Revisiting Blends

[shanelktown]

First of all the blend to be discussed is C&D's Haunted Bookshop. Now this blend I bought last year around a time I was really out trying different blends. My initial opinion of this blend was heavy on burley felt like I was smoking a cigarette....very high in the vitamin N department. I had tried this same blend in a cob back in June and found it to be decent and smokeable at this point. The jar has been in the cellar since so with about a year of love on it. I decided to load a bowl. Upon opening the jar I was met with a fruit nut bread note. Immediately I smiled and got excited like a kid on Christmas. Anyways I loaf pipe like little Ralph and his beloved red Ryder BB gun. And slowly puff away into a nirvana of complete bliss. The blend has transformed into a beautiful sweet nutty delight. Probably the only way I like burley blends. Needless to say there is a fruit like wine undertone as I retrohale. Nothing like a cigarette this time except the pleasant nicotine hit I am receiving. It is truly amazing how a blend I believe I reviewed and rated as a 2 star bummer can now be glorified in the sense of man I need to load another bowl. Keep in mind this is only 1 year of age on it can only imagine what it will be like in a few more years. So lesson learned never give up on blends because within time you may change your mind.

 

[pitchfork]

Burley, especially the all-natural burley that C&D uses, can take some time getting used to. I remember finding Haunted Bookshop really harsh when I first started smoking, but now I love it -- I probably smoke more HB than anything else. It doesn't seem harsh to my palate anymore -- just nutty, with the slightest bit of VA sweetness.

 

[sablebrush52]

So lesson learned never give up on blends because within time you may change your mind.

That's a great lesson to learn. My tastes have changed over time, and will change again and again. One of the wonders of pipe smoking is the sheer variety of flavor profiles that one can sample. Get tired of one profile and there are others to enjoy. Then, down the road, you find yourself once again enjoying a blend that you had set aside.

 

[deathmetal]

Sometimes I wonder if what I'm actually cellaring is my tongue, teaching it patience.

 

[brudnod]

Same happened to me with Edgeworth. My dad smoked it as his regular. I never had developed a taste for it (40 years ago) but now it is one of my favorite occasional smokes. Tastes they do change!

 

[mso489]

I'm always telling new members to buy blends in small quantities and not to throw out blends they may not like (at first). Tastes evolve and develop, and sometimes fairly quickly.

 

[deathmetal]

Good advice. Start with a wide range of small samples, then work up. Sometimes favorites "emerge" counter-intuitively.

 

[shutterbugg]

I have noticed that I tend to get more out of a blend when it's new to me, then it seems to lose its taste as I get used to it. Variety is the spice of life.

 

[shanelktown]

Also Claude try uhles it is a bit pricey but really good blends blend 00 is good they have a burley perfection plug as well. I am not a huge burley person but I hear those are good. Also bishops move is a fantastic English blend one of my top ones only problem is the price....7.45 for 1.5 oz plus shipping ouch but man it's worth it.

 

[ray47]

A lot of the burley blends from C&D are green and need some aging. C&D is my favorite blender and I find that 3 months in a jar really improve their blends. I won't smoke my favorite blend, OJK, until it has aged at least 3 months.

 

[jackswilling]

^^^ this makes sense. Time/aging = goodness, generally. I am not saying that the notion, in many of these posts, that the smoker evolves/changes, and ergo, the blend branded as a POS is better/great in the fullness of time, not due to aging, but due to the smoker's evolution as a smoker.

 

[jackswilling]

^^^ this makes sense. Time/aging = goodness, generally. I am not saying that the notion, in many of these posts, that the smoker evolves/changes, and ergo, the blend branded as a POS is better/great in the fullness of time, is wrong. But it also makes sense that aging, may be the prime mover in all this.

 

[skraps]

A lot of the burley blends from C&D are green and need some aging.

Agreed. This has always been my impression with C&D, and I would venture to say it goes beyond just their Burley blends.
I'm guessing here, but I think because of their space constraints in the past, C&D had quite a short time from processing to the shelf. That is not to say their processes were rushed on blends that required time, simply that they did not have the space to keep tinned tobacco on the shelf to get allow some melding time. I would be curious if the recent acquisition by Laudisi, and increased production space has changed this.

But it also makes sense that aging, may be the prime mover in all this.

It may not even be aging per se, Jack. Just the opportunity of a blend to homogenize a bit can change its character. To any that have tried it, think of tossing your own little mix together at home. Right after mixing, it's a hodgepodge of weird flavors. Give it a week, and suddenly the edges smooth out and flavors harmonize.
Maybe it's semantics--aging vs. melding--but either way, some amount of time can make a huge difference for sure.

 

[sthbkr77]

Funny, I was going to make a similar post regarding Star of the East. A highly acclaimed blend that to me was very rough around the edges. A year later, after ignoring the jar, the tobacco gnomes came to visit and transform SotE into a rounder, tasty blend.
This does bring up an interesting point. With all the discussion regarding cellaring, Burley is the least likely to benefit from ageing (as opposed to a VA). We're looking at melding and not aging as mentioned above. Those of you that have experience with say Haunted Bookshop, what intervals do you see the most change with age? A few months to round it out then it levels out?

 

[skraps]

Those of you that have experience with say Haunted Bookshop, what intervals do you see the most change with age? A few months to round it out then it levels out?

Interesting question. Although I am a Burley guy, HB was never been a favorite for me. That being said, I found even just a month was sufficient to take it from harsh and rough, to smoother and smoke-able. Beyond that, I'm not sure. I guess there must be some sort of finite time on the melding process, but that might also depend on the other contents in the blend. For example, OJK is fine out of the tin... but can have that slightly "rough around the edges" feel to it. Give it a couple weeks, and it's great. Where it gets interesting is that OJK has enough red VA in it to react well to some actual age. So, you throw a year on it and "Holy Cow" it's sublime.
I'm not sure if that answered the question... hell, I guess I don't really have an answer. But... that's my observations.

 

[sthbkr77]

Thanks Skrap. I'm thinking there are too many variables blend to blend to isolate any "right" rest time that applies globally. I'm interested in hearing individuals experiences though. I've written off several blends that are probably stellar since being neglected and slowly creeping further back in my cabinet.
You are definitely onto something though as far as C&D goes. SotE, OJK, HB, all come from them and maybe just need to sit for a while due to the production frequency vs. storage space.