DELIVERED: GLP Sextant
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tslex, if you have not had Bagpiper's Dream before I'm sure you're in for a very pleasant experience. BD is on top of my rotation list. Enjoy both and looking forward to your comments re Sextant.
So I'm listening to my "Celtic Thunder" mix on Pandora and smoking some Sextant in my new-to-me meer.
First, let me suggest that Pandora is one of the great inventions of humankind, and a genius app for the internet.
As for Sextant, I did not love it the first time I smoked it. All I seemed to taste was the Virginia, and the character of the smoke was a bit too "cigarettey" for me -- a complaint I often have with Virginia-based blends. I was missing the complexity I like in tobacco -- all I was getting was sharp smoke and a nic hit. But I knew there was something more there, and I never decide on a smoke the first time out.
Well, I forgot to put the tin in the vacuum bin where I usually keep my open tins, and, as a result, next time out the tobacco had dried a bit. Instead of rubbing it out so finely as I had last time, I packed the broken flakes right out of the tin. The combined result was a slower, cooler burn and I noticed a big improvement. It was still Virginia-forward, but the Latakia was more present, the smoke was "rounder" and I did get just a hint of the rum. I made a conscious effort to slow down, as well. (I can be a bit of coal train, often smoking at a faster pace than is strictly proper.) Those second through fourth bowls, smoked in briar, were improvements. Behind the dominant burley codger sensibility, I started to detect the sort of flavors I like in an English. (This is, after all, part of the "Old London" series.)
For me, though, this tobacco finally found a home in this meerschaum. The flavor-neutral meer let the subtlety of the other elements come to the fore. It's interesting to taste the Latakia as a condiment, where for so much of what I smoke, that greasy, black flavor is the main thrust. By slowing down, and getting the briar out of the way, I find I like this much more than when I first tried it. There's sweetness - without saying the tobacco is sweet; there's rum flavor -- without saying it tastes like rum.
Not surprising for a tobacco with this much burley, the nic kick is certainly appreciable. Not overwhelming, but not to be denied, and if you are sensitive to that, you will want to sample this before buying in quantity.
I doubt this will ever replace FMOTT in my main go-to jar. But I can see a place for it in my rotation, much in the same way that I sometimes want to smoke a VaPer for the variety. I think this is a great tobacco for folks who are burley/Virginia smokers but want get a little English in their lives. I can also say, as a pure compliment, that I cannot really think of another blend like it.
First, let me suggest that Pandora is one of the great inventions of humankind, and a genius app for the internet.
As for Sextant, I did not love it the first time I smoked it. All I seemed to taste was the Virginia, and the character of the smoke was a bit too "cigarettey" for me -- a complaint I often have with Virginia-based blends. I was missing the complexity I like in tobacco -- all I was getting was sharp smoke and a nic hit. But I knew there was something more there, and I never decide on a smoke the first time out.
Well, I forgot to put the tin in the vacuum bin where I usually keep my open tins, and, as a result, next time out the tobacco had dried a bit. Instead of rubbing it out so finely as I had last time, I packed the broken flakes right out of the tin. The combined result was a slower, cooler burn and I noticed a big improvement. It was still Virginia-forward, but the Latakia was more present, the smoke was "rounder" and I did get just a hint of the rum. I made a conscious effort to slow down, as well. (I can be a bit of coal train, often smoking at a faster pace than is strictly proper.) Those second through fourth bowls, smoked in briar, were improvements. Behind the dominant burley codger sensibility, I started to detect the sort of flavors I like in an English. (This is, after all, part of the "Old London" series.)
For me, though, this tobacco finally found a home in this meerschaum. The flavor-neutral meer let the subtlety of the other elements come to the fore. It's interesting to taste the Latakia as a condiment, where for so much of what I smoke, that greasy, black flavor is the main thrust. By slowing down, and getting the briar out of the way, I find I like this much more than when I first tried it. There's sweetness - without saying the tobacco is sweet; there's rum flavor -- without saying it tastes like rum.
Not surprising for a tobacco with this much burley, the nic kick is certainly appreciable. Not overwhelming, but not to be denied, and if you are sensitive to that, you will want to sample this before buying in quantity.
I doubt this will ever replace FMOTT in my main go-to jar. But I can see a place for it in my rotation, much in the same way that I sometimes want to smoke a VaPer for the variety. I think this is a great tobacco for folks who are burley/Virginia smokers but want get a little English in their lives. I can also say, as a pure compliment, that I cannot really think of another blend like it.
You have to try it to see if it's any good or not. I wish they had sample sizes that cost a buck or two instead of paying $9.00 or $10.00 to sample a blend. I'd spend the money if I really liked it.
I noticed the spiciness came forward in the Meer and it was smoother and rounder in a briar. I also more often smoke it in a Meer, though. I like how the rum just barey evades you while you smoke. I get it in the smoke through my nose but not as much through my mouth.
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