Commercial blends worth trying?

[OakBayou]

I'm new to pipe smoking but already enjoying it immensely. I've made up a half dozen blends using Bob's recipes here (Pearl of Shibam, Spanish Moss, Skree, Marudnik, American Cream, Vizier), and so far enjoy them all--but they were shredded thin using a budget shredder, so I still wonder if maybe I'm missing out on flavors more apparent with a better pipe shred, or pressing into kakes or plugs.

Anyway, I've never smoked any commercial pipe tobaccos. I know some of you might suggest I keep it this way, but I'm wondering if there are any commercial blends that are good touchstones or absolute favorites that folks would suggest I try? Open to all suggestions, including those that would just say "stick to WL, guy."

I'm also planning on putting together a restored pipe and some pipe tobacco as a special gift for my father for Xmas, to help encourage him to move off the "pipe-flavored" cigars he's smoked for years into a real pipe. He liked cherry flavored cigars before those disappeared, and now he smokes black and milds (blegh). So I'm thinking of trying some aromatics to test out what's there and see if there's a higher quality blend he might enjoy (thinking Lane Very Cherry, Cult Blood Moon, even Cap. Black Cherry would be a step up for him), and whether it's something I might try my own spin on in the future when I have time to try out cavendishing and sauces on whole leaf.

Thanks!

 

[deluxestogie]

Difficult question. So far as I can determine, all commercial blends now contain various humectants, which do not enhance the experience. Do have a look at the many offerings from Cornell & Diehl—some English style; some aromatics:

Cornell & Diehl Pipe Tobacco

Smokingpipes is your one stop shop for Cornell & Diehl Pipe Tobacco and all your tobacco smoking needs. From new and estate tobacco pipes to tin pipe tobacco and bulk pipe tobacco, we have everything you need

www.smokingpipes.com

I blended my first pipe tobacco as a variation on the ingredients of C&D Plantation Evening. That was back when the owner of C&D (Craig Tarler) had no reservations about sharing the actual recipes with me. C&D was subsequently sold to a marketing firm.

Every "old favorite" that I've purchased in the last decade is significantly different from what it used to be, back in the 70s, 80s and 90s.

Bob

 

[deluxestogie]

My shredding is always done by rolling a sloppy, crude cigar of one or more of the blend ingredients. Then I slice it into coins using a Kuhn Rikon Mezzaluna blade, which is like a chaveta with a comfortable handle. I then split the coins 3 or 4 times, to limit the shred length.

https://www.amazon.com/Kuhn-Rikon-Mezzaluna-Knife-Red/dp/B00HSDXP40/ref=asc_df_B00HSDXP40/?th=1

Bob

 

[OakBayou]

Thanks Bob! I do plan on emulating your cigar shred on my next batch of blends. Any advice on what types of blends might be better pressed or flaked, other than the Talus Flake recipe? I don't have any frame of reference on the differences between the taste and burn of ribbon shreds and the various other preparations of pipe tobacco.

Some of the blends that I'm interested in, just based on reviews and what I know I like so far, are C&D Haunted Bookshop, C&D Autumn Evenings, and SPC Plum Pudding, as well as various VaPer kakes and flakes to get a better feel for how pressing might alter a blend.

I'm also mildly curious about aromatics, partly because those seem much harder to recreate, and I'd like to know whether I'd enjoy them at all and what I might get as a gift for my dad. Anyone here like aros, particularly cherry and/or vanilla flavors?

 

[JOE1977]

Lane 1q is a staple and quite cheap, it's a good standard aro.
Bob is right about humectants. But some houses use them sparingly.
You didn't state what generes you like. Or maybe you don't know yet.

Aro's I recomend
1Q
Davidoff green
Gawith and Howarth cherry
Sutliff creme Brule.

English
Peterson 965
Perretti Tashkent and many more from the blender.
Macbaren plum cake

Virginia
Sutliff 51c
Samuel gawith full va flake (any va really)

Burley
Cornell and diehl briar fox (va&bur)
Stokebey cubed burley
Solani silver flake

All just my opinion

 

[OakBayou]

Thanks Joe. What I like so far is limited to the few WLT blends I've made that Bob has published here and on his books.
At this moment I'm enjoying a bowl of Vizier blend (in this case, 25% Lemon, 25 bright, 25 Oriental, and 25 burley) that I've haphazardly added a generous pinch of Latakia and Perique to. I think it's safe to say I like English blends at the very least.

 

[deluxestogie]

Pressing either whole layers of leaf or shredded and blended leaf seems to recruit some microbial fermentation, aided by the pressure disrupting the cell walls of the tobacco. My guess is that the yeast, Pichia anomala is a common contributor. The results tend to seem fruitier and somewhat sweeter after weeks of pressing.

Bob

 

[Knucklehead]

I ordered a hardwood poker (sitter) from Missouri Meerschaum. I ordered some of their tins of pipe tobacco while I was ordering. My first commercial pipe blends aside from Prince Albert.
Lord Morgan Limited, MMC Elite: Drawdown, and Sutlif Crumble Cake English #1. I'm looking forward to trying them.

Missouri Meerschaum Company - CornCobPipe.com

Smoking Pipes Gift Ideas Cob Wear Authentic & Original The Missouri Meerschaum Corn Cob Pipe A 150-year-old legend styled for today's pipe smoker! Whether you enjoy fishing, hunting, gaming, woodworking, car collecting, reading, boating, or card playing, there’s nothing quite like

corncobpipe.com

 

[Controlled Chaos]

If you're into Latakia blends be sure to try Arango Balkan Supreme which can be purchased by the ounce from the online shops.
Bengal Slices will probably always be my favorite and SPC Plum Pudding is fairly similar to that as well.
H&H Cerberus and White Knight are both pretty good.
The big bags from Pipes And Cigars called Best Of The Rest English are probably hands down the best deal you'll ever get on commercial tobacco. It's just over a dollar per ounce which is absurd once you start smoking through some of the stuff and realize it could be put in a tin with a fancy label and people would eat it up. I've got 4 pounds on hand. It's a deal.

For Virginia/perique blends be sure to check out Peter Stokkebye Luxury Bullseye Flake which can also be purchased by the ounce.
H&H Louisiana Red is also available by the ounce although a little higher in price than comparable blends.
Peterson Elizabethan Mixture, I have probably 4 tins on hand right now for a reason.
C&D Bayou Morning is a popular one, also available by the ounce.
A little different but try Newminster Superior Round Slices, they use dark fired instead of perique and the flavor kind of reminds me of a damp autumn afternoon if that makes sense. Another one you can purchase by the ounce.

For your father, there are a handful of aromatics that come to mind. Casey Jones Last ride might be one you would want to check out if he likes cherry flavor. I've only had their Beyond Brave which is vanilla but it's a really good one and not rare in my rotation, and I'm not the biggest fan of aromatics. Last Ride gets good reviews as well as their Hero's Blend.
If you'd like the vicinity around your father to smell exactly like cinnamon rolls I can't recommend C'est La Vie Crème Caramel enough. It tastes very similar to the way it smells in the pouch and is similar to Sutliff Molto Dolce in a few ways plus the flavor doesn't disappear halfway through like a lot of aromatics will tend to do. And the flavor isn't wispy like some great smelling aromatics are known to be.
Sir Walter Raleigh Aromatic is good on flavor and the room note will grab the ladies' attention in short order.
Sutliff Rum And Maple tastes like syrup soaked pancakes and is available by the ounce.

 

[ChinaVoodoo]

I like Germain & Son. I've had Best Brown and Plum Cake. I don't understand why the reviews aren't that impressive. Maybe because they didn't have either of those beloved PG or ketchup flavours.

 

[Alpine]

Aromatics I like:
MacBaren mixture Scottish blend (honey)
Park Lane (coffee/chocolate) it’s a flake
Kentucky bird (flowers, it actually has flower petals in the blend)
Thomas Radford Sunday fantasy (vanilla/tonka bean)
All the above are cheap commercial blends with chemical added.

pier

 

[deluxestogie]

I don't understand why the reviews aren't that impressive.

Perhaps you might consult a psychologist.

Bob

 

[ChinaVoodoo]

Perhaps you might consult a psychologist.

Bob

Its probably inversely related to the popularity of Lane BLWB.

 

[deluxestogie]

The big bags from Pipes And Cigars called Best Of The Rest English

I ordered a 1 pound bag of this, and received it today. On opening the bag, the aroma was that of cased humectants. After some drying, it's a fairly decent smoke. I think the combination of likely dozens of different English blends tends to smooth out the aroma profile. It produces dense, vape-like clouds from the humectants.

Unsurprisingly, it is manufactured in Denmark. As a passable tobacco for filling a pipe, I cannot argue with the price ($15 per pound, plus shipping) , which is cheaper than the per pound price of an English blend made from WLT whole leaf. The latter, of course, is just tobacco. The Best of The Rest English should gradually improve, as it continues to dry, but propylene glycol never completely evaporates from tobacco.

Bob

 

[deluxestogie]

I will cynically add that most of the advertising for commercial pipe blends is misleading at best, and patently fraudulent at worst. For example, in the Pipes and Cigars website listing for Best of The Rest English, we read:

"The blend is constantly changing as we take left over English blend tobaccos and mix them together and sell them at a ridiculously low price. So, if you're a Latakia lover on a budget, stock up on Best of the Rest English."​

But Pipes and Cigars is in Pennsylvania, yet the "we" alluded to in "...we take the left over..." is Denmark.

Bob

 

[OakBayou]

"The blend is constantly changing as we take left over English blend tobaccos and mix them together and sell them at a ridiculously low price. So, if you're a Latakia lover on a budget, stock up on Best of the Rest English."

Makes perfect sense when you consider the concept of corporate personhood. Pipes and Cigars is a corporate person. Given that corporate persons enjoy a level of legal protection and privilege far above what we merely human persons possess, I think it's reasonable to assume that corporate persons are sovereigns. And as sovereign, one is entitled to use the royal we.

 

[Hayden]

I liked the skiff mixture from samuel gawith which opened the door for the more oriental/latakia blends for me but i had some trouble keeping their virginia flake on.
Orlik golden sliced is also sweet now but i have rested it also for some years already.
I have also tried many different blends but homegrown was better.
When i started pipe smoking with commercial blends i was quiet a bit suprised it had far less of an mouth taste then for example cigar things changed when i started smoking my own and even the little pipe heads had fuller taste then most of the blends i smoked before and if you had some really good leaf it was the taste i always imagined how pipes should taste.

 

[OakBayou]

I like Germain & Son. I've had Best Brown and Plum Cake. I don't understand why the reviews aren't that impressive. Maybe because they didn't have either of those beloved PG or ketchup flavours.

Now that I've had some time learning about the commercial pipe tobacco landscape, this seems like a cruel joke! I don't know if Germain and Sons stuff is good or bad, and I may never find out.
It's really amazing how much hoarding and secondary market markup is going on in the pipe world. What a strange time we live in, when Germains products are a Chinese luxury status symbol and some US pipe smokers have 400 lb cellars. It makes folks who watch the Kardashians for entertainment seem quite sane and well-adjusted by comparison.

 

[Odd Grin]

Makes perfect sense when you consider the concept of corporate personhood. Pipes and Cigars is a corporate person. Given that corporate persons enjoy a level of legal protection and privilege far above what we merely human persons possess, I think it's reasonable to assume that corporate persons are sovereigns. And as sovereign, one is entitled to use the royal we.

Is P&C the same company as CigarBids?

 

[deluxestogie]

They both have the same mailing address, as does cigars.com.

And...belated welcome to the forum. Feel free to introduce yourself in the Introduce Yourself forum.

Bob