A few Questions from a nonsmoker NooB

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Noreaster

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Hello.

For some random reason, at the ripe old age of 45 I decided to tai up pipe smoking. Perhaps I will post more about this choice and some of my concerns later but for now, I am just trying to get a handle on the whole ritual and process.

I ordered a beginner pipe se online. It came with a Dr. Grabow pipe, a pouch of Borkum Riff whisky, a pouch of CB Royal an a tin of what looks to be a house brand of the store, "non aromatic" which neither looks nor smells appealing.

However, I couldn't wait for the package to come in the mail and I bought a corn cob and pouch of Half and Half.

Despite he fact that I didn't like the half and half the first time that I tried it (the first time I smoked anything since I bought a couple of Dominican Cigars five years ago) I have smoked it several times since. The very first thing that I though when I smoked it was "if I wanted to smoke cigarettes, I would have bought them"! The next couple of times it was better, but not good.

So, I would like to re-pourpose the corn cob to help me sift through the pile of aromatics that I have collected (a store blend that I think is most probably 1Q and a pouch of CBW. Is this realistic or is the pipe always going to have that fast lingering in it?

The other thing that I am looking to find out is if it is even worth it to try out the other Burley blends, particularly OTCs. The H&H is supposed to be half Virginia and tasted of Cigarettes, how "bad" would the others like Carter Hall or PA be?

I have read a on on this forum before joining. It seems like a knowledgeable and good group of guys.

ken
 
Welcome good sir.

The cob is a good choice for sampling. You will find that if you wipe out the bowl with a wad of papertowel (in addition to the regular cleaning of stem, shank and bowl with a pipe cleaner) and allow it to rest for a bit that ghosting (that is holding the flavour of the last smoked tobacco) is minimal.

As to your tobacco question, I have little experience with those particular tobaccos. However, soon enough someone else will chime in with some helpful information.

Enjoy your time around the board. 8)
 
I would nab another cob so you have one for your OTC burley blends and a second for aromatics like 1-Q, etc.. For $4.00 dollars you have pick up a MM Legend and not have to worry about ghosting. Cobs are fairly tough to ghost but I have some blends in my rotation that definitely leave their flavor profile behind in one.

I haven't smoked Half & Half, but I have had my fair share of Carter Hall and yeah, IMHO is tastes cigarette-like. A bit richer and more rounded out than your standard fare cancer stick, but the tobacco in CH tastes like it's cut from the same cloth.

If you like smoking burley and you want to experience a big jump in quality & flavor, I'd recommend Solani Aged Burley Flake, Wessex Burley Slice, Mac Baren Old Dark Fired, or a blend like GLP's Barbary Coast which is a burley forward mixture with some VA and perique in it. These don't taste like cigarettes. :cheers:

Oh, and welcome aboard.
 
Welcome, Ken! :cheers:

As far as the Cob, like kieveryuu said - wipe out the bowl and you're good to go. Cobs are very forgiving in this nature, no need to worry about it. You might want to pick up (or designate) another pipe to the non-aromatic blends. You said you have one that doesn't smell 'appealing', my guess is that it's and English blend. While the smell is not for everyone (my wife hates smelling them), they actually (IMHO) taste pretty good. Most of the blends that we smoke don't taste like they smell anyway...


Regarding OTCs - OTCs are just that. They are very available, very consistent, but most find them to be somewhat dull and boring. I personally enjoy a good bowl of Captain Black White or Royal once in a while, so for me this line would be an exception. Your results may vary, of course.


My suggestion to you would be to try some various store blends. Try a few aromatic (most likely Lane 1-Q) blends, and also try a few non-aromatic blends. It won't take long to figure out which ones are for you and which ones aren't. Once you get your results and decide on a particular direction you wish to go, let us know and we can point you to several blends that be right up your alley.

Tell you what - if you (so far) like aromatics, PM me your address and I'll send you a few samples to try. I'm one of the bigger aromatic fans on BoB, so this is not a problem.
 
Cigarette like flavor = flat and lacking body

I agree the Half & Half is flat.

You could immediately go to a full bodied tobacco but i recommend you go middle of the road to start out.

Try Frog Morton Across the Pond 3 times per week for 3 weeks. (about 1/2 tin) This is only to establish a middle of the road benchmark.

Then sample Aromatics, Virginias, Latakias....etc and compare back.
 
Welcome to the forums! I looks like the other brothers have given you pretty much the same advice I would have, so I'll just say I hope you enjoy your experimentation!

"T"
 
Thanks every one. Yes, so far I like the Aromatics. I have tried the CB Royal, the CB White that I picked up today, and the Store Blend (Called Cookies and Cream) that the owner said was made by Lane and described as "like the CB White, so I assume it's the Lane 1-Q. All variations on the same them I'm afraid.

My other pouches are the Half and Half and the Borkum Riff Whisky that I'll be trying in a few moments. I am scared by this since it had gotten so totally panned by the tobacco review crowd (although I have to admit that it smells nice sitting in the bowl waiting for me). The final tin is Hearth and Home Obsidian.

I looked up the Frog Morton Across the Pond and the description that I found mentions no Burley at all. If I understand correctly, most cigarettes are predominantly Burley. I would like to try a higher-end blend that tastes like "pipe" and not "but" to see what it should be like so I can tell which OTCs are OK to me. It might be that all non-aromatics are going to be too much like cigarettes to my taste, but I doubt it. I might try the Barbary Coast too. Sadly, my palate is not very developed at all right now so telling the difference is challenging.

Rob, I WILL be taking you up on your very generous offer! Thank you!
 
And the verdict is in: the BR is much nicer than the HH. It's almost sickly sweet though. I guess that can't be from the VA since there is "less" in there than in the HH.

edit: actually, after reading the packet, the BRW has MORE VA in i than H7H. Hum... I don't like the "whisky" taste to it though.

Now, if I could only find a way to keep the dang pipe LIT no matter what I was smoking....
 
Getting a good light just takes practice and more practice and patience. Also, getting a good light means coming to peace with the fact that there will always be relights. Only once I have smoke a bowl with one light and one relight. I did not try for it, nor do I try for it again. Unless you are wanting to be a competition smoker I would suggest that you take it for what it is and over time you will find that you get a rhythm for different pipe and blend combinations and your relights will be fewer but they will still be there. This can be a good thing too. Such as when you are having a nice whisky or beer or tea with your pipe and especially if you have good company. 8) Then you only notice the relights if your lighter is running out of fuel or you are low on matches. Obvious tip is obvious: have a few extra Bics around. ;)

Also, your palette will soon develop. It is another thing that comes with practice.

Keep enjoying process and you will find a richer experience with every new bowl.
 
I agree with the advice Rob and Kiever have thrown your way...I'd also say that if you're looking for a readily available "drug store" blend to complement whatever else you may be ordering, I find that Carter Hall is the way to go. It's not an aromatic which you are starting to enjoy, but it might be something to keep in mind.

Welcome aboard!
 
Almost 11hour later and I can't get that sickly-sweat taste out of my mouth! Yuck. I guess it might be its own version of tounge bite. It's not "real" tounge bite though. I'm new but Half and Half made sure that I got a good understanding of that piece of lingo right away. Oddly, I am more likely to throw away the BRW than the Half and Half

Carter Hall is deffinately on my list of things to try. there are SO many blends, boh OTC and "good ones" that I would have to retire and do nothing but smoke a pipe all day to sort them all out by trial and error!
 
Noreaster":256pcenf said:
Thanks every one. Yes, so far I like the Aromatics. I have tried the CB Royal, the CB White that I picked up today, and the Store Blend (Called Cookies and Cream) that the owner said was made by Lane and described as "like the CB White, so I assume it's the Lane 1-Q. All variations on the same them I'm afraid.

My other pouches are the Half and Half and the Borkum Riff Whisky that I'll be trying in a few moments. I am scared by this since it had gotten so totally panned by the tobacco review crowd (although I have to admit that it smells nice sitting in the bowl waiting for me). The final tin is Hearth and Home Obsidian.

I looked up the Frog Morton Across the Pond and the description that I found mentions no Burley at all. If I understand correctly, most cigarettes are predominantly Burley. I would like to try a higher-end blend that tastes like "pipe" and not "but" to see what it should be like so I can tell which OTCs are OK to me. It might be that all non-aromatics are going to be too much like cigarettes to my taste, but I doubt it. I might try the Barbary Coast too. Sadly, my palate is not very developed at all right now so telling the difference is challenging.

Rob, I WILL be taking you up on your very generous offer! Thank you!
Since you are enjoying Aromatics, there are two very nice Va based ones I would recommend ( and I smoke as well ) which have a nice naturally sweet Va base with a nice room note and the "flavoring" is not over done. They also smoke nice and cool and dry with NO wet dottle at the end, and they DON"T BITE!!. First ( and my fave of the two ) is Dan Tobacco's Milonga, and next I like Stanwell's Melange. From these you could moove to some of McClelland's Va's which are some of the NICEST smoking Va's out there ! JMHO :p
 
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