I’m almost 1 year into the hobby and admittedly have spent a lot on it. I’ve acquired 7 pipes, mostly from eBay, and have bought a couple tins a month. But I feel like I’ve reached a point where I’m content with everything I have and am now slowing down to enjoying what I’ve accumulated.
Here in the U.K. as you’ll know we are taxed so heavily on tobacco and for a 50g tin your talking around £22 and for someone like me on a limited military and other disability income it’s so hard to build a cellar it’s like smoke as you go. The government really do hit us hard for something that in one sense is harmless and doesn’t affect others. I’ll always remember one old guy years ago who was a pipe smoker saying when do you ever see anyone getting arrested or causing trouble for smoking a pipe or in fact smoking anything that’s legal, unlike alcohol that causes so much trouble and fights. This was back in the 80s and he said that they are trying to take away for some the only enjoyment people have and now as the years progress it’s getting worse. I heard Simon from LCS Briars mentioning something about that they are controlling something to do with the aromatics that we have, where does it all end?
Totally agree. Im a brit currently living in Mexico. For the price of a 50g tin in the UK - I can import around 200g from America for the same price. Not to mention the dirt cheap cigars too. Pipes themselves though are much cheaper in UK.
Thank you for the video. Getting back in pipe smoking and jumped in feet first and I'm finding that to be true the fact that most blends are available and no need to have fomo. buy when you can and have some funds for certain releases that do sell out. Thanks!
Great video, the one thing I would like to note is that buying on a priority system has helped me a lot, so when I go to make my tobacco orders I always check my stock if I am low on say my mixture 965 I will add the amount of tins I need to bring my stock to my preferred level. Then I add in the new ones I want to try. This way I always am guaranteed to have something I enjoy on my shelf and in my cellar.
This is a wonderful conversation that we should all revisit annually! I’ve seen so many new guys get into the hobby - which is fantastic - and immediately begin acquiring and hoarding tobacco without any real idea as whether they will actually enjoy most of those blends!? Don’t get me wrong - I’ve been guilty of over purchasing too - but I have learned to be more judicious with my spending. I have implemented a monthly budget (in agreement with my CFO/wife 😉!) which has helped immensely in making wiser, better thought out choices!
I agree with this first point for sure: my friend sold me all of his stuff for $150 and it was some great blends but… not I got a lot… I threw some away because it wasn’t stored correctly, but these were stored for over 10yrs but now I got a lot and I can’t ever decide what I want to smoke and my wife is like you got a lot don’t buy anymore right now… it kind of was like reaching max level without working my way there and sucked the fun out of pipe smoking for me SO I am considering selling some of it or giving it away. The blends I don’t care for specifically. But I wish I had just got it one at a time. However the pipes I got were really cool! I’m happy with them. My second thought is what you said at the end. I have heard that they’re trying to come after pipe and cigar tobacco and like in Cuba the farmers keep 10% of their crop but government gets the rest (per a tobacco farmer from Cuba) I’m concerned about that so I want to stock up on what I like but the other side of that coin is I don’t know what I like! I’m only a good month or 2 into this thing and I know I really like University Flake, golden slice, the macbarren blends (I got a whole tin of vintage syrian from 2011) but, idk I want to try more. I’m also ADD so there’s that haha 😂 All of that to say this: I love this video and I agree. Take your time and enjoy the journey. Take time to try tobaccos and see what you like and don’t like. I would be able to taste more if I’d quit burning my tongue haha
There’s always a bigger cellar! I thought I had a cellar and a knife collection… over 300 of each. Ha! I have a starter kit compared to some. Patience is a virtue! Good stuff brother 👊🏻
Hiyas Wilson, All good points for those fellows that are just starting out, or are in the early years of the art of piping. TAD & PAD are real and should be kept in check. I know, I've been there too. 😊 Serene smokes Gary
Good tips. I noticed in pipe and cigars catalog just tonight as a matter of fact they have a sale on Petersons early morning and night cap so I will get some from them and they have free shipping when purchasing ninty nine dollars or more. Have a good night.
Great advice. I love cat hing a sale and then buying enough to get the free shipping. More bang for the buck. Bulk blends, like you were saying, is just an excellent value. Now if I can just find Mason jars on sale LOL 😆
Thank you for another wonderful video. As a new piper, I have acquired several pounds of tobacco, primarily bulk blends, which is more than I can smoke anytime soon. Tobacco isn't going to get any cheaper. This allows me to cellar blends while giving them some age as I find blends that I particularly enjoy that I may want to buy in larger quantities at a future date.
New Piper here, and thank you for this video. I'm not too concerned with the amount of tobacco I have in my cellar and when starting off I purchased a few bags of 10g sample blends so I was able to try before committing. Unfortunately, after watching some video reviews of a certain blend I knew I had to have it. In my search Tobacco Pipes had the one I wanted at around $11, so 5 tins plus shipping to the UK cost around $102. Everything was fine until I realized I was going to be hit with UK Tax/Duty, I made a rough calculation and thought it would be bad but manageable. I was wrong, 3 weeks later I got a card with a total duty cost of $136 added to the order the total was $238 (£189). I was shocked at the price but had little choice, so now I'm enjoying my $46 (£37) per tin of Eileen's Dream 😭
Beginning of the video: Don't impulse buy. Take it slow. End of video: Government regulations are ramping, so buy big before it gets crazy! Buy! Buy! Buy! I'm just kidding. Can't let an irony slip past. Seems like good, prudent advice all around. Thanks for sharing!
Right now I’m still in the try a bunch of blends phase, though I recently ordered an 8 oz tin of Quiet Nights (6 of which I put in a bigger jar and will be holding onto) and a 4 oz jar of Plum Pudding Special reserve. My rule is to never buy over 2 oz on a blend I haven’t tried before to make sure I like it. If I do, then I’ll get some bulk later on my next purchase once I run out. It’s been working out quite well and I’ve acquired quite a few blends already this way. Haven’t taken the plunge on aromatics yet, but I’ll be venturing out there soon if I can decide which of my pipes I want to dedicate to them.
I found a few match blends and bulk blends that I enjoy and by in bulk. I"ll still keep a tin of the original, but am more careful about how often I smoke those as the match blends aren't always an exact match, but close enough to be enjoyable. A few of those are Match Early Morning, Match Late Evening, Match 20, Engine 99, Balkan Supreme, and Afternoon Melange. They're only a couple dollars per ounce and the more you buy, the cheaper it is.
Thankfully I have almost done everything you mentioned in this video. I need to work on my patients though. I also would love to see you review bulk blends. I do my best to purchase bulk. When you can buy for $2-4 oz it helps out big time. I'm 3 months in and already own 60+ different tobaccos. And I usually wait for sales........Usually LOL
Very good tips! I kinda went a little overboard when I first started but I had the funds and bought in bulk. I bought mostly Sutliff tobacco blends(I am an hour and 20 minute drive from the factory). They make decent copycat mixtures so I can collect the tins of the actual mixes(965, Early Morning, Nightcap, etc) to cellar away and age. I also buy from The Country Squire in bulk as well and mason jar everything, label the jars, and date them.
Good Afternoon Pastor 😊 Awesome Collection👌🏽 Thanks for sharing your tips 👍🏼 Appreciate your content and God Bless You 🙏🏽 Greetings From South Africa 🇿🇦
Exactly, Most of my collection is purchased by the ounce. Some You can only get in a tin. Another advantage to buy by the ounce bulk is cellaring, let it sit a month or two in a Jar...a lot of blend actually taste better after a month or so. I also buy at my local brick and mortar. Same advice for pipes...look for sales, estate pipes. I aquired a nice Meersham Eagle Claw, it needed some TLC, found it in an antique store! But it is a great smoking pipe!
This is a very good and probably much needed video, thank you Wilson! Great wisdom. While I managed the buget for it, I recently bought quite a bit of tobacco in an effort to take advantage of sales and to build up my reserves. But I had to promise my wife I wouldn't buy any more for at least 6 months (unless PS Bullseye becomes available) 😄.
I really like to get pipes on my hand before getting them, granted I've just started smoking pipe about 3 months ago, and have just 3 pipes (latest from yesterday), so availability is a key thing for me, and being based on werstern Europe, I don't have acess to most pipes. It's ok, and it's all fun, just sharing my take on it :)
Another great video Wilson. I would add that if you buy the C&D 8oz tins you are typically paying the price of 3 2oz tins and getting 2oz free. I also agree that there are a lot of underrated bulk blends out there.
I always set a $100/month limit on my tobacco spending (unless it’s my birthday lol), and I’ve built up a pretty big collection of tobacco over the past few years from doing that. No reason to spend hundreds of dollars at once on tobacco, especially if you don’t go through tobacco that quickly.
In the UK there will be a huge tax increase on tobacco coming up in the next couple of years so tobacco will never be cheaper. Most tins in UK are around the £20 mark for 50g. On mainland Europe tins are much cheaper, but we can only bring in 250g each time. This law has been passed in the UK in March 2024 so there will be no future generations of smokers as they won’t legally be able to buy tobacco “Under the Tobacco and Vapes Bill introduced today, children turning 15 this year or younger will never legally be able to be sold tobacco. This will ensure that future generations are protected from the harmful impacts of smoking and save thousands of lives as well as billions of pounds for the NHS.”
I’m almost 1 year into the hobby and admittedly have spent a lot on it. I’ve acquired 7 pipes, mostly from eBay, and have bought a couple tins a month. But I feel like I’ve reached a point where I’m content with everything I have and am now slowing down to enjoying what I’ve accumulated.
Good luck with that 😅
@@backwatermn2758
Thanks!
Here in the U.K. as you’ll know we are taxed so heavily on tobacco and for a 50g tin your talking around £22 and for someone like me on a limited military and other disability income it’s so hard to build a cellar it’s like smoke as you go. The government really do hit us hard for something that in one sense is harmless and doesn’t affect others. I’ll always remember one old guy years ago who was a pipe smoker saying when do you ever see anyone getting arrested or causing trouble for smoking a pipe or in fact smoking anything that’s legal, unlike alcohol that causes so much trouble and fights. This was back in the 80s and he said that they are trying to take away for some the only enjoyment people have and now as the years progress it’s getting worse. I heard Simon from LCS Briars mentioning something about that they are controlling something to do with the aromatics that we have, where does it all end?
Totally agree. Im a brit currently living in Mexico. For the price of a 50g tin in the UK - I can import around 200g from America for the same price. Not to mention the dirt cheap cigars too. Pipes themselves though are much cheaper in UK.
Thank you for the video. Getting back in pipe smoking and jumped in feet first and I'm finding that to be true the fact that most blends are available and no need to have fomo. buy when you can and have some funds for certain releases that do sell out. Thanks!
Great video, the one thing I would like to note is that buying on a priority system has helped me a lot, so when I go to make my tobacco orders I always check my stock if I am low on say my mixture 965 I will add the amount of tins I need to bring my stock to my preferred level. Then I add in the new ones I want to try. This way I always am guaranteed to have something I enjoy on my shelf and in my cellar.
Would love more bulk blend reviews!
This is a wonderful conversation that we should all revisit annually! I’ve seen so many new guys get into the hobby - which is fantastic - and immediately begin acquiring and hoarding tobacco without any real idea as whether they will actually enjoy most of those blends!? Don’t get me wrong - I’ve been guilty of over purchasing too - but I have learned to be more judicious with my spending. I have implemented a monthly budget (in agreement with my CFO/wife 😉!) which has helped immensely in making wiser, better thought out choices!
I agree with this first point for sure: my friend sold me all of his stuff for $150 and it was some great blends but… not I got a lot… I threw some away because it wasn’t stored correctly, but these were stored for over 10yrs but now I got a lot and I can’t ever decide what I want to smoke and my wife is like you got a lot don’t buy anymore right now… it kind of was like reaching max level without working my way there and sucked the fun out of pipe smoking for me SO I am considering selling some of it or giving it away. The blends I don’t care for specifically. But I wish I had just got it one at a time. However the pipes I got were really cool! I’m happy with them.
My second thought is what you said at the end. I have heard that they’re trying to come after pipe and cigar tobacco and like in Cuba the farmers keep 10% of their crop but government gets the rest (per a tobacco farmer from Cuba) I’m concerned about that so I want to stock up on what I like but the other side of that coin is I don’t know what I like! I’m only a good month or 2 into this thing and I know I really like University Flake, golden slice, the macbarren blends (I got a whole tin of vintage syrian from 2011) but, idk I want to try more. I’m also ADD so there’s that haha 😂
All of that to say this: I love this video and I agree. Take your time and enjoy the journey. Take time to try tobaccos and see what you like and don’t like. I would be able to taste more if I’d quit burning my tongue haha
There’s always a bigger cellar!
I thought I had a cellar and a knife collection… over 300 of each.
Ha!
I have a starter kit compared to some.
Patience is a virtue!
Good stuff brother 👊🏻
Hiyas Wilson,
All good points for those fellows that are just starting out, or are in the early years of the art of piping. TAD & PAD are real and should be kept in check. I know, I've been there too. 😊
Serene smokes
Gary
I spent a bit the first year or so to build up a little buffer of tins and now slowly building upon it
Good tips. I noticed in pipe and cigars catalog just tonight as a matter of fact they have a sale on Petersons early morning and night cap so I will get some from them and they have free shipping when purchasing ninty nine dollars or more. Have a good night.
Great advice. I love cat hing a sale and then buying enough to get the free shipping. More bang for the buck. Bulk blends, like you were saying, is just an excellent value.
Now if I can just find Mason jars on sale LOL 😆
Thank you for another wonderful video. As a new piper, I have acquired several pounds of tobacco, primarily bulk blends, which is more than I can smoke anytime soon. Tobacco isn't going to get any cheaper. This allows me to cellar blends while giving them some age as I find blends that I particularly enjoy that I may want to buy in larger quantities at a future date.
New Piper here, and thank you for this video. I'm not too concerned with the amount of tobacco I have in my cellar and when starting off I purchased a few bags of 10g sample blends so I was able to try before committing. Unfortunately, after watching some video reviews of a certain blend I knew I had to have it. In my search Tobacco Pipes had the one I wanted at around $11, so 5 tins plus shipping to the UK cost around $102. Everything was fine until I realized I was going to be hit with UK Tax/Duty, I made a rough calculation and thought it would be bad but manageable. I was wrong, 3 weeks later I got a card with a total duty cost of $136 added to the order the total was $238 (£189). I was shocked at the price but had little choice, so now I'm enjoying my $46 (£37) per tin of Eileen's Dream 😭
Thanks for all those tips Wilson from a very new pipe smoker here.
Beginning of the video: Don't impulse buy. Take it slow.
End of video: Government regulations are ramping, so buy big before it gets crazy! Buy! Buy! Buy!
I'm just kidding. Can't let an irony slip past. Seems like good, prudent advice all around. Thanks for sharing!
Right now I’m still in the try a bunch of blends phase, though I recently ordered an 8 oz tin of Quiet Nights (6 of which I put in a bigger jar and will be holding onto) and a 4 oz jar of Plum Pudding Special reserve.
My rule is to never buy over 2 oz on a blend I haven’t tried before to make sure I like it. If I do, then I’ll get some bulk later on my next purchase once I run out. It’s been working out quite well and I’ve acquired quite a few blends already this way.
Haven’t taken the plunge on aromatics yet, but I’ll be venturing out there soon if I can decide which of my pipes I want to dedicate to them.
I found a few match blends and bulk blends that I enjoy and by in bulk. I"ll still keep a tin of the original, but am more careful about how often I smoke those as the match blends aren't always an exact match, but close enough to be enjoyable. A few of those are Match Early Morning, Match Late Evening, Match 20, Engine 99, Balkan Supreme, and Afternoon Melange. They're only a couple dollars per ounce and the more you buy, the cheaper it is.
Thankfully I have almost done everything you mentioned in this video. I need to work on my patients though. I also would love to see you review bulk blends. I do my best to purchase bulk. When you can buy for $2-4 oz it helps out big time. I'm 3 months in and already own 60+ different tobaccos. And I usually wait for sales........Usually LOL
Very good tips! I kinda went a little overboard when I first started but I had the funds and bought in bulk. I bought mostly Sutliff tobacco blends(I am an hour and 20 minute drive from the factory). They make decent copycat mixtures so I can collect the tins of the actual mixes(965, Early Morning, Nightcap, etc) to cellar away and age. I also buy from The Country Squire in bulk as well and mason jar everything, label the jars, and date them.
Good Afternoon Pastor 😊 Awesome Collection👌🏽 Thanks for sharing your tips 👍🏼 Appreciate your content and God Bless You 🙏🏽 Greetings From South Africa 🇿🇦
Exactly, Most of my collection is purchased by the ounce. Some You can only get in a tin. Another advantage to buy by the ounce bulk is cellaring, let it sit a month or two in a Jar...a lot of blend actually taste better after a month or so.
I also buy at my local brick and mortar. Same advice for pipes...look for sales, estate pipes.
I aquired a nice Meersham Eagle Claw, it needed some TLC, found it in an antique store! But it is a great smoking pipe!
In New Zealand your love of pipe smoking must be above everything as it is $160 - $180 a tin with very limited selection
That's outrageous
This is a very good and probably much needed video, thank you Wilson! Great wisdom. While I managed the buget for it, I recently bought quite a bit of tobacco in an effort to take advantage of sales and to build up my reserves. But I had to promise my wife I wouldn't buy any more for at least 6 months (unless PS Bullseye becomes available) 😄.
I appreciate it and good going!
I really like to get pipes on my hand before getting them, granted I've just started smoking pipe about 3 months ago, and have just 3 pipes (latest from yesterday), so availability is a key thing for me, and being based on werstern Europe, I don't have acess to most pipes.
It's ok, and it's all fun, just sharing my take on it :)
This was an excellent 👏 topic and so true. Way toooo go.
Another great video Wilson. I would add that if you buy the C&D 8oz tins you are typically paying the price of 3 2oz tins and getting 2oz free. I also agree that there are a lot of underrated bulk blends out there.
Great tips. I’ve set a budget to spend once a month and try to look for the special sales. God bless ya.
Great video and tips. Quick question. How long after one opens a tin should it be put into an airtight container like a mason jar?
Excellent advice!
Great advise. Hope you are well and job and family a going great
€40 for a 50g tin in Ireland that's about $45 it's rough.
Solid advice. 😉
Great video. Thank u.
Thank you for all your suggestions. One question I have is on the bulk codger blends, are there ones that you think age better than others?
Honestly I couldn't say. I'm still getting more acquainted with codger blends. Most have some form of flavoring which will dissipate with age.
@@TheSpurgeonPiper thank you!
Where do you get your vest from
More bulk tobacco would be great.
A tin of premium pipe tobacco in Ontario Canada is between 50 and 60 Canadian dollars! This is what taxes can do to you.
I pay for tin 57 g of C&D $ 150 Australia dollars in Australia.
You guys so lucky, but not for long 😢
Wow why is it so bad??
@@Jaymus71490 Government taxes 🤮🤮🤮
Hello to you Wilson ! I’ve been making some irrational acquisitions of Special Latakia Flake from Germains. Would you support this blend choice ?
Never had it but I'm sure it's solid.
@@TheSpurgeonPiperbranching out into the Latakia / Virginia / Oriental blends … Love Quiet Nights. Thanks for the share 🙏🏼
That is a fantastic blend. Worth chasing in my opinion unless you're being robbed. How much are you paying for a tin?
@@mikem77 30 pounds in the UK or approx 37 USD … Also here in 🇨🇦 for example, a tin of Quiet Nights will run you 44 usd
@@Rurik8118 if you're getting SLF for 37USD up north, that's a great deal. Typical in the states is 40 to 50
I always set a $100/month limit on my tobacco spending (unless it’s my birthday lol), and I’ve built up a pretty big collection of tobacco over the past few years from doing that. No reason to spend hundreds of dollars at once on tobacco, especially if you don’t go through tobacco that quickly.
Do you call sales, sells in America?
Lol no, that's a dumb mess up on my part!
No we don't lol
In the UK there will be a huge tax increase on tobacco coming up in the next couple of years so tobacco will never be cheaper. Most tins in UK are around the £20 mark for 50g. On mainland Europe tins are much cheaper, but we can only bring in 250g each time. This law has been passed in the UK in March 2024 so there will be no future generations of smokers as they won’t legally be able to buy tobacco “Under the Tobacco and Vapes Bill introduced today, children turning 15 this year or younger will never legally be able to be sold tobacco. This will ensure that future generations are protected from the harmful impacts of smoking and save thousands of lives as well as billions of pounds for the NHS.”
I sent you an email last night about the tins, so maybe check your spam folder today.
Sorry I may have told you the email address. It's thespurgeonpiper@gmail.com. I left of "the"
Tobacco prices are already skyrocketing. Up over 20% in last 18 months. Buy and age.