Dunhill Early Morning Pipe

[PaulHag]

Would EMP be a bad tobacco to start with? Heres me dilemna...
I want to start smokin a pipe REAL bad... and I dont wanna have to buy a bunch of pipes and a bunch of diff. tobaccy to find what i like, or start on aro's and end up progressing out of them quickly.

I wanna find a classic almost everyone likes and jump right into it....At work right now I've earned enough "credit" to get myself a nice Nording freehand. Or maybe im just getting ahead of myself.

Suggestions welcome...

[DrStrangelove]

Hey Paul - I know how you feel, pipes can be expensive. I don't like aromatics (there are a couple that are interesting, but sugar+cavendish doesn't do it for me), but I know there are alot of guys that do. Anyway they really stink up your pipes so you'll need to commit one to those if that's what you get into. Otherwise for non-aromatics, you'll proabably need two pipes, one for english's and one for virginias. I started with one pipe and smoked both in them, but the english flavors overpowered the virginias i was smoking (there really is a big difference, I had no idea how much briar sucked up flavor until I got a dedicated virginia pipe). Anyway, I just smoke englishes in the first pipe now.

I would reccomend starting with a good pipe, and it sounds like you've got that figured out, and a couple of solid english blends. I haven't had dunhill early morning but I would reccomend Dunhill 965 (standard english), Dunill London Mixture (a little more mild but very tasty), Dunhill Nighcap (much stronger than 965, alot of perique tobacco I think), Dunhill Royal Yacht (English with interesting flavor, tastes like b-day cake to me), or Nat Sherman 536 (a direct competitor with Dunhill 965 also very good).

Virginias are an entirely different animal, alot more sugar in them (but not necsicarily more sweet). They tend to be a little more mild than Englishes and many have a charateristic 'nutty taste'. Try a few of these too if you want, but they'll taste alot better if you dedicate a pipe to the.

But basically get a pipe, and start tying out english blends. You don't have to put the horse before the carriage, but get a few tins, they're not too expensive, and you'll figure out what you like. It worked for me anyway.

When you get a pipe shoot me a PM and I'll send you a sample or two.

[PaulHag]

Hey thanks for the advice and the offer....
My question is... do the english blends taste kind of like they smell?
The smell just seems to be so pungent to me...

[DrStrangelove]

Originally Posted by PaulHag

Hey thanks for the advice and the offer....
My question is... do the english blends taste kind of like they smell?
The smell just seems to be so pungent to me...

In a word... no. They don't taste nearly as strong as they smell. Their odor when burning is also alot more subtle too. Get a pipe, try out some 965, you'll see what I mean. If you find out you like Virginias more (which smell like sugar but don't very often taste liek it ) I doubt a couple of smokes of an English won't kill the pipe if you air it out. But honestly, as a cigar smoker, if you can tolerate fiddleing with your pipe while you smoke, you'd be hard pressed not to enjoy a good english.

If you like medium-full body cigars, I'd just skip about 90% of anything that's not an English or a Virginia (maybe a few blends lightly flavored). But there are others here who'll proabably disagree with me. There is a lot of variety in both so with a little searching I'm sure you'll find something you like in either category.

[Scott M]

Ditto on the 965. Very tastey and easily located. Gotta warn ya' about Nightcap; it's good and you'll probably like it, but it put me on my arse hard. Beaucoup nic buzz.

[IHT]

Originally Posted by DrStrangelove

But honestly, as a cigar smoker, if you can tolerate fiddleing with your pipe while you smoke, you'd be hard pressed not to enjoy a good english.

If you like medium-full body cigars, I'd just skip about 90% of anything that's not an English or a Virginia (maybe a few blends lightly flavored). But there are others here who'll proabably disagree with me.

i actually totally agree with these statements.

i know i've said it either via PM to someone, or on here, but when i started on pipes, it was only aromatics, and i felt, "how could anyone smoke those nasty english blends?" well, fast forward a handful of years smoking cigars, and now the english blends/virginias/orientals, they are a callin my name. i still like an aromatic from time to time, but you will be hard pressed to "feel" and "taste" the smoke if you've been smoking non-cubans all day (or in the past few days).

i'd go with what dr. strangelove is sayin'.

and the nording freehands are more designed to smoke english blends better (at least mine is - it doesn't smoke aromatics for nuthin').

[PaulHag]

So if i buy a Nording freehand, I will be able to smoke all the 965, Nightcap, and EMP in it without worrying about messing up the pipe? Just wanna get that straight...

Then id wanna get a second for Virginia's and a third for any Aro id wanna try... Just making sure I am understanding this correctly....

[IHT]

actually, you want to dedicate 1 pipe to 1 tobacco...
if you smoke 1 other english blend in the same pipe just a few times, it won't sour your pipe.

never smoke a bunch of bowls of aromatics in the same bowl you smoke your english blends in...

just a few bowls of every now and then, and i mean a FEW, unless the blends are very close.

sorry if this is confusing, but you can make a pipe just taste "off" by mix n matching the tobaccos.

[PaulHag]

Thats why im asking IHT, im here to learn.
Pretty much remind of when I 1st came here to learn about cigars..
It's a vicious cycle...
While I guess I need to pick an English then I'd just go from there,
Man this is gonna get expensive

[IHT]

Originally Posted by PaulHag

Man this is gonna get expensive

not really. once you get a few pipes, the tobacco is cheap, and you'll be surprised how LONG a tin or small baggie of tobacco will last you. and a decent sized bowl can last you over an hour...

it's all good though.

[croatan]

I wholeheartedly agree with Strangelove.

Eearly Morning Pipe isn't bad but I always recommend starting with a medium English blend like 965.

And, as IHT said, except for pipes (which can be very expensive--but certainly don't have to be) pipe smoking is, on average, much cheaper than cigarette smoking. Plus, your biggest investment (your pipe) doesn't get consumed in the process

[DrStrangelove]

Originally Posted by IHT

actually, you want to dedicate 1 pipe to 1 tobacco...
if you smoke 1 other english blend in the same pipe just a few times, it won't sour your pipe.

never smoke a bunch of bowls of aromatics in the same bowl you smoke your english blends in...

just a few bowls of every now and then, and i mean a FEW, unless the blends are very close.

sorry if this is confusing, but you can make a pipe just taste "off" by mix n matching the tobaccos.

Uhmmm, I smoke all different english blends in 1 pipe. Unless the english is exceedingly mild it doesn't seem to adulturate the flavor that much, virginias on the other hand.....

Maybe my pallette just hasn't transcended to the same level as yours. Then again I haven't been smoking a pipe for 3000 years

I've want to get a few pipes to dedicate to different blends but right now by pipes practice inter-varietal polygamy. It doesn't seem to screw with the flavor that much. I just keep the englishes in the english pipe and the virginias in the virginia pipe (and the aro's in the aro [read:lending out] pipe )


But that's coming from a pipe noob over here.

[IHT]

Originally Posted by DrStrangelove

Uhmmm, I smoke all different english blends in 1 pipe. Unless the english is exceedingly mild it doesn't seem to adulturate the flavor that much, virginias on the other hand.....

I've want to get a few pipes to dedicate to different blends but right now by pipes practice inter-varietal polygamy. It doesn't seem to screw with the flavor that much. I just keep the englishes in the english pipe and the virginias in the virginia pipe (and the aro's in the aro [read:lending out] pipe )

that's what i was getting at, i guess i didn't say it the right way.

[PaulHag]

Ummm.. so a pipe for all the different english blends is fine...?

[Nooner]

Originally Posted by PaulHag

Ummm.. so a pipe for all the different english blends is fine...?

yes, I believe so... I just try to match them up by Latakia content... heavy Latakia vs. not... some of the more experienced pipe guys may be able to share whether that is worthwhile or not, but it makes sense to me!!!

PM me your addy, I have a smaller pipe I picked up with some others that I haven't used yet and won't have a chance to use for a little while(Dr told me I need to smoke a bit less...) that I'd love to send ya to put in your rotation. It isn't the prettiest thing in the word, and the bowl is a bit on the smallish side, but it should smoke well, and you can definately use it to try out a few of the in-house blends at your shop.

The sooner you can PM me the better.. I have a few packages I need to put together and get off!!!