Found a shop today that had about 40 jars of special blend tobaccos along with several tin tobaccos right after I just made a massive online order damn.
Shop was 1 town over and they informed me there opening up another shop less than half mile from my house next month pretty stoked
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@Nicfit A cigar shop owner calling pipe smokers picky is peak irony
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Right Tell me about it!
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That sounds fantastic. I would have to travel an hour or so and go into a city which I try to avoid these days.
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I am primarily a pipe smoker, with snuff being a secondary interest. Personally I favor Virginias and VaPers. Like some burley now and then. English when I’m in the mood but not that often. I have some aromatics and codgers around for such times as I might be around others. There seems to be a near infinite variety of blends which is nice.
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I’m a bit over budget right now but I’ve saved his shop for future reference. Thanks.
@HillDweller You’ve got good taste!
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Tobacco recommendations? Depends on your tongue, your temperament, and the temperature.
Personally, I tend toward the smokey, English blends like Ten Russians and Night Cap. These might be considered ‘heavy,’ and ‘full,’ but very satisfying. Great fall and winter blends. My all time favorite, desert island blend isn’t English, but it’s strong and satisfying and tasty: War Horse Green. A good spring and summer blend. Some folks don’t like the anise topping but man, it’s really killer. Especially in a cob.
Now, if you want a tasty, balanced blend with a lot of complexity and low to mid nicotine, give Maltese Falcon and Early Morning Pipe a shot. Maltese is great for winter and fall, Early Morning is good year round. These are English blends, too. And as for rotating tobaccos according to the season, if you pipe long enough, you may see what I mean. Or maybe it’s all in my head. But it sits right with me.
If you want a Balkan blend, you might consider White Knight. That’s a good blend for spring.
Aromatics you say? Country Squire had a blend called Old Toby, I forget what it’s called now (they renamed their Fantasy series recently) and it’s the BEST aromatic I’ve had the good fortune of piping. Like vanilla ice cream in a hot chocolate waffle cone. Their Northwest Trek is also good.
Just picked up a tin of 1792, haven’t tried it yet, but I look forward to cracking it open here shortly. As for snuffs…well, I tend to have two or three days on snuff, then a day or two with a pipe, and rotate it accordingly. For some reason, if I have both on the same day I feel seek the next day. But happy piping and snuffing, and I hope this helps. Feel free to reach out for other recommendations or if you just want to chat about tobac!
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Nightcap was the first tinned tobacco I tried and instantly fell in love with the smell straight out of the tin. Now since I’m new to the pipe what exactly constitutes an English blend? War Horse Green was one that caught my eye I bought about 20 different bulk tobaccos 1oz each to see what I am fond of the most. Morning Bayou and vanilla blends I am really liking. I also got a tin of Cult Blood red moon which I like a lot. I do notice maybe because I’ve been smoking pretty much non stop when I get home from work that my tongue has been very raw.
Mixing them has proven to be very enjoyable as well
Now the pipe I have is a Stetson syncromatic Italy is there a name or is it a style for the screw in stem? I am finding my self constantly unscrewing it and blowing out either saliva or heat moisture I’ve heard aros wet up the pipe as well so are there some pipes better than others for aromatics?
I’ve also not dried any Kentucky Fired tobaccos. I tried straight burley and straight Virginia seemed pretty unpleasant I’m pretty sure those are best off being mixed with other tobaccos. 4th Gen evening Flake also seemed dull. But the more I smoke and go back I noticed my pallet is getting better since at first they all tasted the same to me. Keep in mind I’m only in my first month of pipe smoking. I quick cigarettes back in October but still Dip, Snuff, Pipe and vape
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As to your first question, English blends tend to be associated with a Virginia base balanced by Latakia and occasionally Oriental tobacco. They tend to be smokier, but this isn’t a hard and fast rule. Think of English blends typically being more like stouts and porters of the tobacco world.
Now, you mention your tongue getting raw, this is called tongue bite, and can be avoided. I almost never get tongue bite anymore.
First and foremost, remember tongue bite can be caused by not packing the bowl properly, either too loosely or too tightly. Watch a few videos on proper packing by Once Upon a Pipe. Additionally, you may not be lighting the bowl properly, ‘sucking’ the flame down into the tobacco which dries it out and so the taste is worsened and more likely to burn the tongue. So just lightly, and briefly, bring a flame over the tobacco while drawing gently, lightly, delicately, on the pipe until the top is gray and curled. Tamp with a nail or pipe tool and light again, drawing gently and sipping.
How you draw from the pipe, your rhythm, will factor into tongue bite as well as what kind of tobacco you consume. Virginias tend to burn hot. Aromatics tend to more on the moist or wet side and thereby produce steam, and, chemical burns. Heck, could be the pipe. You will eventually want a thick Salvinelli or Peterson standard system pipe. They’re spendy but hands down the best pipes in my collection. I smoke them exclusively. On the cheaper side, and still fun and respectable, are Missouri Meerschaum corn cobs. They’re cheap, absorb the heat well, and come in all fun shapes and sizes. Everyone should have at least one or two in their collection. I would say a corn cob could be dedicated to a favorite aromatic blend…but again, if you’re serious about piping, invest in a Peterson. Go to a brick and mortar store and try them out. Hold them, ask questions.
This said, no matter what, routinely clean your pipes. Plenty of videos on how to deep clean and light clean the pipe. Take care of it. Don’t remember stem while hot. Run a pipe cleaner through it a couple times after every other use. If you haven’t already, watch Muttonchop Piper’s ‘tutorial’ videos, maybe these will be helpful for you.
Blends are the way to go, but I like complexity. Once you find a good five or six tobaccos you enjoy, cellar them. In other words, get mason jars with canning ‘pop up’ lids and throw your blends into individual, various sized jars. They’ll keep for a good, long while and not dry out. In fact, they’ll actually get BETTER. Which, by the photos you posted, I see you’re already doing. Excellent!
You have a good long journey ahead of you piping, if you stick with it. Twenty-five years ago, I picked up piping and dropped it after a few months, no particular reason. But I picked it up again (along with snuff) and it’s joined my daily rhythm. Extremely relaxing and fun.
On a side note, I heard Mac BarenHH Old Dark Fired is great, though I haven’t gotten there myself.
Forgive me if you already know all this stuff! Just trying to help.
Stay in touch!
And happy piping
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My favorite pipes are also Peterson System pipes, I have almost all of the standard shapes and some specialty ones. They are the most genius pipe design there is. Followed by Savinelli pipes with the 6mm balsa wood filters. Savinelli now makes a system pipe with the 6mm balsa wood filter so you get the best of both worlds with those pipes, I dont have one but I want one.
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As for English blends they are a mix of Virginia, Oriental and Latakia(latakia is technically Oriental tobacco too), the amounts and types they use vary greatly from blend to blend and for every kind of tobacco there is an English blend that has that tobacco in it. There is English blends that have Burley, Perique, cigar leaf, dark fired and so on.
If you want a “real mans” smoke get yourself some Petersons Irish Flake it is my all time favorite blend and I have a pipe dedicated to it. It is good and strong and tastes like pure baccy bliss, when I first smoked it I though “this is what I imagined pipe tobacco would taste like when I first started”. You are going to want to google how to fold flakes because they taste way better folded then rubbed out but it is a pain to get it lit and keep it lit, takes more skill to smoke folded flakes but it is worth the effort to learn.
Also as your pipe collection grows you are going to want to start dedicating pipes. You want a pipe for Virginia, another one for English blends and so forth. As you smoke the same kind of tobacco in a pipe the flavours of that tobacco will start to saturate into the pipe and those blends will have more flavour when smoked out of that pipe. Also certain blends will ghost a pipe and ruin the flavour of any other blend you smoke in that pipe. Once you have enough pipes you want to start dedicating them to your favorites like I did with Irish Flake.
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As for straight Virgina blends I dont touch them for at least 5 years. Virginia is so highly prized among pipe smokers because of how well it ages. Virginia has the highest sugar content of any tobacco which is why it burns so hot but fresh Virginia tastes like hay. As it ages the sugars are released and start to concentrate and crystallize making it taste sweet, the more sugar that crystallizes the sweeter it gets. I dont smoke my Va’s until they are covered in sugar crystals its an entirely different smoke from the fresh stuff.
Tried to take pics of the the crystal covered tobacco to show you guys what I mean but the sparkley crystals dont show on camera. When you move it around in the light the tobacco sparkles as if covered in microscopic diamonds. What does show on camera is the big time sugar that has developed on blends I have been aging for over 10 years.
This is some G&H Bright CR Flake jarred in 2011(They dont press their flakes enough and they fall apart when you age them). That yellowish stuff caking it is big time sugar that has been stained yellow from the tobacco juices around it. You can see how many people mistake this for mold or mildew but its sugar, it smells sweet and my fingers are sticky after touching it. Aged Virginia has a distinctive naturally sweet smell that is so delicious you almost want to eat it, any blend that has a decent amount of Va will start to get this smell when the sugars in the Va start crystallizing.
This is some SG Navy Flake jarred in 2010, you can clearly see the layer of Va in this flake as it is caked in sugar.
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