What Pipe Tobacco Are You Smoking Today ?

[DaveProc]

so many options and so many listed here. As for your personal preferences; what personally do you look for in a tobacco? why do particular blends appeal to you? How do you choose your Tobacco and what makes it good?

Oh Boy. I'm not sure how to answer this. I have been smoking a pipe for 30 years and my tastes in tobacco and pipe have changed considerably since thenn. I think it is very personal to the smoker and the only way I found what I prefer was by trial and error. For me, it is based on room note and flavor. My Uncles and great grandfather were pipe smokers and smoked various inexpensive black Cavendish blends so I have a tendency to be drawn to them from either familiarity or nostalgia, or both. I was lucky to have a close friend who worked for years at the local tobacconist that introduced me to a myriad of flavours.
It's like asking what your favorite adult beverage and why.
In my youth it was PBR and vodka, because they got me there quickly, then the micro brew faze of the 90s, now at my age I have whatever floats my boat at the time. PBR one night, 30 year old single malt another night.
With pipe tobacco, some days it's Captain Black in a cheap corncob file mowing the back forty on the tractor, next day it's Lane Ltd in a high end Peterson on the front porch.
The bottom line is, for me, I am always trying new blends and then smoking what suits my mind at the time. It is a very individual personal choice and no choice is wrong. Find what YOU like , not what someone tells you that you should like. You will know it when you find it. And then at some point your tastes will most likely change, as comes with age, so it will stay interesting.

 

[Scooterz]

We need @bowlerman @DaveProc @Mm25 @hatsRme & @Scooterz from the Hats section to weigh in. And I'm sure I'm forgetting someone.

Like Jack I started with Grapevine and some of the Virginias seem too much like cigarettes to me. A few blends actually help me breather easier. Like a moist heat breathing treatment, which surprised the heck out of me. It was really odd to be able to breathe freely through my nose all night. I didn't realize until I smoked certain blends how I was a little congested just from allergies even when I was not smoking for a long time. The ones that are too much like cigarettes set off my allergies. I should keep a log of which blends really seem to open up my sinuses.
Anyhow I do have some english blends but I also smoke some aromatics. My favorite blends are Autumn Evening, Chocolate Moose by Sutliff I think, Aged Maduro Cavendish, Lane LQ1, Dunhill Nightcap, Russ's Cavendish in the Woods, Erin Go Braugh. I do not think a lot about why I like certain blends. I like to experiment. I sometimes also toss any leftover bits of tobacco, when I grab a little too much to pack my bowl, and put them in a jar I have labeled Catchall. They generally seem to blend together well. Occasionally I try that and its not bad but it is mainly a backup stash should more of blends I like be discontinued. I have quite a few, mostly aromatics, that I bought early on that I really do not ever open, they have also been relegated to backup status. I keep them in smaller mason jars. I would have been smarter to stick to the main ones I like in larger bulk but experimenting is how I found some of the ones I really like. That Chocolate Moose really tastes like it smells and it is like smelling a really good chocolate cake. It is like a desert tobacco.

 

[Edward Reed]

Like Jack I started with Grapevine and some of the Virginias seem too much like cigarettes to me. A few blends actually help me breather easier. Like a moist heat breathing treatment, which surprised the heck out of me. It was really odd to be able to breathe freely through my nose all night. I didn't realize until I smoked certain blends how I was a little congested all the time just from allergies even when I was not smoking any. The ones that are too much like cigarettes set off my allergies. I should keep a log of which blends really seem to open up my sinuses.
Anyhow I do have some english blends but I also smoke some aromatics. My favorite blends are Autumn Evening, Chocolate Moose by Sutliff I think, Aged Maduro Cavendish, Lane LQ1, Dunhill Nightcap, Russ's Cavendish in the Woods, Erin Go Braugh. I do not think a lot about why I like certain blends. I like to experiment. I sometimes also toss any leftover bits of tobacco, when I grab a little too much to pack my bowl, and put them in a jar I have labeled Catchall. They generally seem to blend together well. Occasionally I try that and its not bad but it is mainly a backup stash should more of blends I like be discontinued. I have quite a few, mostly aromatics, that I bought early on that I really do not ever open, they have also been relegated to backup status. I keep them in smaller mason jars. I would have been smarter to stick to the main ones I like in larger bulk but experimenting is how I found some of the ones I really like. That Chocolate Moose really tastes like it smells and it is like smelling a really good chocolate cake. It is like a desert tobacco.

Very cool! Thanks for that. Very interesting about the opening of the sinuses! Ill keep a point in looking for that as i also have a bit of allergies issues this time of year which leads to a bit of sleep apnea of sorts. And who the heck doesn’t like chocolate cake?!

 

[Edward Reed]

Oh Boy. I'm not sure how to answer this. I have been smoking a pipes for 30 years and my tastes in tobacco and pipe have changed considerably since thenn. I think it is very personal to the smoker and the only way I found what I prefer was by trial and error. For me, it is based on room note and flavor. My Uncles and great grandfather were pipe smokers and smoked various inexpensive black Cavendish blends so I have a tendency to be drawn to them from either familiarity or nostalgia, or both. I was lucky to have a close friend who worked for years at the local tobacconist that introduced me to a myriad of flavours.
It's like asking what your favorite adult beverage and why.
In my youth it was PBR and vodka, because they got me their quickly, then the micro brew faze of the 90s, now at my age I have whatever floats my boat at the time. PBR one night, 30 year old single malt another night.
With pipe tobacco, some days it's Captain Black in a cheap corncob file mowing the back forty on the tractor, next day it's Lane Ltd in a high end Peterson on the front porch.
The bottom line is, for me, I am always trying new blends and then smoking what suits my mind at the time. It is a very individual personal choice and no choice is wrong. Find what YOU like , not what someone tells you that you should like. You will know it when you find it. And then at some point your tastes will most likely change, as comes with age,so it will, stay interesting.

Good point! I have some great directions now with these ideas! I totally get your point on changing of tastes and the association to nostalgia as well. I think this is also why I’m on a search. .. kind of looking for that childhood memory of being around my dad’s friends when they came over for a friendly card game and they smoked pipes. I really enjoyed the scent.

 

[Hurricane Jack]

My Uncles and great grandfather were pipe smokers and smoked various inexpensive black Cavendish

Same thing here. My dad, most all my uncles, grandfather & a couple of his brothers & even one of his sister-in-laws were pipesmokers. Drug store pipes & drug store tobacco.

That Chocolate Moose really tastes like it smells and it is like smelling a really good chocolate cake.

I used to keep a tin or two of aeros for around the holidays or when I would be outdoors around others. Peterson had one that was a good holiday chestnuts roasting kind of thing. But once I got a two ounce sample of Christmas Cookie. Not for me, I gave it away.

 

[Mm25]

We need @bowlerman @DaveProc @Mm25 @hatsRme & @Scooterz from the Hats section to weigh in. And I'm sure I'm forgetting someone.

Thanks for tagging me in Jack.
I am a big fan of Latakia and perique. Dunhil (now Peterson 965 and nightcap) are both good. The Frog Morton series are good (especially the bayou). Various Solani tins have never disappointed me, same with many Cornell and Diehl blends. Currently, I have pulled an old tin Orlik golden sliced. It’s quite sweet, but delicious and “smoked by all shrewd judges” of course.
Shown with a fore and aft cap, a Preben Holm free hand and an Ardor.

 

[TREEMAN]

Black Frigate......

 

[Hurricane Jack]

McClelland's Scottish Woods, a favorite regardless of season.

 

[DaveProc]

Black Frigate and rare pic without a hat

 

[DaveProc]

Sutliffe Rum Raisin yesterday.

 

[Harp]

The original Frog Morton.

I need to get to Iwan Reis on Wabash for some Danish Comoy's Cask #9, a spiced Virginia blend.

 

[TREEMAN]

Eliz. Mixture …

 

[Hurricane Jack]

Last night a bowl of SPC's Mississippi River Crumble Cake in a MM Freehand cob. Sipping tequila on the side.

 

[Kid Mac]

McClelland Virginia #24 in a Peterson meerschaum Dublin.

 

[Harp]

A bit of Old Toby. The best pipeweed in the south farthing.

Kidding. It's just some stuff from Virginia.

A leprechaun's pipe.

 

[Bushman]

A leprechaun's pipe.

They're after me Lucky Charms!

 

[TREEMAN]

University Flake…

 

[RudyN]

I am a Boswell Pipe Tobacco fan. Today I had some Boswell Military Force and tomorrow it will be Boswell Titus. It will be other Boswell Tobaccos that I like when I make up my next order.

 

[dubpynchon]

James Fox Dorisco in a Savinelli Lancelot. In Ireland we don’t get a lot of choices in pipe tobacco, we only have two shops selling it, and we can’t import tobacco from the EU due to the price difference. I smoke Mick McQuaid otherwise, it’s a straight old-fashioned Virginia, strong to me but I’ve only been smoking since Christmas. Mick McQuaid smells pretty good too actually.

 

[Harp]

University Flake…

...back in college I had a professor who smoked Captain Black inside his office; specialized in Japanese
History and Literature...one afternoon I sat with him discussing my term paper subject, he casually
filled his pipe from the can, expertly lit his pipe, and effortlessly puffed away, then scribbled a list
of references for my paper. All before the computer age back in the day when library research
had to be done. None of these references were readily available at the university, didn't have time
to travel the town on some wild goose hunt. He subsequently scored scorched earth awarding
the proverbial gentleman's C for what I considered far more deserving, scrawling red ink across
the last page and citing my lack of any of his sources given. This was the singular C, usually it was
always Ace through the four year baccalaureate.

Whenever I see a Captain Black can it brings back this flake in full relief.