Since you're all more experienced smokers than I, and you aren't likely to be interested in excessive musings from a youngun, I decided to post these two little "reviews" together.
I'd been warned off of smoking straight Perique numerous times, but I wasn't listening. Perique is the reason I wanted to smoke a pipe! The rarity of the tobacco was enough to ignite my inner obsessive, while the term "pepper bomb" stoked the flames. In my kitchen there are two ingredients which, if called for at all, can't seem to be over used. Vanilla is one, pepper is the other. I have at least a pound of peppercorns in my cabinet, spread across a small number of pepper varieties. What I mean to say is: I love pepper.
So, I bought an ounce of C&D Perique. It came slighly too wet, so I allowed it to dry on my little leather mat for several minutes, all the while imagining the delightful flavor of Indian Telicherry. Once loaded in the pipe, I take a puff and feel a remarkable rush of spice fly into my mouth. This, this is bliss. Straight Perique is a beautiful tobacco with a few layers of flavor that I'm still too undeveloped to explain. The strength wasn't as great as expected, though I have since ordered the Golden Triangle sampler and hope to find even more flavor in the tin of pure, unadulterated St. James.
Now, for the Latakia. I bought the Gawith Hoggarth & Co. blending Latakia out of a sense of duty; I'm trying all of the standard blending tobaccos in order to better understand blend descriptions online, as well as to better appreciate the blends that I smoke. Having read that straight Latakia turned people off of Latakia blends for a while, I was wary. Still, I loaded a fresh cob with the tobacco, rater enjoying the so-called "tin note". It lit easily and smoked well. This tobacci has a floral, soapy flavor that is also vaguely reminiscent of some sort of plastic. As is often the case with unpleasant tobacco descriptives, all of this is actually good. I quite enjoyed the Latakia, though we'll have to wait and see whether I continue to smoke it solo or use it for my own blends.
I'd been warned off of smoking straight Perique numerous times, but I wasn't listening. Perique is the reason I wanted to smoke a pipe! The rarity of the tobacco was enough to ignite my inner obsessive, while the term "pepper bomb" stoked the flames. In my kitchen there are two ingredients which, if called for at all, can't seem to be over used. Vanilla is one, pepper is the other. I have at least a pound of peppercorns in my cabinet, spread across a small number of pepper varieties. What I mean to say is: I love pepper.
So, I bought an ounce of C&D Perique. It came slighly too wet, so I allowed it to dry on my little leather mat for several minutes, all the while imagining the delightful flavor of Indian Telicherry. Once loaded in the pipe, I take a puff and feel a remarkable rush of spice fly into my mouth. This, this is bliss. Straight Perique is a beautiful tobacco with a few layers of flavor that I'm still too undeveloped to explain. The strength wasn't as great as expected, though I have since ordered the Golden Triangle sampler and hope to find even more flavor in the tin of pure, unadulterated St. James.
Now, for the Latakia. I bought the Gawith Hoggarth & Co. blending Latakia out of a sense of duty; I'm trying all of the standard blending tobaccos in order to better understand blend descriptions online, as well as to better appreciate the blends that I smoke. Having read that straight Latakia turned people off of Latakia blends for a while, I was wary. Still, I loaded a fresh cob with the tobacco, rater enjoying the so-called "tin note". It lit easily and smoked well. This tobacci has a floral, soapy flavor that is also vaguely reminiscent of some sort of plastic. As is often the case with unpleasant tobacco descriptives, all of this is actually good. I quite enjoyed the Latakia, though we'll have to wait and see whether I continue to smoke it solo or use it for my own blends.
