A blend you really want to try.

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eriksmokes85

Starting to Get Obsessed
Sep 24, 2015
172
0
Hey members,
I have been laying kinda low since the holidays and what not. Been hunting for a new job as mine was discontinued right before Christmas. But any ways, I have found myself with a lot of time to be able to read almost every thread on the first 4 pages of the tobacco review section in this forum and have compiled a nice list of tobaccos to try. The one on the very top of my list is esoterica and so to bed. So now two things I ask of you all. 1) I would like to hear first hand from you all that have tried it what you really think? 2) what is your number tobacco you really want to try? As always happy piping guys!

 

rogers

Part of the Furniture Now
Mar 9, 2012
738
2,079
I tried And So To Bed back in 2009, before it began its fatal descent into oblivion, and I wasn't particularly fond of it. Sam Gawith's Best Brown Flake is one I've been pondering on for a while now, bit I'm in no rush to give it a go just yet.

 

prairiedruid

Lifer
Jun 30, 2015
2,005
1,137
1. haven't tried it
2. The new Bengal Slices once I have a little free cash.
Good Luck on the job hunt....

 

papipeguy

Lifer
Jul 31, 2010
15,778
35
Bethlehem, Pa.
I used to smoke ASTB before it became difficult to get. I liked it and always thought that there was some sort of flavoring added to it. Haven't had it in a long time.

I'm waiting for a shot at Salty Dogs plug once someone here gets it in stock.

 

jpmcwjr

Moderator
Staff member
May 12, 2015
24,744
27,339
Carmel Valley, CA
Esoterica is the name of a line of the tobaccos, Penzance and Stonehaven being the most talked about, and So To Bed is also one of theirs. (Germain's is the blender)
What I haven't tried and am most curious about: Stonehaven. (Been lucky enough to find Penzance and Margate, both of which I like)

 

mikestanley

Lifer
May 10, 2009
1,698
1,126
Akron area of Ohio
I've smoked a few tins of ASTB and Smoker's Haven 20 Anniversary, which are substantially similar blends. I enjoy them both. The lighter use of latakia and that Ale top note appeals to my taste.
There aren't really any blends I can think of that I want to try and have not. There a a number I long for again that I have smoked but am unwilling to pay the going rate for.
Craven and Three Nuns come to mind.

Mike S.

 

lestrout

Lifer
Jan 28, 2010
1,763
302
Chester County, PA
Yo eri
Though I like most of the Smoker's Haven's, Esoterica and Germain blends, ASTB took awhile to grow on me. The charms of Margate, Exotique, Krumble Kake, Select and even Pembroke were more accessible to me, no doubt due to the heavier levels of Latakia. The latter all went on my Top200 Cellar list, but not the ASTB. But lately, after getting into Dunhill London Mixture, Mystic (Hermit), Midnight Ride and several Perettis, I guess I got tuned into the Orientals that ASTB possesses. So now when I'm in the mood for a medium tangy Balkan, ASTB goes into the pipe.
hp

les
PS - I'm not sure how to interpret your last question. In the last few years, when I hear of a tobacco I want to try, I've been fortunate enough to find some to so do. So I'm happy as a clam, till something new like John Cotton Smyrna or the new Bengal Slices comes out, then bam. :)

 

tinsel

Part of the Furniture Now
Oct 23, 2015
531
7
Haven't tried ASTB so I can't comment on it.
As far as what I would like to try and havne't: Motzek Strang and Tambolaka are my top 2. No idea how to even go about getting a hold of either of them, I've googled my fingers to the bone on several occasions and come up empty handed every time :(

 
Apr 26, 2012
3,381
5,600
Washington State
I haven't tried ASTB, and as far as blends I want to try; pretty much anything I haven't tried in a English/Balkan blend. I have a sizeable list of blends I want to try, but I don't think anyone blend is above another blend.

 

sablebrush52

The Bard Of Barlings
Jun 15, 2013
19,775
45,371
Southern Oregon
jrs457.wixsite.com
As far as what I would like to try and havne't: Motzek Strang and Tambolaka are my top 2. No idea how to even go about getting a hold of either of them, I've googled my fingers to the bone on several occasions and come up empty handed every time.
To buy Motzek strang you need to go to the shop that makes it.
https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=de&u=http://dein-tabak.de/&prev=search
That said, you are probably SOL as Herbert Motzek is retiring, looking to sell the business, and Motzek strang is out of stock. The loose cut curly mixture is still available and is the same blend in a ready cut. But it won't taste the same as the rope.
Through a group purchase I was able to buy some last fall, before Motzek made his announcement. Personally, I haven't much cared for it, but I also haven't spent much time trying out different levels of dryness as it is sopping wet when packaged. Perhaps I will find the magic combination, but so far it's a dud.
Whether more strang is in the pipeline is an unknown.

 

skraps

Part of the Furniture Now
Sep 9, 2015
790
5
Never had ASTB, have no real interest in it.
As far as your second question... there really is nothing out there that I'm desperate to try. I usually avoid sampling, but without fail will periodically go through a phase of it. My recent bout turned up new to me blends that I enjoyed, but nothing that was life altering.
I tend to find 3 or 4 that I really like, and they pretty much become the primaries in my rotation.

 

pitchfork

Lifer
May 25, 2012
4,030
606
Peterson Irish Plug. There's no such thing, but if they made Irish Flake as a plug, I'd be happy as a hog in slop.

 
May 31, 2012
4,295
34
Peterson Irish Plug. There's no such thing, but if they made Irish Flake as a plug, I'd be happy as a hog in slop.
Pitch,

I've seen it said by quite a few that Ilsted's Dark Fired Plug was IF in uncut form:

http://www.pfeife-tabak.de/Tabak/Ilsted/Dark_Fired_Plug/dark_fired_plug.htm

...sadly it is out of production now, I think?

I tried to find a German shop who had it in stock and came up empty.
PS

"happy as a hog in slop"

Love the southern dialect stuff!

Down here we're more inelegant and say "happier thanna pig in shit"! :)
The baccy I've always wanted to try is the Irish plugs as made by Murray's,

especially Velvan,

just to see how they tasted and what effects aging has had on them.

:!:

 

pitchfork

Lifer
May 25, 2012
4,030
606
That sounds great!
On the Intertabak 2007 he was introduced and now it glows in my tune: which are sold under the brand name of Ilsteds Own Kohlhase & Kopp one of the two new plugs.
When I learned of Achim Frank, which in his Rheinbacher Pfeifenstudio he had the new plugs in stock, I went full of curiosity immediately set off to get me the pressed herb. Although I have already found my allday tobaccos, I'm excited again when something new comes on the auspicious flooded by vanilla and fruit cocktails German market.
The inscription on the well-sealed pouch clearly suggests that we are dealing with a heavyweight: "This full bodied Plug is blended from Dark Fired tobaccos from Kentucky, Malawi and India. The Mixture is pressed, heated and then stored for 14 days before being cut. English style button. "
After a long time I dig out my briar cutting board and sharpened my pocket knife and cut me a couple of thin slices of this long, dark tie down. The smell of Kentucky rises hard for me in the nose and the rainy, stormy evening provides the right mood for the first whistle.
I let the coarse pieces in the P. Klein trickle, press lightly on and off you go. Already after the first trains you realize that this is not a tobacco for the empty stomach or a whistle newbie. Poet, hard-sweet smoke with a harsh, strong Nebenton determines the taste. A filling of this full, smoky Plugs will provide enough body even in the stiffest breeze on the autumnal lake.
Slowly smoked reveals the Dark Fired Plug a consistently pleasant smoking pleasure. No scratching, no bite interferes with the enjoyment. However, one must already love the neat existing Kentucky. From the center of the filling comes a very slight fruity component to the fore, which is maintained until the end. But all in all, it tastes like it looks: dark, heavy and strong.
The burn is even, slowly and smoothly, the filling can be dry by smoking to the ground.
The Ilsted Plug reminds me very much of Peterson's Irish Flake, who also sold by K & K. Its discs have exactly the same color and smell appear identical to me. For me, however, a direct comparison of courage, a whistle with the nicotine-rich Dark Fired Kentucky missing the evening's enough for me :)
I can recommend the plug every experienced smoking just for the cold season, a strong malt in the glass can only enhance the enjoyment.

 
May 31, 2012
4,295
34
:D

Love the computer translation!
Good stuff,

and the enthusiasm still comes through very accurately!
I especially liked:

I'm excited again when something new comes on the auspicious flooded by vanilla and fruit cocktails German market.

...as the German market is full of aromatic baccy.
And this,

is almost poetry!

8)

A filling of this full, smoky Plugs will provide enough body even in the stiffest breeze on the autumnal lake.
I wish I could find some of that stuff!
Ilsted also had a Va. Plug on the market which was reputed by some to be uncut UF.

:!:

 
May 31, 2012
4,295
34
Sadly, all of the German shops seem to be Nicht verfügbar...
http://www.cigarworld.de/pfeifentabak/pfeifentabak/ilsted-pfeifentabak-dark-fired-plug-50g-90000299_29319
:|

 
May 31, 2012
4,295
34
btw

I really like the way that shop has good info,

and the flavor chart they use is quite helpful too:
KgCvJjU.png

 

pilotage16

Starting to Get Obsessed
Mar 12, 2015
147
0
1. Haven't tried it.

2. I would like to try: SG Sam's Flake. Demerara Flake. Esoterica Blackpool or Ramsgate, Licorice topping sounds interesting.

 
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