Latakia - I Just Don't "Get" It

[shortyeastcoast]

HELP!
Maybe my tastebuds are just diluted from all the years of enjoying Pabst Blue Ribbon and Basic Lights cigarettes, but I just don't understand all the descriptions and reviews of any tobacco containing Latakia.
For me if a blend has any Latakia in it, it might as well be ALL lat. It's all or nothing.
I see these descriptions of "virginia-forward" or "oriental-forward" or "a mild english" and when I taste any of these blends all I get is full on lat.
To me, some lat blends are just a tiny tiny bit 'lighter' (Squadron Leader, Frog Morton Cellar) but in the end to me they're just latakia blends and that's really all there is. They aren't really that much lighter to warrant much of a difference.
I can line up 3 different tins and have a big old whiff of each and my descriptions would go something like:
1) This one is a latakia blend.
2) This one is a latakia blend, but it's just barely a little "warmer" than #1.
3) This one is a latakia blend, but it's just barely got a little nutty-ness to it compared to #1.
They all have differences, but they're so subtle that to me picking a lat blend out of a group of lat blends is just hopeless. Latakia is latakia is latakia.
Why am I having such a difficult time with this mystery leaf?

 

[cosmicfolklore]

You're not alone. The only lat blends that I can stand are the ones that barely have any latakia at all, like Presbyterian Mix. The rest might as well just be the same tobacco blend.

I can pick out distinctive delicate taste differences in Virginias, but lat blends are just one big tongue splitting campfire in my mouth. I also can't do cigars. They have the same effect on my mouth.

 

[smokeytay33]

I'm with you on some of that. I have only had a few latakia blends, and the only one I could really distinguish from the others was Frog Morton Cellar. I believe this is because of the perique in it. However, and this may not make any sense, but I'll try to explain... While all I taste is the latakia in latakia blends, I still like latakia blends that don't have as much latakia. Yes, it does taste the same as the other blends, but it's not as overwhelming. I guess you could compare this to sipping scotch as opposed to chugging from the bottle.
Now, I like latakia, but I can only smoke it once a day at the most. I also have to smoke it last because it will dilute the flavors of the other tobaccos I smoke if it's my first bowl.
Smokey ::

 

[shayde]

I've yet to try an Lat blends or fear that I will experience the same things as those above, however I do have some FMOTT and some FMC on my next TAD order from P&C, I mean heck all McClellands are 10% off. Might as well pick one up to try, glad to hear you like FMC Smokey. Hopefully I do too

 

[vigil]

Dead on Smokeytay... Dead on...
Lat tends to dominate while the burley's and virginia's tend to lay back somewhat. It's the perique in Frog Morton that distinguishes it from alot of the other lat blends. I'm sure there's a topping or two that's part of it as well. But, I'm more and more loving the effect of perique on lat.

 

[puffy]

I smoke more aromatics than anything else.When I get bored though and want more taste I switch to a nice Latakia blend.There's is a good bit of difference in how much Latakia is in different blends.Frog Morton On The Town for example is pretty mild as is HGL.Blends like Dunhill 965 and Penzance contain more Latakia.Years ago my favorite was Bengal Slices.These days it's Penzance.As you might can tell I love Latakia.Folks have different tastes though.A lot of pipe smokers just plain detest Latakia blends.Usually it's a love or hate thing.

 

[shortyeastcoast]

It's not that I dislike latakia - in fact quite the contrary. For every 12 bowls of va/vapers I smoke, I'll have about 4 that are aros, and about 1-2 that are lat blends.
So it's not a matter of dislike, it's a matter of not being able to distinguish anything else in a blend once there's latakia in it.
I feel like I'm missing out on a whole kickass genre of tobaccos just because my dumb senses are failing me when it comes to lat.

 

[petes03]

I don't know man! I drink Pabst Blue Ribbon and I smoked L&M light 100's for years ( and still do occasionally, shhh..), but I have no problem picking up on the subtleties of Latakia blends. FM Cellar is very light on the Lat, that's true, but it is meant to be noticed. Though it's not supposed to be the star of the show! Myself, I love Latakia in all dosages, a little or a lot! Like I said, I've never had a problem, except maybe when I first started smoking Lats, with picking up on the subtleties of a blend that contains Latakia. Good luck to you!

 

[mso489]

For me, it seems to help to rotate around Lat blends, so I am also smoking some aromatics and straight

burley, Virginia, Cavendish, or home mixes of these, just one or two, sometimes flavored with a little

Perique or Izmir. Then when I get around to my English blends with Latakia, they seem somewhat distinct.

Dunhill 965, Nat Sherman 536, and Altadis Fox and Hound are three separate experiences to me. I won't

draw out the post elaborating on it, but they're quite unique. If I had a Lat blast every time I smoked a pipe,

it might all run together; I can see that.

 

[fitzy]

I think your crazy. Some blends like Squadron Leader have so little lat I can't taste the lat at all in it.

Cellar to me has a bit more so you can certainly taste it but I taste much more than just lat.
Then when you get into the orientals with lat like Yenidje Highlander you get just the faintest hint of lat.

 

[pylorns]

I've tried 3 different blends with latakia in them - all with differnet amounts of it but all I tasted was latakia - it just dominates the blend, I want to taste the other tobacco!

 

[msandoval858]

Years ago when I started smoking pipes, I hit the ground running with latakia. My first bowl had lat in it and it was probably several months of smoking before I even got around to trying anything aro or straight VA.
My palate seems to handle it well because I am able to taste varying degrees of latakia in blends and still detecting other ingredients. I'd estimate that 75% of everything I smoke has latakia in it so at this point it's just normal to me. Maybe I'm one of the lucky ones?

 

[fitzy]

I do have to say about 10 years ago when I first tried a few lat blends I thought they were horrible. Smoking Cellar is what brought me around to being a lat lover.
I think it's an acquired taste similar to the way coffee was an acquired taste for me. I hated coffee the first half dozen or more times I tried it.
I'm with you msandoval858. I'd say probably 70% of what I smoke has some lat in it.

 

[pylorns]

Campfire taste is nice every once in a while but I want some variety.

 

[lostandfound]

Most of our fellow smokers warn that you MUST sip/puff slowly while smoking Virginia's/ flakes, but I've found this is more of a necessity with English blends. I can smoke a flake like I'm trying to suck the tobacco through the air-way and experience little to no adverse effects, but if I try to do this with an English, it turns rancid.

 

[tamer291]

For me when I first tried latakia it was in H&H Larrys Blend. Way too much lat. That's all I tasted. Then I tried Penzance and Dunhill 965. Still too much latakia for me. I finally decided to try some Frog Morton (regular). I can definetly taste the latakia. But it tolerable. And I am beginning to enjoy it. I find myself wanting to smoke it, but not all the time.
I agree that latakia tends to dominate the blend. I want to try Frog Morton Cellar. People say its the perfect mix.

 

[smokeytay33]

Anyone considering Frog Morton Cellar, whether you love latakia or not, please try it! It's one of the more unique tobaccos I've ever had.

 

[tarak]

+1 smokeytay, FMC is good stuff.
I think, like so many other things in typing, our ability to taste and distinguish and appreciate various blends appreciate over time. Latakia is a bit of a dominating flavor, so if a blend is fairly strong and it, of course you will get that pretty heavily.

 

[fitzy]

FMC for me is the best lighter lat blend.
Also I find I build up sort of a tolerance for it. The more you smoke it the less you taste it. So every once in a while I take a break for a week or 2 then go back to lat.

 

[tennsmoker]

Repeat after me......smoke slowly, have patience, enjoy.