Jim's Tastykake Review.

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JimInks

Sultan of Smoke
Aug 31, 2012
61,153
561,189
The Virginias and matured Carolina form the base of the blend, though the role they fill is just above being a background player. They provide some grass, citrus, dark fruit with a light tanginess and a “barbecue” fermentation along with a touch of earth. The deeply rich, smoky, woody sweet Cyprian latakia takes a light lead over the smoky, woody, earthy, spicy, floral, buttery and dry sour Turkish and Orientals. The spicy raisiny, plumy perique competes with the spice from the Turkish, and its last two attributes offer some added nuances. The sugary black cavendish adds a light smoothness. The strength level is just past mild to medium. The nic-hit is just shy of the center of mild to medium. Won’t bite, and has no harsh or dull moments. This krumble kake is very easily broken apart to suit your packing preference. Well balanced and more nuanced than its brother blend, Ten to Midnight, it burns cool, clean and a little slow with a rich sweet and savory, mostly consistent flavor. Leaves little moisture in the bowl, and requires some relights. Has a pleasant, lingering rich after taste. Not quite an all day smoke, but close enough than an experienced smoker may consider it to be one.

 

newbroom

Lifer
Jul 11, 2014
6,107
6,557
Florida
Mine arrived today and I'm burning my first bowl.

It is as Jim said, spot on, as usual, even if I don't really taste the base components, I do taste the Perique, behind the Lat and Orientals/Turkish (Izmir?) I say this is more savory than sweet, and sweet is really an impression you get in the entire meld, more of a background note.

 

JimInks

Sultan of Smoke
Aug 31, 2012
61,153
561,189
Cortez: the description covers both the Turkish and the Orientals. It was much easier to combine the qualities of two varietals rather than to figure out what levels of each flavor aspect are derived from which tobacco. Not sure I could accurately do that.

 

cortezattic

Lifer
Nov 19, 2009
15,147
7,638
Chicago, IL
I "get it", Jim. I try to write reviews and I know it can be really difficult to communicate what one experiences.

And there is the constant battle between generalization and over-specification. As a reader, I appreciate a

detailed listing, as, for example, when I'm looking for something "buttery" (as you noted above). Yet, as a

would-be reviewer, I often feel I'm belaboring a description that could have more easily read "a dense and

complex palette of Oriental flavors". I really don't know which approach is best.

I guess the takeaway of this post is to acknowledge the effort that goes into parsing out a blend's attributes.

 

JimInks

Sultan of Smoke
Aug 31, 2012
61,153
561,189
Cortez: For myself, I would find the description "a dense and complex palette of Oriental flavors" problematic because many of us may know what that means to one degree or another, but for those who aren't conversant with the flavor properties of particular tobacco varietals, it would be too vague, and less helpful. I find it better to be as descriptive as I am able, and look for a concise way to do it so it won't turn into one of those long and winding road reviews.

 

agnosticpipe

Lifer
Nov 3, 2013
3,345
3,482
In the sticks in Mississippi
I always like reading your tobacco reviews Jim. However, with this one, I had already ordered some to try before reading your review of it and after smoking a couple of bowls, I realized that I can't always taste the complexity of some blends like you do. What I do know is that I really liked Tastykake and went and ordered some more!

Thanks for your input on this blend, as I will be referring to it as I smoke some more.

 

JimInks

Sultan of Smoke
Aug 31, 2012
61,153
561,189
Orley: I thank you for the kind words. Tasting and figuring out what you are tasting comes from studying the properties of tobaccos and smoking bunches of different blends, smoking different varietals straight, and a lot of time, which in my case will be 43 years come June 20. I've also had the good fortune to learn about these things from blenders like Russ Ouellette, Mark Ryan, and retired Sutliff blender Carl McAllister. Can't even begin to define how much I learned from them.

 

cortezattic

Lifer
Nov 19, 2009
15,147
7,638
Chicago, IL
From the TR website for Tastykake:
A few years ago, when Russ was still pressing tobaccos himself, he made a new blend based off 10 to Midnight, but with some perique and black cavendish added to it. He had made up a large batch, but for some reason, it never wound up being put on the website. When we rediscovered it, samples were passed around the office and we knew that we had to make it available. In fact, Eric enjoyed it so much, he said we should name it Tastykake. There's a limited amount made, so you'll want to get some right away if you love latakia.

 

woodsroad

Lifer
Oct 10, 2013
11,754
16,016
SE PA USA
I got to see Butterscotch Krimpets being made at the Tastykake plant on Hunting Park Ave in Philly. It was an eye opener. The Krimpets move so fast down the line that if something goes wrong, they end up with 20 pounds of mushed Krimpets before they can hit the STOP button. They had huge carts full of smashed Tasykake rejects that went to a pig farm in Delaware. They wouldn't tell exactly where all the pork ended up, but I thought that would be a fantastic co-branding opportunity: Tastykake Bacon

 

jpmcwjr

Moderator
Staff member
May 12, 2015
24,696
27,276
Carmel Valley, CA
And with all the additives in such confections as TastyKakes, the bacon from said pigs or hogs wouldn't need additional chemicals!

 
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