Wanting to Try Individual Tobaccos

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rdavid

Part of the Furniture Now
Jun 30, 2018
648
9
Milton, FL
OK. Been smoking pipes all together for about a year now and I’m really enjoying several top name popular blends, mostly English blends. I have a couple of favorite Aros already so I’m OK there.
However I’m still really confused when it comes to picking out the different components of most English blends. I’m currently favoring Latakia, Orientals and Balkans. I have tried some burley forward blends along with some Va/Pers. Not sure why but I found Escudo terrible... closest tobacco I’ve found to taste like cigarettes. Not giving up though. Going to try it in different pipes etc. I have a hard time giving up on tobaccos without trying them several times.
Anyway, I’m looking for some recommendations for single type tobaccos so I can learn to pick out individual components. Latakia and Orientals are easy to pick out so I would like to try Virginias, Burleys etc. Not sure if there is a Perique.
Any recommendations to take my pipe experience to the next level would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

 

techie

Part of the Furniture Now
Jul 20, 2018
589
10
One of the things I did early in my pipe smoking was go on Smokingpipes and narrow a search by "Blending" tobaccos, then just ordered 1 ounce samples of whatever looked interesting to me. I picked up a C&D red virginia, C&D bright virginia, a PS virginia (PS701), a C&D burley, a C&D latakia, and a C&D izmir turkish. This was very helpful in learning the smell and taste of the individual tobaccos. I plan to get more. There are a lot to choose from, including perique.

 

dethmutt

Can't Leave
Sep 14, 2018
376
8
Aye... jump around! Smokingpipes is my main supplier. and very fast shipping.... If your into English check out:

Nightcap. hahaah sorry.. I had to..
Bengal slices, Ashton artisan, 3 Russians, Lane Medal of valor (I recommend this one), and a shitload of C&d.

 
May 8, 2017
1,593
1,627
Sugar Grove, IL, USA
Daughters and Ryan (D&R) had a line they called "Blender's Bench" which featured a wide variety of tobaccos, including several different orientals and periques. I don't know if they're still selling them, but if they are, the place to buy them is probably a pipe show. It kind of looks to me like D&R is focusing on their Perique production, plus RYO cigarette supplies, based upon their current catalog.

 
Aug 26, 2018
37
0
Dallas, Texas
Definitely second what Techie said about the individual flavors. I personally have grown to love English Mixture from Dunhill which can still be found in the corners of the web. I would highly recommend STUFF and THINGS on YouTube to get a pretty non biased review of certain blends. He typically stays away from aromatics though. Muttenchop Piper also has lots of blends he reviews so you can see what it might taste like to you. I have found their reviews to be very close in certain blends and very far from my tastes in others. Good luck and have fun!

 

sablebrush52

The Bard Of Barlings
Jun 15, 2013
19,632
44,859
Southern Oregon
jrs457.wixsite.com
Personally, I find Pipes & Cigars a better choice for finding blending tobaccos. They have options, like stoved Virginia, that Smoking Pipes lacks and it's much easier to do a search. Just type in "blending tobacco" in their search window and it's all in front of you.
#1 on D&R Blenders Bench!

 

chilllucky

Lifer
Jul 15, 2018
1,091
2,715
Chicago, IL, USA
scoosa.com
With 25 years in and out of pipe smoking, I can tell you that your tastes will mature and change over time, as will the availability and flavors of tobaccos across blenders and ages.
After smoking pretty much one aromatic blend for 8 years or so, I recently got back into exploring tobacco as if I were brand new to smoking. Whole styles I can remember writing off a decade or two ago, I am enjoying now. So expect to re-run this experiment occasionally.
Either the D&R or C&D blenders kits or individual tobaccos are great for trying to pick out varietals and educating/assessing your pallet. Personally, I have really been having fun being sent a random sampling monthly as a member of The Tin Society. Getting to a pipe club meeting or a show is also a great way to sample a lot of tobaccos, too.

 

rdavid

Part of the Furniture Now
Jun 30, 2018
648
9
Milton, FL
OK. Thanks for all the info. I did order several different blending tobaccos: 3 different Virginias, Burley, Latakia, Perique, Dark Fired Kentucky and a Turkish.
Again, my goal is to taste these single tobaccos outside of a blend so I can differentiate them individually. I have sampled several different blends, mostly great, some not so great. I’m hoping to be able to pick out certain components to expand my knowledge and add to the experience.
I’m fully aware that tastes change over time and I’m thinking this is a good thing. I’ve tried a few of the extremely popular blends that I didn’t like at all. Escudo for example was very unpleasant and tastes like a cigarette to me. Hopefully that will change in the future.
Thanks again for all the suggestions. I’ve already learned so much here and feel as if the information here has greatly accelerated my pipe smoking pleasure and experience.

 

rdavid

Part of the Furniture Now
Jun 30, 2018
648
9
Milton, FL
C&D blending kits nowhere to be found. Guess it was a limited item? Anyway, I got lucky as my order contains the exact same tobaccos as included in the blending kit.
Also, I do plan on trying each one of these tobaccos individually. I’m guessing some of them will not be so great by themselves so I’m not planning on full bowls. Would it be OK to load maybe a quarter or a third of a bowl just for the purpose of tasting?

 

chilllucky

Lifer
Jul 15, 2018
1,091
2,715
Chicago, IL, USA
scoosa.com
Likely it was a limited edition item. The youtube video that shows it off was posted two years ago. The only things you're missing are some top dressings, a bowl, and a scale.
My understanding of tasting ingredients for blending is that you would smoke a little bit in a clay or meerschaum pipe or roll it into cigarette paper. The only risks I could see of using a briar for such a small amount over and over would be imparting the flavor of the briar (above my level of taste sensitivity), ghosting (if you were using the same pipe and tried white burley right after Latakia, for example), and if you really went nuts with the tasting- making a weird spot in your carbon cake (easily remedied with a reamer).

 

mso489

Lifer
Feb 21, 2013
41,210
60,433
rdavid, I like C&D single leaf for blending. Also, Sutliff Red Virginia has recently been suggested to replace the now-discontinued McClelland 5100. C&D also has Perique, Latakia, and Turkish, among others. For base tobaccos, select a good burley, a good Virginia, and maybe an unflavored black Cavendish which also goes as a condiment. If you hit a good recipe, let us know.

 

redone

Starting to Get Obsessed
Aug 4, 2018
284
76
You could buy some of the small, inexpensive cobs and dedicate one for each type. Just a suggestion.

 

rdavid

Part of the Furniture Now
Jun 30, 2018
648
9
Milton, FL
Thanks for the reply mso489
I’m really looking forward to trying these straight tobaccos and especially making some of my own blends. I’ve already been experimenting with mixing existing blends with great success. One of my current favorites is Early Morning Pipe (didn’t like it much by itself) mixed with Nightcap. Discovered on another thread here. Mixed 50/50. Absolutely wonderful now.
I’ll definitely post any blends that work. I’m currently really liking the Latakia/Orientals but want to explore the Va/Pers and Burleys.

 

woodsroad

Lifer
Oct 10, 2013
11,591
15,314
SE PA USA
I’ll second the suggestion of getting a bag of cob seconds. Check the Missouri Meerschaum site for their bags of “smokable seconds”. I highly recommend them. I’ll also agree with Jesse’s commendation of P&C for their blending tobaccos selection.

 

rdavid

Part of the Furniture Now
Jun 30, 2018
648
9
Milton, FL
Thanks woodsroad. I beat you to it. I have bag of 7 MM cob seconds. Absolutely nothing wrong with these pipes. Got a great selection and these will be used for my tasting experiment. Also, already ordered several 1 oz samples of straight tobaccos from Smoking Pipes. Mostly C&D. Should be here in a couple of days.

 

bluto

Part of the Furniture Now
Aug 24, 2018
737
8
I picked up some whole leaf tobaccos , real good experience to see oriental , Turkish , lemon Virginia , Kentucky, Maryland ,

Burley , lat etc up close and personal.
Blending , sampling , drying , casing , cutting , pressing , aging has been a lot of fun and informed my senses of what it is making up those professional blends .

 

rdavid

Part of the Furniture Now
Jun 30, 2018
648
9
Milton, FL
I picked up some whole leaf tobaccos , real good experience to see oriental , Turkish , lemon Virginia , Kentucky, Maryland ,

Burley , lat etc up close and personal.
Blending , sampling , drying , casing , cutting , pressing , aging has been a lot of fun and informed my senses of what it is making up those professional blends .
Yes! Exactly what I’m hoping to experience. Thanks bluto.

 
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