A tobacco journey ...

[Ray Popp]

I picked up a tin of Caravan excited to try it I think I bought it as a second choice I read so many reviews of Cairo and it was out of stock at the time. Have you smoked Cairo? if so how would you compare it to Caravan and other supposed Oriental forward blends?

Never tried it ...

 

[Ray Popp]

I opened a tin of Nightwatch tonight. It is a tight crumble cake but easily breaks up for smoking. I broke some off and crumbled it into a roll up pouch and let it dry while I smoked some MM965. It is moist and it needs drying before smoking.

For me, Nightwatch smokes well. It is just a tad (not a TAD) stronger than MM965. It is a standard English blend and leaves a sweet room note with a touch of tobacco spice. Enjoyable.

So, I have two tins open at this time and will continue with them until they are done. I will almost certainly order more Nightwatch as well as MM965. Both are benchmark British blends, for me. Your mileage may differ ...

 

[rmbittner]

I picked up a tin of Caravan excited to try it I think I bought it as a second choice I read so many reviews of Cairo and it was out of stock at the time. Have you smoked Cairo? if so how would you compare it to Caravan and other supposed Oriental forward blends?

I haven’t tried Cairo, because it contains perique. I’m extremely sensitive to perique, so, unless I have a really good sense of the quantities involved, I avoid nearly all blends that contain it. (The SP description calls it “a whisper of perique,” so it might be okay. But I also know that Greg really enjoys perique, so his “whisper” might be my “scream.”)

 

[rmbittner]

Am smoking a tin of MM965 at the moment…. Some consider it a baseline English Blend.

I’m a neurotic stickler for such things, so I personally wouldn’t call My Mixture 965 a “baseline” English blend simply because it contains cavendish. As I define English blends for my own taste, a baseline would consist solely of Virginia, oriental, and latakia tobaccos—no cavendish, no perique, no burley—with either the Virginias dominant or the flavors (not quantities) divided equally among the three or with the latakia perhaps being a bit dominant (in which case I’d call it a latakia-forward English).

For a Peterson English baseline blend, I’d recommend Standard Mixture, the name of which pretty much sums things up. Other brands/blenders that I have personally smoked and enjoyed would include: GLPease Westminster, Lagonda, and Kensington (called a Balkan on the label but which smokes, to me, more like a standard English); Rattray’s 7 Reserve; Dan Tobacco London Blend No. 1000; and Samuel Gawith Squadron Leader.

 

[ADKPiper]

I wasn't fond burley when I first smoked them and gravitated toward English blends. Now I'd say 90% of what I smoke are burley.

 

[shermnatman]

I found that I do not like straight burley (SWR), your mileage may differ, and that is fine.

You might want to reconsider forming a judgement of Burley and Burley Blends based on SWR non-aro version, for it is still topped with both Anise and Molasses.

I love Burley and Burley Base blends - it's 80% of what I smoke - and yet, the only reason I do not smoke SWR is because of the inclusion of the flavoring they use as toppings - specifically, the Anise.

If you want to try some "Straight Burley" - meaning free of toppings and detectable flavored casings - try some C&D Burley Ribbon Cut, or, Stuliff 513 AAA BULK Burley - Both of these are very nice middle-of-road in strength, unadulterated Burley Blends, and free of any toppings.

You may find that is the more appropriate way to evaluate other Burley Blends and OTC Burley-Based offerings against - and not, the other way around - especially when a signature mixture of flavored topping has been applied in the creation of a name product in a pouch.

I'd hate to see you potentially miss-out on some excellent and enjoyable smoking experiences, all because they've all been judged undesirable as a group, against one offering which uses a proprietary signature flavoring added to it.

Hope this is helpful to you in your future considerations. - Sherm Natman

 

[vosBghos]

I’m a neurotic stickler for such things, so I personally wouldn’t call My Mixture 965 a “baseline” English blend simply because it contains cavendish. As I define English blends for my own taste, a baseline would consist solely of Virginia, oriental, and latakia tobaccos—no cavendish, no perique, no burley—with either the Virginias dominant or the flavors (not quantities) divided equally among the three or with the latakia perhaps being a bit dominant (in which case I’d call it a latakia-forward English).

For a Peterson English baseline blend, I’d recommend Standard Mixture, the name of which pretty much sums things up. Other brands/blenders that I have personally smoked and enjoyed would include: GLPease Westminster, Lagonda, and Kensington (called a Balkan on the label but which smokes, to me, more like a standard English); Rattray’s 7 Reserve; Dan Tobacco London Blend No. 1000; and Samuel Gawith Squadron Leader.

From my limited knowledge of what I've gathered and it's just my opinion or how I classify things, I'd call 965 a Scottish because it seems that Cavendish is in all the blends that call themselves Scottish. Although I don't even know if Scottish was even a sub-genre of English when it was first blended. Maybe the sub-genres Scottish and Balkan came later? But I agree Va,Or,Lat, seem to be the base components that define today's standard English blend it's a pity that you are sensitive to Perique because Nighcap can sometimes just be the slap in the face you need after one too many cups of wine on a cold blistery night. It's called a Full English whatever that means the genre/sub-genre game can be fun to play and somewhat frustrating as the rules seem to change blender to blender/smoker to smoker...