Happy Birthday, and may good health be one of the presents you receive!
Skippy's Blend of the Week
- Thread starter Skippy Piper
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Penblwydd hapus, as they say in Wales (and a few of us in the Marches). That's twice in a week you've mentioned cider... I'm in the northernmost extent of cider country in UK (the shops here stock more cider than beer). What kind are you drinking over there?Well, it's my birthday today and I'm still sick as a dog (or is it a coyote?) but my sense of taste is starting to come back a bit so I'm celebrating anyway with a pizza, a pint of cider, and a pipe of Coniston Cut Plug! Cheers and happy Tuesday to you all!
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Thanks for the kind wishes all! I had been kinda dreading this birthday since it's the big 40 and I wasn't sure I was really ready to be officially middle aged, but I've decided to just embrace my inner codger and say, "God has let me live another year and now I'm gonna make it everyone's problem!" 
Where I'm at up in Minnesota, USA cider is far less popular than beer, but I've always been a cider person myself and thankfully most shops and pubs around here stock at least a few varieties. The most popular cider here is easily Angry Orchard Crisp Apple, which I do like a great deal, though my favorite cider is Woodchuck Amber from Vermont.
I'm also partial to Angry Orchard's Imperial cider, but that's 8% ABV and ever since I had to get my thyroid gland taken out 7 years back I've become a real lightweight when it comes to alcohol; so a pint of that will put me right to bed!
Where I'm at up in Minnesota, USA cider is far less popular than beer, but I've always been a cider person myself and thankfully most shops and pubs around here stock at least a few varieties. The most popular cider here is easily Angry Orchard Crisp Apple, which I do like a great deal, though my favorite cider is Woodchuck Amber from Vermont.
I'm also partial to Angry Orchard's Imperial cider, but that's 8% ABV and ever since I had to get my thyroid gland taken out 7 years back I've become a real lightweight when it comes to alcohol; so a pint of that will put me right to bed!
Happy Birthday Skippy! Thanks for all your additions to the community!Well, it's my birthday today and I'm still sick as a dog (or is it a coyote?) but my sense of taste is starting to come back a bit so I'm celebrating anyway with a pizza, a pint of cider, and a pipe of Coniston Cut Plug! Cheers and happy Tuesday to you all!
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Angry Orchard's local to me, they used to sell at the local farmer's market before they got big; great stuff!Thanks for the kind wishes all! I had been kinda dreading this birthday since it's the big 40 and I wasn't sure I was really ready to be officially middle aged, but I've decided to just embrace my inner codger and say, "God has let me live another year and now I'm gonna make it everyone's problem!"
Where I'm at up in Minnesota, USA cider is far less popular than beer, but I've always been a cider person myself and thankfully most shops and pubs around here stock at least a few varieties. The most popular cider here is easily Angry Orchard Crisp Apple, which I do like a great deal, though my favorite cider is Woodchuck Amber from Vermont.
I'm also partial to Angry Orchard's Imperial cider, but that's 8% ABV and ever since I had to get my thyroid gland taken out 7 years back I've become a real lightweight when it comes to alcohol; so a pint of that will put me right to bed!
Woodchuck Amber is easily my favorite as well. IIRC, it was the first cider to be distributed nationally. It is delicious.Where I'm at up in Minnesota, USA cider is far less popular than beer, but I've always been a cider person myself and thankfully most shops and pubs around here stock at least a few varieties. The most popular cider here is easily Angry Orchard Crisp Apple, which I do like a great deal, though my favorite cider is Woodchuck Amber from Vermont.
I'm also partial to Angry Orchard's Imperial cider, but that's 8% ABV and ever since I had to get my thyroid gland taken out 7 years back I've become a real lightweight when it comes to alcohol; so a pint of that will put me right to bed!
Wife and I are big English dry cider fans... Enjoyed Aspall and Thatcher's when we were over there two years ago. Even got our local here to start carrying Aspall.
Happy belated Birthday , Skippy . Hope you're feeling better .Well, it's my birthday today and I'm still sick as a dog (or is it a coyote?) but my sense of taste is starting to come back a bit so I'm celebrating anyway with a pizza, a pint of cider, and a pipe of Coniston Cut Plug! Cheers and happy Tuesday to you all!
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After being down for the count for the past couple weeks with a particularly nasty cold my taste buds have finally recovered and my sinuses are clear again, so it's time for a long overdue blend of the week review! 
Blend of the Week #23: Cornell & Diehl Autumn Evening
This is one I've been really looking forward to doing, since Autumn Evening was a big favorite of mine back when I was a new pipe smoker. Have my tastes changed since then though? We'll just have to give it a good smoke and find out!
Popping open the tin of Autumn Evening you're greeted by a somewhat spicy smelling maple syrup and caramel aroma, which is little odd since neither of those flavors are something you'd generally think of as "spicy", but there is a very prominent spice note on the nose from the lightly cavendished red Virginias that form the base of the blend. Giving it a little rub between the fingers, this is about the driest aromatic you'll ever come across. There's no goop to speak of and just barely enough moisture to keep the tobacco from becoming crispy and crumbling between your fingers. Needless to say, it's ready to smoke straight from the tin!
Being a quite dry ribbon cut it's very easy to pack and light, and putting the flame to it reveals that Autumn Evening is one of those rather rare blends that actually tastes exactly like it smells. Up front you get real proper maple syrup as the predominant flavor, a bit of caramel behind it (the kind you dip apples in, specifically), and a base of good honest red Virginia tobacco flavors. The red Virginias are woody, earthy like the aroma of damp autumn leaf litter, and have a little bit of spice to them as well that's been somewhat tempered by the cavendishing process. This is an aromatic in which you'll taste both the toppings and the tobacco in good measure, and surprisingly it's not very sweet. You'd think with the predominant flavors being maple and caramel that this would be an extremely sweet blend, but it's really not overly sweet at all and the natural tobacco flavors also do a good job of toning down the sweetness of the toppings.
As far as the retrohale on Autumn Evening goes, it's very temperature dependent. If you keep the tobacco burning slow and cool the smoke stays pleasant and smooth through the sinuses, but if it gets going just a touch too hot it'll really send a powerful zing through your olfactory bits! This is a blend best smoked indoors where the burn temperature is more easily controlled, at least if you're someone who's prone to retrohaling your tobacco to get a better taste of the blend.
Another reason to smoke Autumn Evening indoors is that (for me at least) if it gets burning even just a little teeny tiny bit too hot the smoke tends to turn quite harsh and can really scratch the heck out of my throat in the same way most Burleys do; especially when you get down to the last third of the bowl. I would say that this blend isn't very beginner friendly, since it can be rather challenging to get a smooth smoke from that doesn't turn harsh, but I remember enjoying it quite a bit as a beginner; I just got a sore throat most of the time after smoking it. Unfortunately it seems I still do, but more on that later.
As far as what the rest of the household thought of me smoking Autumn Evening indoors, the room note got a mixed reception. The maple and caramel flavors definitely come through in the aroma of the smoke, but it's also got a little bit of that cigarette'iness that's typical of red Virginias. It got the approval of the family for occasional indoor smoking, but was still too cigarette'y for them to want to smell all the time.
Lastly, the nicotine content is right square in the center of medium; which for an aromatic is fairly strong and might catch your average aromatic smoker off guard. If you're accustomed to non-aromatic red Virginia blends or Burley blends then you'll feel right at home and nicely satisfied by Autumn Evening, but aromatic-only smokers might want to exercise a bit of caution with this one.
Wrapping up the review with my final thoughts and personal opinion on the blend, I actually had a fairly hard time deciding whether or not Autumn Evening was a keeper for me. It's a rather nostalgic blend for me that always takes me back to my early days of pipe smoking whenever I have some, and in most regards I enjoy it very much. It really does remind me of the autumn (which happens to be my favorite season) every time I smoke it. I like the flavor, I like the burn mechanics of the blend, and I like the nicotine content too. There is a "but" coming though, and that "but" is that Autumn Evening—like the vast majority of Cornell & Diehl blends—is rather rough around the edges and smoking it tends to leave me with a sore throat afterwards more often than not. There's just something about Cornell & Diehl's blending style that makes almost all of their blends aggravate the everliving daylights out of my throat!
If I had to venture a guess as to why I think what it really comes down to is that Cornell & Diehl just doesn't steam treat their tobaccos nearly as much as other blending houses do during the initial processing, which does preserve more of the natural flavors of the leaf but also makes for a harsher and more abrasive smoke. That isn't necessarily a bad thing though, it's just Cornell & Diehl's style and what makes all their blends distinctly their own. Not everyone wants to smoke ultra smooth and heavily processed aromatics like Captain Black and Lane blends, where the tobacco has been steamed to the point that it's mostly just a vehicle for the toppings.
Unfortunately though my throat is rather sensitive and really doesn't care for Cornell & Diehl's more raw and rustic style, so as fond as I am of Autumn Evening on many levels I just can't call this one a keeper. In a lot of ways it's a really wonderful blend and it's easy to see why it's Cornell & Diehl's best seller, but for me personally I don't see much reason to smoke a blend that gives me a sore throat most times I smoke it when there's so many other blends to choose from that don't; even if the blend in question is one so nice as Autumn Evening.
For next week's blend of the week I'm going to get back to my bread and butter of strong dark fired blends, and do one that I've been smoking quite a bit of lately when I couldn't decide what to smoke and just wanted something to stuff in a pipe quickly before heading out the door. The shag cut makes it an extremely convenient and easy blend to pack, light, and smoke on the go, and while it might not have the most complex flavor profile in the world it's certainly got more than enough nicotine to satisfy anyone's cravings.
Next week's blend of the week is...
Gawith Hoggarth Kendal Dark
Blend of the Week #23: Cornell & Diehl Autumn Evening
This is one I've been really looking forward to doing, since Autumn Evening was a big favorite of mine back when I was a new pipe smoker. Have my tastes changed since then though? We'll just have to give it a good smoke and find out!
Popping open the tin of Autumn Evening you're greeted by a somewhat spicy smelling maple syrup and caramel aroma, which is little odd since neither of those flavors are something you'd generally think of as "spicy", but there is a very prominent spice note on the nose from the lightly cavendished red Virginias that form the base of the blend. Giving it a little rub between the fingers, this is about the driest aromatic you'll ever come across. There's no goop to speak of and just barely enough moisture to keep the tobacco from becoming crispy and crumbling between your fingers. Needless to say, it's ready to smoke straight from the tin!
Being a quite dry ribbon cut it's very easy to pack and light, and putting the flame to it reveals that Autumn Evening is one of those rather rare blends that actually tastes exactly like it smells. Up front you get real proper maple syrup as the predominant flavor, a bit of caramel behind it (the kind you dip apples in, specifically), and a base of good honest red Virginia tobacco flavors. The red Virginias are woody, earthy like the aroma of damp autumn leaf litter, and have a little bit of spice to them as well that's been somewhat tempered by the cavendishing process. This is an aromatic in which you'll taste both the toppings and the tobacco in good measure, and surprisingly it's not very sweet. You'd think with the predominant flavors being maple and caramel that this would be an extremely sweet blend, but it's really not overly sweet at all and the natural tobacco flavors also do a good job of toning down the sweetness of the toppings.
As far as the retrohale on Autumn Evening goes, it's very temperature dependent. If you keep the tobacco burning slow and cool the smoke stays pleasant and smooth through the sinuses, but if it gets going just a touch too hot it'll really send a powerful zing through your olfactory bits! This is a blend best smoked indoors where the burn temperature is more easily controlled, at least if you're someone who's prone to retrohaling your tobacco to get a better taste of the blend.
Another reason to smoke Autumn Evening indoors is that (for me at least) if it gets burning even just a little teeny tiny bit too hot the smoke tends to turn quite harsh and can really scratch the heck out of my throat in the same way most Burleys do; especially when you get down to the last third of the bowl. I would say that this blend isn't very beginner friendly, since it can be rather challenging to get a smooth smoke from that doesn't turn harsh, but I remember enjoying it quite a bit as a beginner; I just got a sore throat most of the time after smoking it. Unfortunately it seems I still do, but more on that later.
As far as what the rest of the household thought of me smoking Autumn Evening indoors, the room note got a mixed reception. The maple and caramel flavors definitely come through in the aroma of the smoke, but it's also got a little bit of that cigarette'iness that's typical of red Virginias. It got the approval of the family for occasional indoor smoking, but was still too cigarette'y for them to want to smell all the time.
Lastly, the nicotine content is right square in the center of medium; which for an aromatic is fairly strong and might catch your average aromatic smoker off guard. If you're accustomed to non-aromatic red Virginia blends or Burley blends then you'll feel right at home and nicely satisfied by Autumn Evening, but aromatic-only smokers might want to exercise a bit of caution with this one.
Wrapping up the review with my final thoughts and personal opinion on the blend, I actually had a fairly hard time deciding whether or not Autumn Evening was a keeper for me. It's a rather nostalgic blend for me that always takes me back to my early days of pipe smoking whenever I have some, and in most regards I enjoy it very much. It really does remind me of the autumn (which happens to be my favorite season) every time I smoke it. I like the flavor, I like the burn mechanics of the blend, and I like the nicotine content too. There is a "but" coming though, and that "but" is that Autumn Evening—like the vast majority of Cornell & Diehl blends—is rather rough around the edges and smoking it tends to leave me with a sore throat afterwards more often than not. There's just something about Cornell & Diehl's blending style that makes almost all of their blends aggravate the everliving daylights out of my throat!
If I had to venture a guess as to why I think what it really comes down to is that Cornell & Diehl just doesn't steam treat their tobaccos nearly as much as other blending houses do during the initial processing, which does preserve more of the natural flavors of the leaf but also makes for a harsher and more abrasive smoke. That isn't necessarily a bad thing though, it's just Cornell & Diehl's style and what makes all their blends distinctly their own. Not everyone wants to smoke ultra smooth and heavily processed aromatics like Captain Black and Lane blends, where the tobacco has been steamed to the point that it's mostly just a vehicle for the toppings.
Unfortunately though my throat is rather sensitive and really doesn't care for Cornell & Diehl's more raw and rustic style, so as fond as I am of Autumn Evening on many levels I just can't call this one a keeper. In a lot of ways it's a really wonderful blend and it's easy to see why it's Cornell & Diehl's best seller, but for me personally I don't see much reason to smoke a blend that gives me a sore throat most times I smoke it when there's so many other blends to choose from that don't; even if the blend in question is one so nice as Autumn Evening.
For next week's blend of the week I'm going to get back to my bread and butter of strong dark fired blends, and do one that I've been smoking quite a bit of lately when I couldn't decide what to smoke and just wanted something to stuff in a pipe quickly before heading out the door. The shag cut makes it an extremely convenient and easy blend to pack, light, and smoke on the go, and while it might not have the most complex flavor profile in the world it's certainly got more than enough nicotine to satisfy anyone's cravings.
Next week's blend of the week is...
Gawith Hoggarth Kendal Dark
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I just picked up some Kendal Dark last month and would be interested to hear what you think. You are right on with Autumn Evening in my opinion. Toppings are excellent, but they can get hot quickly and cause all kinds of issues. It turned me off a bit until I learned not to smoke it in the wind and slow down.
No Kendal Dark review until next weekend on account of, erm... well... I got 20 new pipe tobacco blends to try in the mail this week and may have gotten a touch distracted from the review process sampling new blends!
Just a touch. I look forward to your Kendal Dark review in April...of 2037!
While we wait for this weekend's Kendal Dark review, I do actually have two mini reviews to share! They're going to be super short ones though, because in my latest tobacco order I got two blends that are—as far as I can tell—absolutely identical to a couple blends I've already reviewed. From the look and tin note of the tobacco to the burn mechanics, retrohale, room note, and every last subtle flavor nuance they seem to be exactly the same. So, here's your short reviews:
Blend of the Week #24: Captain Black Cherry
It's Lane Limited Very Cherry.
Blend of the Week #25: Lane Limited TK-6
It's Cult Blood Red Moon.
There ya go! They were rather shocking discoveries to me and I really tried my best to find even the slightest difference between those two blends and their respective counterparts, but after several pipes of each I just couldn't find a single difference in spite of my best efforts to.
The Lane TK-6 discovery was particularly exciting since I do like Cult Blood Red Moon a great deal but it's somewhat expensive and often out of stock, whereas Lane TK-6 is always readily available and $46 a pound! If you're a Blood Red Moon fan then definitely pick up some TK-6 to compare it for yourself and see what you think.
The revelation that Captain Black Cherry is just Lane Very Cherry though was a rather hilarious one to me and really made me question whether or not I'm qualified to be doing pipe tobacco reviews, since I gave Lane Very Cherry a really glowing positive review and I'm pretty sure that Captain Black Cherry may be the most widely reviled and utterly despised aromatic in all of pipe smoking. Most pipe smokers seem to really hate it, but I guess I'm not one of them because I love Lane Very Cherry and this is the exact same thing!
Apparently being good at tasting blends and having good taste in blends are two different things.
Blend of the Week #24: Captain Black Cherry
It's Lane Limited Very Cherry.
Blend of the Week #25: Lane Limited TK-6
It's Cult Blood Red Moon.
There ya go! They were rather shocking discoveries to me and I really tried my best to find even the slightest difference between those two blends and their respective counterparts, but after several pipes of each I just couldn't find a single difference in spite of my best efforts to.
The Lane TK-6 discovery was particularly exciting since I do like Cult Blood Red Moon a great deal but it's somewhat expensive and often out of stock, whereas Lane TK-6 is always readily available and $46 a pound! If you're a Blood Red Moon fan then definitely pick up some TK-6 to compare it for yourself and see what you think.
The revelation that Captain Black Cherry is just Lane Very Cherry though was a rather hilarious one to me and really made me question whether or not I'm qualified to be doing pipe tobacco reviews, since I gave Lane Very Cherry a really glowing positive review and I'm pretty sure that Captain Black Cherry may be the most widely reviled and utterly despised aromatic in all of pipe smoking. Most pipe smokers seem to really hate it, but I guess I'm not one of them because I love Lane Very Cherry and this is the exact same thing!
Apparently being good at tasting blends and having good taste in blends are two different things.
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Good to dive into something fun Skippy. While cherry gets the good and bad, it is the one that everyone has the aroma memory of someone near and dear smoked. Love it or leave it, it's got its place in pipe land. That being said, I can only take limited amounts of Lane Very Cherry, as it makes my right eye twitch after a while. Cult Blood Red Moon is a bit milder, but it reminds me of Cherry Limeade when I smoke it, and it is reserved for summer rafting on the river.
Thank you Kollman! It might be a bit pedestrian, but cherry flavored aromatics are probably my favorite little pipe tobacco subgenre and I've made it my mission for this spring and summer to try all of them that I haven't tried yet and figure out which one is my favorite.
My list of contenders at the moment is:
Lane Limited - Very Cherry / Captain Black Cherry
Lane Limited - TK-6 / Cult Blood Red Moon
Smoker's Pride - Cherry Cavendish
Borkum Riff - Mixture with Cherry Cavendish
Paladin - Black Cherry
Middleton's - Cherry Blend
Gawith Hoggarth & Co. - Kendal Black Cherry
So far I've tried all of them except the Smoker's Pride Cherry Cavendish and like them all in different ways, though when it comes to flavor and aroma the Paladin Black Cherry is my #1 top favorite without question. Unfortunately Paladin Black Cherry also seems to be a bit rough on my throat and the retrohale burns the bejesus out of my sinuses, so I'm going to give it some time in a jar and see if it mellows out a touch before doing a formal review of it. At this point though Paladin Black Cherry really left me thinking, "Why did Lane have to put their best cherry topping on their harshest tobacco blend!?" That's how it goes sometimes though.
I also like Middleton's Cherry Blend a great deal, though my supply is 5 years old at this point and I suspect it's lost a bit of it's flavor, so this week I'm going to pick up a pack of those little Middleton's Cherry Blend cigars that are still in production and empty the tobacco out of them to smoke in a pipe for comparison. I've heard it's the exact same tobacco with the same topping that they used to sell in pouches and tubs as pipe tobacco, so it'll be interesting to try for comparison.
Borkum Riff's Cherry Cavendish is also surprisingly good, which I wasn't expecting since I found their Bourbon Whiskey blend to be almost flavorless, but their Cherry Cavendish is pretty tasty! It's also extraordinarily temperature sensitive though and has some finicky burn mechanics, so that one will need a formal week long review to figure out. I'm also quite fond of Gawith Hoggarth's Kendal Black Cherry, but it is a Gawith blend and it's got some seriously potent floral flavors going on in addition to the cherry topping that make it only an occasional spring and summertime smoke for me.
In any case, you can probably expect to see a good bit of cherry blend reviews coming from me this spring and summer.
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I will have to give Paladin a try if I run across it. Here are a couple more that I have tried that aren't on the list.
- TCS - Saratoga (sweet)
- TCS - Trumpeter (mild flavor)
- 4Noggins - TEWKSBURY HOBBIT'S WEED MATCH (boom)
- KBV - Dark Fired Cherry (rich)
Skippy, when you talk about Cordial and Arango Balkan Supreme as incenselike, I wonder how close you consider them to be like incense.
May I please ask which blends you have found to be the most like incense? I tried to find all of what reviewers call the most incenselike blends and listed them here:
Which Are the Most Incenselike Blends? ⚗️⛪🪔🥢💭 :: Pipe Tobacco Discussion
I love the smell of church incense. Lemony Frankincense and the oily pine sap smells of Myrrh and Styrax Benzoin are three of the most common ingredients in church incense. By comparison, the South and East Asian traditions often use Nag Champa and sandalwood. I smoked 9 blends out of about 30...
pipesmagazine.com
I highly recommend Boswell's Pennsylvania Dutch Treat if you want to try more cherry. It's becoming on of my favorite tobaccos of all genres.