m.c. brought up a good point from another thread about knowing the "type" of tobaccos you like. What would you more experienced smokers site as the bench mark for each type of tobacco (Latakia, Burley, Virginia, etc.) to help us newbies develope our palate?m.c. wrote:Hi, BeatusLiebowitz, when you are itching for new tobaccos, I think it's better to first nail down what *types* of backy you particularly like...
Indeed, you will learn what you do and dont like by trying alot of tobaccos. Then you'll find what is is about those tobaccos you like so much and persue that peticular taste.tritrek wrote:I don't consider myself to be an experienced smoker but the first thing that comes to my mind is: *try*
Ditto. You can read reviews on Tobaccoreviews.com until your eyeballs fall out, and you still won't have a clue, at least until you've smoked enough different tobaccos to figure out which of the reviewers there have similar tastes to you versus the ones who are just there to bitch and moan about how strong/revolting/permanently pipe-fouling everything but their own personal favorite is.KurtHuhn wrote:What I smoke is actually classified as being harsh and overpowering by a lot of people.
And then there's those times when nothing but Prince Albert will do. I used to think I was the only one, and the sometimes elitist attitude of folks that smoke "nothing but the finest lightly cured virginia flake" didn't help things either. After a couple incidents that nearly required tongue replacement surgery, I decided to try the stuff that these people claimed was revolting and vomit inducing. Turns out I like most of that stuff.Alan L wrote: You may find you love straight virginias, or you may be like me and lose the lining off your entire oral cavity at the first puff of one.
Byzantium wil be in my next order!!!Byzantium seems to have a flavor similar to *very* aged Penzance (as in 10+ years old)
I used to think I was the only one, and the sometimes elitist attitude of folks that smoke "nothing but the finest lightly cured virginia flake" didn't help things either.
Depends. Some local tobacconist really make their own blends. Some buy commercial bulk blends and label them as such. Some buy commercial bulk blends, dump it in a jar, stick their own name on it and swear it's a custom blend made in-house.dogwood wrote:wouldn't the bulk store jars be the same as bulk name brands?
Not necessarily. Tobacconists can buy bulk blends from the major brand name manufacturers, stick it in the jar and call it by it's true brand name. But since something like McClelland 5100 isn't catchy enough or doesn't hint at it's constituents, they often rename them... let's call it "Pierce's Pirate Red"! Or, they'll use say, Dunhill's My Mixture 965 as a benchmark for imitation. They'll either mix up their own interpretation or buy bulk imitations from another blender and call it say, "Our Mixture 965". Or maybe the tobacconist has an in-house blender that mixes up tobacco to his own or customer tastes. These blends are created by mixing bulk tobaccos supplied by the main manufacturers.dogwood wrote:wouldn't the bulk store jars be the same as bulk name brands?
Tobacco does not go "bad" sitting in those jars. You don't need high turnover to get fresh tobacco, because you actually don't want fresh tobacco. If the tobacco is a little dry out of the jar, just re-humidify.there's enough people in and out of there that there's turn over and it's not sitting around or anything.
Tinning a blend does something different to the tobacco than if it is just mixed and left in jars. It's kinda like whiskey in a barrel. The whiskey ages and changes character in the barrel. Once it is out of the barrel, it is no longer "aging", no matter how old since it was bottled. Tinning allows an anaerobic fermentation and marriage of flavors that you just don't seem to get out of a jar, at least not on the same scale. Tins can age for decades and really change character over time. Anyway, play with what your tobacconist has in bulk, but do explore your tinned options and draw your own conclusionsthat said i haven't tried any tinned yet.
