I have been a pipe smoker since 1977. I smoked Amphora Red and Sail Yellow through college and continued this pattern until they were NLA in the US. When I could find them, I would buy Blue Boar or Coopvaert for some variety. I bought a can of Balkan Sobranie every now and then. Once I could no longer find Amphora and Sail, I mostly switched to Granger and Prince Albert with a bag of Golden Burley from the CVS every now and then for a change of pace. One day I went online looking for a better price on Granger and picked up a few things to try from Pipes & Cigars. I got Anniversary Kake, Old Companion and Classic Burley Kake in that first order and my eyes were opened to the great tobacco out there just waiting to be tried.

The tobaccos I have bought at least 5 pounds of are listed as favorites. Most of them that are currently available I have smoked at least a pound of in the past calendar year. I have a taste for all-day blends and burley that is not shared by everyone.

In terms of my rating system 4=just a great smoke-You owe it to yourself to try this., 3=I could make this my regular smoke if I had to, 2=I can smoke it, but I think there are better options, 1=REALLY disappointing-I could not finish the pouch/tin/sample. My ratings tend to be mostly 3's since I am most likely to try things I suspect I will like.

I wish the rating system had more than 4 stars, since the 3 star category covers a lot of territory. Eventually I will go through and change notes to indicate a 2.5=recommended but I won't buy it again and a 3.5=recommended and I have bought/smoked a lb or more of this over the years. These will both be listed as 3's in the ratings.