Latakia Will Be Smoked Till I'm Sick Of It

[bullet08]

Like many others, I fell in love with Latakia early on. And like many others, I put away good amount of Latakia. Then, I found out from others, that love of Latakia might go away. And I did notice my love of Latakia did slack over time. So I implemented "Latakia Palate Preventive Measures". No Latakia smoke one after another. But knowing I have more Latakia than I want at this time, I here by proclaim "Latakia Till I Drop Measure". I have finally came out of LPPM. Just saying..

 

[cosmicfolklore]

I like to start the day with milder blends and work my way up to more taxing blends as I progress smoking throughout the day. If I smoke an aro, it is only ever my first smoke of the day, then maybe a light burley, a few Virginias, some VaPers, a stronger burley, and then a latakia or two, and then something strong in nicotine before bed. YMMV, but it prevents me from fatiguing my palate too early in the day.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

FWIW, I did avoid latakia for a few years. But, I was trying to smoke them in the heat of summer, and it just repulsed me, but come winter, I could tolerate them better... so I just save them for winter now. I know some guys smoke them year round, and they may just be better men than me. Ha ha.

 

[hawky454]

I don’t think I will ever tire of Latakia, I still love it as much as the day I first tried it. It was my gateway leaf.

 

[BlueRidge]

The first two tins I bought were MM965 and OGS to go along with a Legend and Washington cob. I remember being blown away by the tin note of 965. I still have several latakia blends and always will have the option even though it's not commonly reached for.

 

[geoffs]

My journey with latakia is the same as what happened with Islay malts. First taste was a revelation. As I learned to appreciate the more subtle flavors in milder blends and malts, I now only return to the more intense smoke flavors occasionally. Still love 'em but you can easily burn out on them. I prefer a light hand on both, rarely interested in lat bombs or overly peated scotches as anything more than a curiosity.

 

[canucklehead]

I am in the same position, most of my minuscule cellar is composed of Latakia blends that are now 5 or more years old, time to smoke some.

 

[kcghost]

I really liked strong Latakia blend until the day if didn't. Don't know why but my taste buds moved over to the VaPer part of the spectrum but at times I wished it hadn't.

 

[didimauw]

That's how I am with Burley. Except it's all I ever smoke. If I ever get sick of Burley, I'm screwed and will have to sell my pipes.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

My journey with latakia is the same as what happened with Islay malts. First taste was a revelation. As I learned to appreciate the more subtle flavors in milder blends and malts, I now only return to the more intense smoke flavors occasionally. Still love 'em but you can easily burn out on them. I prefer a light hand on both, rarely interested in lat bombs or overly peated scotches as anything more than a curiosity.

I was really surprised at how much like latakia Ardbeg 10 was. It's like liquid latakia. You could probably even flavor a Virginia with it to make it a lat blend.

 

[bluegrassbrian]

When I first started with a pipe and realized there were blends that weren't aromatics, I bought 5 or 6 tins of English mixtures. All basically tasted the same to me and I almost quit.

In the past 7 years since then I've smoked 3 bowls with latakia. One was Mcclelland Dark Shag, which I sort of enjoyed but it has only a tiny pinch of latakia. The next was a bowl of Frog Morton bc I had never tried it before and someone was offering. Finally, back in the Fall a friend brought an original tin of BlackHouse and frankly I was impressed with the tin note. It was tolerable I guess.

I won't buy English blends though.

 

[canucklehead]

You could probably even flavor a Virginia with it to make it a lat blend.

Sounds good!

 

[crashthegrey]

Or until everything starts to taste salty. I had to drop it after that which is what led me to be a McClelland tobacco addict. Now I know not to smoke all latakia all the time.

 

[TheWhale13]

Time to get into latakia I guess. When I started smoking a pipe a bit over a year ago I started with latakia, and it tasted good. Even with my noob pipe smoking skills I greedily sucked in and retrohaled the sweet, smooth, deliciously smoky 965. Then I stopped. I don't know why, but I started smoking Virginias. And I haven't stopped. But, I recently bought a tin of Artisan's Blend. Frightened and nervous I stuffed my very well rested latakia pipe and lit it.

Wow. Harsh, smoky, and most of all overwhelming. That was not the experience that I remember. Even if the blends I smoked when I started are different, this was not very pleasant. Maybe my extremely well honed and delicate palate has been getting too acquainted to Virginias, or I'm becoming a wuss. Still, it would be fun to explore some real good Latakia blends. If I dare.

 

[Searock Fan]

I'm a Latakia fan and always have several different blends on hand. I'm curious what others like, so how about posting your favorite Latakia blend so we can all try them out. (p.s. Please give the FULL NAME and not just some abbreviation) Thanks

Some of my favorites are Dunhills 965, London Mixture and Standard Mixture, Balkan Sobranie white can and 759. Peter Skokkebee Proper English.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

C&D Epiphany, McC British Woods, SG Bothy Flake, NightCap, Hearth and Home WhiteKnight, GLP Laurel Heights, and quite a few others. Most of what I prefer has had time to age and meld in the cellar. Some of what I have mentioned are not available any more.

 

[bullet08]

Time to get into latakia I guess. When I started smoking a pipe a bit over a year ago I started with latakia, and it tasted good. Even with my noob pipe smoking skills I greedily sucked in and retrohaled the sweet, smooth, deliciously smoky 965. Then I stopped. I don't know why, but I started smoking Virginias. And I haven't stopped. But, I recently bought a tin of Artisan's Blend. Frightened and nervous I stuffed my very well rested latakia pipe and lit it.

Wow. Harsh, smoky, and most of all overwhelming. That was not the experience that I remember. Even if the blends I smoked when I started are different, this was not very pleasant. Maybe my extremely well honed and delicate palate has been getting too acquainted to Virginias, or I'm becoming a wuss. Still, it would be fun to explore some real good Latakia blends. If I dare.

Haven't gotten that bad yet. No longer enjoy Lat bombs. But things that were highly rated aren't good as they used to be. So the idea is going back to the blends I enjoyed before and see how they are now. I have some Artisan's Blend with Syrian stashed away. If that blend tastes like crap, people might see a grown man cry.

 

[bullet08]

My definite favorite is Artisan's Blend with Syrian. Then most if not all GLP Lat blends. Peterson Early Morning, 965.. Old Dublin. Others I can't recall. But I know NightCap and Plum Pudding isn't my thing. Squadron Leader, I'm smoking now. First bowl was like smoking toothpaste. Second bowl was much better, but there was some minty, floral thing I'm picking up. Just opened it recently, so giving time.

 

[brian64]

Sounds good!

Too early in the morning for that level of toxic masculinity. I find it's best to build up to it later in the day.

 

[SBC]

Similar.

When I first came to the forum (15 months ago today, I see), I was beginning to question whether I still felt like smoking latakia (after 13 years of pipe smoking at the time, albeit sometimes on-and-off). I soon learned from ya'll how common this is, and quickly cut it out for a while to avoid this.

(This led me to cultivating a love for VA which has certainly surpassed the love for latakia I used to have.)

Now I smoke latakia only when I have a hankering for it. Which thankfully is about once a month. (I'd hate to lose all enjoyment of it altogether).)

The days that I don't crave latakia, I don't smoke latakia. I think that this will protect me from burning out on it completely.