Why the big love with English blends? Smell is terrible

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pipeman84

Lurker
Dec 9, 2016
45
0
I had today my first English blend smoke - Dunhill standard mixture

While the taste is ok, that smell is just terrible!! Culprit being Latakia I think - burnt leather/boot or what the heck is it.

I don't get why there is this image that you are a 'real' pipe smoker only when you've upgraded from aromatics?

I'll stick to aromatics, bye bye English!

 

stvalentine

Part of the Furniture Now
Jan 13, 2015
808
13
Northern Germany
:lol: Haha... Smoking English tobaccos is for your own palate, smoking aros is for the noses of others! :wink:

I suppose it is for each his own, I love Latakia and prefer contents of 60% or more of it in my mixtures.

The smell is .... well, campfire as they say. :lol:

 

newbroom

Lifer
Jul 11, 2014
6,087
6,394
Florida
There are hundreds of non aro blends that don't have Latakia.

(ok, I don't know how many there are, but lots.)

 

pipeman84

Lurker
Dec 9, 2016
45
0
Good point newbroom. I also got a tin of Rattray's Old Gowrie - I'll see how this is (there's no Latakia in it as far as I can tell).

 

prairiedruid

Lifer
Jun 30, 2015
1,998
1,116
I love the smoky campfire and leather tastes from English blends and they are much easier on my tongue than using a piece of leather I pulled out of my campfire.

 

jackswilling

Lifer
Feb 15, 2015
1,777
24
About half the blends I smoke have Latakia. The synergy between Latakia and Orientals is special in my opinion. Lot of ways to avoid Latakia if that is desired. Try something like HH Latakia Flake where, in spite of the name, thete is a subtle taste of Latakia.

 

hakchuma

Part of the Furniture Now
Jan 13, 2014
791
77
I think the people who act as if they are too sophisticated to smoke aromatics most likely come from the cigarettes smoking raggy ass masses (RAMS) and/or don't know how to smoke an aromatic.

 

sjfine

Part of the Furniture Now
Mar 4, 2012
653
4
Latakia, in my opinion, smells like potpourri; like Acid cigars.
It is to be avoided at all costs.
What is this "campfire" thing? What the hell are you guys burning in your campfires? Certainly, not wood.

 

mackeson

Part of the Furniture Now
Mar 29, 2016
758
2
I like the taste of latakia quite a bit and absolutely love the aftertaste.

I held off smoking it for years because of the smell (until about '09), but now the smell makes me crave a nice lat blend.

 

backwoodsjack

Starting to Get Obsessed
Sep 25, 2015
179
6
Central Minnesota
hakchuma,
I'm hardly sophisticated, but have not found and aromatic to this day that is appealing. I find them concocted and unnatural. If however I come across one that tastes incredible, I would smoke it just the same. The closest thing I have found to an aro is the addition of booze, which is very welcome. Adding Scotch, whiskey, Rum or Wine to a blend makes perfect sense to me. Adding cotton candy does not. I am drawn to the flavors of natural tobaccos, and the flavors of smoke.
As for cigarettes, I think it is time wasted that you could have been smoking quality tobacco.
Joe

 

warren

Lifer
Sep 13, 2013
11,699
16,207
Foothills of the Chugach Range, AK
I enjoy the taste. I don't smoke for the smell, only the taste. I enjoy a few "aros" also. Most importantly, I really do not smell the room note as I smoke. I also can acknowledge that everyone's "smellers" are different. It's the differences in tastes and nose which drive the blend market.
Campfires smell different the world over as different woods put out different aromas. Not everyone lives in the same neck of the woods nor are our senses all wired identically.
sjfine: You need to travel a bit more. A hickory fed fire smells a lot different from a larch fed fire. Spruce smells nothing like birch. Big world out there with many differences. There are lots of different languages, styles of dress and the world of ethnic foods is vast. Expand your horizons!

 

theosprey247

Can't Leave
Feb 29, 2016
373
0
When I first started smoking a pipe I avoided Lat blends like a plague. Now English blends dominate my cellar. To each their own I guess :puffpipe:

 

backwoodsjack

Starting to Get Obsessed
Sep 25, 2015
179
6
Central Minnesota
warren,
Interesting to hear you talk about spruce fires. I skirted and pruned some spruce around the house.

After they dried for months, we piled the limbs on the crusted snow, and burned the limbs. This produced a mystical scent. A month or two latter, a tin of Old Ironsides arrives and I crack the tin immediately.
The wet flakes laden with Latakia smelled just like the spruce fire in the yard.
The tin note eventually faded away, but it was an instant of recalled senses .

 
Apr 26, 2012
3,342
5,130
Washington State
I love English blends. I love the taste and smell of Latakia blends, and they're my favorite tobacco's to smoke. While I enjoy Dunhill Standard Mixture; there are definitely better English blends out there. Also, as mentioned earlier there are plenty of Non-aromatic tobacco's out there that don't have Latakia.

 

lotharen

Starting to Get Obsessed
Jul 26, 2016
184
10
I have to say that there are a few blends that smell terrible to me. Like shoe leather or old tires. I think it is the latakia blends. Black Frigate, the Dunhill mixtures I have on hand...just really repulsive. This is before the smoke mind you. While smoking I get the same taste as it smells which is weird honestly. Seems I too prefer the aeromatics and flavored tobacco's.
I'm glad to see I'm not the only one that thinks that it stinks lol.
As for Aero's I find I like the following:

Sutliff: Taste of Spring

Lane Buttered Rum

and a Vanilla blend I can recall right now
I'm still experimenting though, so who knows what the future will bring.

 

mso489

Lifer
Feb 21, 2013
41,210
60,433
I've smoked five or six Dunhill blends and Standard Mixture is not the one I'd suggest, but it's true that English blends often taste better than they smell, especially to bystanders. Should you decide to explore a blend or two that gives you something from both worlds, aro and English, you might try Iwan Ries Three Star Blue, which has a pleasing room note (to many people anyway) but is also somewhat tobacco-forward, or Chestnut (PC Home & Hearth Midtown series) that is non-aro and has a fairly mild room note. If you want a highly refined smooth English blend, very mild with a gentler room note than Standard Mixture, you might try Nat Sherman 536. Or just stick with your favorite aromatics otherwise. I'm primarily a non-aro guy, but aros are in my rotation for a change of pace, and I find they provide a rest from non-aros and make full-strength blends more interesting, not just habitual

 

jpmcwjr

Moderator
Staff member
May 12, 2015
24,568
27,070
Carmel Valley, CA
Latakia is the king of flavorful tobacco condiments, along with Perique.
I don't often sniff my tins, but when I do, I get a good whiff of quality Latakia. Wow!
I don't often make campfires, but when I do, I use seasoned Almond wood. Yum!
I don't get why there is this image that you are a 'real' pipe smoker only when you've upgraded from aromatics?

I'll stick to aromatics, bye bye English!
The image seems to be perpetrated by those who are unsure of their status as a "real" pipe smoker, whatever that may be. If you smoke what you like, and like what you smoke, you're a real pipe smoker. I suppose it could even be buffalo or camel chips.....
Enjoy!

 
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