Can You Mix Unique Tobacco Blends into Your Pipe?

To many novice pipe tobacco smokers, the thought of combining two different tobacco blends together seems blasphemous.  After all, tobacco companies go to great lengths to create the perfect flavor for your smoking pleasure, so mixing the two together is disrespectful, is it not?

Well, the truth is that there is a time and a place for everything, even when it comes to mixing together tobacco blends.  As you’ll see, it can work, but only when it’s done right.  We’ve created a guide on how to combine tobacco blends for the best possible results.

Ways to Blend Tobaccos Together to Improve Your Smoke

As you know, every tobacco blend is unique.  Some tobacco blends are light, while others are rich and heavy.  Some are highly aromatic while others are rather dry.  Some have a surprising abundance of sweetness while others do not.  And so on.

Mixing together tobacco blends is all about knowing how complementary flavors work.  Basically, it’s all about finding balance.  Which is why most smokers who dare to mix blends stick to a pretty simple formula: combining an English tobacco blend with an aromatic tobacco blend.

See, you have to think of it as a meal.  An English tobacco is on the heavy, rich side, which makes it sort of like a streak.  Meanwhile, aromatic blends are light, bright and flavorful, making them like the side vegetables or the sauce.  You need a little of both to have a complete meal, and this applies to tobaccos as well.

So, you’re free to experiment with different combinations of English blends and aromatic blends until you find your sweet spot.  Many find that a ratio of 75/25 works, with 75 being an English blend and 25 being an aromatic blend.  But, ultimately, it’s all about your personal tastes, so feel free to explore different combinations and ratios until you’re happy.  After all, who do you need to impress but yourself?

Things to Avoid

Mixing Cheap Tobacco with a Finer Tobacco

There are instances in which you should not combine tobacco blends, and one of them is when you have a cheap tobacco and wish to refine it with a high-quality tobacco.  Doing this will only bring down the quality of the fine tobacco, so don’t waste your time.

Going Overboard with Aromatics

It is possible to add too many aromatics to your tobacco.  This will create a muddy flavor that’s ultimately unpleasant.  It also runs the risk of clashing aromatics that produce a very bad taste.  Keep it simple with the aromatics, as you don’t need a ton of them to enjoy a complex and rich flavor profile and aroma.

Mixing Together Two Very Heavy, Complex and Distinctive Tobacco Blends

Lastly, we don’t recommend combining two tobacco blends that each have uniquely heavy or complex flavor profiles.  This will simply overwhelm your taste buds and olfactory glands as it’s too much for them to process.  The result will be a muddy taste that doesn’t really satisfy you at all.  As we said in the beginning, it’s all about balance, which usually means combining light with heavy and so on.  So, always practice some restraint, as too many flavor components can leave you with a bad taste in your mouth, literally.

Mixing It Up Pipe Style

Mixing together two unique tobacco blends can provide you with the smoke of your dreams, or completely disgust you and thus ruin your taste for both tobacco blends.  It’s all about how you execute the process.  Use this guide if you wish to do it properly to enhance your smokes while adding your personal touch to the experience..