Better (or Worse) Than Expected Blends.

[jttnk]

Balkan Supreme was a big hit recently.

Old Joe Krantz ehhhhhh not so much. New from tin, maybe letting sit for a month it could get better for me. I’m not in love with Haunted Bookshop either, so maybe I just wait until my taste buds turn and enjoy burley forward stuff.

 

[markus]

I'm a VaPer guy and a few blends that I was recently surprised by, were Comoy's Cask #4 Navy Slices, G&H Louisiana Perique and GL Pease Stratford.
I am especially fond of the Comoy's which I bought in bulk, that stuff is fantastic! There is definitely another bulk order of the Comoy's in the near future, just for the cellar.
I found the G&H Louisiana Flake to be a nice easy smoke and the GLP Stratford reminded me of Elizabethan Mixture which I love as a staple blend.

Other than Prince Albert and St. Bruno, I have not enjoyed an aromatic for many years now and I have pretty much given up on them all together, especially the PG laden, cloying, goopy ones.

 

[bluegrassbrian]

The C&D Sun Bear was much more enjoyable than i thought it would be.

 

[mso489]

I like several GLP blends so much, but Westminster, after some aging, lost its Lat in nothing flat, a few bowls. I perked it up with other condiments and blends, but it sure wasn't Westminster. I tentatively ordered Mixture No. 79 at chasing's recommendation and was pleased to find it a good old codger blend with personality. I like Royal Yacht better than I expected, as I did C&D Stratfordshire, the old Sutliff Westminster, and Haddo's Delight. Despite raves, scorn, and recommendations and reviews, you never know what will and will not please your particular tastes.

 

[lawdawg]

Molto Dolce. It opened me back up to aromatics. This time last year, I was smoking mostly English blends, plus a Virginia here and there. Now, over the past couple months, probably half of my pipes have been Molto Dolce, Sutliff Crème Brulee (which is the base of, and very very similar to, Molto Dolce, but is available in bulk), or Sleepy Hollow.

I like several GLP blends so much, but Westminster, after some aging, lost its Lat in nothing flat, a few bowls.

I had a similar experience with Westminster last year. However, I recently dug the same jar of Westminster out of my cellar that (I thought) had "gone flat." I've smoked several bowls, and lo and behold, it is the perfectly well-balanced latakia blend that I remember. I think it was in fact my own tongue that went flat!

 

[spartacus]

Sillem's Black. A friend sent me some and I tried it for the first time this last weekend. It was actually much better than I thought it would be. I will cellar some when it comes around again.

 

[lightmybriar]

I’m mostly a Virginia and Vaper smoker, and I’ve had a few surprising disappointments:

Blockade Runner and Haddo’s Delight- tasted like a permanent marker smells to me.

Elizabethan Mixture (the most current Dunhill version)- tasted musty and sharp as though it was stored in an old attic for a few years.

Any Stokkebye Virginia / Vaper: artificially sweet, no body.

I do have plans to revisit all of the above eventually, as it has been a few years since I first tried them and set them aside.

One pleasant surprise that I experienced was with 1792 Flake. I had no idea what to expect, but from what I had read, it sounded like it was going to be very odd. It was, but in a way that I very much enjoyed.

 

[diamondback]

Don't care for Escudo either. Aged or fresh, it's like cardboard. LBF replaced it for me years ago.

I have to come clean...

My Escudo: 4 tins aging, 3 tins smoked.
My PS LBF: 2 pounds aging, ~8oz smoked.
(I like Va/Pers, but I’d be perfectly content on a deserted island with only PS 312 Toasted Burley and some cobs).


@mityahicks: Voodoo Queen I love! Our late friend “Panhandler/rdavid” turned me on to that one.


(Okay, going to take pipe pictures. Couldn’t resist checking in first!)

 

[perdurabo]

Aged Orlik Golden Sliced was way better than I expected.

I’ve been smoking C&D John Marr and Shandygaff, both of these are better than I expected. I put both of these in the smoke all day camp.

Visions of Celephais was better than I expected. I haven’t smoked it in a few weeks. Its totally outside my comfort zone. I would smoke it more if my wife hadn’t said it smells like a Dentist Office.

 

[jeff540]

I'm going to ruffle feathers with my experiences:

1. Marlin Flake - has a saccharine quality that I found cloying and altogether obtrusive.
2. C&D Red Flake - Where was the sweetness that made Red Virginia leaf one of my favorite pipe tobacco bases for the last 20+ years? They even have a "sugar content" percentage on the label. Really? Was that an indication of how much you had to add yourself to be enjoyable?
3. Sam Gawith FVF - This was a favorite since early 2000s until it became a unicorn ~2010. I found 4 tins last year, but the sumbitchez changed it up so much that it was strong, monochromatic, and punishing to smoke. But, I couldn't part with my newfound expected treasure so easily. Let it sit for one year, and now it has transformed into my beloved blend I recall so fondly. Takeway: too many of you plebes have good taste, and now the blends don't have adequate time to age whilst in commerce.

 

[diamondback]

It’s so crazy how many blends I’ve not tried! IIRC, I think ‘mso’ said some time back that we were in a “Golden age of [pipe] tobacco” even with all of the discontinued blends that you old hats loved.

Also interesting to me is the (obvious) diversity of palate. Some blends I see mentioned that I really like and two or three say “OMG that stuff is terrible!” lol

Can we all agree on fine sushi at least?

 

[sablebrush52]

3 years

The STG version of Escudo doesn't use the same quality of tobaccos that were used by its previous makers, evidently they don't use the same quality of tobaccos that they started with. Sourcing has changed. Aging doesn't seem to make much of a difference. I recently popped a tin from 2013 and it hadn't developed worth a damn. I've a few tins of the Peterson left, and when they're gone, Escudo is gone from the Earth for me.

LBF tastes like cardboard when fresh, but develops well with aging, and after 4 years really is a good smoke. It's not Escudo, but neither is today's Escudo.

 

[alaskanpiper]

Pleasant Surprises: Carter Hall, Balkan Supreme, Dark Bird's Eye, Briar Fox.

Surprising Disappointments: GLP Quiet Nights. I love every other Pease blend I've had, and while I found Quiet Nights to be a decent smoke, I would take Maltese Falcon, Westminster, Gaslight, or nearly any other Pease English/Balkan above it.

Esoterica Stonehaven: Granted, I've only had one bowl so far, and I know this can be a finicky tobacco, so I have some more experimenting to do with moisture levels before I have a full impression for sure, but at first blush I just didn't find this tobacco to be particularly exciting. It was ok, but I was probably just expecting something a little more in a tobacco that seems to make people go all ca ca doo doo nut sac baNaNas.

 

[sablebrush52]

I opened up a tin of Brigham Acadian Blend and was very pleased with this Va/Per. Not complex, but has a sort of classically simple balance between the Virginias and the very good Perique. Probably made by Kolhase and Kopp.

HU Tillerman Flake has an interesting berry topping, but nothing I'd smoke other than occasionally just to use up the tin.

Yes. Never tried the other. I haven’t really been impressed with any STG product. Same goes for C&D and Sutliff. Brands I just can’t get behind.

STG is the McDonald's of pipe tobacco blenders, huge, efficient, and characterless. Sutliff blends and tins for a lot of other labels. Only a relatively small portion of what they do is under their own banner, and that been mostly goopers. But they make some of the most highly praised blends under other labels and supply blending components for other blenders. C&D is my least cellared brand. Their strength being burley and I not being much of a burley smoker, there's not much there that I've smoked that I would smoke again. The Virginia and Va/Pers that I've tried are pretty meh with a few exceptions. The Carolina Red Flake is good, as is Bijou, and I really like Yorktown. I just wish they wouldn't blend their tobaccos on the floor where they walk around.

 

[BROBS]

I can see that about STG... I am trying hard to think of one item from them I really like.

That's a good point about Sutliff.. I'm speaking of their own labeled items. I know Sutliff and Mac Baren are one in the same so they can't be all bad, I love MacB. But I have tried a few Sutliff branded items and they are so full of humectant I can literally taste it. Villigier is one made by them and it's total garbage IMO.. the stuff sizzles and crackles as you smoke it regardless of dry time. Another example is Molto Dolce.. what a pile of tripe.

Honestly the leaf quality from C&D anything that I've tried has been pretty bad IMO... or maybe just really immature leaf.
and yeah.. I saw pics of the factory setting... not a product I feel overly comfortable smoking.

 

[PaulTheScandinavian]

There were lots of pleasant surprises,above all ,Latest Amphora offerings and the majority of G&H blends, even this Mixure 79 seems to be quite enjoyable whereas the majority of various C&D Burley forward blends I do find quite harsh tasting especially when comparing them to European Blending houses ( HU Tabak or Mc Barens)burley offerings

 

[BROBS]

Here is one that surprised me and I believe is an STG product that I actually like:
Erin Go Bragh

 

[alaskanpiper]

Here is one that surprised me and I believe is an STG product that I actually like:
Erin Go Bragh

Blech!

STG makes Balkan Sasieni don't they? That's a decent blend, IMO. Also don't mind Erinmore Flake, Escudo, or if I'm feeling like a nice straighforward kick in the nutsac, 5 bros.

 

[BROBS]

hey and here I thought it was pretty decent... lol

 

[alaskanpiper]

hey and here I thought it was pretty decent... lol

OOPS!!! I hit reply to the wrong post, should have been your one just prior to that one. I meant to say blech to STG in general and then cite the exceptions. I've never had Erin Go Bragh (the pipe tobacco). I had the Erin Go Bragh cigars, and they were in fact nasty, but the pipe tobacco could be totally different.

The sutliff stuff is pretty goopy but I like quite a few of their aros and sweet english blends, and the VAs aren't bad either. Just getting into the C&D stuff, I like the Carolina Red Flake and Briar Fox. Got a bunch of others to try in the recent sale. And don't they blend for GLP? I love almost everything I've had from him so far.