C&D Star of the East - Good Stuff!

[beezer]

On Friday I cracked a tin of C&D Star of the East for the first time and just finished my third bowl of it. This is some good stuff! My initial impression after the first bowl was that it was good, but that it wasn't as good as McClelland's Blue Mountain, which I've been smoking a lot of lately. Now that I've had a couple more bowls of Star of the East I can say I really like this blend. While I'm not sold yet on it unseating Blue Mountain as one of my "go to" blends when I want something heavy with Latakia, Star of the East will probably earn a seat at the table in my rotation from now on. Really good stuff...I am pleased with it. I'm curious how folks like this blend compared to the flake version. I might have to add a tin of the flake next month to see for myself.
Tonight was one of those nights where an hour with my pipe really hit the spot. I had a really relaxing hour in my sun room on my back deck with just me and my boswell. The kids went to sleep early, my wife was reading in the living room, and I had some peace and quiet with C&D's Star of the East. Life is good.

 

[mrmotoyoshi]

I got SOTE Bulk off of smoking pipes.com and it was good but I found the orientals to be a little too tangy (if that makes sense). It is a nice smoke though and I have revisited it frequently.
I prefer Skiff Mixture over this blend.
You're making me want to try Blue Mountain though

 

[beezer]

Skiff Mixture huh? I'll have to add a tin of this to next month's order. I've never had it and actually seldom here much about this one. I'll have to give it a shot and report back.

 

[metalheadycigarguy]

Blue Mountain and Skiff Mixture are two of my favorite blends. I have yet to try Star of the East, but I have some bulk coming from SmokingPipes. I've heard a lot of great stuff about Star of the East, so I'm hoping I won't be disappointed.

 

[lochinvar]

Just tried it for the first time yesterday. Right tasty Orientals with a good Latakia punch, but I still wouldn't call it a Latakia-bomb. There are a few Balkans that may be pushed down in my rotation in favor of it, in fact my tins of Odyssey are cowering in the corner.

 

[mrmotoyoshi]

I've heard a lot of great stuff about Star of the East, so I'm hoping I won't be disappointed.

I think the oreientals are much sharper in SOTE than SM. If they were both cheesecakes SOTE would have a tangy lime topping where SM would have a smoother NY style cheesecake flavor. That's just how my mouth reacts to it.
SM in my Machelli poker is a wonderful post meal smoke.

 

[oldtoby]

If you like SOTE, you'll probably like Engine #99. Another heavy hitter from C&D.

 

[escioe]

I found this blend rather mono-dimensional. That's not a bad thing if you like that dimension, but I like my latakia blends with a little more depth.

 

[haroldt]

Just rec'd my shipment from Smoking Pipe which happened to contain 2 oz of Star of the East. I was initially given several baccy's to try from one of our members and this was among the samples. I like it.
I actually have it and my corn cob sitting right here at my deck for tonight's smoke. Nice thing about working from home - smoke when I want.
You might also want to try C&D's DaVinchi. I'm not saying that they are similar, but I enjoy both.

 

[lestrout]

Beez - in answer to your OP, I love SOTE but I prefer SOTE Flake. The Flake is more complex to me, with the Orientals more forward,so much so I thought the recipe was different with the Orientals. At CORPS2013 I asked the nice C&D folks if the recipe was in fact different. The answer was no, so I guess the pressing changes the taste significantly.
hp

les

 

[luigi]

I have been enjoying Star of the East Flake recently and agree with OP that it is indeed good stuff. There's also a "fresh" review on this site: http://pipesmagazine.com/blog/pipe-tobacco-reviews/cornell-diehl-star-of-the-east-flake/

If you are bored and don't know what to smoke next this one might be worth to give a shot.

 

[jaytex1969]

From the above linked article:

Setting down the pipe a few times and letting it go out for just a moment yields rewards.

This is a concept that I am finding adds to the enjoyment of several blends and flakes.
As much as I'm enjoying the Orientals in D&R's Ramback Balkan, I may have to give this one a whirl some day.

 

[kashmir]

My go to blend. Been promoting it for years. Got twenty pounds cellared.

 

[hawky454]

SotE Flake is really, really good and I like it much better than the bulk Mixture. I’m in agreement with the second poster though.

 

[ericusrex]

Also try Peretti’s Oriental #40. Excellent!