Favorite Holiday Blends?

[justscience]

Dang it, JS, your post has been bugging me all week. I definitely have seasonal preferences, and never thought about that. I grew up rural and agrarian in Alabama, so maple syrup wasn't a local thing, but sorghum was. It's pressed in the late summer or fall, so maybe it's just a sugar syrup thing that got misaligned somehow. I'm still going to enjoy my Maple Shadows this fall, but your observation has definitely broadened my perspective.
On "hay season-" that usually meant fescue grass, and was always a nasty, toilsome activity that was physically exhausting and wrought havoc on my sinuses. I've never understood reviewers finding notes of hay in tobacco. Sometimes "grass," yes, if that means rye. But not the majority of what I associate with "hay" (we did sometimes bail rye, but not much.) But I agree, Virginia goes with the hay season, but not because it tastes like it. That would be awful.

New mown hay (alfalfa?) has a sweet coumarin (tonquin) smell that's found in a few SG blends such as Sam's Flake and 1792. A similar smell is sweet woodruff and is in other blends, although it may be a forbidden flavoring now.
I just use a tonka bean in my storage jar if I want hay. I like the smell of grass, too, but don't want it in my tobacco.
If it helps, pancakes are a frosty autumn comfort food to many.

 

[Infantry23]

My favorite "holiday" blends are better aligned with seasons. I prefer Englishes and maple aromatics in the fall, I REALLY like the cherry aromatics during the Christmas season (room note mostly). The rest of the year I just smoke what's on-hand.

 

[Pipke]

Curious why maple blends are associated with autumn. Maple syrup is made in early spring and that's when I smoke them.

Only because of the very popular Autumn Evening. Now it is forever an autumn thing. I live in a maple syrup producing part of Ohio. I don't mind the association.

 

[litup]

I wish I had favorite holiday blends because there's something compelling about recognizing the changing of the seasons with your own small traditions. But, in truth, I don't change up what I smoke other than popping a tin of Christmas Cheer on Thanksgiving night and trying to make it last until Christmas.

 

[renfield]

Christmas Cheer. For currently available it’d be Cringle Flake.

 

[lukasstrifeson]

I don't know why, but I've always associated aromatics with holiday blends.

My absolute favorite being annual releases of Holiday Spirit but since their demise the cube-cut Corn Cob Pipe and a Button Nose is fantastic too.

 

[The Libertine]

Pumpkin spice and Christmas Spice by Sutliff are good. Cringle Flake is always a holiday tradition for me.

 

[RL Bucktails]

Looking forward to trying some warped scarecrow, I hear it’s full flavored.

 

[AcesAndEights]

I popped a tin of Devil’s Holiday today. Seemed like it would fit the bill for Spooky Season. I’m not a huge aro fan, but this ain’t bad.

 

[sardonicus87]

I popped a tin of Devil’s Holiday today. Seemed like it would fit the bill for Spooky Season. I’m not a huge aro fan, but this ain’t bad.

Black currant, almond, cherry and fig all have "fall/winter" associations for me. Man I love when my black mission fig tree decides it is fall, it smells most strongly when the leaves are falling off and getting crunched, but the whole tree smells great, it's just a very subtle scent that I wish was stronger.

Now I wish someone would make a pipe tobacco with fig leaf smell, that would be amazing. Or even fig tasting.

 

[sablebrush52]

While I don't particularly think of these as Christmas blends, despite their names, I'd go with Christmas Cheer and Kringle Flake.

 

[KruegerFlap]

Sutliff is re-releasing Maple Shadows this year. It is a maple flavored aro that I found enjoyable and not goopy at all. It's similar to C&D Autumn Evening but not as sweet. Also saw on Sutliff's distributor site they list Cringle Flake 2024, so it will be back for sure with a 12/3/24 release date.

 

[Coreios]

Autumn Evening!

 

[Coreios]

Pumpkin spice and Christmas Spice by Sutliff are good. Cringle Flake is always a holiday tradition for me.

Same! I'm mainly a cigar smoker, I hate infused cigars. But, I love the aro pipe during holidays and those are two great ones! Cringle Flake though varies on what it is that year.

 

[Edwoooo]

Looking forward to trying some warped scarecrow, I hear it’s full flavored.

Do you know when it will be available? And, is it only through Smokingpipes.com?

 

[BingBong]

I smoke Cabbies for the holidays. And every other day, when it's raining and when it's not. I might pop a pouch of Original (Walnut) flake, though, in the spirit of something and will probably smoke a cigar at Christmas. Outside. In the cold. Swiftly followed by frostbite, hypothermia and statistics.

 

[RL Bucktails]

Do you know when it will be available? And, is it only through Smokingpipes.com?

I think the advertisement was on smoking pipes it said October 11th.