First, I count myself a fan of Mr. Pease and his work in general. He doesn't just throw a mix together, name it and tin it. It's obvious he goes to great lengths in the creation of each new blend. So last fall, along with many others here, I bought a tin of Sixpence the moment it came out. My cellar notes suggest my tin was tinned on 9/9/14 and I bought it on 11/26/14. Then I let it sit through the winter.
On May 13th this year I opened the tin and put the contents in a mason jar and filled my first pipe with it. My reaction? Somewhere between "ehh - whatever" and "man - I'm not sure I care for this at all."
Then tonight when looking through my selection trying to pick out this evening's smoke, I saw the Sixpence. I opened the jar and took a whiff: Mmmmmm - man this smells good. Like a nice McClelland Virginia without the ketchup smell that puts me off. So I decided to give it another run four-plus months after I initially opened the tin. I picked my 2nd largest pipe - a deep Winslow freehand and rubbed out the broken flakes. At first light I thought "wow - that's nice!" After the initial char and 2nd light, the pipe burned an hour and 7 minutes before going out the first time. I got another half an hour out of the pipefull with relights about every 10 minutes. Then a light would go a minute or two at best and I knew it was done. All that was left was a fine white ash. (ok - that last sentence is an inside joke, right?). So all that was left was just a little bit of dottle and ash. I'd guess 95% - 98% of the tobacco did burn though. Thoroughly enjoyable smoke start to finish. No tongue bite at all for me (but this might not be relevant, as I rarely get by anything anymore), and not an overpowering level of nicotine. While I'm not ready to crown this blend the king of anything, it did improve from a 2-star blend for me to at least a respectable 3.5 stars.
My advice: If you didn't like it the first time, it doesn't take a long time to change it's profile and become a very enjoyable smoke.
Cheers!
On May 13th this year I opened the tin and put the contents in a mason jar and filled my first pipe with it. My reaction? Somewhere between "ehh - whatever" and "man - I'm not sure I care for this at all."
Then tonight when looking through my selection trying to pick out this evening's smoke, I saw the Sixpence. I opened the jar and took a whiff: Mmmmmm - man this smells good. Like a nice McClelland Virginia without the ketchup smell that puts me off. So I decided to give it another run four-plus months after I initially opened the tin. I picked my 2nd largest pipe - a deep Winslow freehand and rubbed out the broken flakes. At first light I thought "wow - that's nice!" After the initial char and 2nd light, the pipe burned an hour and 7 minutes before going out the first time. I got another half an hour out of the pipefull with relights about every 10 minutes. Then a light would go a minute or two at best and I knew it was done. All that was left was a fine white ash. (ok - that last sentence is an inside joke, right?). So all that was left was just a little bit of dottle and ash. I'd guess 95% - 98% of the tobacco did burn though. Thoroughly enjoyable smoke start to finish. No tongue bite at all for me (but this might not be relevant, as I rarely get by anything anymore), and not an overpowering level of nicotine. While I'm not ready to crown this blend the king of anything, it did improve from a 2-star blend for me to at least a respectable 3.5 stars.
My advice: If you didn't like it the first time, it doesn't take a long time to change it's profile and become a very enjoyable smoke.
Cheers!
