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?


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.