Aromatics for Tobacco Lovers

[solideogloria86]

I'm looking for a few aromatics that, contain quality leaf, have toppings that accentuate and compliment the quality tobacco flavor, but still have a nice room note that will please non smokers. I am a fan of the few C&D aromatics I have tried, but my experience is limited to their seasonal blends. (Autumn Evening, Golden Days of Yore, Corn Cob Pipe and a Button Nose.) I want to love G.L. Pease The Virginia Cream, because it ticks all of the boxes, but I don't enjoy the black pepper spice that seems to build as the bowl progresses. I also enjoy Bob's Chocolate Flake. So, any further recommendations for quality Aro's that still taste like tobacco?

 

[PaulRVA]

John Cottons Double Press Creme.
Sutliff Black Cordial, Panna Cotta and Molto Dolce.
C&D Apricots & Cream.

 

[OzPiper]

Sillem’s Black
WO Larsen Signature
Peterson’s Connoiseuer Blend

 

[alaskanpiper]

MacBaren Vanilla Roll Cake

 

[mingc]

1-Q, the most popular blend in the USA. And Lane BCA, also a hit with Joe Everyday Pipesmoker.

 

[shanez]

Exotic Passion
Devil's Holiday

 

[KruegerFlap]

Cornell & Diehl King Cake
Lane HGL
Cult Blood Red Moon
Boswell's Northwoods
Sir Walter Raleigh Aromatic

 

[hikeoflife]

I second Exotic Passion and Sillems Black. The wifey enjoys the smell of them.

 

[J.Henry845]

Lane HGL
Sutliff Mocha Strips
Sail Green
Mixture 79

 

[anotherbob]

not sure but for me one of the best aromatics for tasty treat but I still taste the tobacco would be Founding Fathers blend by C&D. It's pomegranate and burly. It's to my taste a very cigarish burly. And weirdly both the tobacco and aroma are strong and stand out clearly but almost magically don't compete with each other. Kind of like when a musical passage sounds like two instruments soloing yet no toes get stepped on. It's a delightfully under rated blend. Also Ashton Gold Rush for the VA lover. It's aromatic lemon and honey it's a great aromatic because it feels like the added flavors are there to enhance and lift the natural tobacconess of the tobacco up.

 

[pipingfool]

The only “aromatic” that I’ve been able to smoke consistently has been Erinmore Flake.

I’ve dabbled with others but I can only get a few bowl-fulls in until they just start tasting like hot air.

Erinmore is great a great tobacco blend first and foremost with a topping. So after the topping has burned off, I’m still left with a great tobacco flavor.

 

[Sobrbiker]

I prefer aros that let the tobacco through.
Mac Baren Vanilla Cream and Dan Devil’s Holiday are a couple I like.

 

[BriarBrook]

I was not expecting much out of Missouri Meerschaum's new line of tobaccos, but they really knocked it out of the park with Party Line. You get the deep, rich cocoa flavors that a really good cigar provides, without the cigar leaf back drop. The slight malted scotch topping is the perfect compliment. I have never smoked an aro or possibly even non-aro with the absolute 100% impossibility of tongue bite/harshness... but that's what you get here. Can't recommend enough.

 

[HawkeyeLinus]

Wilke No. 191
KBV Mr. C’s Stoved and Red

 

[AppalachianPipe92]

KBV blends satisfy this area for me - the fine line between between pleasantly topped and aromatic. Lots of options from Ken, covering all blend types.
C&D House Reserve, McConnell Red VA, SG blends like Sam's Flake, 1792 or Kendal Cream (there's plenty in the Gawith lineup to explore, from lightly topped to heavily). I really like Broken Flake #7.
Watch City has some nice lighter aromatics like Glass Slipper and Waltham Broken Cake. The Esoterica apricot toppings are nice - like Lakelands, they're kind of their own thing that some love and some hate.
I'd put Capstan Blue in this category, it's pretty sweet. Similarly, Savinelli Brunello Flake is a sweet VA Flake.
War Horse is great stuff as well.

Most of the blends I've listed are on that line between aromatic and topped Virginia. I don't think the flavors overpower the tobacco taste, they moreso accent it and work with it. None of those are goopy blends - to me at least. YMMV

 

[RookieGuy80]

That's always been the tricky part, finding aromatic tobaccos that taste like tobacco. Take a look at Peter Stokkebye. Luxury Twist Flake (affectionately known as LTF) has a pleasant room note. As does their Optimum. Beyond that, maybe codgers or their clones/matches. They were made for smoking all day in mixed company. In fact, Field and Stream Match and Cater Hall have gotten me more compliments than Captain Black. Better compliments as well.

 

[blackpowderpiper]

MacBaren Vanilla Roll Cake

I'll second the recommendation for Vanilla Roll Cake. While definitely an aromatic, it is tobacco forward. The vanilla topping is not heavy handed but more subdued. It tastes very natural and works with the smoke instead of overpowering it. It also lasts throughout the entire bowl and has a wonderful, comforting aroma. I don't seem to reach for it often but when I do I wind up smoking it for two or three days in a row. It pairs especially well with a good hot fire in the woodstove on a cold morning, or evening.

 

[kg.legat0]

I know the blend can be a 'love it or hate it' ...and I used to be a strong 'hate it'...

C&D Autumn Evening - the red virginia cavendish really comes through for me, anymore... I don't know if it's the couple years that the few I ounces I have was sitting in a jar, but I revisited the blend recently and have been crazy about it.

C&D John Marr is another - just enough of a nice vanilla and rum (iirc) topping along with a great Va/Or mixture.

As others have stated, Mac Baren Vanilla Roll Cake definitely delivers some good flavors -- Plumcake is the only blend with Latakia that I will smoke and I love it, it's technically an aromatic - so is Mixture Scottish.

I know PS Luxury Twist is often thought of in the 'straight virginia' camp, but there's enough topping for me to count it as at least a light aromatic. ...I gave a friend a sample recently, I couldn't believe how good it smelled when it was lit up (and I wasn't the one smoking it),

 

[Kirklands]

I'll add to the Lane tobaccos already mentioned--the TK-6 is very nice.

 

[yanoJL]

not sure but for me one of the best aromatics for tasty treat but I still taste the tobacco would be Founding Fathers blend by C&D. It's pomegranate and burly. It's to my taste a very cigarish burly. And weirdly both the tobacco and aroma are strong and stand out clearly but almost magically don't compete with each other. Kind of like when a musical passage sounds....

+1 for C&D Founding Fathers.
Also, Erik Stokkebye 4th Gen 1931 Flake (Burley, Virginia and Honey). The top note is well-measured and never cloying.