I mention this one often but I never did a review of it. Partly because everyone's taste is different and I'm not sure there's any way to rely on someone else's review for a blend you have not smoked, unless you agree with the reviewer's other reviews of blends you have smoked.
I basically am not an aro smoker. The reasons for this are the same as most non-aro smokers: I like smoking good-quality tobacco, not bottom-grade burley camouflaged with scents and flavors; I don't like tongue-bite, and I don't like my pipes ghosted, gurgling or coated with slimy glop. So any blend labeled as an aro already has my skepticism running high.
Erik Stokkebye's 4th Generation Flake (hereafter refered to simply as 1931) is said to be burley, Virginia and a little black cavendish with some flavoring added. In the rectangular tin is a neat stack of uniform regtangular flakes of a gamut of browns from light to dark. I don't buy tobacco to sniff it raw in the tin, so frankly IDGAF what the tin note is, however I will say it's very pleasant, with none of the sour, rancid decomp smell of many non-aro blends. Some blends have tin notes so offensive to my sense of smell that I in fact have to refrain from smelling the tin note or I probably would be too queasy to want a smoke. That is not the case with 1931. Likewise it doesn't smell like the scented candle aisle at Bed Bath and Beyond, which is also a good thing to me.
I pack using the fold and stuff method, with a few crumbles on top to aide the first light. The moisture of every tin I've purchased has been perfect for me, however one should be advised to pack 1931 much looser than is intuitive, because it really expands a lot when smoked. If you pack it to the "drinking straw" drag, you will find the draw over-restricted after it's lit and burning. Pack it for a free draw and you'll be fine.
Whatever the ratio is of burley:Va:cavendish, it's right on the money. Enough burley to give it a respectable nic content and temper the tendency of Va to burn hot and bite. Enough Va to impart a natural sweetness, and enough black cavendish to give it a very nice flavor and room-note. The burley also absorbs the flavors of the Va and cavendish so those become the predominant flavors. If they labeled it simply a Va-Cavendish blend, it would take an experienced palate to detect the lie. There is just enough residual burley flavor to add complexity, but not come forward. To me that's a good thing as I prefer Va and don't really care much for the taste of burley.
Speaking more on the issue of bite, 1931 can be made to bite but it will take some over-puffing without biting. However 1931 produces copious amounts of billowy smoke with very little effort, so there really is no compulsion to puff hard. It also burns extremely slowly, so although it's expensive at over $17 a tin, you get a lot of smoking time out of it. In fact, when I first started smoking it I ended up dumping a lot of it because I was just tired of smoking and there was still a ton of it left in the bowl. I have since given to smoking it in small pipes. I can get a good 45 minute to an hour's smoke out of a Grade 2 Dunhill, which is a tiny pipe. 1931 also burns evenly all the way to the heel with no harshening or souring, and leaves no sticking mess.
The topping (probably casing is what it is) is honey. But it's subtle and sweet, and although the taste doesn't bowl you over, it also doesn't get cloying. Most aros, halfway down I'm ready to dump it and light up a straigh Va just to get the taste of natural tobacco. That natural tobacco taste is always present in 1931. It coexists with the casing, they do not fight one another for the smoker's attention.
I recently tried GL Pease's Virginia Cream, as it was touted as a very natural-tobacco aro, and while I like it on occasion, the topping is much more in-your-face predominant than 1931. Virginia Cream is more of what I might refer to as a dessert smoke, whereas 1931 could be smoked pretty much any time, or all day if you're an all-day smoker (I'm not).
In all, when asked what aro might please a non-aro smoker, or what non-aro might appeal most to an aro smoker, I would have to recommend 1931 in either case. And one final advantage to 1931 is the room note, which non-pipesmokers find pleasant. Comments are typically of the "oh I love the smell of a pipe" variety, and "it reminds me of my [fill in deceased relative]". No one has yet to give me a negative comment on the room note.
I basically am not an aro smoker. The reasons for this are the same as most non-aro smokers: I like smoking good-quality tobacco, not bottom-grade burley camouflaged with scents and flavors; I don't like tongue-bite, and I don't like my pipes ghosted, gurgling or coated with slimy glop. So any blend labeled as an aro already has my skepticism running high.
Erik Stokkebye's 4th Generation Flake (hereafter refered to simply as 1931) is said to be burley, Virginia and a little black cavendish with some flavoring added. In the rectangular tin is a neat stack of uniform regtangular flakes of a gamut of browns from light to dark. I don't buy tobacco to sniff it raw in the tin, so frankly IDGAF what the tin note is, however I will say it's very pleasant, with none of the sour, rancid decomp smell of many non-aro blends. Some blends have tin notes so offensive to my sense of smell that I in fact have to refrain from smelling the tin note or I probably would be too queasy to want a smoke. That is not the case with 1931. Likewise it doesn't smell like the scented candle aisle at Bed Bath and Beyond, which is also a good thing to me.
I pack using the fold and stuff method, with a few crumbles on top to aide the first light. The moisture of every tin I've purchased has been perfect for me, however one should be advised to pack 1931 much looser than is intuitive, because it really expands a lot when smoked. If you pack it to the "drinking straw" drag, you will find the draw over-restricted after it's lit and burning. Pack it for a free draw and you'll be fine.
Whatever the ratio is of burley:Va:cavendish, it's right on the money. Enough burley to give it a respectable nic content and temper the tendency of Va to burn hot and bite. Enough Va to impart a natural sweetness, and enough black cavendish to give it a very nice flavor and room-note. The burley also absorbs the flavors of the Va and cavendish so those become the predominant flavors. If they labeled it simply a Va-Cavendish blend, it would take an experienced palate to detect the lie. There is just enough residual burley flavor to add complexity, but not come forward. To me that's a good thing as I prefer Va and don't really care much for the taste of burley.
Speaking more on the issue of bite, 1931 can be made to bite but it will take some over-puffing without biting. However 1931 produces copious amounts of billowy smoke with very little effort, so there really is no compulsion to puff hard. It also burns extremely slowly, so although it's expensive at over $17 a tin, you get a lot of smoking time out of it. In fact, when I first started smoking it I ended up dumping a lot of it because I was just tired of smoking and there was still a ton of it left in the bowl. I have since given to smoking it in small pipes. I can get a good 45 minute to an hour's smoke out of a Grade 2 Dunhill, which is a tiny pipe. 1931 also burns evenly all the way to the heel with no harshening or souring, and leaves no sticking mess.
The topping (probably casing is what it is) is honey. But it's subtle and sweet, and although the taste doesn't bowl you over, it also doesn't get cloying. Most aros, halfway down I'm ready to dump it and light up a straigh Va just to get the taste of natural tobacco. That natural tobacco taste is always present in 1931. It coexists with the casing, they do not fight one another for the smoker's attention.
I recently tried GL Pease's Virginia Cream, as it was touted as a very natural-tobacco aro, and while I like it on occasion, the topping is much more in-your-face predominant than 1931. Virginia Cream is more of what I might refer to as a dessert smoke, whereas 1931 could be smoked pretty much any time, or all day if you're an all-day smoker (I'm not).
In all, when asked what aro might please a non-aro smoker, or what non-aro might appeal most to an aro smoker, I would have to recommend 1931 in either case. And one final advantage to 1931 is the room note, which non-pipesmokers find pleasant. Comments are typically of the "oh I love the smell of a pipe" variety, and "it reminds me of my [fill in deceased relative]". No one has yet to give me a negative comment on the room note.
:
