Which Do You Choose First, The Pipe or The Tobacco?

[igloo]

Tobacco, all pipes are the same !

 

[lestrout]

I have several algorithms that obtain: 1) I puff mainly Lats and VAs/VAPers, and my routine starts the day with a light blend, working up through the day to a heavy one. 2) My morning mood dictates whether I start with a Lat or a non-Lat. 3) I have quite a few (about 500) blends yet to assess, and my mid-day puff is sometimes one of these, so that influences what I start the day with for calibration purposes. 4) However, I'm trying to finish off open tins and baggies, so this inhibits what I open up. 5) The new FDA Deeming rules have sharpened my focus on what pre-2007 blends to assess, in order to stock my Top200 Cellar. 5a) Similarly, I'm feverishly going through the huge proliferation of new blends just introduced to decide what to pump into the Top200 Cellar list and stock up/hoard the usual pounds or tins requirement (= lifetime supply of at least 10 tins for the low ranking ones, more for the Top100. 6) Since my Top200 has become bloated (about 280 right now), I need to puff the ones on the cusp of demotion in various pipe substrates (briar, meer, clay, cob, morta, olivewood, cherry) and various chamber geometries to finalize my determinations. 7) I have a number of pairs or multiples of pipe styles-makes: when I'm making assessments for inclusion into the Top200 Cellar, or for demotion from thereof, I go through my paired/multipled Beos, Kaywoodies, Dunhills, Kirstens, 9438s, etc. In effect puffing one sets up the series in the immediate future. And since I don't use a true database, but rather overabused Excel spreadsheets, I don't puff the same blend twice in a day. 8) pipe size matters: since I'm not looking to load up on nicotine, I would happily puff just Gp1 and 2s. But if I'm wanting to settle in to a good read with a book or article, that's when the bigger bowls come out. 8a) When I am driving for ffishing or a road trip, I preload bigger pipes to minimize logistics. Obviously this is not the time for a Tambolaka or rope. 9) A big seemingly constraining variable is that I rarely puff the same blend in the same pipe, again due to the exigencies of my spreadsheet. But this helps my decision-making process, since I am in effect populating the white spaces in a chart where the X-axis is 500 pipes and the Y- is 1500 blends. 10) Another selection factor is that I have a few dozen pipes dedicated to VAs, and another group to VAs/VAPers. 11) Then there is the break-in sequence: I use the same dozen or so VAs + Prince Albert for breaking in - this allows me to discover the personality of the pipe, since I am puffing the same familiar blends. With brand new pipes, I can then decide whether to dedicate the new pipe to The Virginias Project or allow it to become all-purpose. Obviously breaking in a pipe disrupts my other routines.
hp

les
Hard work, this is, but somebody has to do it.
Addendum #1: I guess this means I choose the tobacco first; except when I'm driving off and need a big pipe or 2, in which case I start with choosing the pipes - I then scan the Excel to see what blends haven't yet been put in them.

Addendum #2: When I decide to submit to my arduous break-in sequence, this obviously means I've chosen the pipe first. But that may not be the next smoke: rather, that becomes the linchpin in the setup for the next several smokes.

 

[peckinpahhombre]

Addendum #3: Les is nuts.
Addendum 4: I choose some tobacco that looks tasty and stick it in a pipe.
LOL

 

[agnosticpipe]

Ok then, nice to see you're putting in the work on this Les, because like you say, somebody has to do it, and clearly none of us are. :lol:
And Peck, very succinct. :clap: