Developing a Taste for Pipe Tobacco?

[tracerbullet]

I read all the threads on tastes of certain tobaccos and different varieties. of which we know hundreds are available to sample.
It makes me wonder In the heyday of pipe smoking (40’s, 50’s, etc) there was not the global connectedness that we have now. If I was to start smoking a pipe back then I would assume, given the limited research I have done, that there were not many over the shelf tobaccos available.
Did my grandfather for example just start smoking Capt. Black ( insert brand here) and continue without ever liking it? Or did one over time grow to like the taste?

 

[canucklehead]

There were a large selection of flavours available, even from single brands in the 1950s.

 

[brian64]

Did my grandfather for example just start smoking Capt. Black ( insert brand here) and continue without ever liking it? Or did one over time grow to like the taste?

You have to remember, these were people who spent their childhood walking to school in the snow, uphill both ways...so by the time they reached smoking age they didn't complain about anything...they smoked what was available and liked it!

EDIT: plus smoking age then was 10...so by the time they got old enough to know any better they had already developed a lifetime taste for the worst tobacco available classic codger blends.

 

[Chasing Embers]

continue without ever liking it?

Who says he didn't like it?

 

[Warlee]

I would think it would depend on where you lived. Small towns might have a more limited variety. But even in the city, whatever the local tobacco shop or drug store had was likely what you stuck with. Find one you like out of the selection you have readily available and stick with it.

 

[warren]

I can only say my grandfather, a smoker, would not have done something over and over if he didn't like it. What would be the point? Self-flagellation? Both are rhetorical questions, not requiring an answer.

 

[LeafErikson]

Why would they have constantly smoked something they didn’t like?

 

[anotherbob]

I read all the threads on tastes of certain tobaccos and different varieties. of which we know hundreds are available to sample.
It makes me wonder In the heyday of pipe smoking (40’s, 50’s, etc) there was not the global connectedness that we have now. If I was to start smoking a pipe back then I would assume, given the limited research I have done, that there were not many over the shelf tobaccos available.
Did my grandfather for example just start smoking Capt. Black ( insert brand here) and continue without ever liking it? Or did one over time grow to like the taste?

My unpopular opinion is that today and the past with pipes are more aligned and very the more things change the more they stay the same. Even now what you described covers most pipe smokers. Back in the day people who smoke like forum members had magazines and catalogs. Heck even in the 90's you could find decent brick and mortar tobacco shops in some small towns. I remember checking them out pretty much everytime I spent any time in a smaller town or city too. And usually not the selection we have online but most of the general bases where covered.

 

[verporchting]

From my experience when I started it was a matter of finding something I liked from the shops where tobacco was available. Tried several different brands and types and rotated between them as desired. Definitely found a few favorites but never felt like I was deprived by any stretch. Actually it’s only been since the internet that I discovered how much variety there really is, even today! Of course it probably varied a lot based on where you lived and how much effort you invested in looking. I had two great tobacconists I frequented but would sometimes grab something from a drug store or gas station.

 

[Elric]

Why would they have constantly smoked something they didn’t like?

'When I was a young sub-altern on the African continent, the water was not fit to drink. So I drank whiskey, and through diligence, learned to enjoy it.'

--Winston Churchill

 

[cynyr]

The world of the Codger Blend was smaller than we remember it.

Where I grew up there were two small neighborhood stores, five miles apart. Both were served by Hawk Grocery Co, from the city, and Hawk delivered to all the tiny stores in the county, weekly. As long as Hawk offered it, the Local could get it by request. And Hawk carried everything from PA to Captain Black to Red Dog plug to Marlboro.