Play Misty For Me
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Kevin Godbee - Jan 20, 2014
- 8 min read
E. Roberts
No, this won’t be a review of the 1971 Clint Eastwood film—rather, it’s a thriller of a different sort. By the time this goes to press, Vincent Manil’s ‘La Brumeuse’ will for the first time be available in the US. Semois tobacco, produced in the Ardennes Valley in Belgium and taking its name from the Semois River, is a peculiarity in the tobacco world. It was the subject of a recent NY Times article, prefaced by none other than our own Greg Pease; from this brief exposure to the American pipe smoker’s radar, fueled by forum discussions and isolated reports of its wondrous smoking qualities and singular taste, enough interest was generated for relative newcomers The Pipe Guys to seek out the gentleman mentioned in the Times article as the premiere producer of the stuff, Vincent Manil, and arrange for its import.
The Pipe Guys is a venture in well-curated pipery for the modern connoisseur, the brainchild of, well…two pipe guys, Jon Guirguis and Phil Assad. What started out as a shared enjoyment of pipes and tobaccos grew into a blog by September 2012, and within a year became a full-fledged Internet retailer. It’s a small operation run with a passion that is evident in every facet of their presentation, from the website to the remarkable customer service. My request for a phone interview, submitted through their site, was answered within thirty minutes—with a personal call from Jon, who was happy to reinforce that their business model was built around their personalized service. Jon had read the Times article himself, and like many had been intrigued not only with this curious tobacco but with the remarkable story of it as well. "This guy [Vincent Manil] and his small-batch artisanal tobacco really fit in with the whole philosophy of our business," relates Jon. Noticing the buzz that was developing in the online pipe community about the mysterious Semois, he figured it would be worth a shot to contact Vincent directly.
"If you want to taste Semois, you must taste Semois" — Greg Pease.
Fortune favors the bold, and the timing proved to be serendipitous for The Pipe Guys to reach out to Vincent. For years Mr. Manil had been fielding the occasional request to send his tobacco to curious customers from all over the world, but he is truly a one-man (*and his charming wife) operation, producing this marvelous concoction in his basement, and had never felt comfortable with the prospect of delving into commercial production and the vagaries and pitfalls of international shipping. But the buzz had grown to a point he couldn’t ignore, and when the connection was made it just seemed the right time, and with the right people. Speaking with Jon, it’s easy to be infected with the enthusiasm he has for pipes and tobacco. It took months of regulatory hurdles and reams of paperwork, and finally on Monday, January 20th, pre-orders for La Brumeuse begin, to be shipped by the 30th.
La Brumeuse thick-cut.
Package: It will initially be offered in 100-gram packets at the price point of $24.90, limited to one per customer. While this may seem rather precious, it’s important to note that the tobacco is presented absolutely dry—you’re not buying any water weight whatsoever; compared to an average tinned tobacco at roughly 20% RH, it’s a significantly larger portion. The dry presentation is in part due to the processing techniques employed for Semois; it’s hand-toasted in a large drum roaster, similar to coffee beans, in order to bring out its unique flavor characteristics. For some more in-depth study of the peculiarities of Semois, I’ll refer you to Arno’s excellent blog, Dutch Pipe Smoker. While it’s perfectly suitable to smoke bone dry as presented, I found it complimentary to gently hydrate it in small portions by placing it in a bail-top jar with a humidifier for a couple days. Because it is utterly additive-free, with no mold-retarding agents, it will be susceptible to unwelcome growth if not kept dry, so I’d recommend against preparing more than a serving at a time in this manner. As dry as it is, though, it exhibits its remarkable terroir-laden pungency with aplomb, and gains added dimension with a modicum of moisture added. How to even describe the aroma? It’s rich, musky, and floral, and truly has a barnyard mélange about it—the (pleasantly) fetid aroma of manure, fresh-tilled soil, moldering bales of hay, and yes, the misty fog-laden valley air for which it was named. After some days spent humidifying in the jar I get a definite carrot-cake batter aroma, replete with allspice and roasted walnut. The color of the coarse ribbon is a rather uniform olive-brown range.
So I’m packin’ my bags for the misty mountains…Photo © Bart Heirwig
Char: From the moment flame touches leaf, it’s apparent that this is not your average tobacco. It initially offers a tart, oily flavor most akin to cloud-grown Ecuadorian-Connecticut cigar leaf; stout, yet somehow couched in velvet. When very dry it’s unlikely you’ll need a second match to smoke to the bottom of the bowl, and it should be noted to smoke quite slowly and pack a bit tighter than you might normally.
Top: Lingering behind the opening salvo of cigarishness is a panoply of flavors ranging from delicate yet definite florals like violet, lavender, and clover, to the richer vegetal range and tart top notes like fortified wine or a frothy ale. The spicy cigar-range flavors predominate, though, and set the tone with their cinnamon and cedar notes.
Mid: As the bowl progresses rather quickly to the midpoint, the flavors deepen and expand appreciably. Clear turpeny, tannic, woody notes of cedar, cask oak, piñon on a barbeque pit commingle with more salty umami tastes like sourdough pretzel, burned tomato sauce, and winter squash. Smoking as much as I could pack into a Missouri Meerschaum Danish egg out in a chilly mid-winter rain, the earthy, vegetal nature really shines through, offering a notably different smoke than when at home in my warm, dry office. I could close my eyes and imagine being in a barn, brushing down a Brabançon just in from a day in the field, the hay and barn wood and flickering oil lamp and animal musk mingling in my sinuses. This is free verse in a pipe, it’s Dylan going electric, Miles Davis recording Bitches Brew, Burroughs shuffling the manuscript to Naked Lunch like a deck of cards—it’s all over the map.
La Semois et La Val Ardennais
Finish: Somewhere between mid-bowl and heel my eyelids began to sweat. In the way that insanely hot peppers are felt by our bodies in ways far more complex than mere taste, the profound flavors and appreciable nicotine content of this tobacco are felt. It’s been mentioned before, and I’d be remiss not to mention it again: it will ghost a pipe readily. Repeated bowls may linger indefinitely, in fact; dedicated cobs are a great option, and it excels in them, picking up a nice sweetness from the corn and burning effortlessly in the larger bowls. The flavor stays heavily on the palate, and will shape the taste of food or other smokes well after the bowl is done. Pairing can thus be difficult—I had mixed success with beers, found it better with strong port and rum and cokes, and was completely stymied with teas, even my strongest blacks. Much more research will be needed in this area.
K. Anastosopoulos pipe (also available through ThePipeGuys) and antique meer for testing.
Room Note: Fire up some Semois in a crowd of cigar smokers and you’ll likely make some friends, if not converts. At the monthly pipe club meeting, too, this will pique the interest of anyone within range, particularly Lat smokers. Those unfriendly to rich, redolent clouds of pungent tobacco may complain. Much of the cigar-like range and some of the floral and earthy range translate quite directly to the secondary smoke.
Rating: 92
The quaint packaging belies this tobacco’s ultra-boutique, handmade, one-at-a-time nature. The cut and color are intriguing, and well suited to ease of smoking. The remarkable bouquet speaks volumes as preamble to the smoke. 13 for presentation. Burning a bit quickly when fresh from the package, it still doesn’t threaten to bite, though will tend to get a bit hot in the chamber. I recommend gentle humidification for a day in advance to release even more flavor and temper the speed. 32 draw & burn points. A cultivar of burley, it’s easy on the palate heat-wise, never biting, although its intensity and mouthfeel are not to be trifled with. Pairing with beverages was a noted challenge. The sheer complexity and pungency are off the charts, and difficult to quantify. It truly does stand in a category of its own, this Semois—with limited experience in comparable Ardennes Valley leaf, I’ll give this a provisional 47 for flavor and aroma, based on its utterly unique profile.
Cellar or Smoke?
I’m to understand that La Brumeuse is the most full-flavored of Vincent’s blends; hopefully we’ll soon see additions to the import list with his milder blends as well. For those who also enjoy cigars, trying some of this is a no-brainer. Latakia aficionados will likewise find remarkable strength, depth, complexity and plenty of smoky character to wrap their palates around. If this stuff rings your bell, start stocking up as and when you can, remembering that it’s a truly small-batch boutique tobacco with limited availability, and store it carefully, noting that it’s susceptible to mold growth due to its lack of additives.
Brand: Vincent Manil Val Ardennais Pur Semois
Blend: La Brumeuse
Blender: Vincent Manil
Type: Semois
Country: Belgium
Cut: Coarse ribbon
Tobaccos: Semois (burley cultivar)
Strength: Strong
Room Note: Strong
Tin Size: 100g paper packet
Tin Age: New
Tin Description– The Ardennes Valley — Thick Cut Pipe Tobacco — Grown and Processed in Belgium.
American / English Packaging Art
Order Vincent Manil La Brumeuse Semois Exclusively from ThePipeGuys.com
Written by Kevin Godbee
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Welcome to The Pipes Magazine Radio Show Episode 634! Our featured interview on tonight’s show is with Warren Ertle. Warren is an extremely accomplished musician with a PhD in music. He started early as a percussionist in sixth grade. Later his grandmother got him a cheap Casio keyboard which he taught himself to play. He started playing in blues bands in high school, and has been a pianist with jazz big bands for years. Even though he was already a professional musician, he took his first real piano lesson when he enrolled in college with his studies in classical music. He is of course a pipe smoker. At the top of the show we will have an Ask the Tobacco Blender segment with Jeremy Reeves. Jeremy is the Head Blender at Cornell & Diehl, which is one of the most popular boutique pipe tobacco companies in the USA.
Soon now, supposedly, our neighborhoods will shift from grinning pumpkins, skeletons in various assortments, and zombies dashing about to pretty reindeer, angels, and flashing lights illuminating homes with sparkling stars and laughing, scurrying Santas. But, lest we forget, there is the turkey season, fancy pie aromas wafting from kitchens, and a national pardon of a big Tom Turkey. Remember, now, that only one of these holiday personalities is a pipe smoker. And that is the hefty, bearded fellow in a bright red suit sitting in a sleigh with a herd of deer hitched up and ready to streak across the globe, bringing tidings of joy and many presents. Ok, the scene is set for the next couple of months, right? So, before we get too far off the beaten path, let’s just take a deep breath of fresh autumn air, shall we? Ahh. That’s better, isn’t it? What’s got the Pundit in a snit is not all the Halloween spooks who came a-jostling for candy. Or the wild turkeys gobbling in the backwoods or all the fuss and feathers over the big one—Christmas. No, it is that we might need to take note of all the little things that mean so much to us. Like a good sunrise (seriously, Pundit has not gone all Pollyanna.) Mayhaps we need to appreciate more of what we have than what we have not. Or something like that. Like, a good pipe in the morning with coffee as the dawn brings us coolish weather now that we have flipped the calendar to autumn. But it also brings beautiful leaves that have become a spectacle of technicolor in the wind. It is the little things. The rereading of an enjoyable book and finding something you did not see or learn in the first go-round. Or a stunning phrase you commit to memory with the re-read, while smoking that favorite pipe. And you notice a superior puff that just seems to be different. It’s in the air and the seasons of meaningful little things. It’s aromatic! Or perhaps it is that sense of satisfaction knowing and appreciating you made it to another day. With the world in a kind of rinse-and-repeat history, reminiscent of a Shakespearean play, it is perhaps a good moment to remember some of Pipedom’s philosophers whose cogent thoughts brought light to clear a path in the mists of confusion and confounding opinions. Ok. No gloom and doom. Just some down-home thoughts. Think of times in the past when history was running off the rails. It took our pipe-smoking thinkers (the mind workers of the world) to speak of better pathways to more light. Think for a moment, with a pipe in hand, these wizards of the world and word: Albert Einstein, J. R.R. Tolkien, Mark Twain, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Edwin Hubble, Bertrand Russell, C. S. Lewis, and Jean-Paul Sartre. All learned and enlightened. They offered wisdom instead of storms of meaningless roads to nowhere. All while smoking their pipes! Maybe especially with the help of their pipes in the art of thinking and philosophy. Recall the words of Mr. E=MC2 when he said, “I believe that pipe smoking contributes to a somewhat calm and objective judgment in all human affairs.” Amen and amen! Dealing with world-rattling events takes a calm and objective view of things, to the Pundit’s way of summing it up. You just don’t go messing around with quantum physics without a calm and objective approach, methinks. Or as the extraordinary physicist Robert Oppenheimer said after he and a team in the Manhattan Project at Los Alamos Labs developed a way to split atoms into bombs during World War II. “I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds,” said Oppenheimer referring to the development of the first nuclear bombs dropped on Japan. It must be pointed out that Oppenheimer was more of a cigarette smoker than a pipe smoker. Nonetheless, pipes were part of his personality. Now, if you have read some of the great authors of the past and present, their pipes were always nearby. Reading Sir Arthur Conan Doyle can be a three-pipe problem at times. S. Lewis and Jean-Paul Sartre require time with your pipes to reflect on the existential problems and solutions these authors provide in learned novels and other narratives. Or take Edwin Hubble and Bertrand Russell, philosophers of another world. Pipes are required for reading. The quantum lode of ideas Pundit is attempting to sort out is that our pipes are relaxing and stimulate our thoughts and creativity. Especially in these last months of the year. Many times Pundit has had that light bulb flick on while smoking my beloved pipes. And friends in Pipedom, it ain’t easy to turn on the lights in Pundit’s rock pit head. Now it’s time for a quote from a Pipe Smoker of the Past. Shelby Foote was born Nov. 17, 1916, in Greenville, Miss., and died June 27, 2005, in Memphis, Tenn. A fact is not a truth until you love it—Shelby Foote. A parting thought: It is said that famed Southern author William Faulkner carried a packed pipe in a coat pocket wherever he went. That’s one effective way to deal with workday conflicts and confusion. A calm and objective judgment in our everyday human affairs, as the quantum man said.
Welcome to The Pipes Magazine Radio Show Episode 633. Our featured guest tonight is Jon David Cole. JD is the Owner/Tobacconist at The Country Squire in Jackson, MS, and the accompanying online store. We’ll have JD and Brian talking about what’s new at the store and in the business in general. At the top of the show, Brian will discuss tobacco growing, what happens to the leaf, and provide updated information on where tobacco is being gown today. Tobacco production originated in the United States and we were once the #1 producer. It’s quite different now.
Well there’s nothing like a touch of the plague to usher in the changing season. Leaving the airport just when the first advertisements for all things pumpkin spice began to appear—lattes, muffins, shampoos, trash bags, and myriad other concoctions—so, too, my ability to breathe freely disappeared. The unfortunate side effect of losing one’s sense of taste and smell for weeks is the utter inability to enjoy tobacco. Not that I consider myself an expert on anything but my own tastes, but be forewarned that this review was made with mildly impugned sensory equipment. Just when a comforting pipe was most needed, its comfort was denied. Be that as it may, the road to recovery found me limping along on one lung this past month, trying to wrest the particulars of two blends on offer from Sutliff: the latest 175th Anniversary blend, Silver Quarter, as well as their spooky seasonal Maple Shadows II. Silver Quarter is a new style on offer from Sutliff, their first coin-cut blend. Naturally a Virginia-Perique, it is enhanced with a traditional core of black Cavendish. In the tin it holds much promise, with a lightly bready and very woody, if ever-so-slightly sour, aroma. After some time acclimating to air, the bouquet softens further and offers hints of the burley with some chocolaty notes wafting through the more dominant dry grassy aspect. The tin art is of a coin-style bas-relief bust, presumably of a founding Sutliff brother, à la The Old Boss On the reverse of the tin we find the blend’s description: Reflecting on Sutliffs 175 years of tobacco excellence, we came across a brand that embodies true value, SILVER QUARTER. This name pays homage to Sutliffs roots, the legacy of two brothers who popularized pipe smoking in the burgeoning mining society of San Francisco. We celebrate this heritage with a coin cut composed of the finest African Virginias, complemented by a core of Perique and Black Cavendish. The tin notes are, forgive the pun, on the nose for a good VaPer blend: mild tart sweetness peeking out from behind dried hay and slight chocolate undertones, with a lightly tannic finish of weathered oak. It is always a joy to prepare a coin cut, my preference being to put a few in my palm and vigorously warm my hands together to fully break them apart. These well-formed discs pack and light easily, and smoke with little prodding to the end of the bowl. For technical points it scores well—it smokes light, and it’s easy to tend the ember. While it gets sharp after a few quick bowls, pacing should be heeded to easily smoke down to the heel without inviting bite. Of the flavor, though, I am left a bit wanting. There are tart and high notes aplenty, but very little of the lemony citrus I would anticipate, as well as scant midtones; they tend more toward the red wine-vinegary and sour. The flavors are muted, also, lacking the sweetness and piquancy of other marques—the small measure of Perique tickles the nose now and again with peppery hints, and there is a smidge of a deeper sweetness to be found in the Cavendish from puff to puff, but overall it lacks some dynamism. The Virginias, to my palate, come off a bit on the dry side, and here they dominate the blend. The aftertaste and mouthfeel are neutral, again evincing more of the dry, woody, tartly tannic end of the spectrum. The blend has plenty of polish, but not enough depth or richness (*yet) to make it a standout. Here, comparisons are inevitable: Luxury Bullseye Flake has more sweetness, both from its Virginia as well as its Cavendish, and a better finish; Davidoff is similar but with a pronounced umami that is absent here; as for Escudo, I haven’t had any fresh tins lately so it would be unfair to compare. While it rates as a solid, fairly mild smoke, particularly to lovers of the genre, it does not surprise with any exceptional flavors. To be fair, all the boxes have been checked for the blend to benefit from some real aging, and it would be worth checking in on this after a couple of years sealed away. I’ve set half my tin aside to sample again in a month or two, in case I’m merely suffering from the lingering effects of parosmia, and will amend this review in that case. Maple Shadows II, on the other hand, made up for the weeks of sniffling and sneezing I’d endured. Offered in a full 8 ounce tin with delightfully spooky Halloween art, it’s (hopefully) enough to last through the season. Somehow I had missed this last year, so it’s a real pleasure to get some in my candy bucket this year. As the chilling winds of autumn draw eerie prattle from contorted, deciduous limbs, we find ourselves possessed by the spirit of the season. Bewitched by a dissonant charm, we’ve created Maple Shadows. In a season that is defined by the unlikely harmony of treats and frights, we’ve joined the enchanting sweetness of maple with the earthy spice of Dark Fired Kentucky for a smoking experience that captures the senses with an otherworldly fusion of flavor. This may be the best aromatic blend Sutliff’s ever made—and they make a ton of them. First off, it’s not overbearing in the least—quite the opposite, it is also one of the more restrained aromatics they’ve ever made, with a clear but very light topping that melds oh-so-well with their choice Kentucky added to the mix. Opening the tin, the sweet maple is up front and center, but so too is the must of fallen leaves, bready pie crusts, and a crackling fire in the hearth—a perfect invocation of Herbstdüfte in a can. Packing best in an open and capacious bowl, the flavoring is subtle, and recedes to the background while puffing. With a sweet coffee or tea to accompany, the aftertaste of the maple is reinvigorated on the palate […]
Welcome to The Pipes Magazine Radio Show Episode 632. Our featured guest on tonight’s show is the host of the Pipe & Tamper Podcast, Mike Murphy. Brian and Mike will have an extended chat revolving around the days before, during and after the Las Vegas International Pipe Show. We will hear about their travels to the show and the anxiety of Hurricane Milton bearing down on Florida at the same time while running a show and not knowing if your house is going to be there when you get home. In the end, the show went great and our homes survived, although many others in Florida were not so lucky. We’ll have clips from the show, and shoutouts to other podcasts and vlogs that were broadcasting from the pipe show.
Vegas Baby The show started out strong on the 14th floor hospitality suites hosted by the Vegas Pipe Show and Smoking Pipes as well as room hopping to carvers, estate sellers, and vendors to pre-game for the festivities. If you’re interested in what that looks like I’ll refer you to last years pipe show round up. I circled with Brian Levine to get the totals in comparison to last year: This year’s show numbers: 108 Exhibitor tables, 445 attendees, 3,250 Raffle Tickets, 100ish dinners, 172 Rooms in the Hotel. Last year, by comparison, 107 exhibitor tables, 425 attendees, 2,200 raffle tickets, 104 dinners, and 175 rooms on Friday and Saturday nights. We were at capacity, basically, when it came to vendor tables and the dinner, so there is no physical room for growth at this point except for attendees. That said, we filled that smoking lounge to the brim. New Carvers Spotlight Garret Woo (Pipes by Woo) How long have you been carving? Garret: I’ve been carving since 2021, and I’m guessing your next question is probably how’d you get started carving? James: Yes. Garret: In 2021 I took a break from my full time job – that included machining and assembly work and I thought maybe it was time I made something that I would like and I started looking at youtube and Instagram and putting together my shop. I did struggle on the stems to start and there was a lot of failure at the beginning. James: How many pipes have you made so far? Garret: I number my pipes, so I just finished up 186. James: What is your favorite shape you’ve been making? Garret: I really dig Canadians and pipes with longer shanks and lovat Canadian blends. I like to play with different shapes of stems on the longer shanked pipes. The billiard would be my go-to shape but I want to learn more techniques on freehanded shapes. I like to put brass and copper adornments on my pipes with my machining background it helps. James: What is the craziest thing you’ve seen at this show? Garret: The first thing that comes to mind is the table over there with C-Pipes with the shapes and the size and petiteness and the intricate details they did. You can check out what Garret is working on by going to his Instagram. Stefan Cashwell James: how long have you been carving? Stefan: about 3 years. James: What’s the craziest thing you’ve seen at the show? Stefan: The Adam Davidson pipe with the clear shape and the bamboo—I don’t know if it’s 3D printed or what, but it’s amazing. James: What’s your favorite shape to do? Stefan: That’s a tough question. I think they’re all the same shape, but what’s fascinating is that Dublin, volcano, and blowfish are all the same depending on how you turn them. Playing with that, with all its variations, is a lot of fun. My favorite accent to use is also horn; it’s finicky, but it’s a great accent on pipes. You can check out Stefan’s work on his Instagram. Science: Meet Pipes I chatted with Chris from the San Diego Pipe Club; he started off doing stem replacements for estate pipes but also improved the airflow. James: How are you doing 3d printing? What is the thought process? Chris: It’s a 3D-printed pipe with a briar insert. The design is a calabash meets a Peterson system meets a metal Falcon/Kirsten radiator style. It is a bottom draft smoking bowl like a radiator like those metal pipes. The inside chamber is a calabash. The stummel and accent rings in the stems are all 3d printed. The insert is briar, olive wood, or I have the potential to use meerschaum as well. This idea came about through the San Diego Pipe Club, wanting to see if we could 3D print a pipe and being curious about the technology; I have a printer and design ability, so here we are. James: What’s the type of plastic you’re using? Chris: It’s all PLA plastic, a renewable potato starch plastic that is food-safe. The stummels are printed with a plastic that has wood in it 40% wood fiber, bamboo, rosewood, ebony, redwood, and walnut are the woods I’m printing. For the accent rings I just got a new material that I’m printing that has 40% copper, so its real metal that you can sand, and polish the same as wood filament. The stems are 3d printed as well. The concept is renewable and cheap from a production standpoint, with the ability to make a very high quality smoking pipe based on the experience. By combining the calabash system pipe and bottom draft hole and using 3d simulations to see airflow, I can see where I’m having eddies and ripples in my current, and see where my moisture and all the particles are dropping back out from a vapor to a liquid. Most people who have tried these say the stems are clean, and they don’t even have to run a pipe cleaner afterward because everything collects at the bottom. Chris has also been experimenting with color-changing plastics so you can see the hotspots. Chris said he was able to use this to slow down his cadence, which, of course, could mean you could get a slow-smoke training pipe to teach yourself to perform better. If you’re interested in learning more or want to check one out, you can contact him on Instagram: Copper Beard Pipe Works The Negative Space The show was buzzing about one specific pipe, which had everyone guessing how it was made. I chatted with Adam Davidson briefly about it. James: How did this idea come to fruition? Adam Davidson: Smokingpipes.com had an expo back in August open to all of the makers they carry. The theme was to make a pipe utilizing bamboo. Given that the last time we had the expo I made a smooth Almond with three bamboo shanks, […]
The little bit of this stuff that I have tried was rather off-putting. I’m a guy who really likes his Latakia, but I was rather unimpressed with Semois. It is way too flowery/floral for my tastes.
It will be interesting to see if this follows other over hyped tobaccos: large increases in the planting of the crop with a subsequent decline in the quality of the product.
In any event, we wish Mr. Manil and the Pipe Guys the best of luck in their effort to bring Semois to the U.S.
Happy smoking for the ones who manage to obtain this rustic, unique tobacco!
Many thanks for the information!
WAY 2 GO PipeGuys!
As soon as I read the Semois articles last September, I searched for a way to obtain some Semois Tobacco from the source. With the internet, I was able to find Mr. Vincent Manil and using the Dictionary.Com translator, I was able to communicate with him about how I could buy some tobacco from him. He indicated that he needed to get through the red-tape of tobacco exports and find a distributor.
Mr. Manil kept my email address and to my surprise sent me an update earlier this month to let me know where I could soon purchase this long awaited tobacco! On January 20th at 7PM EST I logged on to ThePipeGuys web site and placed my preorder … I am now watching for the package to arrive and pondering which pipe to use (I thinking a new Meerschaum Bent Acorn) ~ Thank You to all who’s efforts have allowed this to happen & Happy Smoke Trails!
This is a massive good thing for the pipe world. I was able to order some so should be smoking it within a week. Many thanks to Mr. Roberts for this article/tobacco review, the best I’ve read yet about this fabled tobacco. I haven’t looked forward to smoking an exotic tobacco this month since Tambolaka arrived on the scene and was disappointed by its nondescript flavor. I don’t think this Semois will suffer a similar fate.
I have a feeling this may be somewhat of a polarizing tobacco–either loved or reviled. It’s not the best thing I’ve ever tasted, but it’s certainly unique, utterly so; I’ll be sure to have some on hand to scratch that occasional itch for its flavor profile. It’s definitely worth trying out and passing around to the pipe club buddies just for the reaction. I can see this gaining more than a few rabid devotees for sure. I’d love to hear from others their reactions and opinions of it when their shipments arrive!
Scored 100 g and am eagerly awaiting receipt of what I am sure will be a very different tobacco. So far I haven’t read any articles on blending with Semois, but I am sure that will happen given the availability.
I’ve also read that it ghosts, but in my experience such ghosting, with unflavored tobacco, is minimal. Maybe what was meant is that it ghosts like Latakia, which ghost for me can be overcome with only 3 or 4 bowls of the new tobacco.
Regarding blending, I did actually experiment a little with mixing in some pure Latakia, Basma and Bursa leaf I had kicking around; the Semois really has some very chameleonic character in small quantities in the mix, though it can easily overpower. And as regards ghosting, well, believe the hype–it lingers more than many of the strongest Lakeland styles I’ve tried, significantly more. Though the tobacco itself is “unflavored”, as far as no additives, in and of itself it is profoundly flavored. You’re not going to overcome it with a few bowls of anything lighter than napalm. 😀
Thanks for an excellent article. This doesn’t sound like something I’m likely to smoke unless it finds its way into the blender’s arsenal. In time that may very well happen since it seems that it could season Virginias and Orientals quite nicely. It wouldn’t surprise me to learn that Pease has already considered it.