What are some "crap" pipe tobaccos to avoid?

[c.ortiz108]

Fascinating thread to a pipe newb - and kind of intimidating with suggestions like trying the same blend in different pipes. This seems like a far more complicated hobby than cigars!

[Lostmason]

Fascinating thread to a pipe newb - and kind of intimidating with suggestions like trying the same blend in different pipes. This seems like a far more complicated hobby than cigars!

Only as complicated as You want to make it. Read thru the reviews,try a few.You'll find a blend you like.If your adventurous you'll try more,if not stick with what you like.Just like cigars,if you really can't stand one pass it on, someone else will, or you can always try "changing" it.

[El Whedo]

Ok.

I'm yer huckleberry.

Here are a few brands/blenders I don't like:
Sutliff and Lane. Why do I not like them? Because IMHO I think they use lower quality tobacco, and most of their blends are aeromatics, and I don't like most aeromatics.

The other brand I don't like is G.L. Pease. Most folks love his blends, but I haven't found one I like past the third bowl. He definitely uses top quality tobacco, but his tastes as a blender, and mine as a smoker are very different.

Now I'm gonna answer two questions ya didn't ask:
1) Mark, what are yer favorite blenders? Easy: anyone that makes a GREAT VA. My favorite is Homborger Veermaster by Dan Tobacco. I also like H&H Marble Kake, C&D Opening Night, and a whole slew of VA's from Astleys, F&T, and Gwaith and Hoggert.
2) Mark, how do I find out what blenders, or type of tobacco's I like? Easy: join the pipe tobacco Newb Sampler. You drop ship a tin or two to an experienced pipe smoker, and they send ya either 5-6, or 10-12 samples of a whole variety of tobaccos. This will let ya find out if ya like, or hate, VA's, VaPers, aeromatics, English blends, Balkans, etc.

[Commander Quan]

Latakia heavy blends. They literally taste and smell like burning cow pies.

[Cool Breeze]

Here's my list of tobacco I'll never buy again:
Captain Black anything

This is what makes this a great hobby IMO.
I like Captain Black a lot and Jason doesn't care for it at all. The cool thing is, we're both absolutely right. There is no right or wrong. There is no good or bad flavors. There is only finding the people who like a given flavor.

I never say a cigar or pipe tobacco is crap based on taste. I'll bitch and moan if the performance or construction sucks, but different people like different flavors. It's awesome. If we all liked the same thing, there would only be a handful of them to choose from.

[Tobias Lutz]

Latakia heavy blends. They literally taste and smell like burning cow pies.

[Nachman]

Since you want opinions based on personal taste, I will give a little of mine. Don't buy anything in a pouch or bag. Stick to tins and later, when you know what you like, try a few bulks. Being a cigar smoker since the fifties, I would advise any cigar smoker to avoid Aromatic blends. They are sort of like sweet meat (I know there are cultures that eat sweet meat dishes, but this is my opinion, BLEECH). There is no better tobacco than Dunhill Royal Yacht for a cigar smoker. It doesn't taste like a cigar, but it has a similar mouth feel, lots of rich smoke and plenty of punch. Latakia blends are good in cool weather and Virginias in warm. The worst tobacco I have ever smoked was a Samuel Gawith Christmas Blend, but I like most Samuel Gawith tobaccos.

[Tombstone]

Latakia heavy blends. They literally taste and smell like burning cow pies.

While I personally like Latakia that is just a great mental image. Thanks for sharing.

[c.ortiz108]

Thinking about all thus, as with anything there is such a thing as quality objectively speaking, right? I mean commercial cigarettes are full of chemicals, dyed paper etc. The quality of tobacco used in Curly Head is clearly inferior to what's used in an Opus X. My local artisan brewery's amber ale is made with better quality ingredients and with more care than Coors Lite, and it shows. There must be pipe tobaccos that are just poor quality, no? Dyed, treated with chemicals, heavily aromatic to mask poor flavors, harshness and bitterness? Generally the OTC pouches?

[Nachman]

Thinking about all thus, as with anything there is such a thing as quality objectively speaking, right? I mean commercial cigarettes are full of chemicals, dyed paper etc. The quality of tobacco used in Curly Head is clearly inferior to what's used in an Opus X. My local artisan brewery's amber ale is made with better quality ingredients and with more care than Coors Lite, and it shows. There must be pipe tobaccos that are just poor quality, no? Dyed, treated with chemicals, heavily aromatic to mask poor flavors, harshness and bitterness? Generally the OTC pouches?

You. Sir are an astute man. Smoking a pipe is like living in a village because there are so few of us. Even though you think villager A is a moron, you don't express your opinion unless you want to have all his friends and relatives, and lets face it half the people in the village are related to him, attack you like rabid weasels. Yes there are bad tobaccos and I could name whole brands that are unsmokable, but I have to live in this village.