Well, just ordered a tin. Maybe in a month I'll have found out.
Changing Tastes...Shifting Toward Aros (Long Post)
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Its good stuff, certainly distinctive in my experience. Hope you like it.
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I too started with cavendish style aros, and lightly cased burley blends, both in bulk and OTC. I smoked that type of tobacco almost exclusively for 20 years. And when the mood strikes, I will still reach for one of the few aromatic blends I have in my collection, but nowadays, it happens less and less frequently.
More recently I've shifted my taste toward english blends and found that most times I prefer a light English such as PS 17 English Luxury or better yet a nice American/English mixture that includes some latakia, various orientals and a very light topping. For me those "split the difference blends" offer the best of both worlds and unlike heavy english blends, they don't overpower my pallet and the room note is not offensive.
While many will turn their nose up at the very thought of packing an aromatic into either their expensive artisan or run of the mill production stove, there is something to be said about the pleasant odor that many aromatics give off. They are comforting because for many of us, they take us back to our youth,...childhood memories of fathers, grandfathers, uncles, etc who smoked a pipe are; at least for me, one of the driving factors for getting into and staying with this somewhat reckless hobby/obsession/passion.
More recently I've shifted my taste toward english blends and found that most times I prefer a light English such as PS 17 English Luxury or better yet a nice American/English mixture that includes some latakia, various orientals and a very light topping. For me those "split the difference blends" offer the best of both worlds and unlike heavy english blends, they don't overpower my pallet and the room note is not offensive.
While many will turn their nose up at the very thought of packing an aromatic into either their expensive artisan or run of the mill production stove, there is something to be said about the pleasant odor that many aromatics give off. They are comforting because for many of us, they take us back to our youth,...childhood memories of fathers, grandfathers, uncles, etc who smoked a pipe are; at least for me, one of the driving factors for getting into and staying with this somewhat reckless hobby/obsession/passion.
Any suggest I give I'm sure is going to be considered rather pedestrian by many here. My pallet just isn't that fussy...So as far as light English blends, besides the aforementioned PS 17, I can recommend PS English Oriental supreme, or Sutliff Old Professor, GLP Ashbury. These are generally my frequent "go to" English blends.
As for English blends with a bit of aromatic....IMHO you cannot go wrong with Sutliff 504C or Lane's HGL. These are common everyday friendly tobaccos that need only a small amount of drying time. They both have no aromatic bite that I can detect, no matter how hard you push them. Both have enough Latakia to be smokey and leathery enough while providing a non offensive aromatic room note. On occasion i will go to Sutliff's "Fox and Hound" or a Kramer's blend such as "Danny Kay" which have a small bit of perique. Also Kramer's "Cary Grant" is not bad either.
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I echo others in reminding folks that more than ninety percent of pipe tobacco sales are aromatics, so they sustain the industry for us all, though we may smoke only non-aromatics. If you never smoke aromatics, you miss a lot of the artistry of blenders who have to follow customer demand.
I have always preferred black coffee, dark chocolate and traditional old English style va, va/per, va/bur or va/lat tobaccos, with limited amount of toppings. 95 pct of the aros/otcs on the market that I tried, say not much to me. But some aromatics are better than others? Some months ago I again bought some ( ‘non-goopy’ ?) Madagascar aromatic rum mix from MYB (STG) But to get through to the the bottom of the 100 g tin, I ended up adding some rubbed out Peterson University flake, from some old tins, I had been given, just to add a little needed strength to the mild but good smelling Madagascar. This thread reminds me to again buy these two tobaccos, which may both be aros, nice in their own right but also together, for me.
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Like most I started with aromatics. Then I went to non-aro's for a while.
Before Christmas I started feeling like something sweeter now & again so ordered 5lbs of aro's [Butternut Burley is my favourite]
Now it depends on my mood.
For a nice change of pace I blend 50% Mark Twain with 50% London Squire or Old College. A crossover of sorts that's very tasty.
Before Christmas I started feeling like something sweeter now & again so ordered 5lbs of aro's [Butternut Burley is my favourite]
Now it depends on my mood.
For a nice change of pace I blend 50% Mark Twain with 50% London Squire or Old College. A crossover of sorts that's very tasty.
Thanks guys, I think I'll have to add these to my next order. My wife doesn't like the aroma of latakia ("it smells like a headache") so perhaps I can sneak some in with some of these crossover blends!
Cornell and Diehl Old College is a really under appreciated blend, and a great English Aromatic style with a good room note.
It’s also one of the best-behaved blends I’ve ever smoked. Pretty much smokes itself.
It’s also one of the best-behaved blends I’ve ever smoked. Pretty much smokes itself.
I wouldn't say it's a strong aromatic. It's really good one of my favorites. It's kind of like an experiment to find where the line between casing and top note is. It's very virginian as in it's several grades of virginian and a few other things. And there is even a light incense sandal wood butteriness that is common in unscented Indian snuffs (I think the leaf is naturally oily and grown very near sandal wood and picks up the scent).
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