John Patton's Cool Hand Fluke

[andrew]

http://luxurytobaccoreviews.com/t/4noggins-cool-hand-fluke
Brand: 4noggins

Blender: Rich Gottlieb, conceived by John Patton

Description: A

mixture of Virginia tobaccos create a rather complex background for

Perique. At times it goes unnoticed, and other times you taste the

characteristics of the sweet, hay like Virginias. Ever present, however,

is the earthy pungency of the Perique.

Country of Origin: USA

Curing Group: Flue cured

Contents: Four Virginias and Perique

Flavoring: none

Cut: Ribbon

Packaging: Bulk
This blend has a whopping 40% perique level and packs a punch. One of the few blends I've smoked where I've gotten that pleasant nicotine hit that makes you kick back and relax and not get sick. This is very pungent cigarette like almost tobacco, I can see people who like McClellend's Classic Virginia liking this alot as it reminds me of it but stronger.

Very grassy earthy hay like taste, this is not a sweet virginia at all. I received a sample of this from 4 noggins and at the time was ho hum about it, but now months later it seems to be haunting me to try it again. It could make a good everyday kind of smoke and at 35$ a pound the price is more than right. It also comes in a nice kind of shaggy cut with nice big chunks of the 4 different tobacco's you can either rub out or leave as is. Would be interesting to see what some age would do to this, but right from the sample I got it was pleasant. A no frills smoke but very satisfying at the same time.

 

[mso489]

Wow, that's a high quotient of Perique. Whew. If you weren't recommending it, I would think it was

really heavy handed. Perique is kind of like hot sauce; it can bring up the flavor of the main tobacco,

or it can obliterate it. I feel this might be really pleasing to some and not so good to others, but you've

done an excellent job of describing what it is, and your liking for it. Sounds like something to sample

at a pipe show before I order 4 ounces.

 

[leacha]

I just put together mt B-Day TAD order from 4noggins and have a couple ounces of this in there. I figured if I hate it it could become a blending item or a cellar item.

 

[andrew]

It might be acadian perique, as it's not a crazy overload of it for 40%, it's more in the nicotine department you notice it. Like I find St. James flake to have a more pronounced perique effect, which is probably due to the St. James perique.

 

[leacha]

I was on the understanding that all the perique out there is Acadian. Blenders never buy the straight stuff. If Kevin sees this he may set the record straight.
http://pipesmagazine.com/blog/put-that-in-your-pipe/the-mystique-of-perique/

 

[andrew]

(Editor’s note: Kentucky Green River Burley, mixed with the St. James tobacco is most commonly used to make Perique. This particular version is the Perique that most pipe smokers are familiar with. It is referred to as Acadian Perique here.)

So they all did it in the first half of the last century, to different degrees. People didn’t really realize that it was a blend primarily that was available. And they had to do that or we wouldn’t have Perique today.

PipesMagazine.com: Are there different types of Perique?

Ryan: I mean, we label it as two types; the Acadian and the St. James.

Ryan: But really until we brought that to everybody’s attention I guess, folks didn’t realize that what everybody’s consumed exclusively since 1980, was the Acadian blend because Mr. Poche was the world’s only source since 1980.

And what I have found is the manufacturers, because all we sell to is manufacturer’s in these 500 pound barrels, they don’t want the straight St. James. In the five years I’ve had it, I’ve only sold one barrel of straight St. James to a company in Germany. They prefer the Acadian blend because it’s got consistent quality every year, they know it’s available, and it’s less expensive, but the main thing is the quality is fantastic year in and year out. You don’t have to worry about the variability in quality. Am I going to get a barrel I got to destroy because it’s rotton?

St. James perique is the legendary perique.

 

[leacha]

Yes it is and I'd love to get one of those jars from eBay. That's is if its real. It's too easy to buy a jar, print labels and fill it with blending perique. I'm just pointing out that the perique blends out there are not St James but in fact Acadian. I've even noticed that MCs own literature says "St James" and then switches to just "perique". Legality reasons?
There's some good discussion in this article by Greg Pease about Acadian perique.
http://glpease.com/BriarAndLeaf/?p=75
When my son gets a little older for travel, I plan on making a trip down there myself. Take tours and what not.

 

[saltedplug]

I like Cool Hand Fluke very much. It often offers tastes that I haven't had before. The four VAs it uses provide a sturdy back round for the quantity of Perique used. I don't find the 40% Perique overwhelming but certainly would not recommend the blend to anyone who doesn't love Perique. I feel that the blend's complexity derives not only from the orchestrated VAs, which the blender says took him a year to find, to stand up to this amount of Perique, but also from the Perique itself. And $36.99/pound is a whopping great price.