Keeping an Open Mind

[newbroom]

Keeping an Open Mind: Re-examining Latakia and Aromatic tobacco blends.

I had discontinued most of my aromatic and Latakia explorations and been focused on non aromatic bulk tobacco featuring VA, Burley, and Perique.
I ordered some Sutliff and Match blends on a whim prompted by my diminishing stocks and a 'free' tobacco jar. One of the blends (Cherry Bon Bon) I got was truly an aromatic, and looked like it was all cavendish. I was pleasantly surprised that it was quite tolerable, even enjoyable.
I began to examine what this blender offered first with a few of my regular varietals and now, I've been enjoying several of Sutliff's Match blends, several of which have Latakia or are considered aromatic.
For those of you who don't want to spend approaching $20.00 a tin, Sutliff tobaccos offer an incredible array of really nice smoking blends and 'straight' varietals.
I had not ever smoked Dunhill/Peterson 965, EMP, or Balkan Sobranie, and the Match versions of these are my only experience with these blends. They're really darned good!
Their match for Dunhill's "Elizabethan", another I'd bypassed for the last 10 yrs, is a really fine VaPer.
I even got some Mixture 79, and Field and Stream which are burley based aros, and along with ERR they are essentially burley blends with mild toppings. Very nice too.
This company offers a great diversity of quality leaf, and you can build a nice cellar of bulks that satisfy for relatively fewer dollars than with tins. Aged and tinned tobacco is a tad overrated, imho.​

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[Sigmund]

If you like it smoke it. Dont worry about blend snobbery. And you dont need to spend 20 bucks a tin in the US. I always bought bulk blends myself. I cant in the EU so Im stuck with the price of tins. Average is about 20 per 100 grams. Here crap tobacco isnt much cheaper than the really good stuff so I focus on that. Such is life.

 

[trouttimes]

Once you put it into your pouch, no one knows what it is or where it came from.

 

[AJL67]

Many people here, there and everywhere load up on bulk in general and match blends, great way to pick up a few pounds and cellar it away! Honestly i don't think anyone really cares what, where, why or how.

 

[Sig]

I used to shy away from aromatics due to the "they have no tobacco flavor" thing. I knew back then that I did not care for tobaccos like Captan Black and the less expensive goopy American style aromatics....cherry, grape, apple pie...who add a LOT of propylene glycol to their blends.
Then, I found out that English and Danish companies did things a bit differently. Many of these blends have a good tobacco flavor with a little something extra. They are not goopy, or wet, they are as "dry" as any other blend. Heck, in the past the vast majority of tobacco blends in Europe were flavored(aromatics). Not necessarily cherry pie flavored but flavored with booze, Deer Tongue and Tonqin....among other flowers and spices. Then I realized that places in America, like "The Country Squire" and "Boswells" also make very good quality aromatics. They use top shelf leaf and lightly top it with a pleasant flavor.
Im still not a HUGE fan, but ive been trying a few.
I recently found MacBaren Black Ambrosia...its fantastic!
Some of my long time favorite blends are considered light aromatics.
My very favorite tobacco of all time in MacBaren Virginia #1.....I cannot get enough!

 

[RustiePyles CPG]

I smoke primarily HGL which is an "English Aro" aka "Crossover" & RLP-6 which is one of the most popular pipe tobaccos in the world and an aro. I also like a lot of danish style aros . Another of my favorites is G&H Bob's Chocolate which is also an "English Aro/Crossover".

 

[Sigmund]

My latest aro I like is about half HU Ju52 tobacco which has a rasberry topping. Its not goopy and you can taste the virginia and perique. I add it to about half Louisana Broken Flake. The rasberry is softer and is kind of like a different fruit taste than the perique. Its pretty tasty.

 

[sablebrush52]

I've been a fan of Sutliff's matches for years and have recommended them often. The "anti" Sutliff crowd, which I thought had died out from forgetting how to breathe, was largely composed of poseurs, who clearly didn't know what they were typing about. Sutliff bulks provide good value for the money.

Rather than donate one's brain by letting others tell you what to think, give Sutliff bulks a try if you haven't already. You might not like some and you might like some a lot. It's like that for me, with every manufacturer, whether it's C&D, or long gone McClelland, or various HU blends, GH&Co, etc. They all make, or made, blends that I like(d) and others that I don't, or didn't.

 

[WVOldFart]

I smoke a lot of Match blends from Sutliff. V.I.P., Flying Dutchman, Field and Stream, Walnut, Holiday, Elizabethan, Edgeworth Ready Rubbed, Country Doctor, and Revelation to name just a few. I am a strong believer that the thousands of blends today are just trying to match the old Codger blends. I like the idea that I am smoking something that perhaps my Grandfather or Great Grandfather might have smoked and enjoyed.

 

[WVOldFart]

I've been a fan of Sutliff's matches for years and have recommended them often. The "anti" Sutliff crowd, which I thought had died out from forgetting how to breathe, was largely composed of poseurs, who clearly didn't know what they were typing about. Sutliff bulks provide good value for the money.

Rather than donate one's brain by letting others tell you what to think, give Sutliff bulks a try if you haven't already. You might not like some and you might like some a lot. It's like that for me, with every manufacturer, whether it's C&D, or long gone McClelland, or various HU blends, GH&Co, etc. They all make, or made, blends that I like(d) and others that I don't, or didn't.

I appreciate Sutliff because they would not let the old tobacco blends die. These Codger blends are what has made tobacco smoking possible today. Their Match blends are well done and even though I was not able to smoke some of the original blends, I like to think that the Match blends are in the same ball park.

 

[LeafErikson]

Their match for Dunhill's "Elizabethan", another I'd bypassed for the last 10 yrs, is a really fine VaPer.
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Sutlif’s Match Victorian is seriously a fantastic tobacco. I think it’s based on the Murray’s version of the blend but I’ve never had the Murray’s version. I’ve actually never had the Dunhill/Peterson version either haha.

 

[kcghost]

You can smoke whatever you want and I'm fine with it.

 

[sablebrush52]

Sutlif’s Match Victorian is seriously a fantastic tobacco. I think it’s based on the Murray’s version of the blend but I’ve never had the Murray’s version. I’ve actually never had the Dunhill/Peterson version either haha.

Yes, it's based on the Murray's version.

 

[LongIslandPiper]

I've been a fan of Sutliff's matches for years and have recommended them often. The "anti" Sutliff crowd, which I thought had died out from forgetting how to breathe, was largely composed of poseurs, who clearly didn't know what they were typing about. Sutliff bulks provide good value for the money.

Rather than donate one's brain by letting others tell you what to think, give Sutliff bulks a try if you haven't already. You might not like some and you might like some a lot. It's like that for me, with every manufacturer, whether it's C&D, or long gone McClelland, or various HU blends, GH&Co, etc. They all make, or made, blends that I like(d) and others that I don't, or didn't.

Well said, well spoken

 

[William F.]

Once you put it into your pouch, no one knows what it is or where it came from.

William (If I am not mistaken),

Is this in reference to an actual pouch that you load+carry tobacco in?
If so; does it also hold a pipe or other paraphernalia?

Pardon my ignorance,
William F.

 

[OzPiper]

Is this in reference to an actual pouch that you load+carry tobacco in?
If so; does it also hold a pipe or other paraphernalia?

There are tobacco pouches
As well as combo tobacco AND pipe pouches
Look in the “accessories” section of SmokingPipes and other sponsors - huge selection

EBay has a lot of cheap Chinese knock-offs.
I bought a leather “Savinelli” 2pipe + tobacco pouch a few years back.
Sturdy, good looking and works well enough. With a rubber-lined tobacco pouch.
I doubt it is a genuine Savinelli item given the very low price I paid.
And the shipping was from China/Hong Kong

 

[trouttimes]

William (If I am not mistaken),

Is this in reference to an actual pouch that you load+carry tobacco in?
If so; does it also hold a pipe or other paraphernalia?

Pardon my ignorance,
William F.

Yes it’s William and yes it’s a small pouch say 4 x 6, usually zippered and latex lined that you fill, slip into your pocket of easy carry and load your pipe as desired. Does not hold pipe or other paraphernalia usually.

 

[newbroom]

I've reused old cellophane tobacco pouches to carry my bulks. I had a box of five brothers pouched tobacco and I saved some for the purpose. I once had 5 living brothers. I'm the oldest. 3 have gone before me.