Thank you to the very generous
@jaingorenard for a sizeable sample from this pouch! It's been a privilege to taste it.
There were two surprises right out of the package:
One was the very fine shag cut seen in the pictures above. The other (even more shocking) surprise was the enduring potency of its topping.
Despite decades of age and a double wrap in food saver bags, the box that contained the sample was filled with the volatiles of St. Julien's long-dead topping: softly floral, cool, woody and musky, a scent evocative of shampoos and department stores from when I was little.
It's interesting that you sense an overlap with RB plug, Joe. I wasn't aware of RB plug until after it got discontinued, but I recall it being described (possibly by you in another thread) as having a unique and spicy, wood incense-like topping. I can see that here.
Comparing to what I've experienced myself, St. Julien’s flavor reminded me of Gawith's Bosun Cut Plug and older Condor, including the potency of the tobacco's own flavors carrying through the heavier topping. And heavy it was. The scent of the topping hung on through the entire smoke, persisting into the aftertaste and still clings to the pipe a week (and several bowls of burley) later.
I tried not to search too hard for the scents in that list of ingredients from the BAT archive, but interestingly, my wife, completely without knowledge of that list, smelled the dry leaf and said it reminded her of baby balm. Ylang Ylang scents a lot of baby creams here in the US, so maybe some of that list rings true.
Whatever was in the sauce and whatever clings to the leaf after all these years still made for a fascinating and nostalgic smoke. It's a relic of another era, for sure--a time when we were less shy about strong and complex smells in our lives, tobacco and perfume alike.
