Would Need Some Help Finding the Flavours, or Tobaccos with Strong Flavour.

[workman]

The one thing that nobody has mentioned that has made a huge difference to me is finding the best moisture level to coax out the flavors. Too much moisture masks flavors. Certain blenders, like Gawith, tin with a lot of water and their blends perform better for me with some drying out. English/Balkan/Oriental blends are flavor powerhouses compared with Virginias. I mostly smoke Virginias, VaPers, and Va/Burs, and learning the optimal moisture level at which to smoke a blend has made a huge difference, especially as I'm also strictly an outdoor pipe smoker. Add the snork to finding the best moisture level and eventually you'll be picking up a lot of flavors from the blends you choose to smoke.

I agree completely, and I'd like to add that in most cases, optimal humidity is a lot dryer than in the tin. So for starters, my advice would be to dry your tobacco quite a lot before smoking.

 

[boston]

Dan old ironsides and Cornell and diehl Mississippi mud come to mind as tobacco's with a great deal of flavor. There are many more I'm sure, and I agree with the comment on ennerdale.

 

[sittingbear]

I'd recommend finding two or three samples from each "family" of tobacco and learning the hallmarks of each family: Virginia, Burley, Dark Fired, English, Oriental, Balkan, etc. For example, if you smoke enough Virginias, you'll begin to taste the "grassy" or "citrus" notes as compared to the "nutty" or "chocolatey" notes of Burley blends. Just try to get a solid understanding of each type in and of themselves and it will help you when you encounter them as components in more complex blends.

Some recommendations are:

Virginia: Capstan Blue, Dunhill (now Peterson) Flake, Sutliff Virginia Flake

VaPer: Stokkebye Luxury Navy Flake, Haddo's Delight

Burley: Old Joe Krantz, Haunted Bookshop, any of the C&D Burley Flakes, Lane Ltd Ready Rubbed

Dark Fired: Old Dark Fired, Bold Kentucky, Irish Flake

English: Nightcap. 'Nuff said.

Balkan: Balkan Sobranie, Balkan Sasieni, Mountain Camp.

The more blends you smoke, the more you will be able to distinguish between them. Have fun!

 

[Idahojoe]

It will come to you, just keep smoking.
It took me awhile to fully taste and appreciate English blends.
Now, I can't live with out my Plum Pudding!

 

[cosmicfolklore]

We had/have a member (I am really bad at remembering names)(I think he had a black dog as his avatar)... but he had a suggestion that was an excellent way to learn to detect flavors, and that was to smoke two pipes with two different blends at the same time. Lightly sip the smoke on one, set it down, sip on the other, and think about the differences. It really helps. Smoke the bowls completely like that.

New smokers tend to generalize the aromas, and memory from one blend to another, even if smoked one after the other, tend to get muddy with an hour or so. So, smoking two at once gives you the ability to learn to taste differences. This is the first step to detecting subtle citrusy flavors or nutty flavors latter one.

Also, I have found that smoking the same blend, side by side with two different pipes is also a great way to taste the differences the pipe (or quality of the briar) makes on the smoke.

I resisted trying the two pipes at once thing, but when I finally broke down and tried it, I found it intriguing. Give it a shot.