Dark Star

[foggymountain]

Received a can of McClellands Dark Star today. Am getting ready to load my second bowl. It is a really nice smoke. Virginias pressed and aged into a flake. Delicious taste. My only reservation is that it is so moist that it is difficult to light. (They are selling water for the price of tobacco.) This should be convenient when the can is open a while and starts to dry out. Overall, I recommend it.

 

[bigpond]

I find 10 seconds in the microwave and a few minutes on a drying rack afterward takes care of the moisture while leaving the flavor fully intact.

 

[anthonyrosenthal74]

Letting McClelland blends sit in the open tin with the lid on for a couple weeks actually helps the blend. Dark Star is notorious for being difficult as many here will attest to that. I've sometimes set out a few flakes as I left for work in the morning and then packed it in a pipe after I got home from work if I planned beforehand what I thought I might smoke that day. Wonderful tobacco once you get it going

 

[redbeard]

Oh my how I miss this tobacco. It has probably been about two years since my last bowl of it. I actually added it to my Christmas wish list last week! :puffpipe:

 

[texmexpipe]

Love that stuff! I run it out real good and let it sit about an hour and go!

 

[mikestanley]

I find laying a couple of bowls worth of a blend like Dark Star on my current edition of The Pipe Collector for ten minutes or so leaves the tobacco very smokable.

Newspaper works too.

Mike S.

 

[mso489]

I have an unopened tin that has been around for a while. I'm glad for the good advice from this an earlier threads so I know how to proceed when I pop the lid.

 

[mackeson]

I slice it thin with scissors and then break it up a bit when I open a tin. Before each bowl, I usually give it an hour or so of dry time on a sheet of paper (I live in a very dry climate). I then crumble it a bit into the pipe and go. I often need a few re-lights, but with my smoking style and ability to get distracted throughout the smoke, this is pretty normal for me. Dark star gives me one of the sweetest and full bodied smokes I get from a straight VA.

Most often I reach for and love the complexity of Blackwoods Flake, but when I crave Dark Star - nothing else satisfies.