Latakia blends

[charf]

I have some Petersen Old Dublin which to me is a pretty full bodied smoke. Its the first and only Latakia blend I have tried. I have some Ashton Consumate Gentleman coming which I think has less Latakia in it. Would anyone know what percentage of Latakia is in these two blends or be able to indicate how heavy on the English blend scale they are?

 

[judcole]

I smoked a tin of CG once. It is indeed very light on the latakia, and much more oriental forward.

Old Dublin is my all time fave latakia blend. I have no idea how much lat is in there - a good dose, but not a heavy hitter like Dunhill Nightcap.

 

[anantaandroscoggin]

I'm still trying to find a latakia blend somewhere close to what I got from the Vottis Pipe shop during the winter of 1973-74 in Schenectady New York. So far, the closest I've found has been the Balkan Sasieni blend, which I feel comes about 1/2 to 2/3 of the way there.
It was strong enough that one night early in a cruise, while several of us were sitting around in the Deckies' berthing compartment talking and smoking (me the only one with a pipe going), a kid newly out of boot camp got up out of his rack on the other side of the compartment and came over and wrenched the pipe from my mouth, complaining that the room note was making his sea-sickness even worse than the cook's usual first-night-at-sea choice of a greasy pork meal (a special treat for those unaccustomed to sea sickness) had done for him.
I do admit that on occasion when lighting this Vottis English Blend, for a brief while it would smell as if someone had set fire to a liquid dishwashing soap, if that were even possible. But even on those occasions, once that odor went away in a minute or two, I could settle down to a pleasant smoke.

 

[kiwiazz74]

ive got some whole leaf balkan blend comming im looking forward to trying the latikia, i might even sneak a puff of it straight before i blend it all.

 

[mso489]

Sometimes the blender, via the tin label text writer if they aren't one in the same, will give you a clue about the level of Lat -- a healthy helping, a pinch, a hint, etc. Of course, proportions on constituent tobaccos is one of the proprietorial secrets of blends and to give that away is as much as to hand out your recipe for a blend. At least at the polar ends of the scale, a lot of Latakia or a little, the descriptor on the tin or the write-up for bulk, will reveal something. In the middle range, they'll often just list Latakia in the specs, though sometimes reviews will help you out there. Also, a high room note score will sometimes suggest more Latakia.

 

[madox07]

anantaandroscoggin give Ashton's Artisan Blend a try.