I finally caved. Now what?

I'm a long-time cigar smoker, but with substantial aid from all you enablers (I'm looking at you jmallen5), I finally gave in. I have just purchased my very first pipe. I've read the tutorials in the Gentleman's Essentials section, and will soon be procuring all the gizmos and doohickeys required to make me feel like a real pipe smoker.

My problem is, there appears to be an overwhelmingly large variety of tobacco out there, and my expertise ends with the hand-rolled kind. There's a whole new tobacco vocabulary to be learned. (What the hell is "flake"?) How does one decipher what is what here? And is there some kind of recommended sampler to be purchased somewhere, so I can figure out what it is I actually like? Since I'm going to try not to buy a whole fleet of pipes (yet), can I smoke different tobaccos in the same pipe without major cleaning every time?

You guys got me started on this, so I'm asking you to point me in the right direction.

I suppose the least I can do is is offer some suggestions. Flakes are pressed tobacco, that are cut into slices, they resemble beef jerky in appearance. For an experienced cigar smoker, you may want to start off with a straight virgina, aka VA. These usually come in flake form but, Rattrays Hal O' the Wynd comes ready rubbed (ready to put in pipe and smoke), and is a top notch VA. Virginias tend to be sweet and strong, with a variety of undertones that vary from blend to blend. Your best bet is to pick a highly recommended blend each from the major categories, VA, English, and aromatics. There are so many branches of each category that your head will start swimming with all the choices. Some of the over the counter blends (OTC), are easy to find but may not be suitable to someone used to cigars, only one way to find out. The best thing about pipe tobacco is that if you buy a tin of something you don't like, it's not hard to find someone to trade off to for something new. As far as smoking different blends in the same pipe, it depends on what you smoke. English and aromatics tend to leave a lingering odor that can affect another blend in the same pipe(aka ghosting), corn cob pipes are a cheap easy way to have several to rotate for different blends. The only problem with cobs is you might feel like a hillbilly smoking one, not that there's anything wrong with that. Load up on pipe cleaners, grab some tobacco and get to puffing, that's really the only way to find what you like. Also, a roofing nail makes an excellent pipe tamper and pick combo, if you really want to accentuate the hillbillyness with a cob pipe. Yes, I have a cob, and yes, I keep roofing nails in my truck console and yes, apparently I look like a hillbilly according to my wife and kids. Enjoy the ride, none of us will live long enough to try all the blends, but that doesn't stop most of us from trying!

If you're a cigar smoker then most aromatics will do nothing for you, you're used to tasting your tobacco and most aromatics are made from burley and have very little actual taste. The tobaccos with the most taste tend to be virginias and latakia blends.

You didn't mention what type of pipe you have. Meerschaums can be smoked without ghosting, as can corncobs, clays, and gourd calabashes. Briars are notorious for ghosting - this is bad if you only have one pipe and want to try different styles, but great if you have a couple of pipes. If you dedicate a briar to only virginia blends or only latakia blends then it will gradually season with those tobaccos and their flavors will deepen and intensify. Cobs btw are probably the best pipe material for smoking burley, they really seem to bring out the delicate sweetness of burley.

Hey thanks guys. The pipe is a briar, an estate pipe from the bay. (It's already cleaned up. I'm not quite ready to start that - yet.) I do think I'll pick up a couple cobs just for sampling, too.

Apparently it's contagious...http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php/256291-Dear-B-amp-B-Pipe-Smokers...

I have been taking a crash course in pipes and pipe tobacco for about a week or so now & I am just barely scratching the surface at this point. I am lucky enough to have a local pipe shop so I spent about an hour or so there last week with a very patient store manager giving me an excellent tutorial.

Just for Him has some samplers available that cover just about all the basics, it seems.

Glad to have another pipe newb starting up at the same time as me!

Oh yes I saw your post. I read just about everything in the Brown Leaf these days. You're right, there sure is a boatload of new information to digest. I mean, I got the recommendation that I'll probably prefer a Virginia, and I've read enough good things about McClelland that I figured that's where I'd start. Then I find out there are numerous different McClelland Virginias available. Hmm...time for a shot in the dark I guess. I will definitely check out that sampler, thanks. I'm also going to pay a visit to Iwan Ries when I'm downtown for the Merz shave event in a couple weeks. (One more reason to be stoked about that!)

Fair warning about McClelland VA's, most people love'm or hate'm. They have a famous "ketchup" aroma that really seems to bother some folks. I'm in the love'm category, Blackwoods flake is a good one to try.

jmallen5 said:

Fair warning about McClelland VA's, most people love'm or hate'm. They have a famous "ketchup" aroma that really seems to bother some folks. I'm in the love'm category, Blackwoods flake is a good one to try.

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Well, I decided to take your advice and pick one from each category to start with. Talk about a difficult decision! I settled on Hal o' the Wynd (thank you), McClelland Blue Mountain, and Dunhill Royal Yacht. How'd I do?

I've never tried Blue Mountain, Royal yacht is one of my favorites. It would not be considered a typical aromatic, more like a Va with some flavoring. When I think aromatic, I think heavy flavored burley blends, but this too is debatable. I think you have gotten off to a fine start, before long you'll be buying furniture to store all your paraphanalia in. I hope you take to enjoying pipes as much as I do. I would gain no pleasure in helping to corrupt someone unless they developed a full blown disorder.

Oh yes thank you very much. Disorder is well under way. (Already have my eye on another briar, plus I picked up a couple cobs. Uh oh.) I took heed of MParker's point, and research indicated that most aromatics are very mild. The Royal Yacht sounded like a winner. I was considering McClelland's Navy Cavendish as well - would that be along a similar vein? What would you consider recommending as a typical aromatic?

Two of my favorite tobaccos are McCranie's Red Ribbon and Uhle's 00; both are a great transition for a cigar smoker, enjoy!

C&D's Autumn Evening would be my personal top notch aromatic. It's one of those smokes that people around you enjoy as much as you do. A lot of aromatics, as previously mentioned, taste more of the flavoring than the tobacco. This one is no different, but to me it just tastes damn good, a nice maple flavor with out being too goopy. I am a cigar, Va flake, aromatic, semi-aromatic tobacco lover. For some reason, I just can't get into heavy latakia blends. They all taste the same to me, like smoking a campfire. Don't get too worried about what you may or may not like based on being a cigar smoker. I have yet to smoke any pipe tobacco that tasted like cigar tobacco. Oh, I've also started to enjoy Lakeland floral toppings, just to give you something else to google and confuse you.

So, yesterday I arrived home to two packages just sitting on my doorstep. I thought it was odd until I realized they were there because the mailbox was too full - of the other packages. It seemed everything arrived at the same time. (Moments like these really put AD into perspective.)

In addition to a very sweet razor from the BST & my newest Rudy Vey brush, there were several pipe-related goodies. My first briar, four tins of tobacco, and not one but two packages of samples from a couple of you enablers generous fellows who saw my noobness and wanted to help a brother out. (Thanks again, guys!)

Only one package didn't make it - the requisite "gear": lighter, pipe tool, reamer (oh, and my, uh, second pipe ). USPS says that'll be here today, but the delicious smells wafting from those baggies were not about to wait. Grabbed a box of matches, hunted around the garage for a roofing nail, and I was out the door to enjoy a bowl (well, a half-bowl) of Blackwoods Flake. Ahhhhhhhh! Yep, I can see this getting out of hand real quick. Thanks, fellas!