Pesse Canoe at SmokingPipes
- Thread starter woodsroad
- Start date
I have a tin of the Oriental Flake on the way. Curious to try it, but it's going to be a little bit.
I just opened the Pesse Canoe Oriental. Old school Bengal Slices style) rectangular hinged lid tin, flat black with goldesque trim. Beautiful label art work.
Tin aroma: Overwhelming fruity topping. Fig, raisin, apricot. Smells too strong, too sweet and cloying to be real. Topping obscures any recognizable tobacco aroma. Reminiscent of Peacehaven, but darker leaf and stronger scent.
Contents: Large flakes pressed from threshed leaf. Not whole leaf, but not quite a crumble cake. Somewhere in-between. Good moisture level for cellaring.
Smoking: I used a fairly new Chacom that has only seen light Latakia blends. I hope this doesn’t ghost it. Took less than half a flake to fill the bowl.
First light is a wall of perfume. No discernible tobacco aroma. I think my olfactory was just ghosted. The brighter, sharper part of the topping begins to burn off after several minutes, with a warmer, more rounded smell of cheap candy persisting.
Gradually, some tobacco notes appear, but you have to search for them. The topping fades to about half strength, but it’s too late, my sense of taste is coated with it’s semi-burnt remnants.
If you enjoy smoking a pipe, hate the smell of tobacco and swoon at a sniff of the 7-Eleven candy aisle, this blend may be perfect for you.
I’m going to go find the Nettie Pot fill it with a mix baking soda and club soda and flush out my sinuses. Maybe that will get this smell out of my head.
No
Yes
No
Open to trade for non-aromatics.
(And I bought two tins, damn it)
I still have one tin each of the two Latakia flakes to try.
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@woodsroad : Does it burn down to a fine white ash? Is it an all day smoke? Does it leave a lot of moisture at the bottom of the bowl? Has Jim Inks reviewed it yet? 
I bought a few tins of this a year ago. Pretty nasty stuff. One bowl and I'm out type of job.
My experience of the Oriental Flake was quite different, as I noted in the WAYS thread. I found it quite delicious and would buy/smoke again. Certainly no “worse” than any Lakeland.
From a relatively freshly open tin, my first bowl burned completely. I definitely would not consider it an all day smoke. Minimal moisture at the bottom of the bowl. It is very, very unique. It was kind of like smoking a rather mild Virginia with cloves stuffed in it. Like woodsroad, the cloves/topping was so prevalent, I didn't get a lot of tobacco taste. Still, I rather enjoyed it. I will smoke it again, however, I'll make a decision on buying more after I've smoked the entire tin. I also got a tin of GLP Ellipsis and smoked a bowl of it an hour or so after the Pesse Canoe. The Ellipsis is quite good IMHO and I would expect to purchase at least a few tins to age a little and keep available.@woodsroad : Does it burn down to a fine white ash? Is it an all day smoke? Does it leave a lot of moisture at the bottom of the bowl? Has Jim Inks reviewed it yet?
This, 100%. As I do with nearly every blend I acquire. Try it fresh, try it with a few months age, try it after a year and so on.
Just make sure you securely jar up the Pesse Canoe to age. The tins are not sealed in any way (discounting that silly plastic band around the outside that does essentially nothing to actually prevent oxygen/moisture transfer).
This is what I was worried about, and why I didn't immediately jump on it when released.