Tried GH Rum Flake and Ennerdale and disliked them quite a bit. They will ghost a pipe like nothing else on the market.
Lakeland Questions
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I think Ennerdale is an outstanding introduction to Lakeland, even if the flavoring is more intense than in most (you certainly get to learn what makes the style so distinctive).
Personally,I don't think it tastes ANYTHING like urinal cakes, nasty perfume, etc.
It is fairly sweet, and will ghost a briar. The flavor, to me, is a base of almond but with a strong floral essence along with fruit. Americans often freak out when encountering floral essences in food or tobacco, but most of the rest of the world feels otherwise. In Europe, floral candies remain easily available, and Indian cooking uses them, as well (my first thought on retrying Ennerdale, in fact, was that it tasted a lot like my favorite Indian dessert, which is rice pudding flavored by rose).
I know a lot of guys hate the stuff, but as the company's best-selling flake it clearly has a lot of fans, as well. I think it's a good one for newbies because it's easy to smoke, you can actually taste the top shelf Virginias, and in most ways it's a very mild smoke.
Ymmv!
Personally,I don't think it tastes ANYTHING like urinal cakes, nasty perfume, etc.
It is fairly sweet, and will ghost a briar. The flavor, to me, is a base of almond but with a strong floral essence along with fruit. Americans often freak out when encountering floral essences in food or tobacco, but most of the rest of the world feels otherwise. In Europe, floral candies remain easily available, and Indian cooking uses them, as well (my first thought on retrying Ennerdale, in fact, was that it tasted a lot like my favorite Indian dessert, which is rice pudding flavored by rose).
I know a lot of guys hate the stuff, but as the company's best-selling flake it clearly has a lot of fans, as well. I think it's a good one for newbies because it's easy to smoke, you can actually taste the top shelf Virginias, and in most ways it's a very mild smoke.
Ymmv!
Both great choices xrun.
They're different than what some are used to, but I like different. Variety is the spice of life.
They're different than what some are used to, but I like different. Variety is the spice of life.
The prevailing ideology on the board where I participated when I started with the pipe strongly supported smoking only untopped/uncased tobacco, and for the most part I've followed this, 1792 the only strong exception. But this didn't keep me from loving University Flake, and others, that although topped, are not flavored to an extent or in a manner to stir an objection. Pembroke for instance has cognac topping, but I loved it anyway, and I joined my tobacconist in praising it. Thus my aversion to topped tobacco could be overcome though I stayed within the culture of the board.
Lakelands faired much less well, as they do in this thread, but they are loved in the UK from what I know. Certainly they are loved by enough pipe smokers somewhere to support their manufacture by the very large SG/GH (do they have a new name?). The scented Lakeland blends use flavorings unique to themselves and in combination and in an amount outside the realm of non-Lakeland cultural preference. But the way they are derided, the way they are scorned, derives not from an inherent fault but instead from the clash of one culture against the next. To say that the preference of self in comparison to another derives from objective fact vs subjective preference is the arrogance of ego and takes the smaller, narrower view. And to say that topped tobacco should be categorically rejected on the same grounds also suffers from the egotistical, narrow view.
But say your piece and disparage topped tobacco and the scented Lakelands, but say it with the addition that this is your subjective view. Like what you smoke and smoke what you like supports the central truth that tobacco preference is subjective. Meanwhile, I will probably continue smoking natural tobacco, as that is my preference. For instance when I read about the selections for the C and D Tobacco Crawl, I was less interested in those that are topped.
We are very fortunate that they are so many, many blends available to us that choice becomes difficult, and with literally thousands? of blends, that it would take even a practiced smoker decades to go through all of them to find those that he especially favored; and it would be very easy for him to get lost in variation along the way. I favor GLP's blends, overall, as his tobacco have a deft flavor formulation and sell for less than their value. But I came to this conclusion in an environment where his tobacco is widely available. But had I lived in the UK where Lakelands were similarly available, and if the UK pipe board to which I belonged had a strong component of smokers who loved the scented Lakelands, they might have been my tobacco favorites.
Condor qualifies as a scented Lakeland and might be called a crossover blend straddling Ireland and the US, and many other countries. It has a following on this board and perhaps would have more disciples were it not that its purchase requires a more complex international buy and also a price @ ~$20.00 that is twice the price of the same amount of tinned tobacco, at which many balk, including me. But with help from klause who sent me, unasked, and such is the valor of pipe forum members, 75g, my eyes were opened to this dark, flavored, complex, and by comparison to other strongly scented Lakelands, moderately scented plug; and I bought a plug or two. I believe that its scent is Rose Geranium and would have bought 500g of Dark Plug Rose Geranium were it not for the price, as I crave this sent. At any rate, if you like the potency that I would rate as a step up from Old Dark Fired but hardly that of Dark Flake or brown and black rope, and are bold enough to assay a lower-toned Lakeland of a more tolerable amount of scenting, I'd urge you to give Condor a try, or perhaps Coniston.
Lakelands faired much less well, as they do in this thread, but they are loved in the UK from what I know. Certainly they are loved by enough pipe smokers somewhere to support their manufacture by the very large SG/GH (do they have a new name?). The scented Lakeland blends use flavorings unique to themselves and in combination and in an amount outside the realm of non-Lakeland cultural preference. But the way they are derided, the way they are scorned, derives not from an inherent fault but instead from the clash of one culture against the next. To say that the preference of self in comparison to another derives from objective fact vs subjective preference is the arrogance of ego and takes the smaller, narrower view. And to say that topped tobacco should be categorically rejected on the same grounds also suffers from the egotistical, narrow view.
But say your piece and disparage topped tobacco and the scented Lakelands, but say it with the addition that this is your subjective view. Like what you smoke and smoke what you like supports the central truth that tobacco preference is subjective. Meanwhile, I will probably continue smoking natural tobacco, as that is my preference. For instance when I read about the selections for the C and D Tobacco Crawl, I was less interested in those that are topped.
We are very fortunate that they are so many, many blends available to us that choice becomes difficult, and with literally thousands? of blends, that it would take even a practiced smoker decades to go through all of them to find those that he especially favored; and it would be very easy for him to get lost in variation along the way. I favor GLP's blends, overall, as his tobacco have a deft flavor formulation and sell for less than their value. But I came to this conclusion in an environment where his tobacco is widely available. But had I lived in the UK where Lakelands were similarly available, and if the UK pipe board to which I belonged had a strong component of smokers who loved the scented Lakelands, they might have been my tobacco favorites.
Condor qualifies as a scented Lakeland and might be called a crossover blend straddling Ireland and the US, and many other countries. It has a following on this board and perhaps would have more disciples were it not that its purchase requires a more complex international buy and also a price @ ~$20.00 that is twice the price of the same amount of tinned tobacco, at which many balk, including me. But with help from klause who sent me, unasked, and such is the valor of pipe forum members, 75g, my eyes were opened to this dark, flavored, complex, and by comparison to other strongly scented Lakelands, moderately scented plug; and I bought a plug or two. I believe that its scent is Rose Geranium and would have bought 500g of Dark Plug Rose Geranium were it not for the price, as I crave this sent. At any rate, if you like the potency that I would rate as a step up from Old Dark Fired but hardly that of Dark Flake or brown and black rope, and are bold enough to assay a lower-toned Lakeland of a more tolerable amount of scenting, I'd urge you to give Condor a try, or perhaps Coniston.
Great post Mike!
Very well thought out.
:clap:
As much as I'd like to enjoy the Lakeland scented baccy, I just don't for the most part --- I do like Conniston and Dark Flake scented, and I have a tin on standby of SG Kendal Cream to try --- but something about the Kendal technique of topping their leaf doesn't work for me, it's almost as if they use dry powders instead of the traditional rum-based liquid bath; the silky texture of the leaf seems to be sprinkled with a crystalline substance, this I believe is not bloom, but the flavoring agents, and the effect, to me, is much different from stuff like Condor or St. Bruno where the toppings seem absolutely saturated fully into the leaf.
I would not call St. Bruno or Condor and Lakeland because they don't come from Kendal.
I think much of the British scented baccy techniques were derived from snuffmaking, even St. Bruno closely parallels old snuff recipes...
Looking at old books about snuff recipes, one can clearly see the parallels to the Kendal scents in particular...
:
:
:
:
:
These last excerpts were from a book published in 1772,
and the title may accurately reflect how some feel about the floral scented blends...
The Toilet of Flora!
:
:
Very well thought out.
:clap:
As much as I'd like to enjoy the Lakeland scented baccy, I just don't for the most part --- I do like Conniston and Dark Flake scented, and I have a tin on standby of SG Kendal Cream to try --- but something about the Kendal technique of topping their leaf doesn't work for me, it's almost as if they use dry powders instead of the traditional rum-based liquid bath; the silky texture of the leaf seems to be sprinkled with a crystalline substance, this I believe is not bloom, but the flavoring agents, and the effect, to me, is much different from stuff like Condor or St. Bruno where the toppings seem absolutely saturated fully into the leaf.
I would not call St. Bruno or Condor and Lakeland because they don't come from Kendal.
I think much of the British scented baccy techniques were derived from snuffmaking, even St. Bruno closely parallels old snuff recipes...
...but the snuff relationship seems more pronounced in the Kendal tradition because they use the whole spectrum of ye olde flavoring agents which have been used in snuffmaking for ages and ages --- it only seems logical to me since the Kendal firms historically were more predominantly considered snuffmakers moreso than pipe tobacco makers.
Looking at old books about snuff recipes, one can clearly see the parallels to the Kendal scents in particular...
:
:
:
:
:
These last excerpts were from a book published in 1772,
and the title may accurately reflect how some feel about the floral scented blends...
The Toilet of Flora!
:
:G&H Grasmere is flavored with Rose Geranium, just fyi. I've never smoked condor and can not compare.
Edit to add: Lakeland is hog country and has been such for generations. It's small wonder guys working in a field all day wanted something that could cut through the odor, particularly on damp, foggy days when the you can't get dry.
I was drinking some Earl Grey tea today, and I thought, hmm, this tastes kind of familiar. My wife said it tasted of tobacco! I agreed in that it does remind me of some of the milder Lakeland blends. In reading the post by misterlowercase (this forums fountain of information) and the clippings he added, I see that the bergamot used for flavor in Earl Grey was used in some of the treatments for snuff. I suppose some pipe tobacco might have had some used in it too, but overall the fruity floral scent in Lakeland tobaccos does remind me of the flavor of Earl Grey, and I think I read about this in some old posts on this forum in the past.
I hope I didn't ruin Earl Grey for any tea lovers here, and honestly there's quite a difference between the tea and the tobacco, but to me the similarity exists. I guess I'm going to have to try the tea with some Glengarry Flake or Best Brown Flake in the future. :D
I hope I didn't ruin Earl Grey for any tea lovers here, and honestly there's quite a difference between the tea and the tobacco, but to me the similarity exists. I guess I'm going to have to try the tea with some Glengarry Flake or Best Brown Flake in the future. :D
The soapy urine cake old lady perfume top dressing was so strong in Ennerdale Flake I wasn't able to discern if I was even smoking tobacco much less a Virginia or Burley etc..
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