Lane Limited - "Crown Achievement"

[deathmetal]

The secret to a good English or Balkan style blend consists of allowing the different tobaccos to breathe and thus both contrast one another, and blend into a single sweet-spicy flavor. That piquant aspect makes English blends so popular.
"Crown Achievement" came relatively dry in the tin, with a slightly rougher cut than expected. Latakia wafted upward first, then the fermented smell of Perique, followed by the abundant Orientals. Any Virginias took a back seat, and the flavor bears this out, with a faint background sweetness dominated by the real power of this blend, which is the complement between the Latakia and Perique to make the Orientals move from sour to a sweet, spicy and sour flavor. If you are thinking Kung Pao Chicken or a good vinegar barbecue, you are on the right track.
Unfortunately, the result is somewhat unbalanced. Too much of the Latakia flavor, and somewhat of a chaotic interplay between the Orientals, has created a blend that like some of the early American attempts at re-introducing an English proves jagged instead of a fine balance like the Dunhill blends. Nonetheless, I enjoy this blend for its richness of flavor; it might be better as an American English, with more Virginia and a fair dose of Burley to widen the flavor profile and allow the individual leaf varieties to tangle in the opened space, especially if those Orientals can be made to complement one another and not simply clash. If you mix in about 60% "Five Brothers," the smoking experience notably improves, which is usually a key that a condimental leaf has been overused.
http://www.tobaccoreviews.com/blend/657#review97756

I am enjoying smoking the last of this tin, but, to be honest, this blend is not going to please the average English smoker, or even an experienced one. Kind of like some of the early C&D English offerings, it is a bit jagged, but sometimes that is what the doctor ordered, sort of like enjoying the chaos outside on a snowy day (mostly cars sliding past, people falling down, and nuclear warnings from Hawaii).

 

[mso489]

Not too encouraging. I have an unopened tin aging for a while. Maybe the aging will help it. Thanks for the notice. Sometimes I like blends not much liked by others.

 

[oldgeezersmoker]

Brings back some memories. In the early 1980's, one of the friends who helped me learn to enjoy a pipe loved one of the Lane tinned orientals, After Hours. I gravitated towards Crown Achievement The blends became unavailable in the late 80's, if memory serves. Crown Achievement was a very smooth, but stout, smoke. I lost interest in it way before then as I discovered the virtues of older, even then out of production, tinned UK blends, but the Lane tinned products (Medal of Honor is being made again, called Medal of Valor, and there was also Mountbatten) were very high quality.

 

[sumusfumus]

Just asking.....
When "Crown Achievement" was originally conceived by the "master blender" and a batch was mixed together....did Lane Ltd send out trial samples to some experienced, "pipe tobacco reviewers" for critiques, suggestions, etc. before the blend went on the market for sale to the general public? Who gets to say yes or no regarding the introduction of a new blend? Who says..."OK, start selling this tobacco mixture".... The blender, or, the suits?
How did Lane know that their "CA" blend would be a mixture of tobaccos that would appeal to the pipe smoking crowd?
I guess the same questions could be asked about any commercially available pipe tobacco blends.
Frank

NYC

 

[hawky454]

Good review. Crown Achievement is okay, however, I absolutely love Medal of Valor. That one just does it for me for whatever reason. I never thought that one of my favorite English mixtures would be a Lane Limited. If you want a nice balanced English blend with a little Burley added in there for some extra body, than look no further than Medal of Valor, I think it would pleasantly surprise you.

 

[oldgeezersmoker]

@ sumusfumus, my understanding is that the CA currently made by Lane is made to the old, original formula. Leonard Wurtzel of Lane has posted here in the past, and I recall from some comments he made either here or elsewhere that a version of CA without Perique was the last "old" version made by Lane, and that the "original old" version had Perique and that the reincarnation is made with Perique.

 

[lazar]

Nightcap lite.

 

[mikestanley]

I would surprised if Lane didn’t an Oriental variety or two out of Herman’s original recipe.

Mike S.

 

[sumusfumus]

@oldgeezersmoker: Thanks for the background info. Very interesting.
From another old geezer....

Frank

NYC

 

[lestrout]

Yo deat
A couple of us were involved with LeonardW on reintroducing the CrownA. Papipeguy used to smoke a lot of it when he worked in Manhattan, and at the time CA was the most expensive tobacco on the market ($17/lb). It is very Oriental forward, and I assumed the special varietal(s) were responsible for the cost. Both he and I had a bunch of old CA, and we corresponded with Lane when they were in search of the actual blend to use to validate the recipes in the archives. Papi sent Leonard some of his stash to help the cause. Its flavor profile is at an extreme for a Balkan/English, so I wouldn't doubt that some Latfiends may not care for it.
hp

les

 

[agnosticpipe]

I had a tin of this in my cellar, but then a couple of months ago I bought this Lane Crown Achievement pipe. So of course I had to dig the tin out to try it. The first bowl, not so much, it was ok. After a week or so and 4 more bowls in the same pipe, I began to really like this stuff. Some think it to be bland without a lot of character. For my taste, I thought is was a rather mild but complex smoke. I'm still working on the tin and would buy some more as I've grown rather fond of it. Or maybe it's the pipe that makes the difference. I guess I'll have to try it in another pipe! :mrgreen:

 

[philairfoil]

I've just finished a tin of Medal of Valor, and will be ordering some bulk, as I like it.
Think I'll add a tin of the CA to my order.

 

[jeffro]

On New-Years eve, every year I open a tin of tobacco in my cellar that is five years old or more.

This year I picked out Crown achievement that was tinned in 2011.
I really like that it has so many components to the blend, the flavor changes quite a bit throughout the bowl.

you get a puff of virginia,then some orentals,then perique, then latikia. so on and so on.
To me it tastes more like Blakan than a strait up English tobacco.
All in all, It is a flavorful well rounded medium to mild tobacco that I could use as an all day smoke while reading a book or watching a movie.

Back when I got this I wish I would have purchased more tins at the time.

 

[badger]

I love Crown Achievement. It's a BIG flavor smoke that I enjoy occasionally.

 

[mso489]

My CA tin is rising higher in my stash! With a few years of age beyond the blender's, it may be quite good. Or better?

 

[warren]

My old tobacconist had the big, Lane CA jar on his tobacco bar. I loved it back in the 80s. For some reason it never made it into my regular rotation.