Blend With Only: VA, Kentucky Dark Fired and Latakia?

[pitchfork]

I'm doing a little home blending and I'm wondering if anyone knows of blends containing only VA, Latakia and Kentucky Dark Fired?
I'm going for a sweet, dark, smooth and smokey taste here -- nothing acrid or spicy the way that Perique, Orientals and burley can sometimes be. I've gently steamed and am currently pressing the following (roughly):
3 parts McClelland Christmas Cheer

2 parts GH Best Brown #2
2 parts Latakia

1 part Kentucky Dark Fired

 

[papipeguy]

Looks like a nice blend in the offing. Do let us know when you try it. You may want to peruse the C&D blends. They offer about 250 of them and many contain the ingredients you are looking at. Morley's Best and Bridge Mixture might be of interest. Have fun.

 

[pitchfork]

papipeguy, thanks for asking about my little experiment. I tried a couple of bowls last night -- it was good, but I seemed to have somehow sucked half the flavor out of the component tobaccos with the blending and pressing. Woke up this morning with a killer head cold. Couldn't smell a thing. Apparently it was coming on when I sampled the tobacco last night, so the jury's still out.
I'll give it a day or two and try it again, but I think the mix has some potential.
Also, after digging around, I came across descriptions for Bengal Slices and Lancer's Slices, both of which are VA-Latakia blends (with no orientals or Perique) -- but no Kentucky Dark Fired in either of those. I think I'll try some Lancer's Slices for comparison because I think it's meant to have a similar sort of flavor profile to what I was trying for (except for the addition of the KDF).

 

[lestrout]

pitch - call C%D - they ought to be able to help you.
hp

les

 

[ciderguy]

It almost sounds to me like you are making an upscale version of a Halfzware (Stevige) tobacco to smoke in a pipe. I wonder if Stokkebye's Amsterdam (PT 83), a dark KY and VA, with a some added blending latakia would work out for you.

 

[pitchfork]

Thanks for the suggestions, guys. I'll drop C&D a note and see if they make anything like that.
BTW, my sinuses cleared up a bit and I've decided to tweak the recipe a bit. As it is, there's way too much Latakia for the VAs. So I've upped the VAs and KDF to something like:
4 parts Christmas Cheer

3 parts GH Best Brown #2
2 parts Latakia
2 parts Kentucky Dark Fired
To achieve the dark look and taste I'm imagining, I'm going to gently steam the blend until it's much darker and softer. We'll see how it goes. I'm guessing I'll want to bring the Latakia down even further before I'm done tinkering.

 

[cortezattic]

Sounds like you're describing C&D's Easy Times.

"A traditional blend of red Virginia, Latakia and 20-year old fire cured Kentucky Burley."
Smokers' Haven's Pure Pleasure might also have the taste profile you're looking for; because while its Burley isn't dark fired Kentucky, a smokey taste created by the Latakia content will probably suffice if the Burley is tasty.

 

[pitchfork]

Thanks, Cortezattic. I'll check it out. I remember reading about Easy Times once, but for some reason I remembered it being VA, Burley and Latakia. Thanks!

 

[ciderguy]

It sounds delicious. How is it in the vitamin N component? I've always found that KY Dark Fired to be a stout tobacco.