Dark Star or St. James Woods...What to Pop Next?

[tjameson]

So I'm down to my last couple flakes of ODF and its time to open a new VA/ VAPer. I have a tin of '06 Mclellend Dark Star and '11 St. James Woods. Any thoughts on these two blends? I'm excited to try both but at the rate I smoke I'm only going to open one tin. Any tips for preparing either? I've heard the St. James Woods is best rubbed out and left to sit in the tin about a month, would the same be true of Dark Star? Thanks for your thoughts!

 

[thesmokindragon]

I have not tried the Dark Star yet, but the St. James Woods is Howl'in @ the Moon good stuff ::

 

[troutface]

Even with considerable drying you will still need a blowtorch to light that Dark Star. I swear the stuff is actually asbestos that's been dyed black.

 

[peckinpahhombre]

It's true, Dark Star can be a bitch to light. Use a lot of kindling to get it started. That said, I have had more than a few utterly sublime smokes from DS. When the stars align, it's fantastic.

 

[neverknowsbest]

I prefer St. James Woods - it's one of my favorite blends - but I would encourage you to age the can some more if it is only from 2011.

 

[andrew]

I'd say go with the darkstar because it has some age. St. james woods is great, it's a pretty strong vaper, there's a good dose of perique in it. Heck pop them both, I always have at least 4 different va's going at once. I also have 2 tins of st james flake from 2011. My darkstar is from 2013 so I'm going to leave it for a bit, never tried it before.

 

[tjameson]

Just cracked the Darkstar...whoa it smells amazing! It has a sour berry kind of smell and definitely the fermented VAs present. Definitely the wettest blend I've seen and from what I've read it will need significant drying time. I don't usually have a lot of time to prep a smoke some I'm considering rubbing out the whole tin or cube cutting and letting it air out then putting it back in the tin to sit for a week or so.