Drucquer & Sons Blends Under the Radar?

[renfield]

I recently cracked a tin of Blairgowrie and have really been enjoying it. The usual GLP finesse is present and the blend is nuanced without requiring constant attention to technique to enjoy its subtleties. For some reason these D&S recreations don’t seem to get mentioned very often. On Tobacco Reviews this series gleans high scores but not many reviews.
Has anyone else discovered these? IMO they don’t seem to be getting the love they deserve.

 

[Chasing Embers]

Under the Radar?

Over my budget.

 

[balkisobrains]

Gram-for-gram it is slightly more expensive than a lot of other tobaccos, and it would be nice if they offered 50g tins. I guess that it keeps the brand a little more exclusive to ask the customer to pay for 100g before they can try one, but the blends go out of stock periodically, so someone is buying it anyway. I like Levant Mixture, so I've been throwing it into peoples goodie-bags recently, and hopefully they try it out because it is a little more expensive that most of the other ones. (If you bought from me yesterday and read this, you guys kept me busy the whole time, there was no time for any goodie-bags, sorry!) =)

 

[hoosierpipeguy]

Thanks for bringing these up. I looked at them and they look like something I'd like. I'm ordering 4 of them.

 

[renfield]

Yeah, having to buy 100g tins is a gamble with a new to you blend.
Years ago I gambled on Russ Oullette’s Lakeland Brickle Fortissimo, 4 oz, the smallest amount in which it was packaged. An interesting blend but it will be many years before I smoke through it.
The D&S blends won’t last very long in my cellar. The only question will be whether I accumulate more.

 

[troutface]

I'll second the Levant Mixture, very nice stuff. If I didn't already have an overflowing cellar I'd probably stock some of it.

 

[kcghost]

I've got several tins of the old stuff.

 

[balkisobrains]

Do you have any pictures? :puffpipe:

 

[danielplainview]

Shhhhhhhhh. I haven’t hoarded it all yet.

 

[danielplainview]

I’ve tried 4 different D&S blends and have been pretty impressed. Princes blend is my favorite so far. All 4 had perfect moisture. You can crack a tin. Load and light.

 

[spartan99]

it would be nice if they offered 50g tins.

I don't miss 50g tins at all, but it would be nice if they'd put 8oz in the larger can rather than 7oz. I can't think of another brand that's done this.

Yeah, having to buy 100g tins is a gamble with a new to you blend.

50g tins are also a gamble, and you're not wagering much more. They're less than twice the price of 50g tins, which are usually around $10, so you're only putting up another $8, and if you like it then you've saved two bucks. The worst tobaccos to develop a taste for are those that only come in 50g tins because you can't get the cost per ounce down. John Cotton's is a good example. Great tobaccos, but they're $12 a tin, or about 6.85/oz, and it's not available in bulk or cans. On the other hand, if you take a shine to one of these D&S blends, you can get the cost down to $5.10/oz by buying the (shrink-rayed) 7oz. cans.

 

[renfield]

Spartan, good points. Cost-wise the larger tins aren’t a serious burden. To me the issue is potentially wasting tobacco. So far I’ve only dumped a few blends into my junk jar over the years but I’d hate to do that with a bigger tin. Now that one of my brothers is interested in pipes I can just pass those rare misses on to him to see if he has better luck.
Fortunately with GLP it’s not likely to be a dud. With this series I really like the cut as well as the flavor. They make a nice adjunct to my beloved McClelland blends. It’s nice to discover another bunch of blends I know I will enjoy every time I light them up.

 

[anthonyrosenthal74]

Funny this got brought up today. I look at these blends all the time, but have yet to purchase some, but I decided last night that I would add some to my next tobacco order.

 

[hoosierpipeguy]

Just got my order in, smoking a bowl of Inns of Court at the moment. Very nice. High quality tobacco. Loaded easily. Lit easily. Perfect moisture out of the bowl, perhaps 15 to 30 minutes of drying time might be good. Burns nicely leaving an extremely fine ash. Smokes incredibly cool. Very complex but sublime. Virginia forward but not overwhelmingly so. The burleys add some nutty flavor and the Perique pipes in with some subtle but pleasant sweet spice. I smoked this in a large bowl L'anatra. I'll be buying more, looking forward to the other three blends.

 

[hoosierpipeguy]

Aside from SmokinPipes, where else can you purchase these blends? Did a Google search and came up empty.

 

[renfield]

I haven’t seen it anywhere other than SP. If they’re available elsewhere I’d be interested to know.

 

[balkisobrains]

SP only, far as I know. Originally I bought 1 100g, and then I bought more 200g when SP had a decent D&S sale. ::

 

[admiral]

Blended by Greg Pease and tinned by C&D (which merged with Laudisi )

So similar to many of Russ O's blends available only via P&C, these are available only via SmokingPipes.

 

[hoosierpipeguy]

I have since smoked a bowl each of Trafalgar, Red Lion and Princes Blend. All have excellent flavor, high quality tobacco and smoke cool and easy. None though have much depth or body. To use a food analogy, if Jack Knife RR is a nice ribeye, these blends are a smallish portion of angel hair pasta with a delicate wine sauce. When finished, they left me wanting a bit more. There's nothing wrong with that, these blends are excellent. They're just not something I'd smoke on a regular basis. The Inns of Court has more meat to it and is something I'll buy more of.
I have a feeling Blairgowrie and Levant have a bit more to them which explains why they're sold out except for 200 g tins of Blairgowrie. With that said, I can't imagine many would smoke these blends and consider them so distasteful they'd want to throw them away. I consider these finesse blends, some smokers will appreciate them more than others.

 

[balkisobrains]

Plus, the labels look cool. Do the old/original store-bought ones look basically the same? :puffpipe: