Too Much Tobacco. What Should I Smoke First?

[PipeIT]

1st Class and Ground Advantage shipping isn’t expensive to ship here… LOL

 

[chumleeroy]

What blend did you cellar the most of?

 

[BingBong]

The trick is to find the blends you like and build a supply buffer. Then a tin of this or that as secondaries. A few changes of pace. A rarity or two, to see what the fuss is about. That kind of thing.

 

[PipeIT]

But seriously, everyone’s palate is different, but for most going simple in the beginning tends to be the better approach.

So if you have single blends, like VA and Burley only smoke a lot of single blends at first to learn their flavors, then try other blends mixed with only a few leaf styles.

Also bouncing around could make the smoke less enjoyable, because your palate isn’t given enough time with a blend to understand it fully.

If you like VAs, just trying and sticking to only straight VAs, there are a lot of straight VA blends out there, with a wide variety of tastes.

Red, Orange, Bright VAs, then prepared different ways, ribbon, flake, stoved, cavendish, etc…

Aromatics are what are common to start out with, but can actually be the worst, and take time to develop a palate that can appreciate them, where as a straight blend is simpler to distIngush.

 

[Briarcutter]

If you find something you don't like, don't throw it away, date it and throw it in a jar. Tastes change over time. In several months you may love the stuff.

 

[K.E. Powell]

To me, haste is anathema to pipe smoking. Your pipe tobacco isn't going anywhere. Enjoy it at your pace.

To echo what others have said, jar and label your tobacco. Since you are also exploring what you like and have a need to organize and inventory the large amount of tobacco you do have, maybe a small tasting journal would be beneficial for you.

 

[PipeIT]

If you find something you don't like, don't throw it away, date it and throw it in a jar. Tastes change over time. In several months you may love the stuff.

Here Here, great advice! +1

Same goes for the stuff you love, you might hate down the road!

Who eats chicken every day! LOL

 

[Scottmi]

OH! So you're saying buy MORE? ;D

YES.

 

[Scottmi]

The next one to try is the one that calls to you, probably what you haven't tried yet. As you find ones that really appeal, put them on your list for more.

 

[hoosierpipeguy]

2 recommendations. Smoke 4 bowls per day, it will double your rate of consumption and enjoyment, Then throw everything away except the Virginia Flake blends you bought. If you ever reach the Pinnacle of pipe smoking, that's where you'll end up. Might as well get there sooner than later.

 

[PipeIT]

2 recommendations. Smoke 4 bowls per day, it will double your rate of consumption and enjoyment, Then throw everything away except the Virginia Flake blends you bought. If you ever reach the Pinnacle of pipe smoking, that's where you'll end up. Might as well get there sooner than later.

I’m with you on Straight VAs.

I think they are a very misunderstood world, by many pipe smokers who have given up to easily on them, who haven’t experienced the full range of amazing notes. Especially when a straight leaf can be prepared in many ways by the blenders, to also reveal many other flavors…

But I will say, I am starting to also see another Straight Blend road with Semois tobacco. I think this one too is highly misunderstood…

Tabac Semois - La Manufacture, fabrication de Tabac, Cigares et Bouchons de la Semois

La manufacture vous présentera nos différents produits : Le tabac Semois, fabriqu de manière traditionnelle et artisanale et le Bouchon de la Semois, l'exclusivité de la maison.

www.tabac-semois.com

If I had to take my best guesses here, to many smokers in a hurry, not prepping well enough, puffing to fast, and always worrying to keep lit.

The Straight Blend World, with many blends, has to be slowly sipped and savoured, to fully appreciate and enjoy.

 

[Mike N]

Is it enough to just screw the mason jar lid on real tight, or do I actually need to vacuum seal the jar?

Another method I use is to place a layer of Saran Wrap on the opened tobacco, re-insert the cardboard circles, screw the lid to the original tin back on tightly, and trim away the extra plastic wrap. I also use mason jars. Cellar wide, not necessarily deep, because a blend you don’t like today may really be something you enjoy a year from now as your tastes change (Latakia and Perique blends come to mind— in the pipe world, a VaPer is a Virginia/Perique combo).

 

[rectifythis]

You sound like me in the beginning. I learned not to judge to quickly. Any new blend I buy, I smoke a bowl, jar the rest and come back to it every 6 months to see how it ages and how my tastes change. I should have bought stock in Ball. I have upwards of 500 jars of tobacco I rotate through. I use a heat gun to warm the original label and transfer it from the tin to my jar and date it. Take notes.

 

[carp rides again]

If I find myself with tobacco that isn't my favorite, I just mix it in with stuff I do like until it's gone, it does take time and some will power. But you'll get through it. Either way, you're still smokin Bowls and that's not the worst that can happen

 

[Mike N]

You sound like me in the beginning. I learned not to judge to quickly. Any new blend I buy, I smoke a bowl, jar the rest and come back to it every 6 months to see how it ages and how my tastes change. I should have bought stock in Ball. I have upwards of 500 jars of tobacco I rotate through. I use a heat gun to warm the original label and transfer it from the tin to my jar and date it. Take notes.

Using my heat gun to remove the labels from the tin is a great idea. Thanks.

Mike N

 

[bpinkstaff]

Mason jars are your friend! A small price to pay for reliable storage. Bowls per tin varies greatly.

Agree 100% Thats what i do as i try stuff! Small jars for sample batches and large jars for when i order bulk once i find stuff i like!

 

[tschiraldi]

Everyone is different and ahs different goals. What I'm doing:
I have been smoking pipes for several years and, like you, have acquired many different blends. I have learned a lot about myself and my tastes over those years. Like you, I wanted to try everything and made a solid attempt at doing so! For a number of years now, though, I have narrowed my smoking to about 5-7 blends that I smoke on a regular basis. I have found my favorites in each genre so, to me, smoking something I like less in a particular genre just doesn't make sense to me anymore. I do, however, have a wide selection of other blends in my cellar. With all the happenings in our hobby / lifestyle (McClellan's closing, STG takeovers, etc) I am now cellaring deep, not wide. I have been buying and cellaring my favorites at an increased pace instead of trying a bunch of new stuff. My current strategy is to open a tin of something I already have that I either haven't tried, or haven't smoked in a long while. If it knocks my socks off, I add it to the blends I'm stocking up on. If it doesn't after 4 or 5 bowls, it goes in a jar and I won't be ordering any more of it. I use a bar / tavern method for keeping them all straight. My tobaccos are stored on bookcases. The best stuff goes on the top shelf, the worst on the bottom shelf to be re-visited some time in the future (or not at all), with others not regularly enjoyed filling the middle shelves. It's working for me. I won't spend any more time or money playing the hit or miss game.

 

[Hutch Piper]

Your choice entirely of course but I’d smoke what you like when you like. No point in smoking something just because you think it might go bad in a year or two. If it does, it won’t be the end of the world and you’ll find something else to smoke.

 

[burleybreath]

First-world problem.

 

[JOHN72]

I try to reduce open tins, and especially tobacco in glass jars, once I'm done with this mess. I will try to smoke the tobaccos sealed with teflon, it is impossible to open them, and worst of all, I have recommended it here, hundreds of times. I mean, seal the threads of the jars with Teflon.