A Pipe Smoker’s Inquiry: How I Determine my Top 5 Lists

I must admit that I find this time of year both interesting and exciting, not only because of the holidays, but also because of the finality the calendar year brings.  And in the most unique circumstance, this closure prompts individuals and organizations to reflect upon the items, goods, and services most enjoyed over the course of our journey around the sun. 

Although we could question why the end of the year is utilized for such peculiar behavior, I would be regressive in this writing to entertain such inquiries.  Therefore, I will rejoin the conversation topic by stating how much I enjoy seeing and reading these Top 10, Top 25, Greatest of All Time, Best of Year, etc., lists.  Do these “expert” lists influence my own purchasing in any fashion?  Admittedly, sure.  However, I find it somewhat fun to entertain what others have found satisfying over the twelve-month time continuum.

With that being said, I too enjoy creating and contributing to this semi-absurd behavior with my own Top 5 Pipe Tobaccos, Top 5 Cigars, and My Favorite Things columns.  As a side note, if you haven’t read or seen my videos related to these topics, feel free to browse The Pipe Professor website, or visit The Pipe Professor YouTube channel for more content.  

As I currently work to narrow down my selections for each category, I figured it would be fun, to share with each of you, how I go about narrowing my top five choices and explain the process in a smidge greater detail.  Before beginning, I do want to preface that this is my method, and in no shape, form, or fashion do I consider it to be the best or most reliable.  Arguably, all of these lists and awards are no more than opinioned indexes of goods (in which some companies pay to ensure their name brand item appears on the lists).  Do note, that although I have had companies contact me regarding payment for review of their product(s), I have never been paid, or allowed the offer, to influence any of The Pipe Professor Top 5 lists/reviews. I always give my honest opinion.  

Now that we have discussed an overview, and attempted to examine the “why” of this unique pastime, let’s get into the details of how I pick my Top 5.  I came to the determination long ago that if I waited until the exact end of the year to determine my Top 5 lists, the tobaccos, cigars, and spirits that hit the market in late fall, early winter, were not given a fair “shake” as I had not been able to enjoy them throughout the year similar to other products.  Because of this fact, I now make October 31^st, Halloween, the cut-off for allowing new tobaccos to be considered for the current year’s list.  To break it down further, any tobacco that is released in November or December becomes a part of the upcoming year’s contender list.  This allows me to enjoy the tobacco for more than a few weeks before making a final assessment.  Yes, there have been exceptions to this rule depending on specific circumstances, however, more often than not, I have a hard stop on adding new tobaccos for consideration after October.  What happens from here?  Great question, and I’m glad you are still interested in reading a piece about how this process works.  Seriously.  You are still reading?  Thank you!

From this point, I utilize the entire month of November, and approximately half of December, to smoke through the tobaccos and blends I found to be very enjoyable throughout the year.  If you keep up with The Pipe Professor rating scales, any tobacco or cigar that scores five pipes or boxes, is automatically placed in the Top 5 running by making the final December cut (more explanation to come).  Pipe tobacco blends and cigars that score four on the rating system (or 4.5 in some cases) are entered into the “first round” of elimination (November round).  These are the tobaccos I smoke first, with the goal of determining which are the best and could stand up to any five-star blends.  On most years there are only two or three blends, if that many, that will move on to the second round (this is a very tough competition – only the strong survive).  From there, I begin to smoke each blend on a rotating basis utilizing a cob, briar, and meerschaum pipes.  Over the course of approximately four weeks, each blend gets smoked a minimum of three times with five total bowls of each blend being the average.  As the blends are smoked in rotation, there are always a few that stand out from the rest of the pack, and easily make it into the top five.  However, as in years such as 2023, there have been several blends fighting for one or two spots in my Top 5 Pipe Tobaccos list (same for the cigars).  Here is a breakdown of the numbers from this year for reference:

In order to clarify things further, if a tobacco blend or cigar received a 5-star rating during the year, it guarantees the product makes the final December cut. However, it does not automatically qualify it for a final Top 5 spot.  In fact, once the final smoking and elimination begins (December round), all previous ratings are disregarded, and the open assessment progress begins.  Secondly, although the final round for determination begins in December(*), the reality is it actually starts the weekend after Thanksgiving.  This allows breathing room in the calendar and more time for me to thoroughly narrow the lists.  

To provide some foreshadowing on this past year’s countdown, there were seven total pipe tobaccos that made the cut to December*.  Out of these seven tobaccos, three were a definite on the list, one was comfortable but not guaranteed, and the other three were all jockeying hard to ensure their name made the Top 5 Pipe Tobaccos of 2023.  If I were to attempt an explanation at the amusement and joy I get from having these blends “battle it out”, the readers of this writing would probably call for a psychoanalysis of my mental stability.  No fear, I only mildly answered and/or responded to myself when talking through ratings aloud.  

Traveling to the cigar side, we find the story to be a bit different from the pipe tobacco showdown.  For the cigars, there were only ten that made the cut into my December* finals.  This should let you know that although there were several really good cigars I smoked this year, a majority of them were just that…good…not great. Out of the 10 making the finals, only two had guaranteed spots on the Top 5 Cigars of 2023 list (spoiler – when the lists publish, they are cigars #1 and #2 of the year on the list) with eight others fighting it out to take the final three spots.  In all honesty, any of these eight cigars would be worthy to be on the list, however, at The Pipe Professor website, we put on the big boy britches and make the final cuts!  

There we have it.  Without going into extremes, this is the general process for how I determine my Top 5 Pipe Tobaccos and Top 5 Cigars each year.  Is it a flawless process?  Heck no.  Is it something I find fun to do each year?  Absolutely!  And, for those choosing to follow along, below is a schedule for when the lists will be released on The Pipe Professor website and YouTube channel.     

That’s going to do it for this post.  Thank you sticking with it and I hope you will join me in the coming weeks as we celebrate the great gifts of 2023 and prepare ourselves for a vibrant start to a new year.  In the meantime, I hope each of you has a wonderfully fulfilling holiday season and don’t forget to slow down, simplify, and smoke a pipe (or cigar)!

Cheers!

Video explanation of the process can be found here: https://youtu.be/-4rwVhCbmbA?si=S85gUWkmpuIOBs8R