Well as I look at expanding my horizon from aros I bought some bulk English from my local B&M... Ummmmmm is it supposed to taste like smokey peat with an aftertaste of pencil shavings? LOL I don't mind the peat taste, I enjoy whiskey from time to time but wasn't really keen on the graphite/pencil shaving taste. Maybe I'll get a better grasp of the flavor after a few more bowls. I do know the wife wasn't really digging the room note.
Hmmm Tried English Today
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Englishes behave unpredictably. I'd try it with a loose pack first, in as broad a pipe as you have, and draw slowly to get more of the depth of flavor. The Latakia usually dominates with a smoky flavor, and then you taste the bright tingle of orientals and the rich Virginias, with as cobguy mentioned other ingredients like Cavendishes sweetening or giving a toasty flavor to the mix.
That sounds like a bit of a dickish way to force you to purchase from them to be honest. Or it could just be a.house blend that's not sold anywhere else. Anyhow, I would say start purchasing online, try more English blends, because every English taste very different from another.
That's my guess as well.
I'm not really that fond of Cavendish myself, and tend to seek out English blends that exclude it. However, there are always exceptions to every rule, as Dunhill's Aperitif is one of my comfort English (or, "Scottish," in this case) blends. Don't let this one road-bump throw you off your journey; there's many ways to get to England.
will46r, you caused me to float back in time to my fist taste of English lol. It was Stokkebye Proper English in bulk from a local B&M. I had read about English a little so I knew it had Latakia etc. I loaded my bowl excited to try this ancient (relative term lol) tobacco mix that so many generations of fine pipemen had loved and cherished. I lit my bowl and proceeded to sip the nastiest concoction ever put on earth! I did endeavor to persevere and did finish the bowl hoping the taste would change! Praying to Odin and Thor it would get better. But nay my fellow pipers it did not. I threw the rest out and swore to Hades that I would never smoke that nastiness ever again!
A couple of years later, well to be blunt I almost exclusively smoke English! I love them and at this point in time (which is a key point) I find it hard to imagine smoking anything else. It is now Ambrosia to me. I have found that as I smoke me wee pipes that my tastes change. I will never throw out tobacco now. I just jar it and figure someday I will try it again and may love it lol. Or give it away to a Piper that loves it. Karma is for real my friends of the Briar.
Anyway lol your post reminded me of my first English and I think you will find the smokey goodness, nay greatness that is English, is something you love. Or maybe not, maybe Virginas will be your thing....at least for a while! :wink:
A couple of years later, well to be blunt I almost exclusively smoke English! I love them and at this point in time (which is a key point) I find it hard to imagine smoking anything else. It is now Ambrosia to me. I have found that as I smoke me wee pipes that my tastes change. I will never throw out tobacco now. I just jar it and figure someday I will try it again and may love it lol. Or give it away to a Piper that loves it. Karma is for real my friends of the Briar.
Anyway lol your post reminded me of my first English and I think you will find the smokey goodness, nay greatness that is English, is something you love. Or maybe not, maybe Virginas will be your thing....at least for a while! :wink:
My local B&M has 2 "house" english blends and they were the first 2 english blends I tried. I wasn't blown away by either. Peaty is a good descriptor. I also found them to be ... for lack of a better word ... chalky.
Thankfully I picked up a tin of Dunhill Nightcap soon after and my faith in english blends was restored. Now I have several more english blends under my belt and can see that there is a lot of good englishes out there. I also now understand that there is a lot of variance in blends that are referred to as "english" blends.
I eventually got one of the employees at the B&M to confess to me that they were just bulk Mcclellands blends repackaged for sale in the store. But he wouldn't tell me which ones they were exactly. They also sell them for $3 an ounce. $5 an ounce for a bulk english seems outrageous to me. Hell, you can get nightcap in bulk online for less than that.
Good luck in your search for a more palatteable english blend. There's lots of good ones out there.
Thankfully I picked up a tin of Dunhill Nightcap soon after and my faith in english blends was restored. Now I have several more english blends under my belt and can see that there is a lot of good englishes out there. I also now understand that there is a lot of variance in blends that are referred to as "english" blends.
I eventually got one of the employees at the B&M to confess to me that they were just bulk Mcclellands blends repackaged for sale in the store. But he wouldn't tell me which ones they were exactly. They also sell them for $3 an ounce. $5 an ounce for a bulk english seems outrageous to me. Hell, you can get nightcap in bulk online for less than that.
Good luck in your search for a more palatteable english blend. There's lots of good ones out there.
I'm probably going to keep this but move to trying more VaBurs, I already smoke and really enjoy them (didn't know they weren't aros lol.) I will pick up some bulk English online, probably from the blenders I already enjoy. Kinda like how I do cigars, stick with blenders I like.
There's alot of different english blends. It's usually latakia, virginia, and orientals. They're all a bit different, so if you didn't absolutely detest it I'm sure you'll be able to find one that hits the right notes. I'd order some online in bulks where you're looking at around 2$ an ounce, 8-10$ a tin.
Maybe, but it's extremely common for pipe shops to do this, and why the Lane bulks like 1Q and BCA don't have fancy names: they were expecting tobacconists to rename them. 1Q is the house blend of many many shops!
Very few shops these days have the knowledge necessary to actually blend anything in house.
i had tried a bowl full of Byzantium, was my first English, and wow, the English tobaccos have a very complex taste, to me its like eating a stake or a roast, it is a bold taste, and also when you smell it from the bowl it smell like marshmallows, and sometimes it smells like a campfire, I like smoking English tobacco in the evenings after eating my dinner.
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