Any Recommendations on DFK?

[The Novice Piper]

I spent all of last year carefully choosing blends for a deep cellar to be built this year.

Now with the STG news, some of those top candidates are --POOF!-- gone.

I've got replacements figured out for every "itch" to scratch, except one: Dark Fired Kentucky.

This one was a wild one for me. Took a long time to find a DFK I liked, and when I came across John Cotton's Double Pressed I was instantly in love.

Dark, rich leaf...straight varietal, not a blend with some other component....essentially like a 1792 Flake without the tonquin (which I like, just not all the time). Old Dark Fired is great but this stuff is a completely different animal.

Anyone know of a comparable brand?

 

[Lumbridge]

JC Dark Fired is so named because the central focus of the blend is the dark fired leaf. However, according to Tobacco Reviews, it's a blend of Dark Fired and Virginia.

Check out the tobacco finder on Smoking Pipes. It's a great tool to find new blends to try. You might like GH Dark Bird's Eye or similar blends.

https://www.smokingpipes.com/search/the-tobacco-locator.cfm?sortOpt=priceAsc&displayNum=24&component=9&page=1

 

[Hutch Piper]

GH has some great options.

 

[Oddball]

Sam Gawith Black XX smells like smokey BBQ dark fired. I have a tin I would trade if you wanted to try.

 

[Auxsender]

Newminster 403 is good. Definitely topped and definitely has VA in it but I’d still call it a DFK blend.

 

[Ahi Ka]

Newminster 403 is good. Definitely topped and definitely has VA in it but I’d still call it a DFK blend.

403 is great. But I think that is going the way of the dodo too.

OP if you like 1792 but aren’t a fan of the topping, you definitely need to look at GH catalog. Dark birds eye is already mentioned, I’m not sure if it is any different to Kendal Kentucky. Another is dark plug/flake.

If you are not opposed to toppings, another to look at, though hard to get in US is Revor plug.

As an aside, I trust you have tried st Bruno?

 

[dottlejockey]

GLP Jack knife (VA + K)
Amphora Kentucky Blend
Penny Farthing is a good Vaper with Kentucky.
G & H Kendal Kentucky

I smoke all these regularly and they scratch the itch well for me.

 

[woodsroad]

American Dark Fired is a completely different animal than Malawi (African) Dark Fired. GH uses African. Not sure what they used for the JC blend. When I was tasting different Dark Fired leaf for a planned new Standard Tobacco release (that never happened) I bought samples of leaf from a few Kentucky farmers. Each was different, but all were hickory, oak and other native woods. Big burly leaves, very oily, very scrumptious. If you have a little gumption and good research skills (I put my old newspaper photojournalist skills to work), it is not difficult to find a Dark Fired farmer. Whether they are willing to pack up a flat rate box for you at a reasonable cost or not is another question, but I didn't have much difficulty with it.

 

[Chasing Embers]

Not anymore. Excluding DFK used in chewing tobacco, all of the good pipe blends are now discontinued.

 

[Ahi Ka]

Not anymore. Excluding DFK used in chewing tobacco, all of the good pipe blends are now discontinued.

I’d be interested to hear how you find this. Smoked as is, or cased

Threshed Domestic and Exotic Blend 5 kilogram (11 lb.)

This is a blend of domestic and exotic tobaccos used by a major chewing tobacco manufacturer. The tobacco is threshed, so, by federal law, we can only sell it in 5 kilo bags. From what I know about it…

wholeleaftobacco.com

 

[Chasing Embers]

I’d be interested to hear how you find this. Smoked as is, or cased

Threshed Domestic and Exotic Blend 5 kilogram (11 lb.)

This is a blend of domestic and exotic tobaccos used by a major chewing tobacco manufacturer. The tobacco is threshed, so, by federal law, we can only sell it in 5 kilo bags. From what I know about it…

wholeleaftobacco.com

Too expensive for me but should be fine as is. It's a pity though that that blended Turkish into it. That stuff is great by itself.

 

[The Novice Piper]

Thank you all for your prompt responses.

A while back someone gave me several samples of Sam Gawith and Gawith/Hogarth blends. Every one of them seems absolutely coated in this waxy stuff that I just don't understand.

Impossible to light or keep lit unless you break it down to shake and dry it for so long the flavor is weakened. (It reminds me of the wax used on the old miniature coke bottle candies you used to find in country stores back in the day.)

The stuff has a plastic taste which has actually kind of grown on me after a while, but the blends would be so much better without it. It's a shame, considering how tasty the tobaccos themselves are. Black Irish Twist doesn't have this coating and it's fantastic.

I don't know if this is what folks refer to as the "Lakeland essence," but it keeps me at arm's length from anything Gawith, for the time being at least. I do like the perfumy stuff in Ennerdale and the tonquin in 1792...just not the wax.

Was hoping there might be a DFK sans-wax in the Gawith universe. If you know of one, do tell!

(While I'm on this...Anyone got tips on preparing Gawith for a better smoke? I've played with these, to no avail:

Ennerdale
Brown Unscented Flake
Coniston Cut Plug
Dark Flake Aromatic
1792 Flake
Bosun Plug)


St. Bruno is not bad, still working through a sample of it.

 

[The Novice Piper]

American Dark Fired is a completely different animal than Malawi (African) Dark Fired. GH uses African. Not sure what they used for the JC blend. When I was tasting different Dark Fired leaf for a planned new Standard Tobacco release (that never happened) I bought samples of leaf from a few Kentucky farmers. Each was different, but all were hickory, oak and other native woods. Big burly leaves, very oily, very scrumptious. If you have a little gumption and good research skills (I put my old newspaper photojournalist skills to work), it is not difficult to find a Dark Fired farmer. Whether they are willing to pack up a flat rate box for you at a reasonable cost or not is another question, but I didn't have much difficulty with it.

Your older posts suggest you're in my neck of the woods (I'm in Daviess County). I almost drove to Hopkinsville last year to hunt down a dark-fired farmer...it's a worthy venture, huh?

 

[woodsroad]

Your older posts suggest you're in my neck of the woods (I'm in Daviess County). I almost drove to Hopkinsville last year to hunt down a dark-fired farmer...it's a worthy venture, huh?

Nope.
Better work on your sleuthing skills!

My profile will tell you where I am.

 

[Hutch Piper]

Thank you all for your prompt responses.

A while back someone gave me several samples of Sam Gawith and Gawith/Hogarth blends. Every one of them seems absolutely coated in this waxy stuff that I just don't understand.

Impossible to light or keep lit unless you break it down to shake and dry it for so long the flavor is weakened. (It reminds me of the wax used on the old miniature coke bottle candies you used to find in country stores back in the day.)

The stuff has a plastic taste which has actually kind of grown on me after a while, but the blends would be so much better without it. It's a shame, considering how tasty the tobaccos themselves are. Black Irish Twist doesn't have this coating and it's fantastic.

I don't know if this is what folks refer to as the "Lakeland essence," but it keeps me at arm's length from anything Gawith, for the time being at least. I do like the perfumy stuff in Ennerdale and the tonquin in 1792...just not the wax.

Was hoping there might be a DFK sans-wax in the Gawith universe. If you know of one, do tell!

(While I'm on this...Anyone got tips on preparing Gawith for a better smoke? I've played with these, to no avail:

Ennerdale
Brown Unscented Flake
Coniston Cut Plug
Dark Flake Aromatic
1792 Flake
Bosun Plug)


St. Bruno is not bad, still working through a sample of it.

I don’t have any problem smoking Ennerdale. I just let it dry about 15 minutes and it is good to go for me. One of my favorites.

Not all GH blends have a heavy Lakeland essence. The ropes don’t. Dont think Dark Birds Eye. Best Brown 2 may have a slight essence but I love it.

 

[fireground_piper]

Could give Maestro Puccini a try which is just DFK and cigar leaf.

i have been enjoying HU Indaba quite a bit.

 

[camaguey]

GH has some great options.

Yes , like the birdseye.