Liking Your Least Favorite Blend Type

[troyniss]

English/Balkan blends are at the bottom of the totem pole for me. I seldomly dive into them. Va/Pers and Va's usually compete for the top and Burleys and other types jump around in between.

However, the English/Balkan blends I do like all have one thing in common. They contain perique. Two of my favorite blends SPC Plum Pudding and C&D Sunset Harbor Flake both contain perique. I have tried many English/Balkan offerings, many from GL Pease- Abingdon, Charring Cross, Piccadily, Meridian and Lagonda, and none of them struck a chord with me. I've tried Chelsea morning, and while it does contain perique, it didn't make my favorite list. However, I would put it at the top of the GL Pease English blends. I have yet to try Quiet Nights. SOTE Flake from C&D is mediocre at best.

I opened a tin of Nightcap today and didn't really expect much, but I knew right away it was set levels apart because of the one condiment leaf of perique and I could taste it very well. It just hit the tongue G-spot, even being my least favorite blend type.

Anyone else have an experience like this?

 

[Jwebb90]

I share a similar sentiment when it comes to English/Balkan blends. However, instead of perique, I prefer a strong red VA presence.

 

[gerryp]

English/Balkan blends are at the bottom of the totem pole for me. I seldomly dive into them. Va/Pers and Va's usually compete for the top and Burleys and other types jump around in between.

However, the English/Balkan blends I do like all have one thing in common. They contain perique. Two of my favorite blends SPC Plum Pudding and C&D Sunset Harbor Flake both contain perique. I have tried many English/Balkan offerings, many from GL Pease- Abingdon, Charring Cross, Piccadily, Meridian and Lagonda, and none of them struck a chord with me. I've tried Chelsea morning, and while it does contain perique, it didn't make my favorite list. However, I would put it at the top of the GL Pease English blends. I have yet to try Quiet Nights. SOTE Flake from C&D is mediocre at best.

I opened a tin of Nightcap today and didn't really expect much, but I knew right away it was set levels apart because of the one condiment leaf of perique and I could taste it very well. It just hit the tongue G-spot, even being my least favorite blend type.

Anyone else have an experience like this?

You should try Bayou Night. It's an English, or Scottish according to C&D, but it's 50% perique. Good stuff, and it's more balanced than you would expect from that much perique.

 

[FurCoat]

For me VaPers are my least favorite...for now. We all know tastes change. I'm not saying I won't smoke them and I do often. Watch City 558 is awsome and in my regular rotation. I think the Kentucky in this blend is the determining factor as far as my tastes go.

 

[troyniss]

You should try Bayou Night. It's an English, or Scottish according to C&D, but it's 50% perique. Good stuff, and it's more balanced than you would expect from that much perique.

Sounds like an interesting blend, but I can't help to gravitate towards a Va/Per if I'm going to be indulging in that much perique like GLP Fillmore. I'll keep it on my "To Try" list though

 

[gerryp]

C&D Poplar Camp is a good VA/Per with a medium to full taste and a little black cav. I tried it on a whim and really liked it. Plus it's available in bulk for cheap.

To answer your question, yes I have had that experience with aromatics. I used to shun them, but I've found lots of good ones and smoke them regularly now. Still not a Capt. Black Original fan, although I want to try the Copper.

 

[hawky454]

I never got on with Nightcap, I think it tastes mediocre, middle of the road, meh at best. I have revisited it many times over the years and every time I do, it’s the same thing... meh. Give me Skiff Mixture or even Engine 99 by C&D and now we’re talking. As far as a stout English blends go, I think Engine 99 blows Nightcap out of the water, it’s not even close. But there is no point in demeaning other blends as they just aren’t to your taste, that doesn’t mean they aren’t good. Apparently Nightcap is amazing, it has a huge fan base, it’s just not to my taste. Apparently Miley Cyrus is amazing too (based purely off the size of her fan base, yup grown men like her too, probably the same men that like My Little Pony) but I can’t stand her.

If you do like Nightcap, I highly recommend Engine 99. Same concept different result.

 

[mso489]

A little burley condiment in an English blend makes it all happen for me ... of course.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

When the leaves start dropping, the neighbors all start smoking meats, the limbs get piled up to burn, and the sun dips its toes into the 70F's... I start getting a craving for latakia. Otherwise, I just tend to be anti-latakia.

 

[Country Bladesmith]

You should definitely go ahead and try Quiet Nights. Bayou Night and Tuggle Hall are both great Englishes (or American Englishes) that have Perique (and Burley), also.
My least favorite genre is aromatic English. I like many aromatics, and most Englishes, but for some reason when put together, they usually clash in my opinion. Buying them is a gamble for me. There are only a few that I really enjoy enough to keep buying. I like And So to Bed, Pembroke, and Wilke’s Lizzie Blood Red English. I threw Scotty’s Stonewall in the trash. The only tobacco I’ve ever thrown away.

 

[dcon]

I try not to diss on any particular genre or blend type. I find that there are always some (and sometimes plenty) of exceptions that make most such discriminations specious. There are, obviously, blends in each genre that are not in my wheelhouse. I attribute these to blending errors, like using too much of a condimental leaf or not using complimentary tobacco. IMO, the best way to refrain from disliking a blend type is to smoke a variety of different blends. This helps to alleviate the “burnout” that many forum members have expressed in other threads.

 

[cigrmaster]

When I smoked English blends over a decade ago, my 3 favorites were Frog on the Bayou, Two Friends Deacons Downfall and C&D Bayou Nights. All had perique and good amounts.
I would check out Deacons Downfall for something new. I enjoyed Penzance but I liked my English blends with Perique best.

 

[troyniss]

You should definitely go ahead and try Quiet Nights. Bayou Night and Tuggle Hall are both great Englishes (or American Englishes) that have Perique (and Burley), also.
My least favorite genre is aromatic English. I like many aromatics, and most Englishes, but for some reason when put together, they usually clash in my opinion. Buying them is a gamble for me. There are only a few that I really enjoy enough to keep buying. I like And So to Bed, Pembroke, and Wilke’s Lizzie Blood Red English. I threw Scotty’s Stonewall in the trash. The only tobacco I’ve ever thrown away.

I heard many people comparing Quiet Nights to Penzance, but I've neither had that as well. I'll eventually get to it as I am making it a goal to try all of Greg's blends while I'm alive.

 

[karam]

I never got on with Nightcap, I think it tastes mediocre, middle of the road, meh at best. I have revisited it many times over the years and every time I do, it’s the same thing... meh. Give me Skiff Mixture or even Engine 99 by C&D and now we’re talking. As far as a stout English blends go, I think Engine 99 blows Nightcap out of the water, it’s not even close. But there is no point in demeaning other blends as they just aren’t to your taste, that doesn’t mean they aren’t good. Apparently Nightcap is amazing, it has a huge fan base, it’s just not to my taste. Apparently Miley Cyrus is amazing too (based purely off the size of her fan base, yup grown men like her too, probably the same men that like My Little Pony) but I can’t stand her.

If you do like Nightcap, I highly recommend Engine 99. Same concept different result.

Funny thing about Nightcap, I smoked just that for the my first two years of pipe smoking, then when I first branched out (to DLNRs among other blends) I instantly found it flat and monochromatic and hadn't smoked it for a year. Now I came back to open a 1-year old tin of Nightcap, armed with at least 30 more blends under my belt and IT BLEW MY MIND. No kidding, the training my palate got really made it unfold.

On topic, I can't do straight Virginia, if Capstan is a gold standard example it simply does noting for me at all, I got a tin and have been smoking a flake per week, mostly to get it finished and done with, can't get any taste from it at all.

 

[rajangan]

Cherry and raspbery. I remember liking them when I was 17, but now it just tastes like nasty fake flavoring. I don't know if the tobacco changed or I did. MacBaren's cherry makes me want to fly to Europe, walk into their CEO's office and puke on his or hers desk.

 

[kcghost]

I simply can't stand burley. My god, I find it awful. Tastes like a tin full of assholes.

 

[Spa32]

Dark-fired Kentucky. I've never been able to enjoy blends that contain it. I'm not crazy about Burley in general, but I can tolerate small amounts.

 

[highwaycobbery]

You should definitely go ahead and try Quiet Nights. Bayou Night and Tuggle Hall are both great Englishes (or American Englishes) that have Perique (and Burley), also.
My least favorite genre is aromatic English. I like many aromatics, and most Englishes, but for some reason when put together, they usually clash in my opinion. Buying them is a gamble for me. There are only a few that I really enjoy enough to keep buying. I like And So to Bed, Pembroke, and Wilke’s Lizzie Blood Red English. I threw Scotty’s Stonewall in the trash. The only tobacco I’ve ever thrown away.

Go to Davis and sons tobacconists and order some London guard, you will fall in love.

 

[Country Bladesmith]

Go to Davis and sons tobacconists and order some London guard, you will fall in love.

I’ll try to remember that. Any others there worth checking out?

 

[highwaycobbery]

Absolutely, Tim Davis is a great guy and is a fourth generation blender, all the house tobaccos there are amazing, try port of call, old Brunswick for the best aros you’ve smoked. London guard is a very low % lat to sweet. Perfect balance. It’s one of the tobaccos I’ve smoked and got multiple compliments on the smell. If you are ever in Wilmington nc stop in! Tim will let you smoke a pipe in there all day if you want.