Differences in Brands?

christian1971

I've been looking thru all the different types of pipe tobacco (especially, virginia, burley, orientals), and I'll be damned if I can make up my mind. There are so many brands that I cant make up my mind and quit in a bit of frustration. I be worried that I would buy too much! I decided I want to store pipe tobacco for later use. MacBarens look delicious, but so do others, like McClellands.....Is there significant difference in aroma, taste, quality between one brand of burley/virginia blend over another? Including if they are the same cut? Im familiar with all the brand names, just not sure which are worthy and those that dont make the grade. Or if they are very similar. Thanks for any help.

dr_frankenstein56

christian1971:

I've been looking thru all the different types of pipe tobacco (especially, virginia, burley, orientals), and I'll be damned if I can make up my mind. There are so many brands that I cant make up my mind and quit in a bit of frustration. I be worried that I would buy too much! I decided I want to store pipe tobacco for later use. MacBarens look delicious, but so do others, like McClellands.....Is there significant difference in aroma, taste, quality between one brand of burley/virginia blend over another? Including if they are the same cut? Im familiar with all the brand names, just not sure which are worthy and those that dont make the grade. Or if they are very similar. Thanks for any help.

+1 I have the same questions, I just got my first pipe today and need suggestions as where to start.

Aj

slamb@cigar.com

There certainly are differences between brands, but really the only way to know what you like is to try them out. There are so many out there and they all will differ slightly depending on varietal of leaf and the process in which the tobacco is cured, blended, etc…. If you’re ageing the tobacco and jarring it up for later, I would stick with some Virginias, these will age the best. Aromatics and Latakia blends will start to diminish in flavor over time and mellow out. Again though, pipes are wonderful because there is a lot of leeway and it all comes down to what works for you as the smoker. If you need any suggestions as what blends to start with, just let me know and I can help you out; along with the a majority of the veteran pipers on this forum.

J.S.

slamb@cigar.com:

There certainly are differences between brands, but really the only way to know what you like is to try them out. There are so many out there and they all will differ slightly depending on varietal of leaf and the process in which the tobacco is cured, blended, etc…. If you’re ageing the tobacco and jarring it up for later, I would stick with some Virginias, these will age the best. Aromatics and Latakia blends will start to diminish in flavor over time and mellow out. Again though, pipes are wonderful because there is a lot of leeway and it all comes down to what works for you as the smoker. If you need any suggestions as what blends to start with, just let me know and I can help you out; along with the a majority of the veteran pipers on this forum.

+1 here. I would say that so far I do like aging the Lat. blends too. Something about some of them does mellow but they also don't bite after a year or two. I actually like the mellowing of the lat and the sweetening of the VA's.

Aros should not be kept for very long, the casing will breakdown and it will not go well. They can be kept for a while I have some with 2 yrs on it and it is still fine but I think it is about to reach its peak.

dr_frankenstein56

Would the CAO Sampler be a good place to start?

Gray4lines

dr_frankenstein56:

Would the CAO Sampler be a good place to start?

I assume that you get one of each of the flavors. These will all be aromatics, so it really isn't much of a variety.

I'd pick out one virginia blend, one latakia heavy blend, one aromatic, and then maybe a couple others that sound good (Burley's, Virginia Perique...) and then you can go from there. You really just have to try em and see what you like, very much like starting with cigars.

mgk2020

dr_frankenstein56:

Would the CAO Sampler be a good place to start?

If they sound good to you, then yes. Otherwise, my honest opinion is that there is no good place to start. There are simply too many blends from too many companies and everyone's preference varies too much to start anywhere in particular. No matter what you pick there will be thousands of other options you missed. Honestly, it'll make no difference where you start; just be sure you stick with it long enough to get a real good idea what is available and what you like. If I were to put together a starter pack or were to start today, I'd probably try each type of tobacco (latakia, burley, Virginias, etc.) because I think it helps to see what each base is like, then just pick a variety of different blends (English, oriental, vaPer, etc.). How you choose is up to you and probably makes no difference because no matter what you do it could be done some other way just as easily. I don't mean to sound flippant, it's just the way it is. There's no "right" way to do it. There's just different ways. You can go with popular blends, what sounds good, etc. For what it's worth, I really enjoy McClelland blends, particularly the Frog Morton's. People usually like them and they aren't likely to turn you off to pipe smoking, so they could be described as a "good place to start" but it'll depend on your taste. Someone that wants a full bodied kick in the mouth probably wouldn't enjoy them, for instance. So don't worry about how to start, the only thing that matters is that you do and that you don't quit til you've tried a lot. Mason

Amos Umwhat

I noticed that the new P&C catalog is offering brand samplers, 2 oz bags of various tobaccos from a few brand names, might be worth looking into.

slamb@cigar.com

I could also make up a sampler for you so you don't have to go to P&C! Just shoot me an email and I can see what kind of Magic I can make happen.

dr_frankenstein56

slamb@cigar.com:

I could also make up a sampler for you so you don't have to go to P&C! Just shoot me an email and I can see what kind of Magic I can make happen.

Thats whats up! Taken care of me... did me right on those Tat Monsters... I know you will do me right for this.

Aj

roland_7707

Ccom customer service.........second to none!!!!

Amos Umwhat

slamb@cigar.com:

I could also make up a sampler for you so you don't have to go to P&C! Just shoot me an email and I can see what kind of Magic I can make happen.

No disrespect meant to CCOM, by any means. I buy 99% of all my cigars here, and about 20% of my pipe tobacco.

Truly, I thought there was a relationship between CCOM and P&C, no? I think I made this assumption after seeing your article in their catalog last fall, Sean. At any rate, not trying to hurt business or divert the BOTL away. My apologies.

slamb@cigar.com

nope, none taken, when they first came to our building they offered for me to write for them, so I took the offer; that's about it. But we are two separate companies. Again, no worries at all here, I like them as a company and Russ is the Man!

Gray4lines

slamb@cigar.com:

nope, none taken, when they first came to our building they offered for me to write for them, so I took the offer; that's about it. But we are two separate companies. Again, no worries at all here, I like them as a company and Russ is the Man!

Russ is the man!

Speaking of other places.... Is CCOM planning on expanding their pipe/pipe tobacco selection? I would love to buy more pipe stuff from here, but sometimes I don't see the brands I want. I presume it is because the pipe thing is pretty new here. Just wondering if the plan is to keep it small, or expand it over time.

christian1971

Gray4lines:

slamb@cigar.com:

nope, none taken, when they first came to our building they offered for me to write for them, so I took the offer; that's about it. But we are two separate companies. Again, no worries at all here, I like them as a company and Russ is the Man!

Russ is the man!

Speaking of other places.... Is CCOM planning on expanding their pipe/pipe tobacco selection? I would love to buy more pipe stuff from here, but sometimes I don't see the brands I want. I presume it is because the pipe thing is pretty new here. Just wondering if the plan is to keep it small, or expand it over time.

World domination

Gray4lines

christian1971:

Gray4lines:

slamb@cigar.com:

nope, none taken, when they first came to our building they offered for me to write for them, so I took the offer; that's about it. But we are two separate companies. Again, no worries at all here, I like them as a company and Russ is the Man!

Russ is the man!

Speaking of other places.... Is CCOM planning on expanding their pipe/pipe tobacco selection? I would love to buy more pipe stuff from here, but sometimes I don't see the brands I want. I presume it is because the pipe thing is pretty new here. Just wondering if the plan is to keep it small, or expand it over time.

World domination

If we can only be so lucky

slamb@cigar.com

We have a ton of pipe stuff, but a lot of it won’t be up on the website. If you are looking for a particular blend that you don't see on the site, just shoot me an email and I'll see what I can do for you. As for actual pipes, that is still up in the air.

Gray4lines

slamb@cigar.com:

We have a ton of pipe stuff, but a lot of it won’t be up on the website. If you are looking for a particular blend that you don't see on the site, just shoot me an email and I'll see what I can do for you. As for actual pipes, that is still up in the air.

Gotcha

J.S.

slamb@cigar.com:

We have a ton of pipe stuff, but a lot of it won’t be up on the website. If you are looking for a particular blend that you don't see on the site, just shoot me an email and I'll see what I can do for you. As for actual pipes, that is still up in the air.

May I ask why a lot of blends/brands will not be up? Is it because of the high demand on certain items, etc.?

slamb@cigar.com

mainly man power, and some we can't just due to exclusivity and or availability.

J.S.

That is good to know. The next time I start looking for something hard to find I will pick up the phone and give you a call.

slamb@cigar.com

Yea give me call or shoot me an email.