Ready to try different blends

[Tano]

Hi All,

With a new year upon us I'm ready to consider different tobaccos. I was wondering what you guys enjoy and smoke regularly.
Would you mind posting some of the brands and blends. I've had good luck ordering from 4 noggins.com. compared to Canadian prices, they are considerably more reasonable.
Thanks

[hazmat]

Orlik Golden Sliced
GL Pease Barbary Coast
Penzance
C&D Blockade Runner
C&D Kajun Kake
Escudo

That's all I can think of at the moment. I'll post more as I think of them.

[KurtHuhn]

In no particular order:
- C&D Autumn Evening
- Penzance
- C&D Mississippi Mud
- Butternut Burley
(http://store.pipesandcigars.com/scottysblends.html)
- SG Balkan Flake
- SG 1792 (AKA Cobb Flake)
- C&D Byzantium

Of those, Byzantium has become my new favorite. Penzance held that post for a long time, one bowl of Byzantium was all it too to knock it out of the top spot. It's got the smokey, campfire aroma that I love, as well as a spiciness that gives a meaty richness. Unlike Penzance, however, this has a mild sweetness to me until about mid-bowl. That, in particular is rather odd, since I can never detect sweetness in most blends, particulary virginias and virginia flake that people swear up and down are sweet.

[Tano]

Awesome!
Anybody else would like to share their favorite. I'm compiling a list for my records.
Thanks.

[hazmat]

Couple more I just thought of:

GL Pease Montgomery
GL Pease Cumberland
Dunhill Night Cap

[Frank]

Of those, Byzantium has become my new favorite. Penzance held that post for a long time, one bowl of Byzantium was all it too to knock it out of the top spot. It's got the smokey, campfire aroma that I love, as well as a spiciness that gives a meaty richness.

I've pretty much stuck to my Butternut Burly exclusively, so I was wondering how this Byzantium compares. Any chance I might like it, or is it vastly different? Difficult question to answer, I know.

[KurtHuhn]

The two are *vastly* different. The pouch aroma of Byzantium is almost like a campfire made with damp wood so it smokes up a lot. Couple the campfire smell with the smell of leather and its about spot on. The room note, to me, is very pleasant, but my wife hates it. The flavor is smoky, spicy, and a little sweet.

I'm not saying you won't like it, but I sure wouldn't buy a 8oz container just to try it out if you've never had Penzance or Mississippi Mud. If send me your address, I'll drop a few bowls in the mail for you.

[kbadkar]

For the past couple years, I have been buying bulk base tobaccos (most from Knoxville and mostly McClelland and various Virginias, but also Burley, Zimbabwe, Maryland, etc) and adding spice tobaccos (Oriental blends, Smyrna, Latakia, Perique, etc) in various combinations, then sealing them up in mason jars to store for a year or more. Each jar gets an ingredient list with approximate proportions and a canning date. By this method, I've discovered a few personal favorite blends and it's MUCH cheaper than the tinned stuff. But, here are a few tins I enjoy and keep coming back to:

Orlik Golden Sliced: sweet golden virginia w/ a touch o burley. It's sweet, but apparently, not cased.

Penzance, Esoterica: got to love this English with a healthy dose of latakia

Hal O' The Wynd, Rattray's: Nice virginia with some bold character, nice ready rubbed cut

Three Nuns: Va/Per blend coins, but you need to order it from Europe. Grandad used to smoke it exclusively, but it's not the same now as in his day.

Dunhill London Mixture: solid English blend

Gawith & Hoggarths Brown Flake: virginia mixed with Malawi leaf, clean taste but with a little depth.

Blackwoods Flake, McClelland - nice stoved aged dark Va mix

Frog Morten, McClelland - nice latakia blend, not as rich as Penzance

[flix]

I don't think these were mentioned:

GawHogg's Dark Plug and Dark BirdsEye
SamGaw's Bracken Flake and Black XX Twist
Peterson's Irish Flake
C&D's Miss. Mud
Dunhill's EMP and Std. Mix. Mild

HTH!

--Michael