I am hoping to get some advice about my tobacco. I want to make sure I don’t jump into the deep end and end up not liking something just because I lack experience, similar to when I first tried a pale ale 20 odd years ago.

This is what I currently have, does anyone feel I should hold off on any of these until I get some experience.

Mac Baren 7 seas hold - I have tried this and enjoyed it

McCleland Frog Morton on the bayou - I smoked a little of this and really wished it was still available.

Mac Baren plum cake

Mac Baren HH Perique

Esoterica Cardiff

Esoterica Pembroke - smoke one bowl of this and really enjoyed this.

Peter stokkebye - Virginia No.1

Wessex Brigade Balkan Supreme

Something from a place called Sturman smoke shop called black gold

Thanks for any advice.

I’d say go for it! I don’t see any nic heavyweights on there, The Plum cake and the Perique will have sharp bold flavors. If you find a few that you don’t like just jar em up and revisit in 6 months or a year . Your taste will change as you go along.

You're right in asking the question about blends that might require more experience. I've come across a few blends that I struggle with. It's not that I don't enjoy the taste, it's that they taste really bad, or get ashy super quick, and I don't know if I'm packing them right, smoking them too fast, not letting them dry etc....I think I know enough to troubleshoot the problem (although I haven't been able to yet) but a less experienced smoker might not be able to figure things out.


But you won't know until you try them, so I say smoke everything and see what works. If something doesn't taste right, jar it up, and revisit it when you've had more practice.

Thanks for the advice. I just remember the first time I tried a pale ale. I thought the beer had gone bad. It kept me away from hoppy beers for years until I really got into homebrewing.

I have enough problems with determining proper moisture content, smoking cadence, and not having to relight 20 times. I don’t need to add a more complicated than usual blend.

So I just tried the Plumcake and Wessex Balkan supreme. I really didn’t like the Plumcake at first but the second half of the bowl was much better. I think it might go in a jar for a while.

The Balkan supreme seemed really wet out of the tin so I let it dry for a while. I quite enjoyed it. It seems very smooth, maybe a bit on the mild side. I could see this making it in the normal rotation, although I wish it wasn’t so expensive.

Everything else I have is bulk, other than the frog Morton. I noticed bulk is substantially cheaper.

IMO cadence is something worth looking into. Smoking too fast can be a problem. And there's videos describing "breath smoking" which I've been trying to do, and I think it improves the overall experience. Moisture is something you can play around with, and relighting doesn't bother me. I do a lot of it. It becomes a problem when you're driving and relighting, and you look in the mirror later, and most of your eye lashes on one eye have white stems on them because you burned them all down.....that's a true story......

I tend to take quite a while to get through a bowl, so I don’t know that I’m smoking to fast. I just worry perhaps a certain rhythm would cut down on relights. I think the lowest number I have ever had is in the mid teens.

I am accident prone enough so no pipe smoking for me while driving. I would probably drop the lot lighter between my legs.