Ok, I smoked cigs for a long time. I have also had a break from that to try pipes and Cigars years ago. I love the taste of tobacco. I can do cigars, pipes and even chewing tobacco if the tastes are right. But my issue is that I'm a n00b! I would like to refine my tobacco use with a budget. I am up for cigars, pipe, and chew but don't know where to start on a budget like ~ $30 month and would like any help or sarcasm.
Question for n00b refined tobaccoist?
- Thread starter Digit01
- Start date
Hirsute
Used to have fun with Commander Yellow Pantyhose
Ok, my tip is to start slow. Pipes are a black hole you can call into. With hour budget, start with a Missouri Meerschaum corn cob pipe, and a pouch of carter hill and a pouch of sir Walter Raleigh aromatic. Get a pipe nail and some pipe cleaners. That should all be under $30. For the first month, just focus on learning to load and smoke your pipe, and appreciate the differences in the two blends. Report back on your successes and struggles, and what you liked, and take recommend rations to buy a couple tins of tobacco the next month. At some point, youay want fancier tobacco or more tobacco, or fancier pipes. You can spend a lot or a little on this hobby. Start small and go slow.
Agreed on the starting slow. If you can find a real tobacco store local is the best bet. Lucky me, i have a great pipe/cigar shop. From a cig smoker to a pipe now... And love it. Started with a cob, moved on to briar.
If you are not as fortunate as me with a local shop, get yourself a cob or a CHEAP briar pipe on line. With cheap pipes... cobs especially, i can clean it with que-tips and paper towels. No need for pipe cleaners. BUT I USE FILTERS!!!
do a little research on a good english and Virginia blend. Get one of each... Save on shipping!
Pack it loose, put a flame to it, pack it down a tad more (finger, golf tee, nail, buy a tamper off line... Whatever...), re-light and do it as much as you have/want to.
and the biggest part of it...
ENJOY it!!! This like shaving, is totally your thing!
I also like to leave out, or "age" my tobacco, just before packing it. Avoid that tounge bite a little!!!
If you are not as fortunate as me with a local shop, get yourself a cob or a CHEAP briar pipe on line. With cheap pipes... cobs especially, i can clean it with que-tips and paper towels. No need for pipe cleaners. BUT I USE FILTERS!!!
do a little research on a good english and Virginia blend. Get one of each... Save on shipping!
Pack it loose, put a flame to it, pack it down a tad more (finger, golf tee, nail, buy a tamper off line... Whatever...), re-light and do it as much as you have/want to.
and the biggest part of it...
ENJOY it!!! This like shaving, is totally your thing!
I also like to leave out, or "age" my tobacco, just before packing it. Avoid that tounge bite a little!!!
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At $30 a month budget, your best bet is pipe tobacco and a Missouri Meerschaum cob pipe. Call C&D and get a sampler built for you. They are very helpful folks, and will work with you to make a personal sampler.
http://www.cornellanddiehl.com/
http://www.cornellanddiehl.com/
Commander Quan
Commander Yellow Pantyhose
I'd pick one format you are really interested in and stick with it for a while instead of switching back and forth or mixing it all up. Give you palate time to adjust to what your are tasting. Pipe tobacco will give you the most bang for your buck over the long term, but cigars are the easiest to pick up and get started with.
Some people dig institutions...
Commander Quan
Commander Yellow Pantyhose
I think you've got your terms confused here. Just to clarify; allowing your tobacco time to dry out somewhat is usually a good thing and does help the tobacco burn better, but that's not aging. Aging refers to putting the tobacco aside for multiple months or years to allow chemical changes within the leaf. Aging is not a requirement, but can mellow a blend, allow the natural sugars to crystallize, and take some of the sharpness out of it.
- Thread starter
- #9
Thank you so much for the help!
As for the cigars you can try an online retailer like cigar international or any of the others that run specials. Sometimes you can get free shipping and one heck of a good sampler for pretty cheep.
This advice may run counter to what most people would offer, but don't be afraid of machine made cigars. The ones you get at the gas station (White Owl, Phillies, Swisher Sweet, Dutch Masters) all suck wildly, but there are some good ones out there, and they may not rival super premium hand rolled cigars, but the good machine mades will hold their own next to budget hand rolled smokes. Marsh Wheeling, Muniemakers, and especially La Aurora's Principes (the machine made, unflavored variety) are all very pleasant, especially if you don't have a super refined palate.
But like their hand rolled counterparts, they do require humidors to stay in good shape. There are a few exceptions, though. Principes are sold in foil sleeves rather than cellophane, and don't lose moisture. They are a nice, mild Dominican petite corona, and really the only drawback is that they sometimes have too open a draw. With careful smoking, they're as good as most other mild smokes.
If you want something stronger, I highly, highly, highly recommend you go to a CVS or some other drug store and seeing if they carry the dry cured Italian styled cigars made by the Avanti company. Pick up a pack of Parodi, Petri, or De Nobili and give them a try. They're dry as the Sahara, ugly as sin and strong as almost any cigar you'll find...but the flavor is great, and they smoke really well. They do not taste like "normal" cigars, being made entirely of domestic tobacco, including a healthy dose of dark Kentucky leaf. The fire curing process gives them a very special flavor, similar in nature to Peterson's Irish Flake pipe tobacco. These are some of my favorite cigars and I enjoy them as much as about 90% of my favored hand rolled smokes. They won't stand up to the Griffins or AVO or La Flor Dominicana or Bolivar or anything, but they'll blow a lot of the more reasonably priced cigars out of the water. They're cheap, running around 6-7 bucks for a pack of five, and burn very slowly and deliberately with a nice draw.
If you don't like licorice, be cautious not to buy their Avanti brand cigars, though, because those are strongly flavored with anisette. I love them! Their other brands are unflavored, though, and if I'm not mistaken all their lines use the same base tobaccos.
Other than that, get a cob and some good pipe tobaccos, there will be no shortage of good suggestions. I highly recommend Sir Walter Raleigh, Orlik Golden Sliced, Balkan Sasieni, and Mac Baren Vanilla Flake for good, inexpensive tobaccos. They are 1) American style burley, 2) Virginia flake, 3) "English" (Latakia, Turkish, and Virginia), and 4) US/Danish style aromatic blends respectively. Mac Baren blends are typically quite mild but very good blends, though there are a few people out there who find they don't agree with them and find them prone to causing tongue bite. I don't have this problem with them, though. Also try their Mixture Scottish Blend, HH Highland Blend, and Navy Flake - all great blends!
But like their hand rolled counterparts, they do require humidors to stay in good shape. There are a few exceptions, though. Principes are sold in foil sleeves rather than cellophane, and don't lose moisture. They are a nice, mild Dominican petite corona, and really the only drawback is that they sometimes have too open a draw. With careful smoking, they're as good as most other mild smokes.
If you want something stronger, I highly, highly, highly recommend you go to a CVS or some other drug store and seeing if they carry the dry cured Italian styled cigars made by the Avanti company. Pick up a pack of Parodi, Petri, or De Nobili and give them a try. They're dry as the Sahara, ugly as sin and strong as almost any cigar you'll find...but the flavor is great, and they smoke really well. They do not taste like "normal" cigars, being made entirely of domestic tobacco, including a healthy dose of dark Kentucky leaf. The fire curing process gives them a very special flavor, similar in nature to Peterson's Irish Flake pipe tobacco. These are some of my favorite cigars and I enjoy them as much as about 90% of my favored hand rolled smokes. They won't stand up to the Griffins or AVO or La Flor Dominicana or Bolivar or anything, but they'll blow a lot of the more reasonably priced cigars out of the water. They're cheap, running around 6-7 bucks for a pack of five, and burn very slowly and deliberately with a nice draw.
If you don't like licorice, be cautious not to buy their Avanti brand cigars, though, because those are strongly flavored with anisette. I love them! Their other brands are unflavored, though, and if I'm not mistaken all their lines use the same base tobaccos.
Other than that, get a cob and some good pipe tobaccos, there will be no shortage of good suggestions. I highly recommend Sir Walter Raleigh, Orlik Golden Sliced, Balkan Sasieni, and Mac Baren Vanilla Flake for good, inexpensive tobaccos. They are 1) American style burley, 2) Virginia flake, 3) "English" (Latakia, Turkish, and Virginia), and 4) US/Danish style aromatic blends respectively. Mac Baren blends are typically quite mild but very good blends, though there are a few people out there who find they don't agree with them and find them prone to causing tongue bite. I don't have this problem with them, though. Also try their Mixture Scottish Blend, HH Highland Blend, and Navy Flake - all great blends!
Oh yeah, and while I don't prefer to do business with Cigars International or Pipes & Cigars (for reasons that don't bear getting into here) they do have some good deals sometimes. CI especially - if you have a humidor, you can get some fantastic overrun cigars from them for dirt cheap. The Fonseca overruns and A.J. Fernandez overruns are fantastic. Fonseca will be mild, A.J. Fernandez will almost certainly be very full bodied unless they send you the Man O War Virtue. I got one bundle of lonsdales which turned out to be the Virtue, and one bundle of coronas which I think are Man o War Puro Authentico. Very different smokes, but both fantastic!
When you tried pipes in the past, was there anything in particular you liked?
When you tried pipes in the past, was there anything in particular you liked?
