Tobacco Rotation

[murf]

I'm just trying to get a feel for: how many different types of tobacco do you have in your current rotation? That is, how many different tobaccos do you have open to smoke at any given time?
I'm just trying to figure out, I have about 10 pipes. Should I have, for example, a tin of tobacco dedicated to each? That's 10 open tins at any given time, which would take quite awhile for me to smoke.
Here is my dilemma: I'm trying to maximize my enjoyment of the tobacco. I have previously discovered that smoking one particular tobacco in one specific pipe makes the experience that much more enjoyable.
But, I'm hesitant to try and smoke an entire tin's worth out of one pipe, since I want the pipe to have adequate time to rest.
I currently have 3 blends going: 1 aro, 1 VA, 1 eng. I also have picked out 1 aro pipe, 1 VA pipe, and 1 eng pipe to use. I just worry that I might "burn out" these pipes.
I know I am most likely overthinking things, but I smoked one particular blend out of the same pipe once a day, every day, for about 10 days straight. And it was fantastic. I would like to try and re-create the experience.
So, what do you guys think? Should each pipe have about 50g tobacco smoked in it, before switching to another blend? Is it ok to smoke a pipe once or twice a day, everyday for about 2 weeks?
Just looking for opinions. I'd like to hear how some other people do it, so I can try and figure out my own method. I feel like I'm almost there, but not quite.

 

[salewis]

I use several pipes for my Virginia blends and a second set of pipes for Latakia forward blends. For Virginias I switch between several blends and have never noticed a discernible difference in taste or aroma. Latakia blends seem to present more of a challenge since some of my tobacco blends are oriental forward others being more Virginia forward while still others like GLP Abingdon have a higher percentage of Latakia so I have found that I dedicate certain pipes to specific Latakia blends. To summarize it depends on the varieties of tobacco smoked and the number of pipes in your collection.

 

[bobpnm]

Murf, you are going to get a lot of opinions. Smoking a pipe once a day every day won't hurt it. Just keep it clean. Many find that some pipes smoke some blends better. I let my pipes tell me which blends they prefer. You might be over thinking it but that is also part of the fun. I have pipes for Lat blends, Virginia blends and Burleys. Just the way I do it.

 

[murf]

I'm just thinking out loud. Trying to get a feel for what other pipers do. I think for me, at least, that I will have 1 VA, 1 aro, 1 eng blend open at any given time. So, that means 3 pipes being smoked until those tins are gone, 1 for each type of tobacco. then, open a new tin, and take a different pipe off the shelf for that tin.
I think if I only smoke each pipe once a day (or 2x max) it should be fine, especially with cleaning after every bowl.
It might be a matter of discipline on my part, not opening/trying certain things in my cellar until others have been smoked up

 

[ciderguy]

For me its normally 3 or 4 tins at any given time. I smoke somewhere between 3 and 10 bowls per day. I always have a jar of McClelland Bulk No. 5100 Red Cake and an aromatic open at the same time. I frequently have some kind of English Blend (Squadron Leader right now) and a drug store blend (almost always Carter Hall) open as well. Lately, I've been smoking more 5100 and less CH.
I almost never smoke more than two bowls in the same pipe in a day, unless it is a cob. I've run 10 bowls through a cob in one day, and then put close to that number the next day.

 

[chagovatoloco]

I go to what every pipe comes up in my rotation and pick a tobacco. Maybe I don't put enough thought in to it.

 

[tennsmoker]

I don't have a rotation. I pick a pipe, load in tobacco and smoke it. If it gets ghosted, then I'll keep smoking it until it is un-ghosted. YMMV

 

[northernneil]

I don't have near the experience of most of the responses so far. That being said, at the current moment I have 1 VA, 2 Lats, 1 VA/PER, 4 Misc open tins. I have a couple of pipes dedicated (4) to VA's, I have 3 dedicated to Lat's, 1 dedicated to VA/Per's, and multiple for whatever gets put in them.
If you really want to get the most out of a particular blend, but do not have the pipe rotation to allow significant rest, maybe look into getting a couple of corn cobs. They smoke great, even multiple times a day, and they are not expensive so it may be plausible to buy one for use with a specific tin of tobacco to maximize the tobaccos performance.

 

[cigrmaster]

I dedicate some of my pipes to specific blends and then dedicate others to category specific blends. I smoke only Virginia Flakes, Virginia/Perique Flakes and Virginia/Burley Flakes, so I have my VA/perique pipes, my Vabur pipes and so on. I always rest my pipes at least one day but usually more after I smoke one bowl in that specific pipe. Many of us do this because we feel a pipe needs to dry out to be able to perform at it's optimum level, I personally would never smoke a pipe day after day, it does not have time to dry out. Dedicating a certain pipe to a certain blend is a good thing in my mind if you can do it. I normally have 20-25 tins open at the same time because I love variety. I keep them fresh by keeping my open tins in plastic tupperware like containers that have a good seal, they will stay fresh for months like this.

 

[hemsworth]

I have 25 varieties in Mason jars and 5 pipes. I smoke whatever I feel like in whatever pipe I want. I try to only have one smoke each day in any particular pipe, though. I don't usually have more than 3 or 4 bowls in a day. I'm not sure if this was the best plan however, as I find myself staring at the selections wondering what I should smoke for long periods of time.

 

[kashmir]

I have the following jars open 24/7: Pirate Kake, Star of the East, Westminster, Odyssey, Abingdon, Penzance, and Odessa. The following tins as well: Nightcap, London Mixture, Balkan Sasieni and Escudo. I don't stray far from these set blends, for the past five years or so. Having a limited menu makes cellaring less of a guessing game, maximizing depth over breadth.

 

[cortezattic]

I like variety so I have about 20-30 Mason jars in the active rotation. I prefer young blends, so aging isn't a big issue.

I avoid Latakia, Lakelands, and aromatics, so I don't dedicate pipes. Pipes get a minimum of 1 day's rest per smoke.
For sampling new blends I have a cob, a Butz-Choquin, and a Jobey to test for unwanted flavors and surprises like

Dorisco (unlisted Latakia blend), and McClelland Royal Cajun (fire-cured and smokey like Latakia).

 

[cigrmaster]

hemsworth, nothing wrong with variety at all. I also have tons if blends open at a time and sometimes it takes me a while to decide what I want to smoke. It can literally take me 5 good minutes of hemming and hawing before I pick one.

 

[hemsworth]

I hear ya...I'm doing it right now, actually! Looks like Britt's Balkan might be the winner.

 

[adam2]

I think it sounds fine what you are doing. Remember it all is about to find a way that feels good for you so if you get a great smoking experience by smoking a pipe once a day for two weeks there is no wrong with that.
Personally I dedicate one pipe to a certain tobacco. Right now I have about 11 tobaccos in use and 22 pipes. I smoke 3-5 bowls a week so the pipes gets the rest - and properly more than - the should. When I get a new tin I put the tobacco in a preserving jar and there it stay good for at least 6+ months. I store the jar in a cold, dark and dry place but I don't know how important that is.

 

[murf]

New question:
How much tobacco do you smoke before you decide if you like/don't like it?
Or rather, how much tobacco do you smoke before you decide you will order it again?
The only reason I ask, is because I ordered 4oz of an aro, and got about halfway thru when I decided that I most likely would not be ordering it again. I put the rest away for a later date, so I can open up a new aro to smoke

 

[allan]

Murf
I have bout twenty mason jars that I choose from and separate va's and the catch all English blends. I try to alternate smoking an English and then follow with a va or va/per so I'm constantly rotating pipes
If I'm recommended to a certain blend I generally order two tins to try it out; if it turns out really great for me I then reorder more, for instance, capstan blue-I tried it and immediately knew it was perfect for me so I ordered ten tins to cellar. Solani 660 was another one that I stocked up on.
First I like to sample and then I'll decide whether to cellar
Allan

 

[erichbaumer]

By the end of a tin I have a pretty good idea. Sometimes before if it's something really outstanding (Nightcap, SOTE Flake, Westminster were all such cases).

My current system, for what it's worth, is to have two to three latakia blends open, one of them being my "go to," kept in a leather pouch (it holds less than a tin so this will rotate), along with one Va/Per. As of now, I do not dedicate pipes to blends, only to types (latakia, Va and aro). I do like the idea Salewis mentioned about the different latakia blend types.

 

[brassonly]

I keep all my tobacco in mason jars as soon as I open it. Right now I have a dozen blends open in my rotation & will probably end up with a few more blends in my rotation cause I really like being able to choose from a wide variety tobaccos whenever I have a bowl. Having such an vast amount of tobaccos available to choose from just amazes me. I never knew there was so many tobaccos available when I started smoking pipe about a year ago. I wonder how many different blends I will end up with as time goes by. Its really great trying out new blends every once in a while. Over the years I could end up with quite a collection, some members here have amazing cellars that I hope to be able to have in time.

 

[judcole]

I have 2 pipe rotations, a latakia rotation and a virginia/burley rotation. I usually have around 20 blends open at once. They all are jarred.