time.
What you don't like today, you may well like down the track.
So don't ever ditch a blend that you don't like. Just jar it and forget until your tastes have developed.

 

[hoosierpipeguy]

On the advice of some folks here I googled up a list of “gold standard blends” that are among the classics. Buy one of each and by the end of those tins you’ll know which categories might be to your liking, and then you can explore that genre further.

If you want to get more scientific about it, you could analyze anything you end up liking by its components and try other blends with similar components. Of course you won’t know precise ingredients or proportions, but you could determine that you like a blend that’s VA, Kentucky, and a certain Oriental and look for others like it.

Try something like-

Aromatic: Lane 1-Q
Codger/burley: Sutliff Ready Rubbed Match
VA: Sutliff 507C Virginia Slices
VaPer: Sutliff Victorian
English: Kramer Father Dempsey
Balkan: Sutliff Balkan Sobranie Match

Bonus is that all those are available in bulk so you can buy as little as 1oz of each.

I would not consider those the gold standard but they may suffice. I smoke 5 to 6 bowls per day, mostly Virginia Flake, and I don't cellar 507C.

 

[coys]

I would not consider those the gold standard but they may suffice. I smoke 5 to 6 bowls per day, mostly Virginia Flake, and I don't cellar 507C.

Yes, the ‘gold standard blends’ are on a list that can be googled up. They are mostly tinned and would cost more money if one were to try them all.

The list I posted seemed like a list of economical, bulk tobaccos that are still highly reviewed and which could all be sampled for very little monetary outlay.

 

[Chasing Embers]

The list I posted seemed like a list of economical, bulk tobaccos that are still highly reviewed and which could all be sampled for very little monetary outlay.

Yeah, tins have finally reached a point that I can no longer justify the cost. Future purchases, if any, are going to be bulk only.

 

[anotherbob]

nope best bet is take notes mentally or otherwise of what you enjoy and figure out what's similar about them.... Or find a reviewer that agrees with you on what you already smoked. Though in my opinion based on the scant evidence... getting better at smoking will do more for you enjoying a pipe then finding the right blend. I think back to my early days and how much I missed in many of my favorites, well my current favorites.
At the end of the day it's all tobacco so it should mostly all be decent.
Oh and I think taking your time and focusing on one or a few blends at a time will help more too. There is a lot of subtle qualities in pipe tobacco that you will miss if you jump from blend to blend (kind of like dating, you date 100 people that will be fun but you won't really get to know anyone one of them well and probably miss out on more).

 

[loneredtree]

check this out!

Infographic: Choosing a pipe tobacco

It might surprise you to learn that infographics have been around for centuries. They seem like a more modern phenomenon because they have proliferated in recent years through social media […]

pipesmagazine.com

Happy Hunting!

 

[Chasing Embers]

check this out!

Good Lord that chart is a train wreck.

 

[anotherbob]

Good Lord that chart is a train wreck.

nah train wrecks are interesting and exciting. This is more like a porta potty that thought it was a sled.

 

[Pipingntrucking]

The problem to any so called scientific approach is how you personally pick up on tastes, if at all, coupled with varying degrees of difference in blends using close the same flavor names, on top of blend portions, included tobacco quality used. Throw in whether it's a bulk blend that has been open air for a bit and dry as ash you're hoping to turn it into. A tin that has been accidentally cellared or a fresh tin. You can try the same blend multiple times and get hit different each time if for a lot of reasons. What did you eat and drink before? Did your taste change? Did whoever make the blend not have a good day on that batch, or were they more generous for that batch then any other time?

For instance. Lane 1Q is supposed to be a vanilla-ish blend. I personally don't pick that up. Mac Baren has Vanilla cream. I get the vanilla but it's more a spiced vanilla to me than a cream. A lot of people point to Autumn Evening for a Maple blend- not a fan, but Wilkes Vermont Maple is everything I look for in a maple. On the flip side of that Wilkes' Rum and Maple hits me in every wrong way it can.

 

[Doctor Chopper]

check this out!

Infographic: Choosing a pipe tobacco

It might surprise you to learn that infographics have been around for centuries. They seem like a more modern phenomenon because they have proliferated in recent years through social media […]

pipesmagazine.com

Happy Hunting!

This is exactly what I was looking for. Briar lee and Coys also rose to the challenge. Thanks guys. This will give me a good starting point to understand the tastes and characteristics of different tobaccos. Greatly appreciated.

Doc