Love That Brand

[dctune]

Per the continued requests - I'm currently referring to Peterson blends heavy on Latakia.

But I didn't want to say initially, because the actual brand wasn't important, just the phenomenon being explored.

I think part of that was/is seasonal, regarding the genre. It's just recently turned significantly, regarding the weather, and I feel the shift to Virginias tugging at me. I'll probably leave these particular 3 that have a hold of me behind temporarily while I go exploring more: blend, brand & genre.

If I come back to them heavily next season remains to be seen, but I've ordered a bit to have around for the future.

Now I'll be exploring and looking for more delicious offerings.

I'll likely be seasonally leaving behind:
My Mixture 965
Old Dublin
Nightcap

Probably...................................
Those late night desires for that heavy, smoky, goodness...

I gotta say, I’m also a big fan of Peterson’s Latakias. Their tobaccos taste balanced, and I prefer their cut. I have 4 tins of some GLP Englishes, and I like them well enough. They’re very fine blends. But they all seem to lack a bit of the subtlety I find with Nightcap and MM965 in particular.

I did buy a P&C MM965 Match back around Christmas that I absolutely adored. I actually liked it BETTER than 965. Smoked most of it. Jarred it. Found it didn’t age as well as I’d hoped. Or perhaps my taste shifted a bit, which is not uncommon for me.

Two Peterson blends that I didn’t really care for at first were Sherlock Holmes and Elizabethan. But eventually even those grew on me as I learned to smoke them for what they were, if that makes any sense.

I also enjoy Early Morning Pipe, though I buy it infrequently.

 

[cigrmaster]

My 2012 GL Pease Navigator is some fine smoking stuff. The Kentucky smoothed out and the flavors melded nicely, a real winner in my book. I am kind of pissed I only bought 50 tins, I should have bought 100.

 

[edger]

I keep smallish quantities of:
MacBaren
Peter Stokkebye
Sutliff
Gawith and Hogarth

The bulk of my cellar, however, is Cornell and Diehl and primarily their va's and va/pers.

 

[jpmcwjr]

Do you suspect:
A) The addition of some "secret sauce" that the particular company might use across their product line?
B) The skill of the blender(s) employed at that particular blending house?
C) A combination of both is involved?
D) Duh! It just happens sometimes?
E) Entirely something else?
F) Forgeddaboudit - it will change next year anyway.

Just a question of curiosity. No uncontrollable desire to solve, answer, or complicate the process.

Cheers

As to the "why", houses that use top quality leaf and have pride in their work are the reasons for me. No names at this time.

 

[ashdigger]

Ash, remember the all out war of me and Peck chasing down Klondike Gold? I think I stopped at 150-175 tins. I love that shit and got shit lucky it didn't get discontinued till I was done trying to compete with Peck. The rotten bastard held out on my till he got his first 150. I went balls to the walls buying 25-50 lot sizes. I did get him back for holding out on me. I didn't tell him about John Aylesbury Luxury Flake which was a mother to find. I said nothing till I was done hoarding them.

That was an awesome cage match fight to the death.

I still have the list you published years ago of your favorites. It guided my cellar to much success.

 

[cigrmaster]

Ash, glad I could help with your cellar. There was a time when guys were telling me to shut my pie hole as the good stuff was getting bought out too quick. I remember not listing my list for a fairly long time. Even on other sites I was told to shut the fuck up.

 

[FLDRD]

I gotta say, I’m also a big fan of Peterson’s Latakias. Their tobaccos taste balanced, and I prefer their cut. I have 4 tins of some GLP Englishes, and I like them well enough. They’re very fine blends. But they all seem to lack a bit of the subtlety I find with Nightcap and MM965 in particular.

I did buy a P&C MM965 Match back around Christmas that I absolutely adored. I actually liked it BETTER than 965. Smoked most of it. Jarred it. Found it didn’t age as well as I’d hoped. Or perhaps my taste shifted a bit, which is not uncommon for me.

Two Peterson blends that I didn’t really care for at first were Sherlock Holmes and Elizabethan. But eventually even those grew on me as I learned to smoke them for what they were, if that makes any sense.

I also enjoy Early Morning Pipe, though I buy it infrequently.

Early Morning Pipe was the first English blend for which I really "got it", and that sent me searching, most recently ending at the "strength" of Nightcap, although I like them in all variations of lighter to heavier, depending on circumstances.

Sherlock Holmes and Elizabethan are on my list, and I anticipate that even if they aren't fantastic now, I might appreciate them more a little later in the journey. So there's more than one of each hanging around...

I've had several other English blends open even as I was learning & loving that "something extra" about said Peterson blends. Several of them were fine enough and found siblings arriving for my future endeavors. I've probably tried 20-ish English the last year or so.

I look forward to finding that "something" in future blends, regardless of the style, and if I get bored of exploring, those that hit my spot will be what I focus on later.

That being said, I still cringe when I think about losing the taste for Latakia or some other significant palate shift, which I read about often enough. If I've too much of something later I suppose a simple trade will benefit all.

 

[dctune]

Early Morning Pipe was the first English blend for which I really "got it", and that sent me searching, most recently ending at the "strength" of Nightcap, although I like them in all variations of lighter to heavier, depending on circumstances.

Sherlock Holmes and Elizabethan are on my list, and I anticipate that even if they aren't fantastic now, I might appreciate them more a little later in the journey. So there's more than one of each hanging around...

I've had several other English blends open even as I was learning & loving that "something extra" about said Peterson blends. Several of them were fine enough and found siblings arriving for my future endeavors. I've probably tried 20-ish English the last year or so.

I look forward to finding that "something" in future blends, regardless of the style, and if I get bored of exploring, those that hit my spot will be what I focus on later.

That being said, I still cringe when I think about losing the taste for Latakia or some other significant palate shift, which I read about often enough. If I've too much of something later I suppose a simple trade will benefit all.

I’m not too worried about losing my taste for Latakia. Maybe I should be. Idk. But mainly, it’s bc I go through phases. And I go through them HARD. I’m like that with everything in my life. Like I eat the exact same thing for breakfast and lunch every day. Until one day, I just don’t eat that same thing anymore. And whatever the new thing is, that’s the next phase. The phases last as long as they last. I’ve learned over the years of dealing with myself, that’s what works for me.

Im kinda the same with tobaccos. Though admittedly it’s a little trickier with the leaf than it is with a banana and a sausage biscuit. Some tobaccos taste entirely different after a couple months in the jar than they did the day I popped the tin. But in general, I smoke 2-3 blends of the same genre at a time. Until I don’t. And I don’t time it or anything. I don’t even think about it really. One day I just reach for a different genre or blend, and I’m off on that for a spell.

 

[lestrout]

I have noticed that I seem to have an unexplainable affinity for the blends from a particular brand, or blending "house". (Not that I don't enjoy or appreciate others as well) And by this I mean that somehow, the blends from said brand just seem to provide "something" that I'm not getting in others at this point in time. I can't determine what that "something" is. But the desire generally leads me to want to at least end the day with one of "those".

If you're one that has noticed that happens (ed) to you, to what do you attribute the phenomenon?

Do you suspect:
A) The addition of some "secret sauce" that the particular company might use across their product line?
B) The skill of the blender(s) employed at that particular blending house?
C) A combination of both is involved?
D) Duh! It just happens sometimes?
E) Entirely something else?
F) Forgeddaboudit - it will change next year anyway.

Just a question of curiosity. No uncontrollable desire to solve, answer, or complicate the process.

Cheers

Back to the OP, for houses that process their own leaf (as opposed to mixing together purchased raw materials), the casings they use at the very beginning with their source Virginias and burleys tend to be standardized for the house. Casings could be maple syrup/sugar, anise, molasses or simply sugar (and there are a number of sugars out there). Unless they drown out the flavor profiles with later toppings, the casing flavor would be in all their product as a bass note. For instance, the distinctive licorice in Esoterica and Germain starts with their choice of anise as their casing.

hp
les

 

[didimauw]

C&D makes up the largest percentage from any blender in my cellar. However, they do have quite a few I would never smoke.

Same here. Other than the obvious Carter Hall, C&D is my favorite brand of tobacco. However I only smoke straight burleys or BurVa blends, so there is hundreds of C&D blends I'll never try due to other tobaccos in them.

 

[anotherbob]

That was an awesome cage match fight to the death.

I still have the list you published years ago of your favorites. It guided my cellar to much success.

so that is what happened to him and why you are happy to distract us with bad disposals. Or in other words, must be one heck of a blend.

 

[chopper]

Not that I've got any stashed but my favourite 'brand' would be Orlik.
Love Orlik blends and would be content if that was all that was available.
Shame that it's not sold in bulk.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

Not that I've got any stashed but my favourite 'brand' would be Orlik.
Love Orlik blends and would be content if that was all that was available.
Shame that it's not sold in bulk.

So, STG would be who actually makes Orlik Golden Sliced. I take it that you really really like this one.

 

[burleybreath]

Back to the OP, for houses that process their own leaf (as opposed to mixing together purchased raw materials), the casings they use at the very beginning with their source Virginias and burleys tend to be standardized for the house. Casings could be maple syrup/sugar, anise, molasses or simply sugar (and there are a number of sugars out there). Unless they drown out the flavor profiles with later toppings, the casing flavor would be in all their product as a bass note. For instance, the distinctive licorice in Esoterica and Germain starts with their choice of anise as their casing.

Suddenly, without warning, someone finally addresses the OP! Anyone give a sh*t what I like or stash away? Hmm...didn't think so.

 

[FLDRD]

Back to the OP, for houses that process their own leaf (as opposed to mixing together purchased raw materials), the casings they use at the very beginning with their source Virginias and burleys tend to be standardized for the house. Casings could be maple syrup/sugar, anise, molasses or simply sugar (and there are a number of sugars out there). Unless they drown out the flavor profiles with later toppings, the casing flavor would be in all their product as a bass note. For instance, the distinctive licorice in Esoterica and Germain starts with their choice of anise as their casing.

hp
les

So, if I find I tend to like multiple offerings from a blending house, other than sheer coincidence or the possibility I might like most everything I try - the possibility exists that there could be something about the casing that resonates with me.
That would be one possibility, thanks.

 

[FLDRD]

Fullness.

Maybe that "something" at this time is the full, rounded mouth feel I get with certain Latakia blends.

I have just tried Afternoon Melange for about the 3rd time and it seems to give me something similar to the 3 I mentioned, which have been great end-the-evening blends for me.

If it holds up, I might buy Melange with the future in mind on that blend too.

At the same time, I acknowledge that my tastes can and will vary, and sometimes I may simply seek the experience where a "full" feel is the last thing I want. Because that certainly does not encapsulate how I'd describe my appreciation of a straight Virginia flake, for example.

What a lovely journey!

 

[Searock Fan]

I feel ashamed of myself! Hate to admit it but I like the Hilson Fantasia pipes. Yeah, I know, a plastic pipe with a pressed meerschaum bowl. Goes against everything I feel makes a good pipe. They just look cool. I'm currently taking meds to get over it....

 

[Swiss Army Knife]

I grew up around McCranie's so McClellands was foundational for me, however I didn't seriously get into hoarding tobacco until after they closed up so my cellar is skint.

I'm primarily a Virginia smoker and I've come to really appreciate the stuff out of Germany. K&K primarily, they just really nail it. On the cheaper/attainable side of things Sutliff bulk has really impressed as well.

 

[cigrmaster]

I don't think people are aware of who Les Trout really is. He is the man with the greatest pipe tobacco collection on the web. I keep trying to find out where he is from so we could have a few of the boys breakdown his door and take his whole stash. It could take a week or more to get it all, but we can hire a security team to protect us while we ransack his stash.

 

[chopper]

So, STG would be who actually makes Orlik Golden Sliced. I take it that you really really like this one.

Love OGS.
Racing Green would have to be my favourite aro. It's tin note smells exactly like Dr Pats Irish Mixture [an ubiquitous Aussie brand] but is a better smoke due to the cut and different leaf.
Mellow Mixture is also very good.

Although they're the Orlik blends I've tried, I just know I'd also really like the other Orlik blends.