Last year I went on a major tobacco buying binge (preparing for my retirement earlier this year), and at the same time that I was buying as many luxury aromatics and English blends and Virginias that I could afford, I was also buying different varieties of popular bargain tobacco brands to see if I might like any of them. I mean, some of these brands have been around forever - like Bull Durham has been around since 1871, and Red Cap has been making pipe tobacco for 95 years. They've got to have a pretty decent customer following to survive that long.
When I got them, I was pretty much unimpressed with most of them. A lot of them actually smell really good in the bag, but most of them had a somewhat harsh taste, so I cellared them for a few months until I decided to try some of them again a few weeks ago.
What's interesting is that I'm actually enjoying some of them now. Certainly not in the same way or to the same degree that I enjoy my luxury brands, but I'm getting enjoyment out of some of these bargain brands. I thought of a really good analogy; I don't think many men who have tasted moonshine would ever put it in the same class as a good bourbon, but there are just times when a guy's mood is right for drinking moonshine. And different moonshines are all different, and each one has it's own character. (I grew up in Virginia and Alabama, and I live in North Carolina. 'Nuff said.
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That's kind of what I'm getting now with the bargain tobaccos - I'll get into a mood when I'm feeling a bit rugged, and I have to admit that I'm having a blast smoking my 'moonshine 'baccys'.
When I got them, I was pretty much unimpressed with most of them. A lot of them actually smell really good in the bag, but most of them had a somewhat harsh taste, so I cellared them for a few months until I decided to try some of them again a few weeks ago.
What's interesting is that I'm actually enjoying some of them now. Certainly not in the same way or to the same degree that I enjoy my luxury brands, but I'm getting enjoyment out of some of these bargain brands. I thought of a really good analogy; I don't think many men who have tasted moonshine would ever put it in the same class as a good bourbon, but there are just times when a guy's mood is right for drinking moonshine. And different moonshines are all different, and each one has it's own character. (I grew up in Virginia and Alabama, and I live in North Carolina. 'Nuff said.
)That's kind of what I'm getting now with the bargain tobaccos - I'll get into a mood when I'm feeling a bit rugged, and I have to admit that I'm having a blast smoking my 'moonshine 'baccys'.
