Do You Ever Smoke A Cheap Drug Store Tobacco?

[AJ]

This morning when I first got up I was craving some Sir Walter Raleigh tobacco. I have a closet full of fine top grade tobacco that any tobacco snob on the planet would be proud to own but here lately I've been smoking more and more Sir Walter Raleigh and Carter Hall. I bought a 14 oz tin of each two months ago and have already smoked 1/2 of the SRW and about 1/3 of the CH. This is in addition to my regular blends. Why? I still like my Va.'s, Aromatics, and Lakelands. One of my favorite smokes is a 50/50 mix of Three Friars and SWR. I can't seem to get enough of the cheap stuff. Do any of you like any of the Drug Store blends and have them in your regular rotation? Why are you smoking them? Do you prefer them over the more expensive blends? Give me your thoughts on this.

AJ

 

[Richard Burley]

Yes. I do. Plain old American burley is what pipe smoking is all about, to my mind. (Plain with topping, maybe...hee, hee. I think it may be the "sauce" that  I am actually liking. But I don't care.) The "foreign" exotics are mere indulgences. And much as I like some Virginias, I don't consider myself really into them, although McClelland really comes close to seducing me with their awesome products. I think they're the best, quality-wise, ever since I opened my first can. But my preference is Revelation clones, the zenith of the tobacco blender's art. Burley, Virginia, a touch of perique and latakia, with a fruit sauce. JMO, etc. But the plain-Janes are good, too.

(Speaking of which, why the hell can't I get SWR to burn? Much as I like the "natural" taste, that is one tobacco I just can't seem to master. A friend's father, a British expatriate, chain-smoked it, even when pushing a lawn mower. I've always admired the image and devotion.)

But these tobaccos won't do for the typical smoker of today, IMO. People who can only smoke outdoors on their own deck if they're downwind of the neighbor once or twice a day or week need something that will slam their skulls, and not some bland crap from yesteryear. Can't say I blame them; it feels good.  :drunken:

 

[PeterD]

...I've all ways smoked OTC/Drug Store tobaccos...or at least kept them around...While my preference is for stronger matured plugs/flakes, especially the dark plug tobaccos, I enjoy the older OTC Brands.

In the last few years I have gone back to smoking on a regular basis tobaccos like PA, CH, SWR, Granger, Velvet, Players, etc. and have re-acquainted myself with some of the match tobaccos but find most of them do not have much in common with the originals...

I do not believe in finding the "one" right tobacco...rather there are many good tobaccos and it will always be a journey of discovery that is part of the pipe smoking experience.

...just my $.02...

 

[AJ]

Richard I'm betting you're packing your SWR too tight. Being a small cut leaf it is very easy to over pack it. Try filling your bowl using the gravity method then use just a light tamping before lighting. Let me know how it works. It's a too good of a tobacco not to have the opportunity to enjoy every bowl without constant relights. For me it's one of the few blends that I don't have to relight several times.

I think the simplicity is one of the factors that makes this blend so good. It's just a good plain burley with enough nutty sweetness to keep me wanting to come back for more and more and more and...

Like you find I McClelland blends at the very top of my favorite tobacco list. 5100 RC, FMC 2000, Tudor Castle, and Matured Va. # 25 for me represents the best they have to offer. Of course Blackwoods, Dark Star, and St. James Woods rank pretty high too. Actually I like pretty much anything they produce.

AJ

 

[AJ]

I do not believe in finding the "one" right tobacco...rather there are many good tobaccos and it will always be a journey of discovery that is part of the pipe smoking experience.

...just my $.02...

Well put Peter. I've already discovered too many that are terrific blends to settle down to just one.

AJ

 

[RobJ]

I buy a little CH now and then but otherwise no. I do regularly enjoy the new (Sutliff) EGR and wish SWR Special Mixture was still around, if I could get that OTC I'd buy it.

 

[AJ]

I buy a little CH now and then but otherwise no. I do regularly enjoy the new (Sutliff) EGR and wish SWR Special Mixture was still around, if I could get that OTC I'd buy it.

Rob I've never heard of a SRW Special Mixture. Caan you tell me about it?

AJ

 

[RobJ]

It was the first non-aro I ever smoked and was recommended by an at the time ('73?) older/experienced piper. It was a basic burley with a nice sweetness. I used to buy it by the large can. When I moved to AZ, late '70s, I sort of got away from it and on to other blends. I have no idea when it disappeared.

 

[puros_bran]

I have a jar of 7 year old Carter Hall, Prince Albert 50/50 mix.

I bought the tobacco wanting to like it.    I just really don't. There's a chemical taste I keep detecting, Same with the rest of the OTC stuff.  I really wanted to like Captian Black and can smoke it but the late room note/pipe ghost really bothers me.  

Pops smoked Carter Hall all day long with a bowl of 'good' tobacco like Penzance, 965, McC 2015, or Frog Morton before bed.

 

[AJ]

I have a jar of 7 year old Carter Hall, Prince Albert 50/50 mix.

I bought the tobacco wanting to like it.    I just really don't. There's a chemical taste I keep detecting, Same with the rest of the OTC stuff.  I really wanted to like Captian Black and can smoke it but the late room note/pipe ghost really bothers me.  

Pops smoked Carter Hall all day long with a bowl of 'good' tobacco like Penzance, 965, McC 2015, or Frog Morton before bed.

I've noticed the chemical taste in Prince Albert and Half&Half but I haven't tasted any in SWR or CH. It was so bad in the H&H that I threw the whole 14 oz can in the garbage minus the bowl that I tried to smoke. It got dumped in the yard.

AJ

 

[JimInks]

I have a jar of 7 year old Carter Hall, Prince Albert 50/50 mix.

I bought the tobacco wanting to like it.    I just really don't. There's a chemical taste I keep detecting, Same with the rest of the OTC stuff.  I really wanted to like Captian Black and can smoke it but the late room note/pipe ghost really bothers me.  

Pops smoked Carter Hall all day long with a bowl of 'good' tobacco like Penzance, 965, McC 2015, or Frog Morton before bed.

I've noticed the chemical taste in Prince Albert and Half&Half but I haven't tasted any in SWR or CH. It was so bad in the H&H that I threw the whole 14 oz can in the garbage minus the bowl that I tried to smoke. It got dumped in the yard.

AJ

I agree about the chemical taste in PA and H&H (Velvet, too), but I have noticed it a little here and there in Carter Hall, too. Never noticed it in SWR. As for OTC's, for years SWRA was the only one I smoked, but in recent years, I found SWR to be very enjoyable, too. Still have five tubs of SWRA here. I remember when Amphora Red and Brown were sold in the US and I smoked a bit of that, and would again (at least the Brown) if it was still sold here. I have a few pouches of AB, and am almost finished with one. Really good stuff. Have a couple of AR, too.

As AJN knows, I like Heine's Blend and think it's an under rated OTC. And of course, EGR is my favorite, see. Myeah!

 

[RDPipes]

I did a few times.........till I found where they kept the good stuff and never went back.

 

[Brewdude]

I do like PA, but usually when breaking in a new pipe. CH was always too bland for me, and never tried any of the other OTC Burley blends.

Hey, it is what it is.

<shrug>


Cheers,

RR

 

[DrumsAndBeer]

I enjoy a bit of Carter Hall here and there. Don't detect a chemical taste in it, although I definitely got that flavor from SWR which I hated.

 

[Richard Burley]

I think I like, or may even be addicted to, that "chemical" taste in some OTCs, if we're talking about the same thing. I'm not sure exactly what it means, though. Everything is chemical. What type of chemicals are we talking about? Something artificial, perhaps? The old Bond Street, later Bourbon Street, to cite one example, was disgusting if you only smoked one bowl. You had to get used to it, then the taste became the expected, I guess, after a few more bowls. I actually came to like it, even crave it. I suspect sorcery, not chemicals, though one may not exclude the other.

 

[monbla256]

Until straight Burley or blends that were Burley favored started effecting me negatively, ie, MASSIVE sneezing and bite, I a few years ago, the one OTC that I used to always have around was Granger. This was what I started smoking back in 'Nam in '69 and fund it one of the best OTC's that I smoked. Since so many of the OTC's on the US market seem to be Burley based I no longer smoke any of them. This where our British bro's have it over us with blend/mixtures such as Condor, St. runo and such are Va based!! Wish we could get those easier over here !! :twisted: :twisted:

 

[AJ]

I think I like, or may even be addicted to, that "chemical" taste in some OTCs, if we're talking about the same thing. I'm not sure exactly what it means, though. Everything is chemical. What type of chemicals are we talking about? Something artificial, perhaps? The old Bond Street, later Bourbon Street, to cite one example, was disgusting if you only smoked one bowl. You had to get used to it, then the taste became the expected, I guess, after a few more bowls. I actually came to like it, even crave it. I suspect sorcery, not chemicals, though one may not exclude the other.

Richard I can only speak for myself but what I say is a chemical taste isn't the tobacco itself but whatever it is tastes like what a bag of 10-10-10 fertilizer smells like when first opened. Half & Half was the worst offender for me. I find it interesting how each of us have found this taste in one blend or another and not in some of the other blends. I guess that just shows how different our tatstes are individually.

AJ

 

[AJ]

Until straight Burley or blends that were Burley favored started effecting me negatively, ie, MASSIVE sneezing and bite, I a few years ago, the one OTC that I used to always have around was Granger. This was what I started smoking back in 'Nam in '69 and fund it one of the best OTC's that I smoked. Since so many of the OTC's on the US market seem to be Burley based I no longer smoke any of them. This where  our British bro's have it over us with blend/mixtures such as Condor, St. runo and such are Va based!! Wish we could get those easier over here !! :twisted: :twisted:

Michael it's a shame you developed an allergy to Burley blends. They really are tasty. However because of your allergy you have concentrated on Va.'s and from that discovered some great tobacco. From those discoveries you have recommended to me many of my favorite blends. I guess I've really benefitted from your malady. See it all works out in the end. :twisted: :twisted:

AJ

 

[puros_bran]

If I must be absolutely specific Richard:  I taste Methlyethylketonedurite  used in Sherwin Williams paints from the Baltimore Maryland facility in the burley mixture I have.  

Yes everything is a chemical, smart ass. :evil:  <~~Internet version of stank eye.

 

[deathmetal]

I taste Methlyethylketonedurite  used in Sherwin Williams paints from the Baltimore Maryland facility in the burley mixture I have.

Interesting.

Breathing air when making or using products that contain MEK. Product examples include paints, glues, coatings or cleaning agents. Breathing MEK can also happen near waste sites polluted with MEK. You can be exposed by breathing cigarette smoke or sniffing glue. - DHSS

MEK is also found in tobacco smoke and volatile releases from building materials and consumer products (ATSDR, 1992). WHO (1992) estimated levels of daily MEK intake from different sources as follows: foodstuffs – 1,590 µg/day; drinking water (2 liters) – 3.2 µg/day; rural outdoor air – 36 µg/day; urban outdoor air #760 µg/day; and tobacco smoke #1,620 µg/day. - EPA

Looks like we're awash in it anyway.