Harsh Blends

[cossackjack]

Any blend that has an ammonia smell from the lit bowl. The harshness is most perceptible during retrohale. This seems to occur more often with higher nicotine content.

For me Picayune is harsh for sure. Dark Bird’s Eye is pretty harsh but not as bad. For me the test is the retrohale.

I rehydrate Picayune & age it 6+ months; it becomes smoother & richer than when fresh & crunchy dry

 

[cigrmaster]

When I first tried GL Pease Navigator it had some real rough edges from the Kentucky. Now 8 years later it is as smooth as silk and a fine blend. I am glad I stocked up on it back then.

 

[condorlover1]

Gold Block. The cut is very different from the original and the new version burns too hot and as a shag cut you can practically roll cigarettes out of the stuff.

 

[gamzultovah]

Certain burley blends can feel like sore throat when I sip. The last one I remember was McQuaid plug which was upsetting as on the snork it was delicious.

While I enjoy Burley’s, I cannot smoke them in anything larger than a Group 1 bowl (maybe even smaller). Anything over 15 minutes hurts my pallet and throat.

 

[mso489]

I don't want to be inexact or unintelligible, but let me give it a shot to explain harshness as distinct from tongue bite and gum burn. It's where the flavor of the blend or single leaf is upstaged by a bite taste. Instead of tasty it's mostly acrid and ashy. I think that's about the best I can do. At least a number of people here know what I'm talking about. Others probably don't experience it so much. It seems highly individual, since I usually get none of this from burley, whereas it is strongly associated with burley for others. My worst example, for my own taste buds, was a holiday blend or two that had cinnamon and piney notes that did not complement the tobacco at all.

 

[gamzultovah]

I don't want to be inexact or unintelligible, but let me give it a shot to explain harshness as distinct from tongue bite and gum burn. It's where the flavor of the blend or single leaf is upstaged by a bite taste. Instead of tasty it's mostly acrid and ashy. I think that's about the best I can do. At least a number of people here know what I'm talking about. Others probably don't experience it so much. It seems highly individual, since I usually get none of this from burley, whereas it is strongly associated with burley for others. My worst example, for my own taste buds, was a holiday blend or two that had cinnamon and piney notes that did not complement the tobacco at all.

For me, Eric Stokkebye 1855 was wicked tasting and smoked hot. It was like acid in my mouth (taste and heat). Neither the flavor nor the smoking characteristics worked for me...but...it’s jarred. Who knows, time may help.

 

[subsalac]

I encountered this with Stirling Flake by Rattray's(Supposedly close to Irish Flake). Was just too... I don't know it burned the same way chilies burn, I really do enjoy perique with it's peppery spice, but a literal painful burn of the sort I'd get if I were smoking something cased with ammonia, I'm not a fan of. Not sure what causes it. High Nicotine perhaps? Nicotine has that sort of spice that really burns.

 

[trubka2]

I often get this from the Latakia (or Latakias?) used in C&D-made blends. I love some other Latakias, but that one just doesn't agree with me. I haven't tried any of those blends with more than a year or two on them, though, so maybe it's a temporary thing.

 

[docpierce]

I found Ryan Daughter blends too dry and harsh for my taste buds.