Sometimes Ignorance is Bliss

[sandollars]

When I read about someone waxing poetic on some out of print tobacco they loved, or getting all nostalgic over a formula change on a blend that was so much better "back in the day" but is now crap, sometimes I think I am grateful that I wasn't smoking pipes back then.

I wonder how much of these memories are situational/environmental and how much actually the change in the blend? I mean, for example, Christmas for me is great these days at the age of 61 with my family around, but they were AWESOME when I was the kid.

Perhaps sometimes ignorance is bliss. I love some of the blends out there that others have said were so much better when {insert blender's name here} made it. If the blend changed back to the original recipe, would I have my same opinion only on the opposite side of the fence?

I think I will go have a pipeful of a blend that I love that was reportedly much better when Murray's made it and bask in my ignorant bliss....

 

[HawkeyeLinus]

Christmas was incredible when I was a kid as well and just as incredible in a different way when our kids were kids and I'd go back to having our kids be little and those times all over again.

My frame of reference on pipe tobacco is less than 2 years so just popped in to comment on Christmas!

Kate Jackson on The Rookies? Now we are talking quality "blend" from way back!

 

[sandollars]

Kate Jackson on The Rookies? Now we are talking quality "blend" from way back!

Oh yeah......

 

[HawkeyeLinus]

Oh yeah......

View attachment 130587View attachment 130588

That just makes my night!


LOL, like Burt in It's A Wonderful Life after Violet comes by, "I think I'll go home and see what the wife's doing."

 

[Rob NC]

All that really matters is whether or not you're enjoying what you're smoking right now.

 

[cshubhra]

Human memory is a curious thing. Every time an old memory is accessed, it is modified. Over time, good memories become very strong, due to positive reinforcements.

Pipe smoking, particularly for long term pipe smokers is a very positive memory. This memory becomes increasingly stronger every time a pipe smoker fondly talks about the good old days. This is called Nostalgia.

We don’t know whether pipe tobacco of yesteryears were objectively better, because there is no way to compare. The memory of pipe smokers have been modified as well as the tobacco that exists from that day is also modified with age.

So the best course of action for current day smokers to enjoy what they have got. Best course of action for older pipe smokers is to fondly remember good old days. The lores of the good old days of tobacco also makes excellent topics for a fireside chat.

 

[monty55]

Interesting. I was just thinking about this the other day. I was glad I didn't know what some of the "old blends" were like because I'm pretty happy with the way those blends are like now. Ignorance is indeed bliss brother.

 

[Simmerdown☕️]

Yeah, we’re better off. You can’t miss what you’ve never had. I feel somewhat sorry for those that complain about current blend productions being betta back in the day. I guess it’s better to have loved and lost? And, I’m sure that some of us will bitch about how Luxury ? Flake used to taste so much better say 15 years from now…shit might not be any pipe tobacco then anyway. ?‍️

 

[anotherbob]

Yeah, we’re better off. You can’t miss what you’ve never had. I feel somewhat sorry for those that complain about current blend productions being betta back in the day. I guess it’s better to have loved and lost? And, I’m sure that some of us will bitch about how Luxury ? Flake used to taste so much better say 15 years from now…shit might not be any pipe tobacco then anyway. ?‍️

I always wonder if sometimes it's not a lose of senses and not the blend. Unless it's every single person that's talked about escudo. That one I am sure changed.

 

[mso489]

The probabilities are that some blends decline, some improve, and some stay the same. And some of our memories are accurate, some are worse than remembered, and some are better. Remembering your younger years often is full of sunshine. Your senses were sharper; you were in better shape; your hopefulness was at its peak. Sometimes, if you work hard at it, you can discern how accurately you remember things, but there are usually factors that skew your feelings about the memories in a fairly strong way. In general, about something as specific and subjective as the quality of a tobacco blend, memory tends to be undependable.

 

[rmpeeps]

 

[Servant King]

…shit might not be any pipe tobacco then anyway. ?‍️

 

[shanez]

I have a friend from high school who use to say "if ignorance is bliss then I'm a happy m**** f****".

 

[sablebrush52]

When I read about someone waxing poetic on some out of print tobacco they loved, or getting all nostalgic over a formula change on a blend that was so much better "back in the day" but is now crap, sometimes I think I am grateful that I wasn't smoking pipes back then.

I wonder how much of these memories are situational/environmental and how much actually the change in the blend? I mean, for example, Christmas for me is great these days at the age of 61 with my family around, but they were AWESOME when I was the kid.

Perhaps sometimes ignorance is bliss. I love some of the blends out there that others have said were so much better when {insert blender's name here} made it. If the blend changed back to the original recipe, would I have my same opinion only on the opposite side of the fence?

I think I will go have a pipeful of a blend that I love that was reportedly much better when Murray's made it and bask in my ignorant bliss....

I often feel that way these days. A lot of blends I enjoy are different now, and for the most part, I don't like the differences.

So I remind myself that someone who hasn't had the experiences I and others have enjoyed are free to establish their own relationship with the blends as they are made today, free of associations with their past versions. And in some cases I honestly envy them.

And I suspect that pipe smokers of an earlier generation felt the same way about the versions of time honored blends that I imprinted on.

Enjoy your crappy versions as I enjoy my crappy versions.

 

[Morrison Jeremiah]

When I started smoking a pipe 15 years ago I smoked condor. I used to think it was a big beast of a tobacco.
I've given it it a rest for 12 years and bought a pouch the other day, now it seems utterly feeble and lacking in any nicotine at all.
Is it me, the baccy, both ? don't know.

 

[Grangerous]

When I was stationed in Missouri I watched a family enjoying an Italian dinner which to me amounted to soggy overcooked pasta in ketchup. This was a night out for them and I could see they were thrilled with their food.

The Italian bread alone in the Philadelphia area is not to be believed and the food between NYC and Phila and its authenticity and choices —whether it’s in Chinatown for afternoon Dim Sum and roast duck or an Italian neighborhood mom and pop for pasta.

Ignorance is indeed bliss.

 

[Laurent]

It’s all about being present in the present. Those who live in the past, hold onto something that no longer exists. Those who look to the future, can’t grasp what has not been created.

 

[Sweet Home Alabama]

When I read about someone waxing poetic on some out of print tobacco they loved, or getting all nostalgic over a formula change on a blend that was so much better "back in the day" but is now crap, sometimes I think I am grateful that I wasn't smoking pipes back then.

I wonder how much of these memories are situational/environmental and how much actually the change in the blend? I mean, for example, Christmas for me is great these days at the age of 61 with my family around, but they were AWESOME when I was the kid.

Perhaps sometimes ignorance is bliss. I love some of the blends out there that others have said were so much better when {insert blender's name here} made it. If the blend changed back to the original recipe, would I have my same opinion only on the opposite side of the fence?

I think I will go have a pipeful of a blend that I love that was reportedly much better when Murray's made it and bask in my ignorant bliss....

More likely "false memory".
What Is a False Memory? How Fake Memories Form (verywellmind.com)

 

[cosmicfolklore]

It's a pretty broad swath of the brush to paint all declarations that a blend has changed on bad memory. I have old and new tins of Escudo, so I can and do verify my claim that it has changed. Does it matter?
I remember when the older smokers were in all a tizzy that Three Nuns was not anything like the original, and I think it hurt sales for them, but GOOD! A lot of smokers buy Escudo, Capstan, Balkan Sobranie to taste something that connects them to smokers of antiquity, but If only the name is the same, then it is all just a bait and switch.

Sure, it is easier to sell something with an old name on it :::cough cough WarHorse cough cough::: because the name is 90% of the marketing. It is way easier sell than to just start fresh with a new name. Guys will buy it just for that connection to antiquity.

Escudo was lucky enough to have been the premier VaPer for decades, maybe even a century, but then when new company buys and changes it, we should feel duped. It is no longer that iconoclastic blend that it was, and STG benefits with sales based off of the older better version.
What about Erinmore? It used to be a powerhouse nicotine head kick and the topping was much stronger in flavor. Now, it is the ultralight version of what it once was with barely any of the flavor, however people still buy it based on talk from before the change. The Astley blends... There are probably hundreds of posts I have made about how wonderful it was, but then the change hit, and the company gets to still benefit from all of those rave reviews? And, then there are older posters like cigrmaster who keeps suggesting it, because he only has the older versions, and may not be aware that the flavors have shifted dramatically.

Then there is GH&co, which drives me crazy, because from one day to the next the exact samely named tobacco changes flavors, because their just in there dumping stuff on it willy nilly... which makes discussing one of their blends like a madhouse... "No, it doesn't have rose geranium," "yes it does," "no it has almonds," Mine never tasted like almonds..." but who the hell knows, because we all may have something entirely different that we are reporting on. I just formally declare as of now that all GH&co tobacco tasting discussions are moot... and silly... till they get their act together and figure out what flavors go on what.

Changes just wreak chaos, in discussing tobaccos, and this is what we are here for, right? If it pisses in your corn flakes to have someone point these things out, then I say grow some thicker skin. Or, go find an echo chamber and pat each other on the back.

 

[danish]

It is also interesting nostalgia to reread tobacco reviews from 40 years ago in my old Danish pipe magazines, where sometimes a percepted decline in quality of some blends from some well regarded manufacturers, are discussed. Fortunately reviewers, like the late reviewer Harald Grut, also noted when a new batch of the same blend had improved again.