It's been a while since I wrote a full review here though I have tried over 15 blends these past 3-4 months. It's also been a while since I last smoked a Lat blends as my two last experienced were unpleasant (Mississippi Mud and GLP Gaslight), with Lat dominating everything, so I gave it a rest until I actually started missing this taste.
I've been hovering over Old Ironsides from very early on as I was looking for a Latakia flake but there were two things holding me back: a) it is often mentioned as Lat-bomb and b) it is never called sweet, rather it's supposed to be very dry.
In any case there's little harm in trying out new things in pipe smoking so I added it to my last Estervals order (along with MacBaren's HH Latakia Flake which I'd expect to be a sweet tobacco given MacB's signature maple topping). So let's see, this tobacco is not mentioned here a lot so I thought to give it some space.
Opening the tin reminded me of Nightcap - which was the only thing I smoked in my first two years of pipe smoking - just a tad lighter. This is probably due to flakes having a smaller surface area than ribbon cut because it has quite a full taste.
The taste is initially strong Latakia, a bit soapy, smoky, backed up by the sour notes of the Orientals, no sweetness at all to be found here. The taste really stays consistent throughout the bowl, with the soapiness trailing off past the half way point, and the Latakia chasing around the Orientals for dominance. A single folded and stuffed flake burned down to white ash after a LONG and cool smoke. What impressed me is that the flavours that come through are clean and distinct. It is listed as also having Kentucky and Virginia, I detected neither but that's probably on me, not the tobacco.
Overall I really enjoyed it and would even call it a flake version of Nightcap, I could easily put it up there with Nightcap as a prototypical English blend, although it is not in origin (it is German), or recipe (has Kentucky). For me this is not a Lat bomb, it is a keeper.
I've been hovering over Old Ironsides from very early on as I was looking for a Latakia flake but there were two things holding me back: a) it is often mentioned as Lat-bomb and b) it is never called sweet, rather it's supposed to be very dry.
In any case there's little harm in trying out new things in pipe smoking so I added it to my last Estervals order (along with MacBaren's HH Latakia Flake which I'd expect to be a sweet tobacco given MacB's signature maple topping). So let's see, this tobacco is not mentioned here a lot so I thought to give it some space.
Opening the tin reminded me of Nightcap - which was the only thing I smoked in my first two years of pipe smoking - just a tad lighter. This is probably due to flakes having a smaller surface area than ribbon cut because it has quite a full taste.
The taste is initially strong Latakia, a bit soapy, smoky, backed up by the sour notes of the Orientals, no sweetness at all to be found here. The taste really stays consistent throughout the bowl, with the soapiness trailing off past the half way point, and the Latakia chasing around the Orientals for dominance. A single folded and stuffed flake burned down to white ash after a LONG and cool smoke. What impressed me is that the flavours that come through are clean and distinct. It is listed as also having Kentucky and Virginia, I detected neither but that's probably on me, not the tobacco.
Overall I really enjoyed it and would even call it a flake version of Nightcap, I could easily put it up there with Nightcap as a prototypical English blend, although it is not in origin (it is German), or recipe (has Kentucky). For me this is not a Lat bomb, it is a keeper.
