Orlik GS is a great benchmark for higher quality VA. Excellent reputation, quality and taste.
Another is Reiner LGF, but that is now reaching into the high end. Save that one for when you are bored with the others.
And these golden VAs are not the same as the red ones.
Another word on the cobs.
Most will come fitted for and with a filter (usually 6mm). Whether to smoke filtered or unfiltered is up to the smoker. If you are happy without a filter, pull out the stem and remove it.
I don’t do filters. They tend to filter flavor. But if you like filters, the best 6mm ones are either Savinelli balsas or Dr. Grabows. Most filtered cob smokers opt for the latter.
And whatever you do, either remove or replace the filter after the first couple smokes. Leaving a wet, dirty filter in will only cause major trouble.
There are some wonderful custom blenders out there now. Most are smaller family run shops. Many will offer either bulk or tinned varieties of their blends.
It tends to be more expensive per ounce, and for many the cost difference is justified by the higher quality. Some are fantastic smokes, meant to be savored and contemplated upon.
Whether a $6 or $8+/oz tobacco of that caliber makes a daily leaf will depend on the smoker’s budget and habits.
It can become like eating filet minion every day.
OTCs can be a great bargain, as with judicious shopping most can be had for under $3/oz. For the 5 or 7 bowl a day gentleman that smokes along, busy as they do other things during the day, that often offers the best balance.
Most days in that situation, a comforting meatloaf is enough.
Cellaring pipe tobacco is a common practice among more dedicated smokers.
Traditionally, cellaring is done in mason jars. Although some have started experimenting with heat-sealed mylar bags, which are cheaper and take up less space. Store it in a relatively cool, dark environment. Because the containers are meant to be and stay sealed, nearby ambient humidity levels are irrelevant. You can cellar pipe tobacco in a desert if the temps and darkness are right.
Once you start building up enough of a ‘stash’, you can set up an aging rotation of your favorites, so that what you smoke is replenished at the back of the aging line.
Whether to cellar a blend depends on the base tobacco and its native sugar content. Burleys don’t necessarily improve with cellaring, but Virginias do. Like with cigars, cellaring Latakia will smooth out its spice notes.
Whether and what a tobacco is topped with will also impact cellaring. Some toppings can fade with age, but the higher quality ones do not.
You can cellar a suitable blend for decades and it smokes wonderfully, better than when fresh. And people sometimes stumble on a 50 or 60 year old sealed tin of a classic blend, and it pops open and smokes as lovely today as it did in 1960.
All tobacco is cased as part of processing. Not all tobaccos are topped. Aromatics by nature are always topped, some heavily so. Again, some aromatics overly topped with lower quality ingredients will not improve with cellaring, but some will, depending on the base leaf quality.
Most aromatics are built around a Virginia, and a Cavendish is also usually a Virginia, but sometimes a Burley.
Burleys and Virginias are the Ford and Chevy of pipe tobaccos. Everyone uses them to varying degrees in most blends.
All pipe tobacco should always be kept sealed if at all possible up until the time of smoking. Allowing it to excessively dry out diminishes flavor considerably, and rehydrating won’t get it back. However, it is a common practice to let dry slightly what you are about to immediately smoke, as most fresh pipe tobacco tends to be more moist than is required for optimal lighting and smoking.
Most dedicated pipe smokers set aside a small chair-side stash good for 2-4 weeks at a time for immediate smoking, that can be consumed before it dries out, and replenish that from their cellar stocks or other reserves. This avoids constantly reopening larger containers that should be left alone to age.
Hope that helps.
The major OTC brands still left are Carter Hall, Sir Walter Raleigh, Granger, Velvet, and Half and Half. A little harder to find, and a little more money, is Lane Limited Ready Rubbed, which is the current equivalent to Edgeworth.
All are basic Burleys, perfect with a cob, or even in a Castello.
I saw that Prince Albert may be discontinued, which is a bit of a shocker. But if you can find a pouch of that still around, that is definitely worth trying. Sugar Barrel is also gone.
If you like aromatics, a decent and affordable one available everywhere, where you can still taste the tobacco, is Sir Walter Raleigh Aromatic. Lane 1-Q is another popular aromatic sold in bulk in most tobacco stores. Both are better than Captain Black at this price point, IMO.
Again, ignore the snobs. Not everyone smokes $10/oz designer blends, and some of them are frankly over-hyped and over-priced.
Get yourself a MM cob, and a few fresh pouches of the various OTC 'codger' blends. Make sure they're fresh; pouch portions tend to sit around in some locations, dry out and lose their flavor.
Pick the blend you like best, and then buy a tub of it. Twelve or 14 ounces of it goes a very long way for $25-35.
Perfect with the morning coffee, to end the day, or anytime in between.
As your tastes mature, you may graduate on to other blends. Then you may start encountering tobacco snobs.
Don't listen to the tobacco snobs, The old Burley classics were smoked for generations by granddads and fathers for a reason.
Like tobacco? Smoke a pipe.
The only form of tobacco consumption where the test group life expectancy EXCEEDED that of non-smokers in the 1964 Surgeon General report.
Because the relaxation effects of pipe smoking are that profound.
That’s a ‘52 Citroën on the right, suffering from low compression.