RoyOdhner
Active member
- Joined
- Apr 21, 2015
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Since I discovered internet tobacco venders like 4noggins, I've had the opportunity to try pipe tobacco blends that at one time I thought I'd never get an opportunity to try... and many a blend that I never knew existed. I've also been able to save quite a bit of cash in the process, and I've been fortunate enough to be able to try blends that I never thought I'd be able to afford.
So many blends out there... so many genres... so many blending houses... so many candidates for the cellar. Come to think of it, I'd never heard of a tobacco cellar until I discovered the internet - and I have been building a cellar ever since. I now have so much pipe weed I occassionally worry that Isengard will dispatch some Orc raiding parties to seize my cellar. (Fortunately, I also cellar .38 Special, 9x17, 9x18, and 9x19 ammo so I'm ready for 'em).
Anyhow, with all this wonderful variety readily available, I still find myself gravitating to basic Burley and VaBur blends. MacB factors heavily, as does GH and SG - and OGS, and Erinmore, and Pete IF, and SWR, and CH, and Granger. I thought about this, and wondered why. Near as I can figure, it's all the fault of my late Uncle Danny. He was a pipe smoker, and was never without his two trusty cobs and a pouch of Granger or Velvet. He was also my pipe mentor, and he taught me the basics of how to smoke a pipe. It's not surprising that way back in 1979, Granger was the first pipe tobacco that I ever bought. Bought it to fill a Dr G pipe, I did.
Danny's ghost and the wonderful memories I have of smoking Granger while camping in the Pocono Mountains, I'm sure, have influenced my choice of blends - and almost 40 years after first smoking a pipe, the blends that I find I favor are bascially Granger-like blends. Nothing overly complicated or nuanced, or expensive. Blends with tin/room notes that are warm and comforting instead of intense or exotic, and that require little preparation. (Except for the flake blends that I like, and I wouldn't say that fully rubbing out a flake is all that complicated a procedure).
Why do I like them so much? it's because they're not complicated or expensive. I can enjoy them all day long, without going broke or having to devote a whole lot of effort into sifting for nuance or proper technique. Just stuff (preferably using the "Codger Scoop" method), tamp, char, tamp again, and light. Sure, I have many other more exotic or more "exclusive" blends that I smoke, but I don't smoke them all the time because then they would cease to be special... just a couple of times per week, when I feel the urge for something a bit more refined. Another factor is that they take me back to a time when my life was less demanding, and the world seemed bigger and happier.
So, what are your favorite blends? And why are they your favorties? How long have you been smoking them, and how did you come to the conclusion that they are your favorites.
So many blends out there... so many genres... so many blending houses... so many candidates for the cellar. Come to think of it, I'd never heard of a tobacco cellar until I discovered the internet - and I have been building a cellar ever since. I now have so much pipe weed I occassionally worry that Isengard will dispatch some Orc raiding parties to seize my cellar. (Fortunately, I also cellar .38 Special, 9x17, 9x18, and 9x19 ammo so I'm ready for 'em).
Anyhow, with all this wonderful variety readily available, I still find myself gravitating to basic Burley and VaBur blends. MacB factors heavily, as does GH and SG - and OGS, and Erinmore, and Pete IF, and SWR, and CH, and Granger. I thought about this, and wondered why. Near as I can figure, it's all the fault of my late Uncle Danny. He was a pipe smoker, and was never without his two trusty cobs and a pouch of Granger or Velvet. He was also my pipe mentor, and he taught me the basics of how to smoke a pipe. It's not surprising that way back in 1979, Granger was the first pipe tobacco that I ever bought. Bought it to fill a Dr G pipe, I did.
Danny's ghost and the wonderful memories I have of smoking Granger while camping in the Pocono Mountains, I'm sure, have influenced my choice of blends - and almost 40 years after first smoking a pipe, the blends that I find I favor are bascially Granger-like blends. Nothing overly complicated or nuanced, or expensive. Blends with tin/room notes that are warm and comforting instead of intense or exotic, and that require little preparation. (Except for the flake blends that I like, and I wouldn't say that fully rubbing out a flake is all that complicated a procedure).
Why do I like them so much? it's because they're not complicated or expensive. I can enjoy them all day long, without going broke or having to devote a whole lot of effort into sifting for nuance or proper technique. Just stuff (preferably using the "Codger Scoop" method), tamp, char, tamp again, and light. Sure, I have many other more exotic or more "exclusive" blends that I smoke, but I don't smoke them all the time because then they would cease to be special... just a couple of times per week, when I feel the urge for something a bit more refined. Another factor is that they take me back to a time when my life was less demanding, and the world seemed bigger and happier.
So, what are your favorite blends? And why are they your favorties? How long have you been smoking them, and how did you come to the conclusion that they are your favorites.
