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/

[Doctorossi]

Thanks a lot, Todd!

Originally Posted by RevSmoke

I know this is not being very helpful, but that's reality.

Yeah, reality has a way of not being very helpful sometimes.

[Lear31MX]

Ok old farts I have a few questions. Just bought a couple of pipes and looking into starting down another slope...

Is there a type of tabacoo I should stay away from when breaking in a new Brul pipe? (i.e. shag, flake, ribbion or flavored.)

From what I've seen/read some people don't fill the bowl up for the first 3-4 time with a new pipe. So do I need to really pack the first 1/2 of the bowl tight or just like I was going to do the regular three fill method?

Also just out of curiosity how many of you pro pipe smokers use the three fill vs. the putting tabacoo in your hand and twisting the tabacoo in to the pipe like this.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0XHYP...eature=related

Thanks.

[Commander Quan]

That is the first time I have seen that particular method of filling a pipe. Although it doesn't seem all that different than the Frank Method, I would imagine that the linked method gives you far less tactile feedback to how tightly the tobacco is being filled.

Whatever method you choose to use (try various ones) you want to remember that the tobacco in the bottom of the pipe should be the least dense, and it should gradually get tighter to the top layer. As you gradually get better with the 3 layer, Frank, J.J. Fox, or whatever method you use, you will eventually own your own system for filling pipes that work best for you.

For your initial break in I would stick with a standard ribbon cut, or rubbed out flake tobacco, and try to smoke it as coolly as possible. It's not necessary to smoke only half bowls if you are smoking all the way to the bottom, half bowls are recommended, to get cake to develop in the bottom half of the pipe, but the funny thing about pipe cake and the Tooth Fairy is that they never come when your waiting for them, so just smoke your pipe and enjoy.