Quote:
Originally Posted by Doctorossi
Hi guys,
I'm not new to pipes, but I'm new to researching pipe tobaccos more thoroughly than just telling myself " that smells good" when I check something out in a store.
My difficulty is that I'm finding, in a shocking (!!) similarity to the cigar world, a lot of misinformation out there. I'll look up a given commercial blend and one site will say, "This blend is primarily Virginia, with just a touch of Latakia", while another source will describe the same blend, saying "Almost all Latakia, but a little pinch of Virginia keeps it balanced". Or, more troubling, a review might say, "This is one of the rare blends made without a casing", while another review will say, "The dark rum flavoring, while subtle, is noticeable in the room note".
Total inconsistency!
So, my question to you guys: can you point me at a good (preferably online) source of info about commercially available blends that you trust to provide accurate information?
Thanks, everybody.  |
Welcome to the world of perceptions.
You want to know what is in a blend, ask the blender.
If you want to know what people think of a blend, then read reviews. Someone who likes Latakia may think there is very little in blend, which someone else may think contains very little.
Someone may think there is a light casing on a tobacco, while someone else will perceive that there is not casing, but that the natural flavors of the constituent tobaccos bring that aroma and/or flavor to the senses. For example, I do not believe there is any casing whatsoever on Esoterica Dorchester, but it certainly seems to smell of maple, as if there were a casing. So, some will claim that there is a casing.
I know this is not being very helpful, but that's reality.
What I like to do is read about the tobaccos present from the blender's own information. Then I look at different reviews and try tobaccos myself. I go back to those same reviews and find those reviewers who had similar tastes and appreciation for the same tobaccos. Then, in the future, I can look for those perceptions on tobaccos I might be interested in trying.
I know it isn't an exact science, but that's how I do it.
For this purpose, this is the review site I like - it is very comprehensive in the number of tobaccos it lists. It will also prove the first part of this note.
http://www.tobaccoreviews.com/