Latakia-Light Blends

[mso489]

If you might enjoy Virginia based English blends with burley as a condiment and light Latakia, a refined example of that is Nat Sherman 536. It's not going to stoke you with nicotine, but it's a thoughtfully blended smoke.

 

[Mis Pipas]

Which Latakia blends have small or the least amount of it in the mixture?

I’ve veered away from Latakia blends for quite a while but I tried a bowl of EMP a few days ago. EMP had been a favorite of mine, but unfortunately I did not enjoy the experience. But maybe a blend with just a sprinkle of the black leaf will hit the spot. Any suggestions?

BTW, I do enjoy GH Bob’s Chocolate Flake, but this is more floral essence than Latakia to me.

I made a mistake. Accept my apologies, Silver Flake is a bomb a latakia.

 

[spartacus]

GIve Lane HGL a shot.

 

[hauntedmyst]

I'll echo Presbyterian and add Dan Tobacco's Gordon Pym

 

[rushx9]

Light English is one of my favorite categories for all day smokes. Presbyterian is recommended so highly for a reason, I'd say it's the epitome of the genre. Picture in the dictionary status. If you can find it, Germain's King Charles Mixture is another winner and I'd say it's even softer smoking than Pres. Another tough to find but fantastic blend in the style is Dunhill Standard Mixture Mellow. Sweeter VAs than the rest with Dunhills mild fruity apricot house topping. If you like that addition of fruit topping, Esoterica St Ives is in that same vein, I think it's King Charles Mixture with added VA Cavendish and a heavier fruit topping than SMM(it's technically an aromatic-English crossover). Lane HGL and Sutliff Aromatic English are light in lat but also include burley and black cav... and are cased in a healthy amount of 1Q-ish vanilla flavor.

 

[sumusfumus]

Lane Ltd "HGL" = Captain Black -original with small addition of Latakia (very mild, great aroma)
John Patton's "Dark and Stormy" (4Noggins)

Two off the top of my head that are terrific smokes.

Alternative: As suggested...buy a few ounces of blender's Latakia and add small amounts to your fav mixture/blend. Take the easy way out. This is probably the best ay to go....you can modify many of your already-bought mixtures that you have on hand.

 

[supdog]

I'll second Skiff mixture, and add C&D Star of the East Gold. Something that I have done in the past (with good results) is to mix D&R Ramback Balkan with some blending Latakia

 

[chopper]

I'd give Ashton's Consummate Gentleman a shot, light latakia and good flavor.

ACG was my first English blend that I bought & I enjoyed it.

@curl when an English [or aromatic blend for that matter] is too strong in any manner, I just blend in some Windsail Virginia. [At $20 a lb it's excellent value. It's a very good blending Virginia]

Blending an aromatic 50/50 with an English blend gives a tasty treat. - my latest concoction is Mark Twain mixed 50/50 with London Squire
& is a very nice change of pace.

MB Plumcake has my favourite tin-note but I need to smoke it in a sml/med meerschaum lined Dublin to avoid bite.
Newminster #17 English Lexus is a very good mild English that's light on the Latakia.
Epiphany is a touch stronger but is a great smoke.
My favourite crossover blend though, that uses Latakia as a condiment, is Count Pulaski - I'm surprised that nobody's mentioned it yet. [Unless I missed it]

 

[augiebd]

This post gives me a better idea of what to expect from some unopened tins I have on hand.

 

[curl]

Now I’m going to answer my own question.
Bald Headed Teacher is a bulk blend by 4noggins.
Latakia is a small part of this blend.
And I already have close to a pound of it.
I enjoy this blend very much; I just forgot that it fits to a T my search for a Latakia-lite blend.

 

[Thepipehunter]

Presbyterian Is a great blend and very well priced for the quality and the fact that it is tinned. I really enjoy early morning pipe as well!

 

[rushx9]

My favourite crossover blend though, that uses Latakia as a condiment, is Count Pulaski - I'm surprised that nobody's mentioned it

I'm a fan of the Count, but I feel like it has a fairly heavy latakia presence for a crossover, that's why I left it out. To me, it's much more upfront than in some other Sutliff crossovers like Aromatic English and Voodoo Queen. Definitely a must try for anyone that loves licorice and the smokey stuff!

 

[chopper]

I'm a fan of the Count, but I feel like it has a fairly heavy latakia presence for a crossover, that's why I left it out. To me, it's much more upfront than in some other Sutliff crossovers like Aromatic English and Voodoo Queen. Definitely a must try for anyone that loves licorice and the smokey stuff!

Now what's interesting there is that I taste the latakia in the background. I guess it shows how much differs depending on the individual.

I've read that a lot of smokers who once loved Latakia tired of it after a while.
My sense is that Lat-bombs, or even those that are just Latakia forward, becomes 'too much of a good thing' after a while.

That's one reason why I stuck to ordering blends with condimental levels of Latakia. I'd hate to become weary of it because around half of my stash is English/American/crossover, lol.

 

[rushx9]

Now what's interesting there is that I taste the latakia in the background. I guess it shows how much differs depending on the individual.

I've read that a lot of smokers who once loved Latakia tired of it after a while.
My sense is that Lat-bombs, or even those that are just Latakia forward, becomes 'too much of a good thing' after a while.

That's one reason why I stuck to ordering blends with condimental levels of Latakia. I'd hate to become weary of it because around half of my stash is English/American/crossover, lol.

I'd agree that its condimental. Its definitely far from a lat bomb. I just smoke a lot of light Englishes where the lat is barely noticeable and I feel like it's more upfront in Count P than them... it could be that the batch I got was from the bottom of a big bulk bag where the lat had settled

 

[curl]

Presbyterian Mixture has performed as advertised in terms of the slight presence of Latakia.

However at first the Latakia was still too much for me. Too much for me because the pieces of Latakia are fairly large, and when they catch fire that’s all you taste.

So I used my Uber grinder to chop up the blend into smaller pieces. Now the various components of the blend are all scrambled together and they all burn together without the large pieces of Latakia taking over to dominate the burn. Now I experience the blend’s components evenly throughout the bowl.

I’ve mentioned my grinder a few times before so you’re maybe tired of my bringing it up again. But I grind nearly all my blends, not just the flakes. I like being able to trickle the tobacco into the bowl and I like how all the components burn together and not take turns during the smoke.

 

[rushx9]

I grind nearly all my blends, not just the flakes. I like being able to trickle the tobacco into the bowl and I like how all the components burn together and not take turns during the smoke.

Its interesting how different everyone's tastes and preferences can be. I see a lot of folks talk about blasting blends in a coffee grinder for the same reasons, but I tend to like chunky cuts and the way the flavor shifts in some blends. I could never imagine grinding up a flake because I like how flakes burn, the closest I come is a cube cut! But I can definitely see how one would appreciate the ease of loading and consistency of flavor with a fine cut, and a lot of folks appreciate the burn of shag for similar reason. Different strokes!