A Tale of an Aromatic (Maple Cavendish Experience)

[cosmicfolklore]

The aromatic smokers always get left out when we discuss tobaccos, because... well... there's usually not much to talk about when it comes to aromatics. "Yeh or no, can you taste anything?" "Is it a cheap Burley?" Etc...
But, my neighbor brought me over a couple of ounces of a bulk labeled "Maple Cavendish" as a Christmas gift. I appreciated the thought, and my first thought was to mix in some Maple Twist by GH&co. But, I fired up a bowl in the new studio as I directed my daughters in moving around some of my heavy equipment. They weren't impressed with the smell. It tasted ok by itself, but when Mrs Cosmic came out she wanted to know if we had burned some cookies in the studio. Ha ha. It has a burned sugar smell to the room note. So, just on a whim, I mixed in about a quarter in ratio of some Cyprian Latakia that I had. I let it stew in a jar overnight and fired up a bowl this morning, and WOW! Everyone woke up thinking that I was making bacon and pancakes. It definitely has a breakfast smell to it. I have heard of something called Vermont Meatcandy (or something similar), and I think that I have concocted something similar.

As I've said in the past, I usually only smoke aromatics when getting my daughter off to school, to keep her from smelling like she was up all night at a poker game with my pipesmoke stuck to her clothes and hair from the drive. But, I could smoke this anytime.
Anyways, it is the Latakia and aromatic time of year, so I just tossed this out there as a possible fix for those who may get some pretty aweful aromatics from well-meaning gift givers.

Merry Pipemas!

 

[Chasing Embers]

I've added Pirate Kake to both Autumn Evening and Trout Stream, and though I like both blends on their own, the addition of Latakia kicked them into the stratosphere!

 

[hawky454]

Funny you should say that as my Father-in-law just gifted me a bag of some awful black cherry blend... I don't think Latakia can save this one. Good news is my Brother-in-law will smoke just about anything... so yeah, I'll be re-gifting it.

 

[mso489]

Maybe a larger point is that you can tweak various blends that are a little faded or otherwise not just right, add a blending tobacco or a complementary blend. With a little experience, you can often get this right so you will surprise yourself with good results. I have had a few clunkers, where I just dumped the bowl in the ash pot, but mostly not. I often get either a perfectly acceptable bowl, or a downright delicious one. I'm mostly a non-aro guy, but I find some tobacco forward aro blends in the rotation keep the full-strength non-aro blends fully tasty. It helps not to get too set in your ways, or in any particular way.

 

[halman]

Unwanted aromatics piling up? PM me and I'll give you my address. I like the sweet stuff. ;p

 

[toobfreak]

Aromatics often get a bad rap from English and Scottish smokers because they don't have the flavor they expect, but they usually miss the real point: What those traditional blends do through the flavor sense of the tongue, aromatics accomplish through the aroma sense of the nose!

 

[madox07]

Cosmic you gave me an idea. I have this aromatic from Planta, that really smells soapy but tastes somwhat ok. Being too stingy to throw it away, what do you guys think would happen if I mix some pure latakia in it? How should I go about?

 

[jabo]

Bring some to the meet Cosmic. Gotta try it !