Thoughts On Rotation

[Old_Newby]

I know it’s YMMV and to each his own, but what are most of you doing when it comes to smoking a blend. I like about 20 blends and change it up daily and usually every smoke. I rarely smoke more than 2 bowls of the same blend in a week.

I hear of others mention after a few bowls over a few days that they get a different experience or it’s better, etc.

Is the norm to get a blend and stay with it for a week (7-14 bowls) verses changing it daily.

 

[Chasing Embers]

Like you said YMMV. I started out chasing every blend out there and ended up with a couple of hundred blends in my cellar. Now decades later, I tend to only smoke two blends and go through a couple of pounds of them per month.

 

[warren]

I've found the blends I'm satisfied with. I change between bowls, often, unless in the field. I usually only have two blends with me when working. So, I'm no longer looking for blends to try, I go only with what I enjoy. Smoking is a personal choice so I doubt there is a "norm." Hell, 7-14 bowls a week would be abnormally low for me and many others.

You're looking for generalities where there are probably very few.

 

[LeafErikson]

I only smoke a few blends and I probably average around 3 bowls a day. Many on here would find my handful of blends to be boring, many would also say that they would want more bowls daily, and many others would say they don't smoke nearly that much. It's all about what works for you my man.

 

[blackpowderpiper]

I rotate around quite a bit. I may smoke the same blend for several days or even weeks, other times I may change things up daily. It really comes down to what I want at that particular moment. I have a few select blends that I enjoy. I too used to chase after all the unique talked about stuff but eventually decided I can't smoke them all and have settled on a few favorites and stocked up on those. I currently have about 20 different blends that I smoke depending on my mood. Sorry, nothing of real value here to help you. Pipe smoking is a subjective thing.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

I start my day off with the lighter blends, Virginias and maybe some VaBurs like Golden Extra and such, and then maybe a VaPer. By dinner I am usually smoking more complex blends or more flavorful, like burleys, Kelly Coin, etc... Then by my last smoke, I am smoking heavier burleys, like Burley Flake #1.
Going from light to bold in flavor allows me to smoke 12 or so pipes a day without taxing out my tastebuds.

 

[bullet08]

Less than 10 jars open, and I pick and choose as I feel. Rarely same blend twice in a raw.

 

[JOHN72]

I think I'm smoking about ten different tobaccos or so. The wonderful thing is that I have other tobaccos in glass jars, sealed with teflon, that I can't open, due to the sealing power of teflon. I will smoke these later, maybe even later, if I don't break the wrists of my hands trying to open these diabolical glass jars.

 

[AppalachianPipe92]

I have a lot of open blends and enjoy variety. But I also am a man of routine. I smoke the same thing every morning usually. That's the one bowl that I don't try new blends with.
Later in the day, I only smoke VaPer or VA blends. So the blend may change, but the blend type doesn't.
Night time, or my night cap, that's when I sift through the shelf and find something interesting to smoke that I haven't smoked in a while. If it's a remarkable experience, I'll smoke that blend for the following days until I'm ready to move on (or until I finish a jar/tin).
For me, this is my balance. My routine smokes, and my adventurous smokes.
YMMV

 

[AJL67]

Oh i thought this was about telling Potsie to sit on it and spin.

I have too many open to count. It’s all mine if i want to open a tin i do it. I might only smoke a bowl and throw it back on the shelf. I’m da boss.

 

[anotherbob]

what's normal is to smoke whatever makes you happy. If it's ole comfort or exciting and new. What's not normal well it is normal but not helpful is worrying too much about doing it the right way. I've gone different ways at different times. For me the most pleasure is derived from knowing what I feel like smoking right now and that happens to be a few favorites rotated through weekly roughly. I load up two small ball jars and refill them with something different when they run out. Sometimes it gets the same thing many times in a row.

 

[HRPufnstuf]

I appear to be an anomaly in this discussion. I used the same blend daily for years without changing. When I started using a pipe I would have three blends arounds at the most ,and quickly determined which I liked best. Now it's one at a time with an infrequent change-up for a holiday or occasion.

 

[HRPufnstuf]

Upon closer reading , I may not be an oddity after all. I usually have 1-2 bowls a day at work...my pipe gets a beating but I use inexpensive cobs at work. God bless Missouri Meerschaum.

 

[Hutch Piper]

I think I am more of a seasonal smoker. Burleys/Kentucky in the cooler weather and Virginias/Vapers in the warmer. A few aros intermixed. I don’t smoke much latakia, but if I did, it would be in the cooler months. Orientals I do like but only every now and then.

 

[OzPiper]

Whatever floats your boat
I have over 60 (lost count) blends open.
I seldom if ever smoke the same blend back-to-back

 

[kcghost]

I smoke the same five or six blends every week.

 

[vosBghos]

I have a few blends in each family that I stock up on and I choose which family by weather/time of day/mood/.
I did a lot of experimenting and still mess around here and there but my rotation has really chilled out to a handful of blends.

 

[RookieGuy80]

I have about 15 open tins and jars currently. I try to keep it to 10, which means staying vigilant about keeping that number under 20. I spent the last 3 years or so chasing blends but I'm starting to get to the point where I'm settling in to the blends I like.

I have no real rhyme or reason to what I smoke when. If I'm in the mood for the same thing more than once, I'll have another bowl. If not I'll move on.

 

[judcole]

I smoke a fair number of bowls every day. It's rare that I smoke more than two bowls of the same blend in one day, although it does happen. I've got a couple dozen blends open. Several are latakia blends that have been sitting for a while, since I have smoked very little latakia the past three or four months.
As was noted, it's all personal. It's a matter of personal preference.

 

[captpat]

I have between 2 and 4 tins open I rotate as the mood dictates between those; typically no more than two bowls of a specific blend in a day. Maintstays are some sort of burley and a VA or VA/PER.