The Strong Tobacco Expedition

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mso489

Lifer
Feb 21, 2013
41,210
60,434
At some point in pipe smoking, if you aren't nicotine sensitive, you want to tour the strong blends. I don't claim to have gone to the extremes on this, but for a while I felt compelled, by curiosity I guess, to try some of the strong blends or single leaf. So here's how that went. From 4noggins I bought a sample size of Tambolaka, the Indonesian air dried tobacco and found it tasty and not inducing dizzy spells or nausea, treated respectfully. It was good in a small bowl, or smoked intermittently, or used to mix to hype milder blends. I tried some GH black rope, which is a notch less strong than the brown, and that was like flake, plug, and coin, a good long smoke in a small pipe, slow burning. Tabac-Manil Semois, the Belgium single-leaf burley variant, turned out to be just my style, not really smoking strong (to me) but just rich and flavorful, although others have found it in the head-spinning category. I found I wanted medium and mild blends in between, so the strong blends don't leave me unable to taste anything else, and now I'm enjoying a few select aromatics as well. Some of the strong-end blends I also like are C&D Stratfordshire, Old Joe Krantz and Bayou Night, and the ever popular Nightcap. Do you generally avoid the strong tobaccos, or do you only smoke them, or do you do some of each/all? I think I'd be content with medium and mild at this point, but the strong leaf still has an appeal. How about you?
 

Casual

Lifer
Oct 3, 2019
2,577
9,420
NL, CA
I like the flavour of several strong blends, but wish they were less strong in nicotine so I could smoke more of them at a sitting. 1792 flake for example. Rustica is still in the mail, but I expect the same.
 
May 2, 2020
4,664
23,771
Louisiana
Some of the strong-end blends I also like are C&D Stratfordshire, Old Joe Krantz and Bayou Night, and the ever popular Nightcap. Do you generally avoid the strong tobaccos, or do you only smoke them, or do you do some of each/all? I think I'd be content with medium and mild at this point, but the strong leaf still has an appeal. How about you?
I don’t get any nicotine effects from Stratfordshire, but it is delicious, and I smoke it regularly. Bayou Night I would consider to be fairly strong, in both N and taste. I like to smoke it straight occasionally, and mix it with other tobaccos quite often. I also love Peterson’s Irish Flake, and Bayou Morning (which might be closer to the medium-to-strong mark).
 
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elasmo

Can't Leave
Mar 23, 2019
328
790
These nights I'm usually ending up with Dark Birds Eye specifically for the strength.
 
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Casual

Lifer
Oct 3, 2019
2,577
9,420
NL, CA
I’m finishing up a chamber of Old Dark Fired in a trusty Butz-Choquin squat bent bulldog and thinking of this thread. It’s been a long week, my eyelids are heavy, and I chose this blend to get wrapped up in powerful smoke and drift off. A lighter blend just wouldn’t do. No sir. Not tonight.
 

Parsimonious Piper

Can't Leave
Oct 12, 2019
324
898
Most of the blends I prefer—right now—are either high Latakia like Star of the East or Pirate Kake, or burley/dark fired Ky based, with the latter making up most of my daily rotation. I have almost no sense of smell, so I don’t get much flavor from lighter blends. The tobaccos I have pounds of are OJK, Haunted Bookshop, and HH Old Dark Fired.
 

stogie37

Part of the Furniture Now
Mar 24, 2012
673
3,489
Southport, North Carolina
Ha! Well based on my current listing under the “Tobacco sell/trade” heading - I’m clearly not super fond of the top tier strength tobaccos. My list reads like a condensation of this post. I do like the flavor, but since moving to the steamy south, my tolerance seems to have dropped. I tend to cut these blends with something lighter so I can continue smoking larger bowls without the room spinning. I will say that WarHorse Bar, Nightcap and others that push into heavy range are enjoyable, and I’m cellared fairly deep. But Semois, Big n Burley and some heavy Dark Fired blends just aren’t worth the sweats IMO.
 

karam

Lifer
Feb 2, 2019
2,341
9,012
Basel, Switzerland
Flavour always comes first to me, if I find none, like in OJK, or it makes me gag, like Black XX I don't care for the blend one way or another.
Getting a strong taste with strong nic I'm in heaven.
 

seanv

Lifer
Mar 22, 2018
2,958
10,405
Canada
I'll enjoy some strong blends on occasion in smaller pipes. Most of my cellar is made up of medium strength or below blends. One of my favorites is haunted bookshop but for some reason I dont consider it to be a strong blend while others do. Every body is different
 

sallow

Lifer
Jun 30, 2013
1,531
3,771
It always seems like I need a nap after these...

Peterson's University Flake

Solani Aged Burley Flake

GL Pease Quiet Nights
 
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