Fuel your curious nature

[LilBastage]

We had a couple of very good days up here this past weekend. 35* and sunny made for pretty comfortable smoking outdoors. Of course, today it's below zero again.

I got to thinking about the tobacco I've been enjoying lately and I've come to a conclusion, I like pretty much everything! I really like latakia and I'm becoming more of a burley fan. Virginias are growing on me and I can't believe how good some of the aromatics are. About the only thing I've not enjoyed are a couple of the lakeland blends I've tried and the blend I tried with deertongue. Perhaps it's the routine that is present in the rest of my life that makes this variety so satisfying, I don't know. I do know that I like it!

There are a great number of VERY good tobaccos out there. I can only hope that the quality remains high as time passes. If you're restricting yourself to just one blend or just one type of blend give something new a try. I think it will help take your enjoyment of the pipe to a new level, even if you've been smoking for years.

 

[burro]

for many years i had a curious nature about pipe smoking, and to be honest, it almost
led to my giving up the pipe.

i think everyone goes through the experience of indulging themselves in the most
expensive and complicated "boutique" blends available. maybe TOO much.

if you have to analyze which pipe to smoke which blend with which lighter then to me
it's no longer relaxing. is this why you started smoking in the first place?

i really should have paid more attention to my grandfather, he really enjoyed smoking a pipe.

now i know why, he usually smoked a cob with a simple burley.

i'll try a boutique blend now and then in a expensive briar, but i still always come back
to my cob, smoking one of the "old codger" tobaccos like Prince Albert or Kentucky Club.
and it's good to be back home again.

 

[bilder]

We had a couple of very good days up here this past weekend. 35* and sunny made for pretty comfortable smoking outdoors. Of course, today it's below zero again.

I got to thinking about the tobacco I've been enjoying lately and I've come to a conclusion, I like pretty much everything! I really like latakia and I'm becoming more of a burley fan. Virginias are growing on me and I can't believe how good some of the aromatics are. About the only thing I've not enjoyed are a couple of the lakeland blends I've tried and the blend I tried with deertongue. Perhaps it's the routine that is present in the rest of my life that makes this variety so satisfying, I don't know. I do know that I like it!

There are a great number of VERY good tobaccos out there. I can only hope that the quality remains high as time passes. If you're restricting yourself to just one blend or just one type of blend give something new a try. I think it will help take your enjoyment of the pipe to a new level, even if you've been smoking for years.

What praytell, is deertongue and what baccy has it??

 

[LilBastage]

for many years i had a curious nature about pipe smoking, and to be honest, it almost
led to my giving up the pipe.

i think everyone goes through the experience of indulging themselves in the most
expensive and complicated "boutique" blends available. maybe TOO much.

if you have to analyze which pipe to smoke which blend with which lighter then to me
it's no longer relaxing. is this why you started smoking in the first place?

i really should have paid more attention to my grandfather, he really enjoyed smoking a pipe.

now i know why, he usually smoked a cob with a simple burley.

i'll try a boutique blend now and then in a expensive briar, but i still always come back
to my cob, smoking one of the "old codger" tobaccos like Prince Albert or Kentucky Club.
and it's good to be back home again.

I'm not smoking the latest and greatest in "boutique blends" nor am I smoking the most expensive blends. In fact, one of my favorites is Butternut Burley from pipesandcigars.com that costs $2.00/oz.

I also do not analyze which blend I smoke in what pipe. I keep my pipes very clean and I smoke whatever tobacco I want in them. I rarely have any problems with "ghosting" unless I've smoked a Lakeland blend or something that is heavily cased. I do keep the aromatics separate from the non-aromatics, but that's as far as it goes. The only pipes I smoke both aromatics and non aromatics in are my cobs.

It seems you have found your comfort zone and that's great. I've found mine, as well, and it involves enjoying as many different tobaccos as I can.

 

[LilBastage]

What praytell, is deertongue and what baccy has it??

Deer Tongue is an herb. I tried Old Tartan from the Hearth and Home series over at pipesandcigars.com which has this herb in it. It was absolutely not to my liking.

Apparently it is some wild form of vanilla (not sure if that's the case or not) and Bing Crosby loved it in his tobacco. There are other blends out there that use it, but I don't think I'll search them out after the initial taste of what I had.

ETA: Crooner from Cornell & Diehl also contains this herb.