The Tobacco You Reach For Without Thinking

[crawdad]

So usually I don’t have a blend in mind when I have the opportunity to smoke a bowl. It’s all which pipe will I pick and which tobacco will I choose with all the permutations involved (I don’t want to fold and stuff flakes, much less rub them out or I don’t feel like an OTC burley blend. Hmmm, maybe sumthin’ with a rum topping? Oooh, maybe the grassy sweetness of. Virginia! Decisions, decisions...). Anyhoo, today I just reached out and grabbed the first pipe I could reach, an old comfy Grabow billiard and WITHOUT thinking grabbed a jar of Westminster. It’s interesting how a slight dip in temperature will subconsciously affect my choices.
Does this happen to you? Do you stick relentlessly to your rotations (according to my planner, the third bowl of September 5 will be Bengal slices in my figural Meer)? Do you leave it to spontaneity or a change in the weather? The tides and the cycles of the moon?

 

[pepesdad1]

I grab a bowl of butternut burley first thing in the morning and the last smoke at night. To me it is a given, to me it is that good. YMMV.

 

[ashdigger]

Granger is the only tobacco I reach for when away from my home office. When I'm in my office it's roughly 90% of the time in any pipe I grab.

 

[haparnold]

My standby blend has been Cornell & Diehl's Three Friars for quite some time now. It's easy to deal with, has very consistent flavor from rim to heel, and never bites me.
Otherwise, tobacco selection is somewhat glacial for me. I often only have a tin or two open at a time, and I don't smoke a lot.

 

[didimauw]

I have no rotations. But I only smoke 2 blends currently. Briar Fox and Mac Baren Burley Flake. My only go to smokes. 90% of the time is briar Fox. So yes that's the blend I smoke without thinking about.

 

[mikefu]

I reach for 3 without considering others: Sutliff Burley J4, Edgeworth Match, and MacBaren VA #1 when it has at least a year age. Always good, satisfying smokes with no need to look for nuance.

 

[Chasing Embers]

Weather doesn't affect my selection, not do I have a set rotation. My pipe and tobacco selection is often what I'm in the mood for at the given moment though I frequently smoke the same pipe and tobacco for weeks before changing. Mixture 79, Angler's Dream, and McClelland 40th Anniversary are regular favorites though.

 

[ray47]

The blend I reach for when I can't decide what to smoke is usually C&D's Pegasus. For those who know me, that should come as no surprise.

 

[mityahicks]

Pegasus might be mine as well outside of a blend I'm focusing on. I usually have something I'm trying to smoke through and be done with.

 

[redglow]

I never know what I'm going to smoke. Whatever sounds good at the time. As Fall gets near, I'm veering towards my English mixtures.

 

[hoosierpipeguy]

I have 6 to 8 tins of various Virginia flake open at all times. 2 or 3 are lighter, sweeter blends. The other are darker and stronger. I always smoke one of the lighter, sweeter blends first with coffee. Depending on my mood, I may smoke another light, sweet blend next but it would be a different one from the first. Or, I'd switch to one of the stronger ones. Most days, I would have a third bowl of Virginia flake, a different stronger one. Some days, I may mix in a Virginia ribbon cut such as Simply Red or Rhythm & Bless. When I empty a tin, I pull out a new tin of Virginia flake.
I have various VaPers, VaOr and some other blends stored in small, Amber mason jars easily accessible in my man cave. I choose from those for the remainder of the day.
I like variety.

 

[milehighpiper]

I used to think about what pipe I was going to smoke. Then open the drawer full of jarred tobacco and think about what blend I was going to smoke. Then I would realize I chose the wrong pipe for the chosen blend and then I had to go back and pick another pipe. Now I have picked an aromatic blend and an english blend and I bounce between those two in dedicated pipes and it makes life much easier. We (pipe smokers) tend to overthink things. Just like my reply to this post... I grab a bulk english blend from a local shop without thinking. It has a bit of cavendish that really completes the blend for me!

 

[elasmo]

Oddly enough, mine isn't a usual suspect - Cornell & Diehl's Sea Dog.

 

[alsatmem]

Scotty’s Trout Stream. Fabulous!

 

[alaskanpiper]

I generally alternate from VA, VaPer, VaBur, English, Aro. But sometimes I do just open a drawer and grab the first thing that looks interesting. Usually when that happens it is some kind of VaPer.

 

[Briar Baron]

Good question which got me to thinking how I select tobacco. Amazingly I find I select the pipe first and then think what tobacco I want to load it with. So I guess I do not fit into the reach for without thinking really.

 

[seanv]

Rattrays Macbeth is a no brainer for me. I also go for a mix of Lanes edgeworth match and burley J4

 

[jeff540]

Esoterica Brighton or any other open VA Flake or light VaPer. Other blends sometimes, but I have to think about it. If it's just reaching for something to smoke that I know will be good without much thinking of fussing over, it's always Brighton.

 

[3rdguy]

OJK and whatever my new blend is on hand. I finish the new blend unless it is really not to my liking but normally I can get 2-3 new blends finished in a month.

 

[eddiegrob]

When I don't want to think it through too much or agonize about choices, I usually grab a Sutliff blend like Match Revelation or Edward G. Robinson's Pipe Blend.