Long post / review warning!
BLEND NAME – Russ Oulette’s Experimental Blend M-61
BLEND TYPE – Balkan
TOBACCOS INCLUDED - Latakia, Oriental, Perique, Turkish, Virginia
QUALIFIER – Let me be perfectly clear on this, I am not a professional reviewer and do not possess a professional palate. I am simply a guy who loves pipe tobacco. I am almost exclusively a Latakia man, but am blessed to be one of the chosen few who is also able to enjoy a (good) aromatic and I am now beginning to experiment with Virginias. My current favorites are Margate and Penzance from Esoterica, Peterson’s Balkan Supreme, and a B&M blend (Barclay’s – Columbus, Ohio) called Pure Pleasure (It is!). I have never been able to taste leather, licorice, or filet mignon in a tobacco! I stuff my pipe and smoke it and, if I like it, will stuff it and smoke it again! That said, here is my completely on-professional review of M-61.
EYE TEST - As far as I can tell, it seems to have a 50/50 mix of gold and black tobaccos. It reminds me of a Tiger’s Eye stone. Very few long ribbons here. Most everything is short and will be easy to fill a bowl with.
SMELL TEST – The Latakia and Virginias are equally identifiable to the nose. Latakia is not overpowering.
TOUCH TEST - The batch I received was on the dry side, but not crunchy. In other words, perfect and ready to smoke right away with no dry time required. No clumping from moisture. It separates easily.
SMOKING THE BLEND: I smoked this blend in five different pipes over a two day period. Each was packed using the same (3 step) method for consistency. My impressions of each follow.
1st smoke – Peterson 80s (Bulldog) - Upon conducting the false light, I detected a mellow, smoky sweetness. This impression only confirmed itself with the true light. The tobacco burned cool and easy throughout the bowl. The first thing I noticed was the Latakia. Russ’ description of the blend doesn’t specify whether this is a Cyprian or Syrian variety, but I’d bet a paycheck it’s Syrian. It is subtle, smooth, and oh so tasty! The 1st third of the bowl was slightly (and I mean slightly) Latakia forward with a nice balance of virginias. No orientals detected at all. Progressing to the half bowl mark, the Latakia faded a bit and the Virginias became more prominent. Russ describes this blend as having “a good amount of high notes and bass” and he is right in the money! The bottom third of the bowl, and “Lo!”, the Latakia is back! Again it is a soft, subtle presence. The orientals are noticed here as a background touch as the virginas tone down.
Smokes 2-5 were in the following pipes:
2. Comoy’s Tradition large straight billiard
3. Stanwell 212 (Eltang Flame Grain) Billiard
4. H.I.S. Dublin
5. H.I.S. Apple
I had at least two bowls in each pipe over the two day test. With the exception of the Comoy’s, a large bowl with lots of room for interplay, the tobacco performed similarly as with the Pete. I know this goes against conventional wisdom, but I prefer this in a smaller bowl. The tastes got lost in the Comoy’s. Go figure! This blend burned to a nice white ash with two or fewer re-lights (mostly none). This is NOT a Latakia bomb (of which I am a fan), but a solid, mellow, subtle, yet complex blend that would make a perfect all day smoke for English / Balkan lovers. It doesn’t punch you in the face, it caresses it! I smoked it first thing upon waking until I turned in for the night. Every smoke was a delight! I only hope I can find it again when it is given a permanent name and released. Russ, this is a win!
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