Help a Noobie Out

[locke07]

Greetings!

I'm relatively new to pipe smoking and I was wondering what the community consensus was on what a new pipe smoker should try. Like I said I'm relatively new so some of the lingo goes over my head. I want to be fairly broad and not leave any type of tobacco out so I can find what I like.

So far I bought a 5 pack aromatic sampler because that's the advice I got from a fellow pipe smoker. I enjoyed them all, but to be honest they all seem to have a very similar smoke. Either a vanilla light whispy flavor or a richer darker chocolate flavoring. I'm interested in more aromatics and English/Virginias as well.

So I guess I'm looking for a a defacto you must try these list and where would you all suggest to purchase tobacco from? We don't have a real tobacconist where I live other than a "Cheap Tobacco" store. So what I buy will have to come from an online source.

I'm also interested in buying a new pipe so if anyone has an estate pipe they may be willing to sell I'd be interested.

Thanks in advance all

 

[St Fiacre]

If you are interested in Aromatics the best I can suggest would be JM Boswell. The Christmas Cookie is a favorite of many non-Aromatic smokers when they get a hankering for sweet. I really like the sweet tea from them which is neither vanilla nor chocolate like the above mentioned tobacco. It is sweet and sour with very little aftertaste. Also the flavor is very strong which is good for a beginning smoke. Also for $2.50 an ounce the price cannot be beat. Go to their website at http://www.boswellpipes.com/ and look under the tobbacco page for a complete list. Call them up and make an order they are super friendly too.

 

[Muddler]

You'll find it best ordering your tobacco online from places like www.pipesandcigars.com or www.smokingpipes.com - it's cheaper & the selection is vast. When I was a noob, I enjoyed two tobaccos immensely - Orlik Golden Sliced & Macbaren Navy Flake. They were a bridge to better things. I also suggest you try a tin each of Greg Pease's blends that are solidly representative of their genres:

Virginia - Union Square
Vaper - Embarcadero
English - Westminster

All of these tobaccos are readily available.

 

[puros_bran]

PM Sent...

Honestly I advise new smokers to steer clear of Aromatics.. They aren't forgiving of pack, puff rate, and if you later decide against them you've tainted your pipes for a pretty good while. With a stronger flavored natural tobacco you wont be sucking for flavor burning your pipes up either..... i know its against 'conventional wisdom' but 'conventional wisdom' happens to be wrong in this instance.

Budget dependant of course:
I'd try a GL Pease English blend.. Westminster, Oddysey, Quite Night.
also in the English realm I'd try Esotericas Penzance, and Ashtons Artisans Blend.

On the Virginia/Virginia Perique front..
Escudo
Hamborger Veermaster
Gawith Hoggarth & Co Brown Flake
Peter Stokkebye's Luxury series is also awesome for a cheaper alternative..


Burleys?
The only ones I've cared for is Uhles DD and Solani Aged Burley Slice.



If your coming from Cigs or cigars

Gawith Hoggarth & Co Dark Birdseye is STRAIGHT UP YOUR ALLY.. Good burn regardless of pack, full flavored, good nicotene content.

 

[Hermit]

Honestly I advise new smokers to steer clear of Aromatics..

Yeah that.
I don't understand the "conventional wisdom" that new
smokers should start with...aaack...flavored tobacco.
Smoke sumptin that tastes like tobacco.

 

[locke07]

Thanks everyone for the advice so far and keep it coming! I should also mention that I'm not a frequent smoker. I generally smoke only on two occasions. When I'm writing and I need to work out a difficult conceptual problem. Or when I have free time on the weekends: I have a few other friends that also like to smoke and get a beer at the local brewery. So I'm willing to buy nicer quality stuff because I don't "burn" through it as quickly as more avid smokers (see what I did there -- I kill me).

 

[jj1015]

Cornell and Diehl will sell you a sampler that contains eight blends for about $40 that will give you plenty of opportunity to sample premium examples of all the main categories of pipe tobacco. This $40 should last you for months as you don't smoke often. I personally urge you to avoid aromatics like the plague, at least the aromatics you'll pick up at drugstores or in jars at your local tobacco shop. Do not smoke only a bowl or two of each blend and then decide you don't like it -- try to smoke each blend several times in a variety of pipes. Many of the flavors you encounter will be foreign to you, and it might take your taste buds a few tries to "get" them.

Here is what I would recommend from C&D:
Epiphany (American English, lightly aromatic)
Old Joe Krantz (mostly burley and perique -- smoke this while drinking on a full stomach)
Filmore (Virginia/Perique)
Chelsea Morning (light English)
Westminster (medium English)
Autumn Evening (a high-quality aromatic)
Opening Night (virginia)
Heritage (mainly virginias, a good all-day smoke)

I would also recommend that you go to the nearest drugstore or grocery store and pick up one pouch each of Prince Albert and Carter Hall. These are excellent, "no fills" burley-based blends that cost very little -- probably the best buys in the tobacco world, when you factor in the price. Many of us who have been smoking premium blends for years still smoke a lot of these two tobaccos.

Since you don't smoke a lot, you will probably want to store your tobaccos in glass canning jars, or any type of resealable glass or plastic container with a rubber seal. The C&D blends don't have preservatives added to them, so they will dry out pretty quickly if they are kept in the plastic baggies they are shipped in.

Good luck!

 

[LAEarl]

I have to say that C&D had charged me 38 dollars for 5- 1 ounce samples. These were not bulk but tinned samples. Of course, I was told that they recently updated their prices and it hadn't been changed on the site. :evil: :no:

Great samples, not so great price. I was put off to say the least.

 

[bruins]

i can't add any blend advice (a lot of the good ones have been named), but as a relatively new pipe smoker who is just recently finding my way through the vast blends and types, it's easy to get so many blends that you feel you don't have time to get through them, and you smoke a bowl of this and then a bowl of that and pretty soon they all taste lousy. so, best advice i received (got it right here on the BoB), is you have to take the time to get to know a tobacco. one bowl is not going to do it. some say at least six bowls, others say a whole tin, but either way, pick one and stick with it until you get to know it, until you can imagine what it tastes like before you even light up. otherwise, you won't a have much of a grasp on what an english vs a virginia vs a balkan, etc tastes like, let alone compare one brand to another brand.

also, from one newbie to another, this article (kindly posted by shellbriar) is one of the best i've read for how to handle your pipe. the author may seem a bit detail obsessed, but when i followed his instructions, it greatly improved the flavor and quality of my smoke. http://www.pipeandpint.com/downloads/wosbaldapproach.pdf

 

[jj1015]

I have to say that C&D had charged me 38 dollars for 5- 1 ounce samples. These were not bulk but tinned samples. Of course, I was told that they recently updated their prices and it hadn't been changed on the site. :evil: :no:

Great samples, not so great price. I was put off to say the least.

C&D doesn't manufacture one-ounce tins -- they don't have the equipment, and I've never seen a one-ounce tin from anyone, in any case. Are you sure you didn't get two ounce samples? They also don't offer sample packs in tins, anyhow -- only bulk. Did you order this sampler from C&D or from some retailer who was carrying their products?

I just checked their prices, and it's about $40 for eight two ounce samples.

 

[LAEarl]

Nope, Called C&D up I spoke to a woman on the phone and paid w/ my cc. I weighed them when they arrived and they were 1 oz on the dot.

You are correct they do not sell 1 oz tins, these were samples packed in ziplock bags w/ lables stuck to them to identify. I was told that due tot the fact the blends I desired to sample did not come from bulk then the prices were higher.

Needless to say, I have yet to sample any more of their product either.

 

[Anonymous]

You'll find it best ordering your tobacco online from places like www.pipesandcigars.com or www.smokingpipes.com - it's cheaper & the selection is vast. When I was a noob, I enjoyed two tobaccos immensely - Orlik Golden Sliced & Macbaren Navy Flake. They were a bridge to better things. I also suggest you try a tin each of Greg Pease's blends that are solidly representative of their genres:

Virginia - Union Square
Vaper - Embarcadero
English - Westminster

All of these tobaccos are readily available.

Ditto, well put Mudd!
Agreed with PB, however seductive the smell stay away from Aro's!!!

 

[St Fiacre]

I still have to defend my aromatics, I like the Boswell blends and think they are good for the money and I find them to be better than the lauded Dan Tobacco aromatics. I also know that there are others beside myself who will stick up for Prince Albert, kinda burley but come on that is pretty aromatic. Just my 2 cents on aromatics, they get a bad wrap because of all the OTC garbage cherry tobacco but there are plenty of good ones. Sorry for the rant gentleman I will be quiet now.

 

[Anonymous]

I still have to defend my aromatics, I like the Boswell blends and think they are good for the money and I find them to be better than the lauded Dan Tobacco aromatics. I also know that there are others beside myself who will stick up for Prince Albert, kinda burley but come on that is pretty aromatic. Just my 2 cents on aromatics, they get a bad wrap because of all the OTC garbage cherry tobacco but there are plenty of good ones. Sorry for the rant gentleman I will be quiet now.

Cool bro!!!!
I will support PA as well,
I think what we are trying to say is that newbie's get seduced by those heavy goopy scented aro's all they do is smoke hot gunk up a pipe and slice your tongue!! Many new smokers I know give up because of this!!!!!

 

[Harlock999]

I'm new to pipe smoking, and at first, I loaded up on aromatics. The results were mixed. I didn't write them all off, mainly because I know my packing, lighting and smoking techniques were pretty miserable. However, in hindsight, I realize I should have done things differently and started with a non-aromatic. Initially, I was kind of locked into a preconceived notion of what pipe smoking would be like, and that included aromatics. Don't get me wrong, I still enjoy a few aromatic blends, but expanding my palate really made it easier to develop a better technique, and that has made smoking so much more enjoyable than those first months of frustration and burnt tongue.

 

[Anonymous]

I'm new to pipe smoking, and at first, I loaded up on aromatics. The results were mixed. I didn't write them all off, mainly because I know my packing, lighting and smoking techniques were pretty miserable. However, in hindsight, I realize I should have done things differently and started with a non-aromatic. Initially, I was kind of locked into a preconceived notion of what pipe smoking would be like, and that included aromatics. Don't get me wrong, I still enjoy a few aromatic blends, but expanding my palate really made it easier to develop a better technique, and that has made smoking so much more enjoyable than those first months of frustration and burnt tongue.

Good to hear bro, stick around here and you will pick up much from the wise old owls!! :cheers: :cheers:

 

[bruins]

Good to hear bro, stick around here and you will pick up much from the wise old owls!! :cheers: :cheers:

who?

who who?

(get it? wise old owls. okay, maybe not so much...)

 

[Falconer]

Good to hear bro, stick around here and you will pick up much from the wise old owls!! :cheers: :cheers:

who?

who who?

(get it? wise old owls. okay, maybe not so much...)

:lol!: :lol!: Now whoo's the Bird Brain? More of Bruins Ruins!

 

[Skip48]

Guess I should at least tell what I know about C&D and their sample buys. In their sample deals you get either 5 Blends for $31 plus shipping or you get 8 for $40. This then breaks down like this, if it's all bulk blends then you get 2 Oz. of each, but if any of them are a Flake or high end tobacco then for that one you get 1 OZ. each. You only get 2 Oz. each if it's the bulk blends and 1 Oz. if it's a tinned blend.

If you have tried the samples and picked what you want from C&D then it's actually better to buy on line at another place that gives you a small price break, like smokingpipes.com.

Hope this helps and puff on,

Skip

 

[Anonymous]

Good to hear bro, stick around here and you will pick up much from the wise old owls!! :cheers: :cheers:

who?

who who?

(get it? wise old owls. okay, maybe not so much...)

Bruins, thats Ducking lame bro!!!!! but we love you for it man!!!!!
:cheers: :lol!: :lol!: :lol!: