I was starting to get a bit tired of lats, but then I smoked Plum Pudding Special Reserve... 
Overcoming Latakia Burnout
- Thread starter solideogloria86
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Is that one worth the premium over the regular? If so, why?I was starting to get a bit tired of lats, but then I smoked Plum Pudding Special Reserve...
It is absolutely worth the premium. Take everything about regular PP, and dial it up to 11. Super fermented, BBQ, vinegar... It is a masterpiece, IMO. I've been stocking up since the blend will probably be changing.
I’ve smoked thousands of bowls of pipe tobacco and only one with Latakia. It was Stratfordshire from C&D. I lit it, dumped it, and went back to my burleys and Virginias.
That’s very helpful, thank you. I should try to get a couple of tins before it is changed or gone.
I loved, and primarily smoked, English, Balkan, and Oriental blends until the early 2000's when I hit the wall with Latakia. It was an almost instant change from love to revulsion, serious stomach churning revulsion.
I got into Virginias and didn't touch Latakia for years.
After a few years I found myself Lat curious once more and have integrated the "once in a blue moon and only in condimental amounts" amount of Latakia back in. I never had issues with Orientals, but Latakia gave me the absolute hurls.
As long as the Latakia is soft, mellow, and in a supporting role I enjoy it on the rare occasion that I feel like having some.
Time heals all wounds, even Latakia.
I got into Virginias and didn't touch Latakia for years.
After a few years I found myself Lat curious once more and have integrated the "once in a blue moon and only in condimental amounts" amount of Latakia back in. I never had issues with Orientals, but Latakia gave me the absolute hurls.
As long as the Latakia is soft, mellow, and in a supporting role I enjoy it on the rare occasion that I feel like having some.
Time heals all wounds, even Latakia.
It took about 20 years for it to happen to me.
Your lack of motivation to load a bowl of latakia, yet enjoyment of it when you do, is a string for which my experience is a resonance chamber.
Like you and myriad others, I smoked mainly (almost only) latakia for years. I periodically tried VAs just because I wanted to learn to appreciate what so many other appreciated, but it was lost on me.
One day an Iwan Ries flake (which today I don't even consider that great) tasted for a split second like toasted marshmallow, and from that point on I very slowly began to "get" VAs.
Today when reaching for a jar, my instinct is always to reach for a VA and bypass the latakias. I can't drum up the motivation to open a latakia. But every once in awhile I make myself, reminding myself that I'll like it if I do it -- and sure enough, I always do like it. I just forget that by the next day. Whereas I always remember how I like VAs. Weird.
We're definitely kindred spirits. I bought a 10yo tin of Union Square for $10 thinking I would finally get what all the fuss was about. Smoked a few bowls and got nothing. I gave most of it away in samples and every few months I'd try a bowl. About a year later, I had two bowls left in the bottom of the jar. Tried again, and was met with a bowlful of toasty Graham crackers with a touch of honey. I smoked the second bowl and it was the same experience. This sparked that Va obsession that made me leave Latakia.
I still and always have enjoyed latakia, but in moderation. About 6 months ago I bought a tin of Pirate Kake, and thought it was my favourite tobacco. It's almost 75% lat. So I bought four more tins. Enjoyed for a bit more, but tired of it. I started trying other genres, and now, I'll smoke Pirate Kake only when I have a case of tongue bite, and still have 3 1/2 tins of PK in my stash. I'll go to cigars when I overdo things, with maybe a small pipe of PK.
I still do three or four pipes of English a week, and still like them, but have drifted to the Navy side of this genre, mostly Black Frigate which remains one of the best tobaccos I've experienced. Don't know why, but I don't find the lat in it obtrusive; as a matter of fact, this potion smokes with the same fullness from beginning to the end without my ever paying attention to the lat.
But yeah, in general, I've lessened my intake of latakia as my go-to smoke, and drifted towards aro/codgers like Sir Walter Raleigh and Borkum Riff Dark. I'm simply enjoying more variety now, and haven't really found a tobacco that isn't worth smoking at one time or another.
I still do three or four pipes of English a week, and still like them, but have drifted to the Navy side of this genre, mostly Black Frigate which remains one of the best tobaccos I've experienced. Don't know why, but I don't find the lat in it obtrusive; as a matter of fact, this potion smokes with the same fullness from beginning to the end without my ever paying attention to the lat.
But yeah, in general, I've lessened my intake of latakia as my go-to smoke, and drifted towards aro/codgers like Sir Walter Raleigh and Borkum Riff Dark. I'm simply enjoying more variety now, and haven't really found a tobacco that isn't worth smoking at one time or another.
I've been experiencing my own version of Latakia burnout this week. I used to be a semi-regular Early Morning Pipe smoker, but after smoking the more heavily Latakia laden blends Arango Balkan Supreme, C&D Cordial, Peterson Standard Mixture, and My Mixture 965 for the past 5 days I went back and had Early Morning Pipe again this morning only to find that I can't taste the Latakia in it at all now!
It's like my palate adjusted to the higher Latakia concentrations in those other blends and now I can't taste the smaller concentrations of it in EMP. All I can taste are the Virginias and Orientals. How strange!
It's like my palate adjusted to the higher Latakia concentrations in those other blends and now I can't taste the smaller concentrations of it in EMP. All I can taste are the Virginias and Orientals. How strange!
I used to smoke mm965 pretty much every day, with the occasional Virginia or burley to keep things interesting. Lately I've been changing things up, now mostly enjoying aromatics and codgers during the day and stout Latakia at night. I also quit vaping, so I now smoke a pipe all throughout the day and aros fill that void for me. I used to hate aros but now that I know how to smoke them, it opened up a new world for me. I've noticed that in smoking aromatics, when I do go to a lat blend, I can taste way more of the flavors than I used to. I don't know if that's because it's trained me to slow down and sip more or if it's expanded my pallet and what flavors in able to taste. Probably a bit of both.
For a long time, the place I did 99% of my smoking was within my wife's olfactory range. No lat or I'd have an angry wife telling me she doesn't want her bagel smelling like a sweaty armpit. I have reworked the airflow of the room and put up a cover over the threshold and now can work lat smokes in. I still love them, but some of them mess up my mouth a bit. Like I can smoke aros or va's, brush my teeth and be fine. With heavy lat, i brush my teeth and still wake up with a hint of what I used to call cigar mouth. Not enough to make me stop, but not how it used to be.
/shrug
Edit: typos
/shrug
Edit: typos
My initial reaction to Latakia was 
, which became 
after smoking through a tin each of 2 or 3 English blends. The flavor and aroma are definitely not for me. However, Latakia is the coolest-smoking, creamiest tobacco I’ve tried. For that reason alone, I kinda wish I liked it.
, which became after smoking through a tin each of 2 or 3 English blends. The flavor and aroma are definitely not for me. However, Latakia is the coolest-smoking, creamiest tobacco I’ve tried. For that reason alone, I kinda wish I liked it.
what 2-3 blends did you try?My initial reaction to Latakia was
Peterson Old Dublin and Dunhill Early Morning Pipe for sure, and I can’t remember the third. Coulda been Frog Morton. It was 12 or 11 years ago
As a McClelland fanboy, that has me intrigued.
I didn't care for Mississippi River and Plum Pudding was just okay.
I may have to give the Special Reserve a try.
I love Latakia. I've never had Latakia burnout. Latakia is the bacon of the tobacco world. It goes great wiith almost everything. Yeah, you could eat nothing but bacon for a meal and it's glorious. But having nothing but bacon for 4 or 5 meals? It loses its wonder. Yeah, it's still good but it you miss out on the way it enhances other tobaccos. I guess what I am trying to say is...squirrel! What was I saying? Oh well, it will come to me.