Here are some observations based on my experience.
I've been at this for a good while now (15 or so years) and I'm still on the search for the perfect tobacco. I've had seasons where this or that would do, but then it passes and I'm on the hunt again. This is surely a common experience.
When I first started smoking pipes, I went to a nice (now closed) shop that had a big jar blend that got me started. I smoked it for the first five or so years. When they closed I went to some other shops, tried their blends, didn't like them, and started buying online.
This went on for a few years: a couple years of Admiral's Choice, four or five years of Carter Hall, and plenty of Captn Black in between (which I actually like a lot) etc, until something would change and I'd decide it was time to start the search again.
Over the years I'd also buy some tins online, mostly based on the cool names they had. I liked Blood Red Moon ok, but many of the others were so strong I couldn't enjoy them. And they were very expensive experiments.
So back to the big jar blends at shops. I've even tried many of them while traveling. They all tend to have catchy names like "Irish Mist," "English Afternoon," "Scottish Autumn," etc. And they all smell good. And they usually taste pretty good at first. And then they burn down and end up all tasting pretty much the same, to me at least. They must all be the same bulk tobacco from the same supplier, slightly altered for each shop's purposes. I've never been able to get a shop owner to actually tell me what the tobacco is. Many of them want the customer to think they came up with the blend in-house. I get it, but that seems a little misleading all the while.
Recently I went into a local shop and bought my last of the big jar blends. As always, it smelled great, but only tasted ok upon lighting. Half way through the bowl it actually tasted like I was licking a well-used ashtray. That 4 oz. bag cost me $28, and it somewhat saddened me to think that I could have bought something I enjoyed for the same money.
So that's a long journey's end for me: no more big jar tobacco. It's actually somewhat freeing to find what one doesn't like and begin a new journey.
Lately I've been enjoying some Stokkebye stuff I got online. I want to try more of that and see where the road takes me from there.
I've been at this for a good while now (15 or so years) and I'm still on the search for the perfect tobacco. I've had seasons where this or that would do, but then it passes and I'm on the hunt again. This is surely a common experience.
When I first started smoking pipes, I went to a nice (now closed) shop that had a big jar blend that got me started. I smoked it for the first five or so years. When they closed I went to some other shops, tried their blends, didn't like them, and started buying online.
This went on for a few years: a couple years of Admiral's Choice, four or five years of Carter Hall, and plenty of Captn Black in between (which I actually like a lot) etc, until something would change and I'd decide it was time to start the search again.
Over the years I'd also buy some tins online, mostly based on the cool names they had. I liked Blood Red Moon ok, but many of the others were so strong I couldn't enjoy them. And they were very expensive experiments.
So back to the big jar blends at shops. I've even tried many of them while traveling. They all tend to have catchy names like "Irish Mist," "English Afternoon," "Scottish Autumn," etc. And they all smell good. And they usually taste pretty good at first. And then they burn down and end up all tasting pretty much the same, to me at least. They must all be the same bulk tobacco from the same supplier, slightly altered for each shop's purposes. I've never been able to get a shop owner to actually tell me what the tobacco is. Many of them want the customer to think they came up with the blend in-house. I get it, but that seems a little misleading all the while.
Recently I went into a local shop and bought my last of the big jar blends. As always, it smelled great, but only tasted ok upon lighting. Half way through the bowl it actually tasted like I was licking a well-used ashtray. That 4 oz. bag cost me $28, and it somewhat saddened me to think that I could have bought something I enjoyed for the same money.
So that's a long journey's end for me: no more big jar tobacco. It's actually somewhat freeing to find what one doesn't like and begin a new journey.
Lately I've been enjoying some Stokkebye stuff I got online. I want to try more of that and see where the road takes me from there.
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