Tobacco Rotations

[Swampfox]

I’ve read a lot regarding pipe rotations, but I’m curious about smoker’s tobacco rotations. How many tobaccos are in your rotation? How long into your pipe smoking journey did it take to settle on your core blends? I’m new to this hobby but have already found a couple of blends that will probably be long haulers for me.

 

[verporchting]

Jeez, lots, just lots. I admire those who have a few pipes and just one or two favorite blends but I’m not one of them. I love having options and more options - both blends and pipes. Not even sure rotation is an applicable term for how I do it. My selection is largely whatever appeals to me at the moment for both. Wouldn’t change it if I could.

Back in the 80s I mostly had 4-6 pipes and just bought a few ounces of whatever smelled good at the local shop, so I suppose it was fairly predictable, but post internet with all the knowledge and options I just discovered the incredible range of possibilities and … yeah, now it’s nuts.

 

[Chasing Embers]

No rotation, completely random based on what I want to smoke. Sometimes it's the same thing for days and weeks.

 

[dog_park_piper]

No comprehensive rotation. But I keep 2 or 3 blends close during a week or two and I always have one of them going during the day.

 

[anotherbob]

honestly I go through little phases where I mainly smoke one thing. Just went from smoking mostly one Scottish blend for about two weeks to now going into a mixture 79 phase. I feel like I get the most out of really sitting with a blend for a while. And when I do pop a tin I tend to smoke that almost straight through. Though it's totally mood based not planned. More like I reach for the same thing then I get a little jaded with it and reach for something else. And sometimes that's something that takes a day sometimes a few weeks. But I moved a few years ago and packed up everything but two blends for the week before moving. I found that I instead of missing other blends was getting more out of the one I picked.

 

[Swampfox]

post internet with all the knowledge and options I just discovered the incredible range of possibilities and … yeah, now it’s nuts.

Until I started searching on the internet I had no clue there were so many blends. After finding this forum my head exploded realizing there were so many options. I thought the two B&M’s I frequent had everything……….

 

[warren]

Almost sixty years smoking a pipe. I have five blends I keep on hand. I will try a new one now and then but, rarely add or subtract.

 

[anotherbob]

Until I started searching on the internet I had no clue there were so many blends. After finding this forum my head exploded realizing there were so many options. I thought the two B&M’s I frequent had everything……….

Seriously. When we had a local they had some tins mostly MacBarrens and a few pouches and lots of house blends which were good enough to not bother with tins. Then found online and it was painful trying to even figure out what to buy, including that I knew of different types of tobacco but not what they really were.

 

[Servant King]

1) Lots of pipes, lots of blends
2) Lots of pipes, few blends
3) Few pipes, lots of blends
4) Few pipes, few blends

I'm #3.

I guess I just like the variety. But like Embers or Bob, I go through phases too. Sometimes I'll go from one blend to the next, as if I'm a noob again, on a mission to smoke as many blends as possible. Other times, I'll land on a blend and stay there fixedly (so far this summer, Sutliff 507-C VA Slices has been pretty close to that). I've tried to detect a pattern, but there doesn't appear to be one. It's just random, changing with the direction of the wind seemingly. The only times I can count on trying blend after blend is when I receive samples, but that's understandable.

The idea of having a fixed rotation seems almost counterintuitive to me. If I wouldn't have a fixed rotation of music to listen to, why would I apply this concept to tobacco blends? ?‍

 

[anotherbob]

The idea of having a fixed rotation seems almost counterintuitive to me. If I wouldn't have a fixed rotation of music to listen to, why would I apply this concept to tobacco blends? ?‍

Funny I always imagined you listening to vinyl in strict alphabetical order. Goes to show how well you really know someone you occasionally talk to on the internet.

 

[Servant King]

Funny I always imagined you listening to vinyl in strict alphabetical order. Goes to show how well you really know someone you occasionally talk to on the internet.

Hey, it ain't my fault Jimmy Smith goes so well after Bessie Smith! ??

 

[Hovannes]

It's more seasonal for me. In colder weather I lean towards Latakia forward English blends, and maybe an aromatic. I've yet to find a Cherry equal to PS Cherry Bonbon, but I have grown accustom to Autumn Evening. In temperate weather a Burley/Virginia cube cut.
Nothing much appeals to me when it's 105 degrees but a good Oriental blend generally fills the bill anytime of year.

 

[anotherbob]

Hey, it ain't my fault Jimmy Smith goes so well after Bessie Smith! ??

yeah but that month you just don't want to listen to the Smiths after that is what's annoying.

 

[irishearl]

Been smoking for 45+ years and have always just smoked 2 blends at a time. Of course, what those 2 blends are will periodically change as I begin to tire of 1. However, have long only liked around 6 blends well enough to routinely order them.

 

[username]

I normally just grab a tin out of the cellar and smoke it till it’s gone. I don’t really think of having a rotation.

 

[anotherbob]

I normally just grab a tin out of the cellar and smoke it till it’s gone. I don’t really think of having a rotation.

and we also wondered if you left here. Long time no see.

 

[AppalachianPipe92]

Really just what I'm in the mood for. I have my core blends that I smoke regularly, but also have plenty of others to reach for if I'm in the mood for something different. I do like spending time with a blend, so if I reach for something different I like to smoke it at least for a few days.

 

[sablebrush52]

No rotation, completely random based on what I want to smoke. Sometimes it's the same thing for days and weeks.

+1

 

[cigrmaster]

I normally have 20-25 open tins and a few bulks. I don't have a real rotation but I do have my morning smoke of some kind of a mild Virginia flake and then I will move up the strength ladder as I go through my day and night. I have been doing this for a number of years and it suits me.

 

[Richmond B. Funkenhouser]

I try to only keep about 5 jars open at one time.