New Pipe Smoker With A Question? Ask an Old Fart

[RevSmoke]

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/