Love at First Smoke

What good is a pipe without tobacco? Discuss your favorites in here.
tigercasual
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Love at First Smoke

Post by tigercasual »

Okay, I'm way behind the curve on this one, but I finally got around to trying Frog Morton and... it's true, I'm in love. Needless to say, I am now going to try all of the Frog Morton blends.

So, that brings me to my question. Does anyone have recommendations- as far as blends that are similar and up to the same level of quality as Frog Morton? If so I would be very interested in trying them.

Cheers,
TC
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Sasquatch
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Re: Love at First Smoke

Post by Sasquatch »

Benjamin Hartwell's Chesdin is similar (and McClelland makes it too).

One step up from Frog Morton On the Town, try Peterson Old Dublin. Same oriental components (Basma) but sort of the "grown up" version.

What you are looking at is the sweet end of the English Mixtures... you might try Fribourg and Treyer 34th Mixture, McClelland Jubilee, maybe something like Commonwealth from Gawith if you can find any (it's got a LOT of latakia but it's quite friendly). Presbyterian Mixture is also well worth a try. None of these are identical to the Frogs, but they are all tasty and pretty easy going.


If you are searching in terms of ingredients, Frog Morton comes down to very sweet virginias, quite possibly black cavendish, and latakia. The variations in the FM series are tweaks on the formula - adding basma or perique or whatever.
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kola
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Re: Love at First Smoke

Post by kola »

If one is bold and daring they might try Shortcut to Mushrooms from Justforhim Tobacco.

K-man
tigercasual
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Re: Love at First Smoke

Post by tigercasual »

Sas/Kola

I just smoked Jubilee and loved it. I have it ranking just behind Frog Morton and FM Across the Pond in my rotation- a very good blend when I want a changeup. Shortcut to Mushrooms is on the way.

Thanks for the suggestions guys. I plan on getting to the others, as well.

Cheers,
Danny.
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Sasquatch
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Re: Love at First Smoke

Post by Sasquatch »

Shortcut is really good - I got a sample from Beatus, and I really enjoyed it.

Spilman mixture is another very good subtley flavored light/med english sorta thing. It's better than I expected from a "re-released classic".

Jubilee.... is weird. I love it. Never had anything else like it really. But it is great.
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tigercasual
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Re: Love at First Smoke

Post by tigercasual »

Sas,

You're right, Jubilee has the feel of one of those tobaccos that- if you enjoy it- always hold a spot in your rotation because it's very good quality and there is nothing- that I've tried anyway- quite like it. In fact, I found myself reaching for it today!
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Sasquatch
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Re: Love at First Smoke

Post by Sasquatch »

There are a few (and I think only a few) UTTERLY unique tobaccos, that just... aren't like anything else.

Crooner from C/D - burley and deer tongue... and a slight top flavor? Anise?
Club Blend from Mac Baren - a fake Va/Per, hugely sweet, hugely spicey. Incredible.
Dunhill MM 965 - I don't like it much, but the combination of orientals, latakia and the "brown cavendish" or whatever the hell it is, is really unique

Club hits the spot for me - scratches an itch that no other tobacco quite gets to.
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tigercasual
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Re: Love at First Smoke

Post by tigercasual »

I just tried a new tobacco that is, for me, very unique and really good. That would be Hearth & Home Anniversary Kake. I think that it is an excellent blend. However, it is a bit on the sweet side and that is coming from someone whose favorite tobacco is Frog Morton. So if Frog Morton is too sweet for you, this is probably not up your alley.

Cheers,
TC
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KurtHuhn
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Re: Love at First Smoke

Post by KurtHuhn »

This is interesting. I've been a pipe smoker for almost 20 years now, and I've never tasted "sweet" in any of the tobaccos I've smoked. I've always wondered about that, since the ones that a lot of folks describe as being sweet, I find burn the bejeezuz out of my tongue. I've always chalked this up to a body chemistry thing, but I can't help but feel I must be missing something.
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TRS
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Re: Love at First Smoke

Post by TRS »

KurtHuhn wrote:This is interesting. I've been a pipe smoker for almost 20 years now, and I've never tasted "sweet" in any of the tobaccos I've smoked. I've always wondered about that, since the ones that a lot of folks describe as being sweet, I find burn the bejeezuz out of my tongue. I've always chalked this up to a body chemistry thing, but I can't help but feel I must be missing something.
I think, deep down, you knew that testing the edges of your gouges with your tongue would eventually have some kind of drawback....
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KurtHuhn
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Re: Love at First Smoke

Post by KurtHuhn »

So what you're saying is that, if I stopped licking sharp things, I might be a better pipemaker?

That's sage advice right there, Tim. I'm going to find another way to test the sharpness of my gouges and knife blades. Would shaving nostril hair be better do you think?
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Re: Love at First Smoke

Post by TRS »

KurtHuhn wrote:So what you're saying is that, if I stopped licking sharp things, I might be a better pipemaker?

That's sage advice right there, Tim. I'm going to find another way to test the sharpness of my gouges and knife blades. Would shaving nostril hair be better do you think?
No, but it might make you a better pipe smoker. You might wanna try testing them, ahem, below the belt, so-to-speak. This will save your tongue AND impress your wife!
tigercasual
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Re: Love at First Smoke

Post by tigercasual »

You see what happens when you try to have a civil conversation about the joys of tobacco... it degenerates into this. I for one, am ashamed of you. And gentlemen, if you have a shred of decency, you should be ashamed of yourselves. Why if I hear of one more man mishandling his "tool"....

(Long belabored pause)

Ahem...

Yes, I know. I hear all of the groans out there. Yes, it's true, I will take a cheap laugh wherever I can get it. But you know what...

No regrets.

You can run and tell that Homeboy.

And by the way...

Merry F'in Christmas!

TC

*Edit* Okay, so my girlfriend read my post and thinks that no one will get that the above post is a joke... I said that you would get it. She countered with the fact that none of your really know my, shall we say... "esoteric", since of humor. I think that you will all realize that I was joking, but just in case... yes that was my own brand of... maybe-not-so-funny/esoteric sense of humor.

Peace...

And Merry F'in Christmas.
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Sasquatch
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Re: Love at First Smoke

Post by Sasquatch »

Kurt, I'm going to go way out on a limb here and offer you an insult in hopes that it improves your life.

You don't know how to smoke a pipe.


There. It's said. Oh sure - you can put tobacco in it and light it up and puff away on it, but you're burning too hot to get half of the flavors that tobaccos might offer. There's a "thermodynamics of pipesmoking" blog post (I think probably Neil Roan) that uses some of the temperature findings of a scientific test on pipes, and it's pretty neat. But the important thing to pull out of it is that if you smoke a pipe more than lukewarm, you are burning up all those delicious long carbon chains we tech-heads call "sugars". So you get hot air and ash and stuff and it tastes like garbage.

This is the Mac Baren lesson. "Mac Baren Mixture bites!" Yes, yes it does. Bites like a rabid ferret. If you smoke it too hot. But if you slow right down, and I mean slow to the point of your pipe going out, and just sip it..... holy jeepers it's incredible.

It took me ten years to learn this. I'm not kidding. Seek for less, find more.

Some guys will say "Well, I enjoy my Old Joe Krantz (or Nightcap or whatever) so why would I bother with a fussy tobacco like that?" I would suggest that once you master a difficult sweet weed and get the best from it, when you re-approach your old favorites, they'll taste completely different.

This was the turning point for me in going from sort of liking the idea of smoking a pipe but having limited enjoyment with many products, to really feeling like I was getting what I was "supposed to be getting" out of them.

The temperature of your bowl is absolutely critical in terms of what flavors you will find in the smoke. This is why I prefer huge-ass thick walled monster pipes. You can get into a low-heat cruising sort of zone with them in about 15 minutes, once the briar is warmed up. And a little pipe can't do it, or at least can't do it with that kind of ease. Far easier to overheat a small pipe or have it go out, because the residual heat and the cherry are not enough to work on the "diesel" setting like a big pipe.

You want me to build you a pipe some time Kurt??? :lol:
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KurtHuhn
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Re: Love at First Smoke

Post by KurtHuhn »

Sasquatch wrote:You want me to build you a pipe some time Kurt??? :lol:
Go for it Todd. I'm willing to admit when I might have made a mistake - even when I've been doing it that way for twenty years. :D

On a side note, after 15 years of guitar "playing" I have been told I don't know WTF I'm doing. I respect the person who told me this, and I'm willing to listen. Since I'm largely self taught as it is, the opportunity for dumbness is rather high. I expect to wow you all with my Satriani-like playing any day now....
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Sasquatch
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Re: Love at First Smoke

Post by Sasquatch »

Well I can certainly make ya up a pipe, Kurt, but to continue the analogy, I could also mail you a '59 Les Paul and I suspect that you would be only finitely more Jimmy Page-esqe, but at least we could no longer blame the instrument.

I like big pipes and I find they work great for me, for how I smoke and what I smoke. I've certainly had sweet smokes from small pipes - I've got a Pete 303 that's great. I think the take-home lesson is that it is potentially worthwhile to master a bitey bitch of a blend in whatever pipe you can (by smoking ultra slow) because if you do, it will increase your enjoyment of everything else.

That said, there's still lots of blends that bite the hell out of me, so I think personal chemistry plays a big role too.
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tigercasual
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Re: Love at First Smoke

Post by tigercasual »

Kurt have your tried Frog Morton? That is definitely a tobacco that delivers a sort of spicy-sweetness without bite. But then again, I never really have problems with tongue bite, so maybe you should check with others to see if they've had that problem with FM. But as far as I know, it is considered a very cool smoke.

So that is the first step; find a tobacco that is pretty much considered to be a sweet/cool burning blend, smoke it and if you get a lot of bite, try backing off, get to where you can smoke it without the bite, to see if the "sweeter" blends grow on you. Sas has been turning me on to some really good tobaccos, but I have to throw my vote in for Frog Morton.

As far as the thick walled, monster pipes go, I guess this is where different smoking styles come in. I have no real preference as far as bowl size/thickness is concerned, unless it's one of those instances in which the size/shape of the bowl really affects the taste/experience of the tobacco- which, of course, does happen- in that case, I just dedicate a pipe to that blend.

But I digress, I really have no trouble getting into that sweet-zone with a smaller pipe, so you don't necessarily have a giant walled monster to get there, but if that's your preference or suits your smoking style, then by all means, smoke a thick walled monster.

Either way, keep us posted on the experiment.

Happy Holidays,
TC
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KurtHuhn
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Re: Love at First Smoke

Post by KurtHuhn »

tigercasual wrote: So that is the first step; find a tobacco that is pretty much considered to be a sweet/cool burning blend, smoke it and if you get a lot of bite, try backing off, get to where you can smoke it without the bite, to see if the "sweeter" blends grow on you. Sas has been turning me on to some really good tobaccos, but I have to throw my vote in for Frog Morton.
Been there, done that. Mostly no change. But what the hell - I still have a couple tins of that firebreathing monster MacBaren Vanilla Flake that was responsible for at least two tongue replacement surgeries.

Funny thing is, I absolutely love 1792 flake, and while it doesn't have a lot of sweetness, it certainly is full of delicious flavor. XXX Rope as well. And the Penzance-ish blends (Penzance, Byzantium, Krumble Kake) are my favorites and always deliver a cool, flavorful smoke with absolutely no tongue trauma. As I understand it, a few of those blends are very heavy with Virginia. :confused:

Yellow Virginia Flakes :fencing: Dark Broken Flake

FIGHT!
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Sasquatch
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Re: Love at First Smoke

Post by Sasquatch »

I think there are blends that bite more than others or maybe bite "more people" than others. I'm still not a real fan of MB Virginia #1 for example, whereas I have Mixture, Navy Flake, Club Blend, Dark Twist and others well under control.

I agree with the call on Frog Morton - it's so sweet that I had to move away from it, which kind of shocked me. But it's also wetter than a guy might think is ideal (and suspiciously stays that way for .... ever).

Kurt I would guess the blends you mention are low-sugar - sort of coffee w/cream types. I don't think the Va in those particular blends is real sweet (or maybe there just isn't that much). They are less affected by how you smoke, in some ways. 1792 is just about the coolest burning tobacco on the planet - I can smoke a bowl of that stuff (and go throw up - it's too strong for me) and it never even warms up in my hand.

It may all come down to chemistry too. I mean, I have tried and tried to enjoy a burley blend, and the only ones I like AT ALL are Roll Cake and Crooner. And Crooner is really hard on me. I've bought all kinds, most recently some CD Burley Flake #3, because it got 4 star reviews all across the board. It made me sick in 2 puffs. And if someone came around and told me that I was smoking it wrong, I'd try their idea, and THEN tell 'em to bugger off.
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KurtHuhn
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Re: Love at First Smoke

Post by KurtHuhn »

You know what? I've got nothing to lose but a couple dollars, so what the hell. It has been years since I've tried anything that folks would call sweet, and in that time my smoking style has certainly changed. I almost never puff, and always sip, I think Pease called it "breath smoking" or something like that. I'll give them another try....
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