Sacrilige I tell ya!

can only say that I am glad I wasn't around. Hope you didn't toss your Captain Black.

I recently received a fair number of bags with samples, which quite interferes with my normal smoking regime.

And while there's quite a lot of decent to really good tobacco in the batch, it's still a bit awkward for me.

Here's why: usually I open one tin (or pouch) and smoke that exclusively until it is empty, after which I start on the next one. That way, everything else in my cellar continues to age nicely, and I get to become more familiar to a blend than I ever could have been if I were to mix and match different blends.

That applies especially to sampling new blends, but it's also rather easy to do so as I generally smoke a limited number of different blends anyway, so it wouldn't make sense to have a couple of different tins of the same blend open at the same time anyway.

I'm rambling. I'll stop.

Ckr: I didn't have any Captain Black!

Corneel: so I'm not alone in this "keep it simple" approach huh? Thats good to hear.

I still have that huge box of samples Altadis sent out a couple of years ago. Most of the packages have about one bowl full of tobacco taken out. I keep thinking some day I'll get around to sampling more, but I know it's all probably going to end up in the trash.

I am a dumper and damn proud of it. I am all for weeding out the crap and the stuff that I know I won't smoke. Whether it goes in the trash or gets shipped off to someone else, it has to get out of my 12. I will even get rid of stuff that I normally enjoy if I am ready to move on to something else.

I don't have the space, nor do I wish to make the space, for a huge stockpile of tobacco. Plus, I have an issue with tying up a lot of money in tobacco inventory that is sitting there stagnant. I would much rather put that money to work making me more money.

Rick, I understand the desire to rid yourself of the chaos of tins laying about your smoking area. I knew that feeling, I had that feeling. I decided to change my smoking habits entirely when I had that feeling, and there were perhaps 15-20 pouches everywhere. Most only had one or two bowls removed, most of them would never see a pipe again. It's an expensive series of mistakes, buying a tobacco on the recommendation of a friend or a salesperson, even sensing that it wasn't right before I bought. Much easier to focus on a group of tobaccos that please you and leave the rest to others. Share a bowl when offered but stay within a genre when buying.

more money then sense, lol

I completely forgot about it. I called for it before I realized how strong my feelings toward black Cavendish are. Wanted to send it away but I was moving to Florida that summer and forgot. It turns out I still have it (together with about 3/4th of a pound of 5100 in a bail-top jar and a dozen of different cigars).

I would gladly send the Altadis tobaccos (the whole package minus some cherry thing I've sampled) with some other Cavendish blends to anybody who wants it.

What has happened here? Waste not, Want not has been drummed into my brain since I could hear. I feel I could just post my address and have a life supply of tobacco sent to me.

However, if I did such a thing I would never reach those tins I want to try. Carry on though, while I find most bends enjoyable, some more than others, there have been a few I have chucked. There is nothing worse than smoking a bowl to rid yourself of a blend and hateing every minute of it. When I get to that point it is also gone.

& very often it has changed its character completely. Alternatively, I've changed. Some tobaccos (I use the word freely here) are beyond redemption & must be tossed. Sadly, other people actually smoke them. Like 1Q. I agree, ruthlessness is required. My problem: a usually vain hope for rehabilitation rather than a quick execution.

On the subject of too many tobaccos open - I differ - I have 20 on the go. A while back I had 30. How I miss those other 10 (Robusto & stuff like that)! And you call ckr a slut! And I'm starting to hoard in a big way - unashamedly. If the world we live in can screw up food supplies, it might happen to tobacco. I want to go down smoking.

I'll smoke to that!

You hit the nail on the head Bob. More and more I'm leaning towards VAs in everything I like. While I still have a lot of burleys stashed away (and enjoy them for sure) the current plan is for all future purchases to be VAs or some combo with VA as the dominant tobacco. This isn't some anti-anything phase I'm going through. I still like a good english. I still enjoy an occasional burley. But, every time I reach for a VA I can't help but think "this is what I really like". Even among VAs I'm getting picky. I used to love PSLNF (VA/Per) but lately its not really doing much for me. I still have a bunch in the cellar (didn't toss any of that yesterday) and will likely let it sit for a few years before revisiting it. The VAs that are singing to me will be obvious in the next few months as I'll be smoking them more and more. The ones that are occasional ... well ... the trash bin is only a few steps away.

I think what I really miss is the days when I had 4 tins open as follows:
McClelland VA: 5100 or 2010.
Burley: MacBaren Navy Flake
English: Dunhill London Mixture
Straight VA: SG's FVF

every one of those tobaccos make my wheels turn. Every bowl was exciting. Now unforunately I have so many darn tobaccos open - some quite good, most mediocre - that its not a matter of knowing in advance that I'm in for a great smoke but more a matter of deciding which one "ins't so bad" ... as I said, life is too short for that kind of nonesense. I'm getting back in a cleaning mood ... more may hit the trash tonight.

I have tossed my fair share of blends. I'm not ashamed of it, but I'm not proud of it either. Most of the tossed blends have been aromatics. A few I have passed on to my brother.

At the time of writing, I have nearly 20 jars of this and that. I find, that as soon as a tobacco gets transferred from a tin to a jar, its fate has been sealed - pun intended. If we disregard the blends I got as bulk, thus needing to jar, the rest are blends that I will most likely never smoke again, but haven't had the heart to chuck yet.

You see, I like to smoke the same thing over and over (should be known by all at this point), and when I sample something new, I get a small sample to get an immediate reaction, and a larger portion to familiarize myself with the blend (if I happened to like it). In most cases that means that I have to get a 50g tin or 100g tin of whatever I want to try as a minimum. If the blend doesn't grab me immediately, it gets jarred. I'll go back and poke at it from time to time, but if it still doesn't grab me after, say, six months, the jar goes to the back of the cabinet. There's nothing scientific about it - it just happens that way.

I think it's about time I dig into the back of the cabinet, and see what I have there ... and possibly free up some jar space. I'll donate the jars to my wife to avoid jarring something else.

I could just tag my mailbox as Trash
I would have a lifetime supply of new tobacc;s to try and never need to buy anything lol

I know the feeling I have 14 tins open plus a bunch of jars in the garage

I keep wanting to try new stuff and it gets into jars and Then I have to make a choice of what I want to smoke

But I have to keep trying to find my perfect tobacco

I have never tossed away a tin of tobacco!!

The wretched refuse that I have bought, and couldn't smoke for my life, I have sent to others. or given away. if nothing else, there are probably homeless hobos who could use some tobacco in their homeless hobo pipes....

I would set out my adress here as well, even pay for the shipping cost, instead of letting probably good tobacco go to waste.

I take what I dont like and either mix it with something or send it to someone that wants to try it

I keep jars to dump those i dont like in sometimes a little mixing makes it a good smoke

I got tired of chasing the rainbow to find the elusive pot-o-gold at the end of the rainbow. It's very expensive and usually very unproductive. I hate tossing tobacco, but I have done a lot of it. Like throwing ten dollar bills out the window!

So, as you all know, I began ordering unsauced tobacco from C&D. I experimented with flavorings (mostly professional stuff). While a non-aromatic smoker, most if not virtually all blends have some casing or top note.

After two and a half years of experimentation, we all know I found it (but it helps to know what you are looking for). At the point of 39 years of pipe smoking and gaining insight, I did know what I wanted in a tobacco and a flavoring. Two years later I had it. It was worth my while.

Of course, I am also of the opinion that one can reasonably purchase non-aro's and aro's from C&D with better than reasonable confidence for experimentation. They have earned their reputation of producing quality tobacco products.

I do alternate my own Captain Bob's Blend with a couple other favorites. Generally, I carry two blends in two tobacco pouches and three pipes with me to the office each day. Variety (within reason) is a way to keep the taste and appreciation "fresh" for the pipe smoker along with a "clean" pipe, as well.

So, throw away that old stuff and start over! You will feel so good after doing that.

Just a thought: has anyone ever thought about sending those unused tins or pouches of tobacco to the troops? I'm sure they would really appreciate them. I belong to a motorcycle organization that has sent care packages to soldiers and marines in Iraq and plan on putting some in our next package.

Smokey

Its a good thouht but I'd hate to send what I consider 'trash' to the proud men and women serving in out military. They deserve better than that.

Besides ... these were all in mason jars so I couldn't have sent them out that way and they would have dried up by the time the troops got them if I put them in baggies.

life is for an old truck driver? Me, my Engine 99 and the open road.

Never !! I rather recycle. Everything that doesn't stay on the shelve are put to use as potplant fertilizer and/or insect repellant. That way I don't get the feeling that I wasted anything.