Your Own "Worst" Tobacco

Log in

SmokingPipes.com Updates

Watch for Updates Twice a Week

PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor

PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor

PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor

PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor

PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor

JoburgB2

Starting to Get Obsessed
Sep 30, 2024
262
981
Dundee, Scotland
Well, the worst I ever tried was Rooi Perd (“Red Horse” in Afrikaans). But it was my own fault. I experimented with it ”off label” out of curiosity. Have no idea if it is still available. It is a twist rope of dark oily brown chewing tobacco packed in a small round plastic disc. But I did not get it from a tobacconist. It was on the shelf in a Witwatersrand hardware store, in the garden chemicals and insecticides section. The shop assistant told me to plunk the rope of tobacco into a watering can, fill with a litre or two of water and allow it to soak for a few days. Then, sprinkle over the garden plants, roses, hydrangeas, etc. to repel the devouring caterpillars, aphids, whiteflies, Parktown Prawns, and what-have-you. It looked and smelled strong and lethal. I took a few slices off the end, rubbed it out, stuffed into a pipe, lit it, and nearly killed myself. Barf!
 

MisterBadger

Part of the Furniture Now
Oct 6, 2024
658
4,902
Ludlow, UK
Well, the worst I ever tried was Rooi Perd (“Red Horse” in Afrikaans). But it was my own fault. I experimented with it ”off label” out of curiosity. Have no idea if it is still available. It is a twist rope of dark oily brown chewing tobacco packed in a small round plastic disc. But I did not get it from a tobacconist. It was on the shelf in a Witwatersrand hardware store, in the garden chemicals and insecticides section. The shop assistant told me to plunk the rope of tobacco into a watering can, fill with a litre or two of water and allow it to soak for a few days. Then, sprinkle over the garden plants, roses, hydrangeas, etc. to repel the devouring caterpillars, aphids, whiteflies, Parktown Prawns, and what-have-you. It looked and smelled strong and lethal. I took a few slices off the end, rubbed it out, stuffed into a pipe, lit it, and nearly killed myself. Barf!
@JoburgB2 Dear God, man! You must have been really desperate for a smoke!
 

Searock Fan

Lifer
Oct 22, 2021
2,227
6,101
Southern U.S.A.
Raleigh has been my change of pace codger blend for years, but lately it's declined in quality and increased in price so I've been looking for something different.

I recently got hold of some Half and Half and gave it a try. Not bad, but not exactly what I wanted. Being a die hard experimenter I mixed Half and Half with Raleigh at 50/50. Interesting enough, the mix was better than either one. Go figure... puffy
 

MisterBadger

Part of the Furniture Now
Oct 6, 2024
658
4,902
Ludlow, UK
(NOTE: No disrespect whatever is intended in this post, either to the Supreme Being, fellow believers, or to Rattray's)

Despite the fact that is dawning on me, that a tobacco may require some time for one to learn to understand its ways, doesn't prior expectation also influence one's perception of a blend? A while ago, I read on tobaccoreviews.com a number of four-star rave write-ups of Rattray's Marlin Flake, including one which a devotee there even described as "the tobacco God smokes".

Having read that and filled with eagerness to try it I was, to say the least, rather disappointed in it, as in no other.

God, of course, being an eternal entity, probably does have the time to rub carefully, let dry a looong while and - eventually - stuff a couple of flakes into His celestial Meerschaum and wreathe Himself in the clouds that also enthrone Him, taking a slow inbreath of days to avoid its vicious bite in the meantime, in between endless relights (a plausible aetilology for lightning clouds)... however, this sinful, profane and ephemeral mortal is clearly not yet worthy of full communion with the empyrean smoke. Selah.
 
Oct 9, 2024
33
208
Ireland
I know this is a beloved blend but I just really dislike MacBaren Plumcake. This may very well be my boorish and inexperienced palate but I get practically no flavour from this blend. Just warm air with a very faint dusty taste.

Is this was "danish aromatics" are like? Can someone please let me know what type of blends to avoid if I don't like this type of thing?

DSC07486-2623373532.jpg
 

BingBong

Lifer
Apr 26, 2024
1,487
6,368
London UK
(NOTE: No disrespect whatever is intended in this post, either to the Supreme Being, fellow believers, or to Rattray's)

Despite the fact that is dawning on me, that a tobacco may require some time for one to learn to understand its ways, doesn't prior expectation also influence one's perception of a blend?
While I was still a Three Nuns man, I decided to try Marlin Flake as it was touted as a VaPer. Alas, it was heavily topped and had a cloying sweetness I couldn't bear. I finally finished the tin almost three years later.
 

Infantry23

Part of the Furniture Now
Nov 8, 2020
888
2,600
44
Smithsburg, Maryland
I know this is a beloved blend but I just really dislike MacBaren Plumcake. This may very well be my boorish and inexperienced palate but I get practically no flavour from this blend. Just warm air with a very faint dusty taste.

Is this was "danish aromatics" are like? Can someone please let me know what type of blends to avoid if I don't like this type of thing?

View attachment 345236
Oooh, I like Plumcake lol
 
  • Like
Reactions: Friendly Piper

MisterBadger

Part of the Furniture Now
Oct 6, 2024
658
4,902
Ludlow, UK
I know this is a beloved blend but I just really dislike MacBaren Plumcake. This may very well be my boorish and inexperienced palate but I get practically no flavour from this blend. Just warm air with a very faint dusty taste.

Is this was "danish aromatics" are like? Can someone please let me know what type of blends to avoid if I don't like this type of thing?
@Aylesbury Pike - Never tried it, matey, but I notice the tin blurb reads:

"Plumcake brings the thoughts back to old times, when the sailors onboard the sailing ships filled their pipe with good, satisfying tobacco and having the scent of tar and saltwater all around them. Bright Virginia tobaccos mixed with burley, a little original Mac Baren cavendish and just a touch of Latakia. On top of this masterly made blend original Jamaica Rum has been added to fulfill the impression. This blend is full bodied and rich, giving you the taste nuances of natural sweetness added with a slight taste of smoke, latakia and the distinctive aroma of sailor rum."

From what you say, you're halfway there already because you've gotten the "slight taste of smoke", but you've been missing the ambient perfumes of salt water and tar to have all around you. Tears and a chronically-uncleaned pipe might supply those deficiencies. Alternatively, I suggest you fill up your pipe with a good, satifying tobacco like those sailor men of olden times, leave the Plumcake in the tin and reflect that Worse Things Happen At Sea... :)
 

khiddy

Can't Leave
Jun 21, 2024
406
2,273
South Bend, Indiana
blog.hallenius.org
I know this is a beloved blend but I just really dislike MacBaren Plumcake. This may very well be my boorish and inexperienced palate but I get practically no flavour from this blend. Just warm air with a very faint dusty taste.

Is this was "danish aromatics" are like? Can someone please let me know what type of blends to avoid if I don't like this type of thing?

View attachment 345236
MacB Plumcake is one blend that bites the heck out of my tongue no matter how many efforts I've employed to avoid the bite (smoking in a P-Lip bit, using the breathe method, drinking cool water between the ever-so-slowly-spaced-out draws).

The jar has been banished to the back of my smoking drawer to reflect on what it's done.
 

FLDRD

Lifer
Oct 13, 2021
2,351
9,573
Arkansas
I know this is a beloved blend but I just really dislike MacBaren Plumcake. This may very well be my boorish and inexperienced palate but I get practically no flavour from this blend. Just warm air with a very faint dusty taste.

Is this was "danish aromatics" are like? Can someone please let me know what type of blends to avoid if I don't like this type of thing?

View attachment 345236
I haven't yet tried Plumcake, but I have had some ups and downs with Mac Baren blends.
Most recent was / is Navy Flake. I didn't like it for the first several bowls and couldn't "understand" it.
I left it in the square tin for about a month and due to the poor seal on them, it dried out considerably.
I'm now enjoying it much more, as it is easier to keep lit while smoking slowly and carefully.
That doesn't make it a favorite, but it sure has made it smokeable and I'll likely be able to finish the tin now.
Previously I was thinking of giving it away or tossing it.
You'll find many of us have similar experiences with blends of all types.
I say let it dry out some and go back to it. Could be a pleasant surprise?
 
Oct 9, 2024
33
208
Ireland
@Aylesbury Pike - Never tried it, matey, but I notice the tin blurb reads:

"Plumcake brings the thoughts back to old times, when the sailors onboard the sailing ships filled their pipe with good, satisfying tobacco and having the scent of tar and saltwater all around them. Bright Virginia tobaccos mixed with burley, a little original Mac Baren cavendish and just a touch of Latakia. On top of this masterly made blend original Jamaica Rum has been added to fulfill the impression. This blend is full bodied and rich, giving you the taste nuances of natural sweetness added with a slight taste of smoke, latakia and the distinctive aroma of sailor rum."

From what you say, you're halfway there already because you've gotten the "slight taste of smoke", but you've been missing the ambient perfumes of salt water and tar to have all around you. Tears and a chronically-uncleaned pipe might supply those deficiencies. Alternatively, I suggest you fill up your pipe with a good, satifying tobacco like those sailor men of olden times, leave the Plumcake in the tin and reflect that Worse Things Happen At Sea... :)
Thanks Mister Badger, I'll designate this as my "weeping and clenching" blend and see how I fair!

MacB Plumcake is one blend that bites the heck out of my tongue no matter how many efforts I've employed to avoid the bite (smoking in a P-Lip bit, using the breathe method, drinking cool water between the ever-so-slowly-spaced-out draws).

The jar has been banished to the back of my smoking drawer to reflect on what it's done.
I too have tried smoking it in many different ways and have been bitten by it only after chugging it at an obscene pace.

I haven't yet tried Plumcake, but I have had some ups and downs with Mac Baren blends.
Most recent was / is Navy Flake. I didn't like it for the first several bowls and couldn't "understand" it.
I left it in the square tin for about a month and due to the poor seal on them, it dried out considerably.
I'm now enjoying it much more, as it is easier to keep lit while smoking slowly and carefully.
That doesn't make it a favorite, but it sure has made it smokeable and I'll likely be able to finish the tin now.
Previously I was thinking of giving it away or tossing it.
You'll find many of us have similar experiences with blends of all types.
I say let it dry out some and go back to it. Could be a pleasant surprise?

Certainly a fine idea, I'll leave the lid off the tin for a day or so and see what that does, cheers.