Those of you that have encountered my posts will know a few things about me. Namely my taste in tobacco is on par with Inspector Columbo's taste in cigars and secondly I once claimed that gin would improve the taste of any breakfast products including those purveyed by Mr. Kellogg. Finally we all know that my secretary is the butt of all my humor and that I have a friend called Andre whose taste in tobacco is about on par with my own. All that being said I had the distinct pleasure of having 'Woodsroad' over the other week and we hung out on my roof terrace and smoked a few bowls and generally put the world to rights. He very kindly left me with four samples of his own blends which courtesy of a major car malfunction on route to York to hook up with shaintiques I had the time to smoke while sitting on the hood of a VW that might have last been serviced at Starlingrad. If you have the opportunity to try his blends please do as they are breath taking and as you well know I am the hardest one to please in the tobacco space. Here follows a summary of my thoughts on these blends:
Plan B-2: This was like opening a really good bottle of brandy. The smell was very intense and initially I was worried that the topping would render it difficult to get the tobacco burning. Allowing the package to breath on a hot Saturday afternoon rendered those concerns moot. I used a standard J Pollock regular clay 'cutty' pipe to smoke this blend since everything else I have is ghosted with Condor/Tambo/Black Twist etc. My initial impression was of a very rich smoke with no acidity or tongue bite and you could see that a lot of thought had gone into preparing the casing - as an after thought Woodsroad put out a very interesting article on the subject in this forum in I think February. The tobacco reduced to a fine grey ash very quickly and I assume this was due to the base of this blend being tobacco acquired from a B&M store. The smell was very pleasing and even my chum said it was a very pleasing down wind experience. We did something of a double blind study on this by letting my chum Andre smoke some. He agreed with me it was an intriguing blend but neither of us could work out what Plan B-2 is composed from but it is damned good. The only comment we both have is it a little light on the 'N' side and that is not a criticism but is more likely caused by our universal taste in Condor.
Plan P: With this I think we are on familiar ground. I am convinced this has been soaked in bourbon or something similar. The smell is wonderful and very reminiscent of the blends kicking around London in the mid 1980s that were sold from that tobacconist in Covent Garden below the Punch and Judy public house. Again I smoked this blend in a clean John Pollock clay 'cutty' pipe and I was surprised by the flavor and the mellow undertones of sweet and dark tobacco's. I cannot comment on the constituent parts of this blend but I can say it required but one match for it to burn from top to bottom. It left a dark ash and left both myself and Andre were thinking Borkum Rif or something else. The smoke was very mild and even when inhaled left no harshness on the throat or chest. If you have the chance to try this home blend I would absolutely recommend it to anyone. Both myself and Andre think that the flavor has something to do with the pressing technique used which may have resulted in a double fermentation of the constituent parts of the blend. All in all a very satisfying smoke.
As some of you are aware being stuck outside Allen Town without even a pub in sight and your friend and travel companion looking like an extra from the movie 'The Untouchables' or 'Laurel and Hardy' and yes Shaintiques you can now post the picture, gives plenty of time for introspective tobacco reviews. This brings me to the last two blends that 'Woodroads' kindly donated. For the sake of repetition in each of these last two blends I used a clean new J Pollock clay pipe which I discarded after each sample - I think I have even donated a few of my reject clays in the past to forum members. This time they were chucked in an effort to leave an archeological foot print and because I could not be bothered to cart them home.
Rich and Strange: Well this one lives up to its name. The topping is faint and not something I can put my finger on. It looks like it might have Old Dark Fired in it. I could be cheating as Dan did send me a tin the other month back. That being said, and it could be me, it was very difficult to get this sample to burn. Once ignited it burnt well without the need to re-lite it. The flavor was interesting with overtones of something I could not quite place. The 'N' factor was highly satisfactory and actually made me very hungry. In the final analysis this blend could definitely be a 'smoke everyday' blend due to its very slow burning characteristics. I did not have enough for my friend Andre to try so I cannot include any comments from him other than he thought it smelled 'pretty interesting' to quote him.
The final blend I have deliberately left to last for a specific reason. I do not care for Balkan Sobranie. In fact I have given it way in the past. I smoked it once in the 1980s and I have given people free samples of a left over tin found at my late Mothers home. Our venerable Rabbi on the forum commented that he smoked it in the 1970s and 1980s and there were subtle changes in the mixture. I have always thought that was due to the reduction in the yenidje tobacco content and was about on par with what the Cubans were doing with some of their better cigars.
These Are The Pearls: If there was a really good 'knock off' for Balkan Sobranie then this would be it. If I smoked Balkan Sobranie I would smoke this blend every day and all day. I don't know what Dan did here but this is one hell of a smoke. Both Mr. 1920s and myself think this is an inspired blend and a very clever clone of something you do not see very often. If I am allowed one comment, it is simply this, it does burn a little hot. That being said I think if allowed to sit in a Mason jar for a few months it would probably be spectacular. We both think this has a very heavy Lat content with perhaps a heavy dose of something that neither myself or Andre can put our finger on. It burns a little to fast but that maybe down to my frustration with AAA and trying to track my wife down!
In summary I am delighted to have tried these blends and I would certainly recommend them to anyone here on this forum who has the opportunity to ask 'Woodsroad' nicely for a sample as they are well worth the wait.
Plan B-2: This was like opening a really good bottle of brandy. The smell was very intense and initially I was worried that the topping would render it difficult to get the tobacco burning. Allowing the package to breath on a hot Saturday afternoon rendered those concerns moot. I used a standard J Pollock regular clay 'cutty' pipe to smoke this blend since everything else I have is ghosted with Condor/Tambo/Black Twist etc. My initial impression was of a very rich smoke with no acidity or tongue bite and you could see that a lot of thought had gone into preparing the casing - as an after thought Woodsroad put out a very interesting article on the subject in this forum in I think February. The tobacco reduced to a fine grey ash very quickly and I assume this was due to the base of this blend being tobacco acquired from a B&M store. The smell was very pleasing and even my chum said it was a very pleasing down wind experience. We did something of a double blind study on this by letting my chum Andre smoke some. He agreed with me it was an intriguing blend but neither of us could work out what Plan B-2 is composed from but it is damned good. The only comment we both have is it a little light on the 'N' side and that is not a criticism but is more likely caused by our universal taste in Condor.
Plan P: With this I think we are on familiar ground. I am convinced this has been soaked in bourbon or something similar. The smell is wonderful and very reminiscent of the blends kicking around London in the mid 1980s that were sold from that tobacconist in Covent Garden below the Punch and Judy public house. Again I smoked this blend in a clean John Pollock clay 'cutty' pipe and I was surprised by the flavor and the mellow undertones of sweet and dark tobacco's. I cannot comment on the constituent parts of this blend but I can say it required but one match for it to burn from top to bottom. It left a dark ash and left both myself and Andre were thinking Borkum Rif or something else. The smoke was very mild and even when inhaled left no harshness on the throat or chest. If you have the chance to try this home blend I would absolutely recommend it to anyone. Both myself and Andre think that the flavor has something to do with the pressing technique used which may have resulted in a double fermentation of the constituent parts of the blend. All in all a very satisfying smoke.
As some of you are aware being stuck outside Allen Town without even a pub in sight and your friend and travel companion looking like an extra from the movie 'The Untouchables' or 'Laurel and Hardy' and yes Shaintiques you can now post the picture, gives plenty of time for introspective tobacco reviews. This brings me to the last two blends that 'Woodroads' kindly donated. For the sake of repetition in each of these last two blends I used a clean new J Pollock clay pipe which I discarded after each sample - I think I have even donated a few of my reject clays in the past to forum members. This time they were chucked in an effort to leave an archeological foot print and because I could not be bothered to cart them home.
Rich and Strange: Well this one lives up to its name. The topping is faint and not something I can put my finger on. It looks like it might have Old Dark Fired in it. I could be cheating as Dan did send me a tin the other month back. That being said, and it could be me, it was very difficult to get this sample to burn. Once ignited it burnt well without the need to re-lite it. The flavor was interesting with overtones of something I could not quite place. The 'N' factor was highly satisfactory and actually made me very hungry. In the final analysis this blend could definitely be a 'smoke everyday' blend due to its very slow burning characteristics. I did not have enough for my friend Andre to try so I cannot include any comments from him other than he thought it smelled 'pretty interesting' to quote him.
The final blend I have deliberately left to last for a specific reason. I do not care for Balkan Sobranie. In fact I have given it way in the past. I smoked it once in the 1980s and I have given people free samples of a left over tin found at my late Mothers home. Our venerable Rabbi on the forum commented that he smoked it in the 1970s and 1980s and there were subtle changes in the mixture. I have always thought that was due to the reduction in the yenidje tobacco content and was about on par with what the Cubans were doing with some of their better cigars.
These Are The Pearls: If there was a really good 'knock off' for Balkan Sobranie then this would be it. If I smoked Balkan Sobranie I would smoke this blend every day and all day. I don't know what Dan did here but this is one hell of a smoke. Both Mr. 1920s and myself think this is an inspired blend and a very clever clone of something you do not see very often. If I am allowed one comment, it is simply this, it does burn a little hot. That being said I think if allowed to sit in a Mason jar for a few months it would probably be spectacular. We both think this has a very heavy Lat content with perhaps a heavy dose of something that neither myself or Andre can put our finger on. It burns a little to fast but that maybe down to my frustration with AAA and trying to track my wife down!
In summary I am delighted to have tried these blends and I would certainly recommend them to anyone here on this forum who has the opportunity to ask 'Woodsroad' nicely for a sample as they are well worth the wait.
