Definitely agree with @anotherbob . Some of the GL Pease I have tried recently has a funky tin note to me but the smoke is amazing. Telegraph Hill and Chelsea Morning specifically. I love them when they are burning though!
The Most Disappointing Tobacco
- Thread starter John_B
- Start date
Got one years ago from my local that smelled amazing in the pouch tasted incredible and had a room note of death. All I can say about it was it was a English with a heavy burly component. Had to smoke it outside always.
As far as what it was? The name of the blend was Betsy Ross.
I can see that. It is wild how some blends can change so much in different states. A Balkan blend can smell like jerky and Leather, taste sweet and floral, then smell like burning tires to people that don't like it hahaha
Another is 1Q - smells amazing in the tin. Smoking, it has little to no flavor and sizzles the tongue!
Like many of you, I’ve tried hundreds and hundreds of tobaccos. Many have been exceptional and some just blah. The only one that I have refused to return to is Troost Slices. I tried it in the early 80s when, it was considered “great” by many smokers. Probably the only blend I just could not stand to finish.
Probably Stonehaven was the biggest disappointment especially since I paid close to $200 for a bag. Not sure if it was the batch but even tho it smelled amazing, it was completely flat when smoked.
But what Ive found is that with alot of the blends I thought weren't that great at first, when I revisit them after some time I find a new appreciation for them. One example is Wessex Dark Flake. Initial impressions were meh, but after 4 years in a jar it turned into something pretty sublime. Or maybe my palate just changed. Probably a little of both.
Then again some blends that I initially thought were great and stocked up on, later I wonder why did I buy so many tins because this doesn't seem as good as I once thought.
Ive learned that at least for me, its better to go wide on your cellar rather than deep because your tastes and palate change over time. Id rather have a wide variety and if I only have a couple tins of something sublime it makes it all that more special.
But what Ive found is that with alot of the blends I thought weren't that great at first, when I revisit them after some time I find a new appreciation for them. One example is Wessex Dark Flake. Initial impressions were meh, but after 4 years in a jar it turned into something pretty sublime. Or maybe my palate just changed. Probably a little of both.
Then again some blends that I initially thought were great and stocked up on, later I wonder why did I buy so many tins because this doesn't seem as good as I once thought.
Ive learned that at least for me, its better to go wide on your cellar rather than deep because your tastes and palate change over time. Id rather have a wide variety and if I only have a couple tins of something sublime it makes it all that more special.
Penzance and Stonehaven are both so hyped up when you finally get a chance to try it it's impossible to live up to the hype. The only tobacco I've tried that I would say was bad is C&D epiphany. It was acrid and harsh.
Stonehaven is for me a notoriously difficult tobacco to get right. Most people have the exact same experience that you just described. There is a really narrow margin of moisture content where the tobacco gives up everything that you smell in that bag note, the raisins, the chocolate, all of it in rich detail. In my case, I found that ideal moisture level quite by accident.
Following an LA Pipe Club meeting I was talking with one of the attendees and he was complaining about the Stonehaven he had bought and how it was completely tasteless. He said that he'd left the opened bag in the back of his car for a week, baking in the summer heat, after deciding that Stonehaven was a fraud and complete crap, and said that if I wanted the bag I could have it.
I said sure, and took the Stonehaven home with me, whereupon I broke some up, put it in a larger sized bowl and lit it up. Holy crap, Batman! Kaboom! I quickly jarred the rest of that bag, and enjoyed mostly sublime smokes for that jar over the next couple of years. I've since played around with different moisture levels and, at least for me, there's a narrow range where it really delivers the goods. The other levels range from flat to pleasant.
I had the same reaction to rum cake, it was so goopy & potent it almost singed my nose hairs before lighting. I like a lot of wilkes other tobaccos, but I couldn't find my way to liking this one.
Epiphany is always hit or miss for me. A tin starts out delicious and fascinating, but turns into a harsh jumble of tobaccos by the end. It seems like the fruity topping really holds everything together, and perhaps the trick is to smoke it up before all the topping flashes off. I've got an 8oz tin in the cellar that I sorta dread opening.
I have a tin of this about half full that I want to try now. Just to see if I get the same thing!
As you might have guessed, I had cracked a 2oz tin of Epiphany, smoked a few bowls, and thought "god, this is good. I could just smoke this -- I'm gonna buy the big can!" I probably said as much in the WAYS thread at the time.I'll help you smoke it buddy!!
Definitely! I get that! I grabbed a pound of Exclusive right after having a few bowls, so I totally get it. Luckily Exclusive turned out to have they staying power for me but I could have been in the same spot.
Yep. I'm with you @ThermionicScott
Just had a bowl and that topping really did alot to tie it all together. Not a bad smoke in my opinion but definitely not like the fresh tin.
Just had a bowl and that topping really did alot to tie it all together. Not a bad smoke in my opinion but definitely not like the fresh tin.
Another disappointment for me has been Half & Half. IIRC, it was the second pipe tobacco I ever bought, and the “bright” part had me hopeful that it would be much sweeter than the Prince Albert I started on. It was different, to be sure, but didn’t blow me away. It seems to come from a point in pipe tobacco history when “mildness” was top priority, and everything else took a back seat. Of course, I hadn’t yet learned to slow down my cadence, so it’s likely that this was also a reason I just wasn’t getting a lot of flavor, at least beyond the first couple of puffs.
Fast-forward about 20 years, and I bought another pouch of H&H to see if anything had changed. The cut and the pouch note definitely seemed different. Were the ribbons always this small and short, and did it always smell like wood? (Like it had been placed in an old drawer for a long time and the wood ghosted the tobacco instead of the other way around.)
This probably isn’t the mildest tobacco in my collection, but I’m definitely underwhelmed again. Doubt I’ll re-buy, unless I get the urge in another 30 years…
Fast-forward about 20 years, and I bought another pouch of H&H to see if anything had changed. The cut and the pouch note definitely seemed different. Were the ribbons always this small and short, and did it always smell like wood? (Like it had been placed in an old drawer for a long time and the wood ghosted the tobacco instead of the other way around.)
This probably isn’t the mildest tobacco in my collection, but I’m definitely underwhelmed again. Doubt I’ll re-buy, unless I get the urge in another 30 years…
It ages well, so maybe give it a few years in a jar. Tastes better in a clay, IMO.
