The First Blend That Got You Into Pipe Smoking

[jcsoldit]

That was a long time ago, it was either Borkum Riff or Sir Walter Raleigh Aromatic.

 

[troyniss]

My first pouch of Prince Albert, a pouch of tobacco I made last for a year in my youth, slowly led me into the waters. After smoking through another pouch of PA far quicker after that first one, with what little money I had, I splurged and picked up my first tin, a tin of SPC Plum Pudding SR, and a MM Diplomat to smoke it out of.
Needless to say, having only Plum Pudding SR available to smoke for 4 or so months, it torturously soured me off of Latakia. Honest, I don’t touch the stuff, and I think I’ll need a good couple of years before I can smell the rich leathery notes of Latakia without my stomach churning. However, after my hellish self-inflicted stint with PP SR, I ordered a few straight Virginias and VaPers. Upon first light of my first smoked Virginia blend, Orlik’s Golden Sliced, I felt tears nearly swell to my eyes. It was magnificently light, sweet, and definitely more suited to my palate than what I’d been smoking before. While my favor of Orlik’s golden slice has since fallen out of my rotation, I now have a sizable cellar, chock full of VA-based blends, and not a touch of Latakia. So, a simple, lackluster blend seduced me, a renowned, well-known, complex, and truly very decent blend scarred me, and a single bowl of a common, unassuming straight VA assured me that I’d be smoking a pipe for as long as I can.

That's how I'll feel after the winter is over. I've been smoking 90% Latakia blend just due to the fact that it fits my palette at the moment. But some spring time, I feel my Va/Pers and VA's will start to crawl out of the cellar. I'm a seasonal smoker. Winter is mainly English/Balkan, spring and summer is Va/Per and VA and I find that autumn is perfect for burleys.

 

[cory84]

Carter Hall in a cob.

 

[CoffeeAndBourbon]

My first was some drug store pouch which I don't remember the brand. But the first bowl of Penzance really opened my eyes! After that, it all went downhill fast. Frog Morton, McClellands, anything that was not an aromatic fit the bill.

 

[wolflarsen]

Shortcut to Mushrooms and My Mixture 965 were my first loves, followed closely behind by Plum Pudding.

 

[NomadOrb]

It seems that for so many, the first great bowl was the one after trying aromatics

Nothing against aromatics btw, they are just a terrible recommendation to beginners.

 

[pantsBoots]

That's how I'll feel after the winter is over. I've been smoking 90% Latakia blend just due to the fact that it fits my palette at the moment. But some spring time, I feel my Va/Pers and VA's will start to crawl out of the cellar. I'm a seasonal smoker. Winter is mainly English/Balkan, spring and summer is Va/Per and VA and I find that autumn is perfect for burleys.

Same here. I drink alcohol seasonally and am finding I smoke pipe tobacco seasonally. Now that it's cold, I've been craving Burleys like never before. Not that I don't dabble in other stuff, but Burley and hot southern summer did not appear to get along very well

 

[johng99]

This would have been back in the mid-1970's. I remember trying all the drug store blends at the time and not finding them very satisfying. I then bought a tin of Nightcap from my local Rexall drugstore and it sealed the deal!

 

[anotherbob]

probably something by lane since it was from a jar and it was called black berry brandy. It is precisely what you would expect. The first blend that got me to veer away from the kind of aromatics that put the flavor on the tin was University Flake and ever since then I've widened the category of tobaccos I smoke to anything I can get my hands on excepting the kind of aromatics that you can't really be sure it's not cardboard with flavors added.

 

[anotherbob]

probably something by lane since it was from a jar and it was called black berry brandy. It is precisely what you would expect. The first blend that got me to veer away from the kind of aromatics that put the flavor on the tin was University Flake and ever since then I've widened the category of tobaccos I smoke to anything I can get my hands on excepting the kind of aromatics that you can't really be sure it's not cardboard with flavors added.

oh and five brothers got me off the I don't smoke those drug store over the counter codger blends misconception I was laboring under for years.

 

[Thehogfatherpdx]

Rich’s Cigar store in Portland has a house blend called Sweet Oriental. The woman behind the counter recommended it to me as a good blend for starting out, along with an unfinished nording pipe. It was probably my fifth time smoking after the pipe had broken in a bit and the grain pattern was starting to emerge on the raw briar. Everything just clicked and I thought, “oh I get what this is about.” It was a really specific moment.

 

[tobefrank]

Peterson Sherlock Holmes. I didn't enjoy it much until I learnd to let it dry a bit and slow down as much as I could. I'd love to try it again now that I have smoked a pipe for a few years.

 

[andre3s]

Well, I think this is right place to share my recent experience with Early Morning Pipe.
I am brand new to smoking in general. I decided to try pipe smoking as a relaxing hobby during these difficult pandemic days.
I went to a store in Montréal and arrived back home fully equipped (for a beginner) and ready to start.
My first blend was Mr. B's Natural Cavendish, which is a very smooth and pleasant aromatic blend. I can tell you that it was a very good starting point.

My second blend was the famous Early Morning Pipe, and with it I had a very interesting experience. Though very hard to put in words, I will try my best to explain to you.
Yesterday, the weather was windy and grey, not too cold (around 14°C). I love this kind of weather.
The very first moment the smoke reached my nose I had a feeling that it was something familiar to me, as if I had been doing this for a long time. And I started to relax...
After a few minutes, I closed my eyes and rested my head on the back of the rocking chair and with some more puffs, the only way I can describe the feeling is with the following words: "Relax, you're home."
I felt like I knew that taste and it was part of me a long time ago.
True story! Or maybe it was just nicotine kicking in... I don't know but I really enjoyed that moment.

Cheers,

 

[drrock]

What was the blend that got you into pipe smoking? What was that first blend that you had your “aha” moment with?

For me it was Dan “Midnight Ride”. I’d tried several blends before, mostly bulk (probably renamed Lane blends) from my brick and mortar and a few other tins. Nothing quite hit me. I picked up a tin of Midnight Ride, mostly likely because of the tin art and name. I can still remember walking my dog and smoking my first bowl of it, it just hit me like “wow, I get why people smoke pipes now”. I have a few tins of it but haven’t revisited since that initial tin years ago. I’m almost afraid it won’t live up to my memory, And don’t want to diminish it. That was my the first blend I really enjoyed.

I started smoking a pipe when I was in college in the late 1960's.

I sampled & enjoyed a number of pipe tobaccos like the popular-at-the-time Borkhum Riff Whiskey Blend, the Sail & Amphora blends, Niemeyer blends like Flying Dutchman & Heather Honey, Rum & Maple Blend 53, plus all the various drugstore ones. There was even a blend from L.L. Bean that I liked.

But it was MacBaren Symphony that gave me that "aha" moment. It's known as Harmony in Europe. It for me represented how a great blend indeed is a true harmony of the various tobacco components yielding the combination of taste & aroma that remind me why I smoke a pipe. I enjoy it to this day.

 

[danish]

I enjoyed trying most of the then heavily advertised OTC blends, pure sugarsweet black Cavendish and some ‘weird’ ones with Latakia, when I began smoking pipe some 40 years ago. After some months, I sticked to my favorites, which were less flavored virginia flakes or coins of higher quality, mostly imported from England or made by W.Ø. Larsen. W.Ø.L. then had a nice pipe and tobacco shop in the city of Copenhagen, where I lived as a young man. You could always ask for a free sample of any kind of blend.

 

[cigrmaster]

The blend that really got me to love pipe smoking was Escudo. I had been a big cigar smoker but Escudo really made me open my eyes to how great a pipe could be.

 

[foursidedtriangle]

Frog Morton’s cellar. I became a Latakia enthusiast after that.

 

[mikestanley]

It might have been the aroma of my Grandfather's Amphora Brown growing up. As far as a blend that really "did it" for me, it was Wessex Premier Original Subtle and Mellow aroma blends, in those black, rectangular tins. We had a local Tinder Box that had a large selection of tinned blends back in the late 1980s. I was looking for my first pipe. I walked out with an Ascorti Business with a military stem and a tin of each. Those blends made me a pipesmoker. Sadly, years later, I found a bunch of the Mellow Aroma in stock at an online retailer, I was able to buy them out for $5.00/tin. Either I had changed or the blend had because it certainly wasn't what brought me to the pipe. Such is life.

Oh, and the owner of that Tinder Box lost his franchise because of his penchant for the ponies and an inability to pick winners. It was bad luck that the Mall his shop was in was within walking distance to a race track I guess.

Mike S.

 

[Jaylotw]

First blend for me was Carter Hall which my friends and I would steal from our friends dad.

Balkan Sasieni was the one that opened my eyes and made me a confirmed pipe smoker.

 

[keith929]

Middleton's Cherry Blend.
I will never forget you.