Tobacco Question! How Many Chances?

[Branzig]

We have all been there...You get a tobacco that everyone in the whole pipe world seems to be raving over. Judging from everything that you have heard and from all the reviews you have read, this is going to be the greatest tobacco you have ever had the privilege to smoke!

Giddy with anticipation, you load up your bowl, light it up, smoke it all the way down AND.....Meh. Just Meh. It was either awful, tasteless, or at best just OK. No matter what the outcome, it was a total let down from what you were hoping it would be.

So the question I now pose to you fellow Bums is this: How many chances do you give a blend before giving up on it completely?

I myself try to give any blend at least 6 chances, hopefully in a few different pipes, before I pass my final judgement on it.

How about you all?

[Emperor Zurg]

Is this about the Pine Grove? ... or the cherry twist?
:D

I vote 1 to 3 but it's a loose 1 to 3 because once rejected, I'll chuck the blend in a neglected corner and may revisit it from time to time so as to see if it's gotten any better with age.

[Tobias Lutz]

4-6, but by then I'm so deep into the tin that I usually kill it for the sake of not feeling wasteful. That kind of neurosis is the direct result of growing up poor ;)

[Horseshoe]

4-6 but I have given stuff away after a horrible bowl before. But usually I will give it a couple chances if possible. I have no issues giving away tobacco that I don't like.

[tmoran]

This is tough. A very few tobaccos I have been one or two and done. If I'm not really feelin' it, but it's not completely offensive, I'll smoke maybe 5 bowls and then jar up the rest and try again in a couple months, or even a year or two. If it's not a high nic blend, I'll usually just throw it in my pouch and use it for my commutes. I'm usually not too picky about what I smoke while I drive. Normally when I do this, I end up liking the blend by the end of the tin, and wishing I had more.

[izkeh]

I'm in the 1-3* camp. What's the asterisk, you ask? It means that I'll usually forget about it in a jar someplace in my cabinet and when I'm fumbling for what to smoke next I may, may reach back and try it again. Usually after a couple of meh to plain ol yuck bowls I'll either pitch it (if it's nothing HTF) or bombs away!

[JustTroItIn]

I voted 4-6 because I will have usually made up my mind by then as to whether I will ever buy it again, but I'm cheap so will still finish the tin. Usually at this point I will start mixing it with other tobacco to see if I can come up with something I like better.

One example is Old Joe Krantz. I don't think I have ever heard a bad word about it but I think Joe is a harsh old bastard. However, add a little Prince Albert to the mix and Old Joe is much more the gentleman.

[johnnyflake]

If a new tobacco is not doing anything for me, after 2 bowls, max of 3 bowls, I pitch it or give it away. Why waste more time trying to like it?

[Lostmason]

I voted 1-3,after the third bowl of dissatisfaction I will try mixing or topping it with either rum or scotch.

[LandonColby]

I voted 4-6 because I will have usually made up my mind by then as to whether I will ever buy it again, but I'm cheap so will still finish the tin. Usually at this point I will start mixing it with other tobacco to see if I can come up with something I like better.

This.

[Cool Breeze]

If a new tobacco is not doing anything for me, after 2 bowls, max of 3 bowls, I pitch it or give it away. Why waste more time trying to like it?

Agreed 100%.
There are too many pipe tobaccos and cigars that I love to waste time trying to get to like one.

[cpmcdill]

If a tobacco is not a vicious tongue-biter, I'll give it a few chances, then jar it up and revisit every few months. If after a while it's still not working out, I will try adding in some other tobaccos to bring it into an agreeable range of flavors. If the tobacco is a tongue-biter but otherwise tastes okay, I'll introduce some orientals and/or non-bitey burley and that has worked pretty well. Hell, I even fixed Mixture 79 by adding Middleton Apple 50/50 and was able to finish it off (won't buy either again though).

I like to experiment, so I see opportunities in the tobacco blends that fail to win my approval, and I learn about the blender's craft in the process.

[OnePyroTec]

I have to go with 4-6 for the same reasons. I will try a couple dryness levels and pipes before passing final judgement.

[Bruck]

I see I'm in the minority here as usual :) No second chances! But if I have something I don't like, I can usually reblend it into something good, or at least tolerable.

[Branzig]

Is this about the Pine Grove? ... or the cherry twist? :D

Neither good sir! :D


One example is Old Joe Krantz.

This is the exact tobacco that made me think of starting this poll!

Everyone seems to love this stuff. To me, it has way to much perique in it to really enjoy it. I have had about 7 bowls of it now and it just isn't working for me!

[NeverBend]

I've been with most of my pipes for 30 years so I know how they smoke with most types of tobaccos and I'm limited in what I'll smoke so I have a pretty fair idea with the first bowl. I voted 1-3 because I always give another chance usually with another pipe and packing technique.

Like other posters, I will generally finish a tin if I don't give it away. It's my penance. If I buy a larger pack then I'm stuck as I am now.

I foolishly bought 8oz of Esoterica Scarborough without trying it first and it's bland but not bad enough to abandon and you guys know what this tobacco is selling for. So I dug into the pipes that I haven't been using in my rotation and got my Virginia Beast, a hulking Ser Jacopo L2 Maxima (smooth) billiard taper from the mid 1980s that can magically turn turd into tulips. Scarborough turned into a bed of tulips.

So I unleashed the Beast, and all I want to do is to stuff him full of some tasty Gawith Hoggarth weed but I'm stuck smoking up another 4pz of Scarborough because it's useless in any other pipe. I should have left well enough alone. Sigh.

[Desertlifter]

I like to return to blends after a lengthy period of time. My tastes evolve, and things I used to hate are some of my favorites now. Rattray's OG and HotW are good examples of that.

I also used to really not like any blend with DFK, but blends with that glorious leaf are more likely to be in my pipes than any other.

[JustTroItIn]

This is the exact tobacco that made me think of starting this poll!



I have to admit it feels a bit better finding the only other person that isn't a fan.

[cbr310]

What is the Latika flavor?

[Branzig]

I have to admit it feels a bit better finding the only other person that isn't a fan.
We very well may be the only 2 in the world lol.

I am coming to terms with the fact that I don't like any C&D burley blends. At least none of the ones I have tried.

Except junkyard dawg. But that has latakia in it so I'm not really counting it lol

[JustTroItIn]

One of my favorite C&D is Night Train, but it's also not a straight up burley.

[Branzig]

One of my favorite C&D is Night Train, but it's also not a straight up burley.
One of their only burleys I haven't smoked lol.

I have had 1 or 2 of their burley flakes and they were both quite good. I don't know which blend # they were though.

More than once I have thought about buying a tin of each...but my past experience with their burley scares me lol

[freestoke]

I sometimes like a tobacco the second or third time I try it, but generally one bowl can be a decider. I don't even bother to use it up anymore. I give it away when I find a taker or can think of a decent contest to decide who to give it to. Life is too short to suffer with smoking something I don't enjoy. Probably why I don't smoke much of a variety of tobacco these days the way I used to.