Dan Blue Note -First Aromatic, New Favorite

[avidameteur]

Well, I have to say i have a new favorite. Not much in the world of pipe tobacco struck my fancy up until now, mostly one end of the spectrum or the other, hot smoke or vaporized candy, so to speak. I found a little shop called Siciliano's in Standale, Michigan, just west of Grand Rapids. As a side note, if you are a beer brewer, meadmaker, or like good pipe tobacco, stop in. this place has it all, a truly fantastic establishment. In any case, I stopped in looking around, and I ran across their extensive stock of pipe tobacco. I had heard good things about Dan Tobacco, so i picked up a couple of 50g tins, one of Blue Note and one of Da Vinci. Da Vinci was alright, but Blue Note really took the cake for me. an absolutely fantastic smoke. nice full, slightly sweet, warm, but never overbearing at any point. Anyone else love this tobacco as much as I do?

 

[kendodan]

I picked it up on a whim a couple months ago. Didnt like it so much. It burned quite hot for me. I'll have to try it again.

 

[avidameteur]

my one note about it is that some of the tobacco in the tin seems more moist than other parts, and the moister tobacco seems to burn a bit hotter for me. a bit of time dished in my humidor will help with the moisture irregularities.

 

[seadogontheland]

Pipe tobacco smokes best at lower humidity levels...depending on preference of course, around 15-25%.

If your humidity level is high, in your humidor, you will find the tobacco will smoke hot after absorbing too much moisture. It seems you need to dry it out more, especially since most aromatics tend to have more moisture than other natural, uncased blends. Try spreading it out on a plate and toss it every few hours until it gets to the level you like. Bear in mind that tobacco can smoke hot due to other reasons like how quickly one smokes as well as other additives being present, like sugars. Glad you found a baccy you like.

 

[avidameteur]

Here, I should clarify. I have two humidors, one with a humidifier in it, which houses my small count of cigars, and another without one, which is simply used to keep the sunlight and air currents away from drying things (I originally got it to dry cooking herbs, after reading about something similar online). Sorry for the ambiguity, it was a late night post for me and not all my ducks being in a row i forgot that. I never did think to put it on a plate, though, I should probably try that. I have a medium-bowl pipe, and with that indoors I tend to smoke it about 40 to 45 minutes a bowl. Im sure i will enjoy both tobaccos even more once I get them dried out, im looking forward to it

 

[ericusrex]

Dry out only 1 or 2 bowls worth to see if it changes the smoke for the better before you go and dry out the whole tin.

 

[avidameteur]

So, I dried out a couple of pipefuls, and went to town on it. It seems that it vastly improved my smoking experience. not too moist, not smoking hot, no wet mess at the bottom of my pipe, and actually even enhanced the flavor. I will have to dry out the rest of the tin, and will probably try the same process with the da-vinci. also picked up some plumcake the other day, will let everybody know what i think once i try it out.

 

[okiescout]

Avid, I smoked a pipe for many years ignorant of the fact that there was a world outside of aromatics. I am glad you found a smoke you enjoy in Blue Note.

You might want to try some of the Virginia's and VaPer blends. I am not a Latakia guy at this point but many experienced pipe smokers speak highly of English blends. I just found many non aromatic tobacco's are friendlier to my tongue. You will still need to watch the moisture ( as the guys above have covered) and smoke them slowly. Just saying I wish I had been able to know about the other types of baccy when I was much younger.
Enjoy the Blue Note it is a tremendously popular aromatic.