Hawke's To the Wind

[hawke]

For my fellow latakia travelers...
Ive been working on a personally pleasing latakia blend for a spell now. Since Syrian Latakia is essentially gone from the stage I have struggled to represent the smokey flavor in a satisfying blend.
I have however arrived upon something which has a nice nose burn,(which I like) yet no noticeable tongue bite and delivers a pleasant nicotine effect. Since it was so well received there is even a teasing hint of tin smell reminiscent to Hawke's Indian Moon yet "To the Wind" is obviously in the latakia based arena of blends.
The name for me conjures up thoughts of the Native American Pipe Ceremony and the offering of prayers -To the Wind-. "The Wind" is often a synonym of "The Great Spirit".

...more to follow

 

[derfargin]

I too like nose burn, and the nic hit as well. I enjoyed Indian Moon thanks for the sample.

 

[jfox520]

Your new blend sounds great.

 

[fordm60]

Grandfather, how can I attain some of this magic?

 

[hawke]

fordm60, are you sure you are young enough to call me grandfather? Hahaha
Send me a address via PM and I'll smoke signal some over to ya.

 

[captainprophesy]

That sounds very tasty... how could I obtain a small sampling of this? I missed out on the ever popular Indian Moon, but in all honesty I'm a bit more intrigued with this one as I'm a serious Latakia hound!

 

[hawke]

captainprophesy, Send me a address via PM and I'll smoke signal some over to ya. Rest easy there's more of Hawke's Indian Moon in the press. Ive been smoking "To the Wind" all day today. Pretty tasty. I make a tight plug, and shave off shards, dry them slightly then puff clouds off to the heavens.

 

[carbonmated]

I love the sounds of this one already. Indian Moon is a complete success, great smoking, smooth blend that is incredibly satisfying on the palette and senses.

 

[captainprophesy]

Pm sent Hawke

 

[hawke]

Shaving off slivers of this tobacco is the best way to smoke it. It stays in the press only for 24 hours, my goal being to allow for the different flavors/tobaccos to mingle in the bowl while smoking. There is not much moisture and yet does not burn well simply crumbling out the cake. The fine slivers dropped in without packing do smoke well however. A wide bowl with a open draw delivers the best experience for me.

 

[hawke]

 

[hawke]

There's something about this blend I'm not quite satisfied with just yet. I cant put my finger on it. Something to do with the latakia taste. I could have been spoiled by the Syrian Latakia Ive smoked in HH Vintage Syrian both fresh and aged I have here. I'm trying to figure a way to get it closer to that flavor which just might not be possible and I'll have to accept it. I'm not going to release this out just yet until I smoke it a little more.
When I first smoked it I was quite pleased, yet after rotating thru my different tobaccos here and returning to HTTW the experience was not satisfying my latakia craving like it did. So at this stage its a "work in progress".

 

[hawke]

UPDATE: Progress! Seems like I got some tongue bite out of the blend but still has that characteristic nose burn we get with latakia. I have two more base tobacco's arriving tomorrow to play around with but where it's at now is pretty decent.

 

[hawke]

Im making progress on this new latakia blend. I've been experimenting with three versions of base tobacco and I just tried a new controversial process of which I like the outcome of but it was on one of the lesser desired mixtures. I am going to give it a go on my favorite mixture to date and see if it makes a smoother smoke removing even more tongue bite. Time consuming stuff here. I can see why tobacconist take a long time developing a new blend.
When I put the Indian Head nickel on the logo it was because I'm going to ask for an Indian Head nickel as a donation to any samples you may want. My dad always was keen on those nickels and would like to give him a handful.