Worst Tasting Blends Ever

[dottiewarden]

I'd send some Ennerdale to shutterbugg's house as a joke, but he'd probably have to move.

How about some Condor?

 

[cosmicfolklore]

Send me the Condor!!

 

[clickklick]

Captain Bob's Blend was highly disliked at one of my pipe club meetings. It has a chemical grape taste, and I am a guy who likes grape! But I took a few puffs and had to dump it out.
I wonder what ever happened to him. He used to frequent this forum. But had a bit of a falling out with Sykes when C&D was purchased by Laudisi and all of the artwork got changed.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

The Capt Bob flavoring is grape Kool Aid. I'm not crazy about it at all, but it's far from the worst to me.

 

[hawky454]

I'm with Beast, I've never had a blend that grossed me out or triggered my gag reflexes. I guess I'm lucky.
P.S. I've even come to like Captain Bob's Blend on rare occasions in a cob. I really disliked it at first.

 

[beastinview]

I'm with Beast, I've never had a blend that grossed me out or triggered my gag reflexes. I guess I'm lucky.

I understand when people simply don't like a flavor, but what's harder for me to comprehend is how something that will seem very mild and even near imperceptible to me (the tonquin in 1792 for example) are overwhelming for others, to the extent that the flavor will completely obscure the tobacco itself, when for me, the reverse is true.
My theory is that this discrepancy is due to a palate more heavily weighted toward smell than taste. Smoking palates rest on a balance between taste and smell--two sense that can't easily be separated. Those palates that have a very sensitive sense of smell may react more positively and negatively towards flavored blends in which the aroma plays a bigger part.
I think you and I, hawky, have a palate where the sense of smell plays a smaller part. This enables me, for example, to experience Dark Flake Scented, as a strong flake with a dash of bergamot. Those whose palate is more heavily weighted towards smell, however, experience DFS as a Lakeland bomb drenched in cologne.
It's only a theory, but I feel it's one possible explanation for the wildly different experience in how prominent certain flavors are in a blend.

 

[conlejm]

I have enjoyed most blends that I have smoked. But the one I liked the least was Peter Stokkebye Natural. It was, to me, a fairly bland mild aromatic.

 

[cigrmaster]

SG Firedance Flake. It tasted like I puked in my mouth, nasty.

 

[mcitinner1]

Everything with the Lakeland scent/perfume. The stuff gags me.

 

[papipeguy]

I've been lucky to smoke some of the best and worst but nothing is worse than Dan Tobacco Non Plus Ultra. It took 2 days of scotch drinking to purge my mouth of this vile concoction. I still have the tin, minus 1 bowl. So id anyone wants a sample just PM me. You've been warned.
http://www.tobaccoreviews.com/blend/407/dan-tobacco-hollys-non-plus-ultra

 

[iamn8]

Cotton Boll. The nic and taste both sicken me

 

[tmb152]

I had read enough about it on the forum to not bother wasting my time on it.

Really Dottie? It's been 40 years since I tried Borkum and I didn't like it then, and I probably wouldn't like it now, but at least I made my own opinion up from direct experience. Don't ever let anyone tell you something is good or bad just because THEY don't like it! I have found highly promoted blends here horrible to me and vice versa. Every blend out there has its following, including the blender who makes it. Everyone has different tastes, probably largely affected by personal diet and body chemistry.

Speaking only for myself,

Wow! That is a step in the right direction! For once SB, rather than trolling a thread, you are admitting that just because it doesn't work well for you, it might not necessarily be camel dung for everyone else, or that elitist crap some imply that if you like a blend they turn their nose up at, you must not have as evolved taste as them. Burley does not make for a bad mix, hell, the stuff is most everywhere, and light or heavy casing of whatever flavoring, even that Lakeland stuff, might turn some people off greatly while creating great adherents for others!
No baccy is for everyone and some might need aging, drying or airing, or just the right pipe or technique before it really shines. When someone condemns a blend as absolutely dreadful crap period, they are doing a disservice to the blender and those who otherwise might have tried and loved it. And you are showing your own limitations.
People talk of poundage in their cellars, but I often wonder of the variety? I think right now I have at least 66 different tobaccos in house, and some of them are considered by many to be the best of the best. But some of them are probably reviled by many too. English, Balkan, Flake, Roll, Blending, Dark, Steamed, Oriental, Virginian, and Aromatics. And probably much more. Six months ago I had little use for aros until I gave them a fair shake. The beauty of pipe smoking over even cigars is the vast diversity of flavors and blends. Don't knock it until you have tried it (several times); I hated Blood Red Moon first time I smoked it, but I gave it several more chances to get the handle on it. You still might not like a blend, but I bet I could turn it around into something you would, and even if you don't, don't knock others who do, for the failing isn't with them for liking it.
IMO, the successful pipe smoker of the future isn't the guy who bought up 150 tins of Sobranie to last him until he dies at everyone else's expense, it is the guy who learns to make his OWN Sobranie equivalent from available tobaccos, and makes it GOOD, or better yet--- learns to like what he can get and turn it into gold through his own techniques!
Oops! Gotta go! More tobacco just arrived! ;^D

 

[beastinview]

Loving this thread.

SG Firedance Flake. It tasted like I puked in my mouth, nasty.

Double sold! Kicking myself that I didn't put this in my latest order.

Cotton Boll. The nic and taste both sicken me

This is a good reminder. I need to order some. I doubt it will knock the Gawith twists off of my top ten, but I love the high-nic blends. It doesn't sound like it has the beautiful flavor profile of the Gawith twists, but I'm sure I'll love the experience.

Everything with the Lakeland scent/perfume. The stuff gags me.

The only Lakelands (Ennerdale & DFS) I've smoked have been quite different in aroma, though the scent is the same in its nature: more of a concentrated "scent" as opposed to more traditional aromatics that I perceive as a "flavoring." I certainly understand why some aren't a fan, though I really like the topping in DFS. Ennerdale is more of a "I'm in a strange mood" smoke.

 

[jpmcwjr]

Really Dottie? It's been 40 years since I tried Borkum and I didn't like it then, and I probably wouldn't like it now, but at least I made my own opinion up from direct experience. Don't ever let anyone tell you something is good or bad just because THEY don't like it!

Not paying attention to the opinions of respected peers is, frankly, stupid. Otherwise we'd be seeing horrible movies, bad TV shows,reading crap literature, buying defective cars, or having to sample over 2000 blends of tobacco, 800 different brews, 12,000 different wines, etc.

 

[dottiewarden]

tmb152
I agree with almost everything you said, but I constantly read opinions, however subjective they may be, and do try recommended blends and avoid not recommended blends. That said, I won't smoke Virginias(never tried a straight Virginia), but I buy them and keep them in the cellar because I know someday I'll learn to like smoke and enjoy them.
As far as having to try Borkum Riff just to find out if I like it or not - it probably won't happen.
I can live with myself never having tried Borkum Riff!
Note:

Like you, I avoided aros at first but by keeping an open mind I now enjoy aros between delicious bowls of English blends and the odd bowl of a Burley.

 

[aldecaker]

Wow. I actually like the taste of Borkum Riff Bourbon. I hate the fact that it burns wet, and you have to nursemaid it so that it doesn't bite like hell, but the flavor is one I like. Smokeability gets a zero, but the flavor gets a solid 7. Can't have have it all with every blend, I guess.
Super Value Cherry Cavendish is probably the taste I disliked the most.

 

[dottiewarden]

Smokeability gets a zero,

That convinces me!
I'll stick to a baccy that has good smoking qualities.

 

[aldecaker]

@Dot- Oh, I don't blame you a bit! I only smoke it on the rare occasions I am in the mood for that particular odd-but-pleasant flavor. It's available in the local grocery stores, so I just grab a pouch on a whim about once a year.

 

[peckinpahhombre]

I have only ever dumped one bowl to the best of my memory, and that was semois. It was like smoking well used, sweaty gym socks. Just awful.

 

[hawky454]

I have only ever dumped one bowl to the best of my memory, and that was semois. It was like smoking well used, sweaty gym socks. Just awful.

Mmmmm, it's sooooo tasty! Like a fine cheese.