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Sobrbiker

Lifer
Jan 7, 2023
4,255
55,750
Casa Grande, AZ
1792 Flake Review Addendum

Reviewing tobacco blends can be difficult, because there's really two sides to it. On one side I'm trying to be impartial and objective about things like what the tobacco smells like, what it tastes like, what it's burn characteristics and nicotine content are, and so on. But, my final verdict on a blend really comes down to my personal preference and what I as a pipe smoker personally enjoy or dislike; which might be very different from what you as a pipe smoker enjoy or dislike.

As a case in point: After smoking mostly dark fired blends for quite awhile, this week I decided to smoke a Burley/Virginia blend (with a little unsweetened Black Cavendish) and smoking it almost immediately reminded me that my personal preference is more for dark fired blends. In fact, after smoking Pegasus for a couple days I went back and tried last week's 1792 Flake again after declaring it "not a keeper" and the flavor difference between the air and flue cured tobaccos in Pegasus and the dark fired tobaccos in 1792 was so stark and shocking to my palate that I immediately reversed course on last week's decision and put 1792 Flake on my keeper shelf; promising to never say a disparaging word about it again.

It may not be a complex blend, but it is a dark fired blend and when it comes to darker, earthier tasting tobaccos that's what my palate prefers the overwhelming majority of the time. It just took stepping back and smoking a blend that wasn't dark fired for me to really appreciate how much I did actually like 1792 Flake and all the things it does well. I still think 1792 is a fairly simple and straightforward blend, but it does capture that super smooth and non-abrasive dark fired Virginia profile I like so much; which is something only a handful of tobaccos currently on the market do. I may not want to smoke it every day, but I think it's worth keeping around for the variety.

You live, you learn.puffy
“Simple and straightforward” isn’t always a bad thing!
I smoked a bunch of 1792 earlier this year, but don’t reach for it nearly as often as of late. However, when I’m looking for what it has to offer, nothing else will do!
 

didimauw

Moderator
Staff member
Jul 28, 2013
10,731
37,750
SE WI
I have tried Briar Fox. It’s funny because @didimauw really enjoys Briar Fox and and he and I share similar taste in tobacco. But I don’t reach for it. The positives? I love the crumble cake. It loads easily and smokes well. I even enjoy it’s flavor. But it, to me is a wispy, light smoke that can be cigarette-like. (I’ve never smoked cigarettes.)

I like more body in my blends. A creamier smoke. Burley forward blends provide that bass note I suppose.
Briar fox has been one of my top two blends for years now. It's wierd. I don't like Virginia blends. But then reason I like Briar Fox, is because of that bright tangy taste the virginias add to the burley. So it's literally just the right mixtures for me.
 

MisterBadger

Part of the Furniture Now
Oct 6, 2024
665
5,015
Ludlow, UK
1792 Flake Review Addendum

Reviewing tobacco blends can be difficult, because there's really two sides to it. On one side I'm trying to be impartial and objective about things like what the tobacco smells like, what it tastes like, what it's burn characteristics and nicotine content are, and so on. But, my final verdict on a blend really comes down to my personal preference and what I as a pipe smoker personally enjoy or dislike; which might be very different from what you as a pipe smoker enjoy or dislike.

As a case in point: After smoking mostly dark fired blends for quite awhile, this week I decided to smoke a Burley/Virginia blend (with a little unsweetened Black Cavendish) and smoking it almost immediately reminded me that my personal preference is more for dark fired blends. In fact, after smoking Pegasus for a couple days I went back and tried last week's 1792 Flake again after declaring it "not a keeper" and the flavor difference between the air and flue cured tobaccos in Pegasus and the dark fired tobaccos in 1792 was so stark and shocking to my palate that I immediately reversed course on last week's decision and put 1792 Flake on my keeper shelf; promising to never say a disparaging word about it again.

It may not be a complex blend, but it is a dark fired blend and when it comes to darker, earthier tasting tobaccos that's what my palate prefers the overwhelming majority of the time. It just took stepping back and smoking a blend that wasn't dark fired for me to really appreciate how much I did actually like 1792 Flake and all the things it does well. I still think 1792 is a fairly simple and straightforward blend, but it does capture that super smooth and non-abrasive dark fired Virginia profile I like so much; which is something only a handful of tobaccos currently on the market do. I may not want to smoke it every day, but I think it's worth keeping around for the variety.

You live, you learn.puffy
Excellent review, and a very fair addendum, too. I suspect you're right about 1792 being all dark fired Virginia and mostly African, not American. And about as objective as one can ever manage to be about an experience that is essentially highly subjective. It occurs to me that our senses of smell and taste are hardwired into that primeval, back-end part of the brain that registers subjectively with emotion and bypasses the mental faculty and its capacity for objective analysis - and why we react so strongly - so that one has to go back and think, after the event, about what just happened. Who knows why we react as we do? Unconscious, deep-imprinted associations from infancy? Some kind of programming in our DNA? Why do some choose to ruin a good hot dog with tomato ketchup? Why do some choose to ruin a good dark fired virginia flake with Tonka bean? It's a mystery to me :)
 

Skippy B. Coyote

Part of the Furniture Now
Jun 19, 2023
567
6,925
St. Paul, MN
“Simple and straightforward” isn’t always a bad thing!
I smoked a bunch of 1792 earlier this year, but don’t reach for it nearly as often as of late. However, when I’m looking for what it has to offer, nothing else will do!

It's odd given how dark and rich tasting it is, but I actually think of 1792 as more of a summer blend and I'm guessing I'll smoke it a lot more when the weather starts getting hot in the summer. It probably has something to do with that tin note that reminds me strangely of firecrackers! 🤣

You are right though, simple and consistent doesn't have to be a bad thing!


Excellent review, and a very fair addendum, too. I suspect you're right about 1792 being all dark fired Virginia and mostly African, not American. And about as objective as one can ever manage to be about an experience that is essentially highly subjective. It occurs to me that our senses of smell and taste are hardwired into that primeval, back-end part of the brain that registers subjectively with emotion and bypasses the mental faculty and its capacity for objective analysis - and why we react so strongly - so that one has to go back and think, after the event, about what just happened. Who knows why we react as we do? Unconscious, deep-imprinted associations from infancy? Some kind of programming in our DNA? Why do some choose to ruin a good hot dog with tomato ketchup? Why do some choose to ruin a good dark fired virginia flake with Tonka bean? It's a mystery to me :)

A very thoughtful analysis, and thank you for the kind words! As far as why I'm so drawn to dark fired blends go, I'm pretty sure there's two factors at play. The first is the fullness of the smoke, which has a real richness to it yet is somehow still gentle and mellow and never bothers my throat or the soft tissues of my mouth. It's a bit of a unique flavor density and mouth feel. The other factor is of course the astonishing amount of nicotine that always makes me sink back into my chair feeling exceptionally relaxed and a little sedated about 15 or 20 minutes into the smoke. Having been a pack a day cigarette smoker for most of my life, a fast and strong nicotine kick is definitely something my brain has positive associations with! 😅
 

MisterBadger

Part of the Furniture Now
Oct 6, 2024
665
5,015
Ludlow, UK
A very thoughtful analysis, and thank you for the kind words! As far as why I'm so drawn to dark fired blends go, I'm pretty sure there's two factors at play. The first is the fullness of the smoke, which has a real richness to it yet is somehow still gentle and mellow and never bothers my throat or the soft tissues of my mouth. It's a bit of a unique flavor density and mouth feel. The other factor is of course the astonishing amount of nicotine that always makes me sink back into my chair feeling exceptionally relaxed and a little sedated about 15 or 20 minutes into the smoke. Having been a pack a day cigarette smoker for most of my life, a fast and strong nicotine kick is definitely something my brain has positive associations with! 😅
I'm right with you, there. If, halfway down a bowl my eyes aren't half closed and I don't feel a silly grin creeping over my face, a blend doesn't really do it for me. But it also has to NOT savour of Grandma's underwear drawer :)
 

Skippy B. Coyote

Part of the Furniture Now
Jun 19, 2023
567
6,925
St. Paul, MN
I'm right with you, there. If, halfway down a bowl my eyes aren't half closed and I don't feel a silly grin creeping over my face, a blend doesn't really do it for me. But it also has to NOT savour of Grandma's underwear drawer :)

What I wanna know is how so many people seem to know what their grandmother's underwear drawer smelled like, cause I can't recall ever sniffing my grandma's undergarments and wasn't aware that was a thing people did! 😵‍💫
 

MisterBadger

Part of the Furniture Now
Oct 6, 2024
665
5,015
Ludlow, UK
What I wanna know is how so many people seem to know what their grandmother's underwear drawer smelled like, cause I can't recall ever sniffing my grandma's undergarments and wasn't aware that was a thing people did! 😵‍💫
Kids. A lot of us, when little, would rummage everywhere we weren't supposed to. In adults, I agree that it sounds like serious niche deviancy.
 

Sobrbiker

Lifer
Jan 7, 2023
4,255
55,750
Casa Grande, AZ
I'm right with you, there. If, halfway down a bowl my eyes aren't half closed and I don't feel a silly grin creeping over my face, a blend doesn't really do it for me. But it also has to NOT savour of Grandma's underwear drawer :)
No granny panty associated with 1792DKF.
And the aversion to grannies seems odd, considering this is a heavily male populated forum, and I’d venture there’s a large percentage of an age class that consorts with ladies that maybe mature enough to have children of child bearing age themselves😉
 

MisterBadger

Part of the Furniture Now
Oct 6, 2024
665
5,015
Ludlow, UK
No granny panty associated with 1792DKF.
And the aversion to grannies seems odd, considering this is a heavily male populated forum, and I’d venture there’s a large percentage of an age class that consorts with ladies that maybe mature enough to have children of child bearing age themselves😉
As I said earlier, liking or loathing the taste or smell of a thing can be a matter of complex associations. Personally, I am not averse to grandmothers, past or present. Only when their taste in fragrances approximates to 1792. I do wonder what it would be like minus the perfume. Seaweed, perhaps, or old, wet shoes... I mean, what's that Tonka hiding?
 

Grangerous

Lifer
Dec 8, 2020
3,528
14,640
East Coast USA
Briar fox has been one of my top two blends for years now. It's wierd. I don't like Virginia blends. But then reason I like Briar Fox, is because of that bright tangy taste the virginias add to the burley. So it's literally just the right mixtures for me.
And for me… that quintessential ratio of sweet va and burley has to go to Pegasus. I’ll never tire of that blend.
 

didimauw

Moderator
Staff member
Jul 28, 2013
10,731
37,750
SE WI
And for me… that quintessential ratio of sweet va and burley has to go to Pegasus. I’ll never tire of that blend.
I barely taste any va in Pegasus. Which is why I like it so much. Briar fox is so much sweeter to me. But it's really hard to compare my #1 and #2 lol. It's like picking a favorite child.
 
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Grangerous

Lifer
Dec 8, 2020
3,528
14,640
East Coast USA
I barely taste any va in Pegasus. Which is why I like it so much. Briar fox is so much sweeter to me. But it's really hard to compare my #1 and #2 lol. It's like picking a favorite child.
Oh I do. It’s a Ginger Snap sweetness with a sour note from the bowl and the nuttiness of the burleys. The retro provides a different flavor from what drifts from mouth to nose and the note from the bowl is yet another dimension. The fog (room note) is very old school.

On edit: Have you ever tried Crooner? I’m smoking some right now. -How bout you, Skip?

Crooner review? Another blend I won’t give up any time soon. Love it.
 
Last edited:

Skippy B. Coyote

Part of the Furniture Now
Jun 19, 2023
567
6,925
St. Paul, MN
As I said earlier, liking or loathing the taste or smell of a thing can be a matter of complex associations. Personally, I am not averse to grandmothers, past or present. Only when their taste in fragrances approximates to 1792. I do wonder what it would be like minus the perfume. Seaweed, perhaps, or old, wet shoes... I mean, what's that Tonka hiding?

If you haven't tried this year's batch of 1792 Flake there is no floral flavoring in it at all. Zip, zero, nada, zilch, zippo. There is still tonquin, but that's just a little herbal vanilla'y and not floral. If you'd like to find out what 1792 tastes like with zero toppings at all though, I recommend giving Gawith Hoggarth Kendal Dark a try! It's a shag cut dark fired Virginia with zero added flavorings of any kind, and I'm pretty darn sure it's what 1792 would taste like without the tonquin.puffy


Oh I do. It’s a Ginger Snap sweetness with a sour note from the bowl and the nuttiness of the burleys. The retro provides a different flavor from what drifts from mouth to nose and the note from the bowl is yet another dimension. The fog (room note) is very old school.

On edit: Have you ever tried Crooner? I’m smoking some right now. -How bout you, Skip?

Crooner review? Another blend I won’t give up any time soon. Love it.


I've actually never tried Crooner, or any blend with deer tongue in it for that matter! This past week really reminded me how much Burley tends to bother my throat though, so I think I may give New Market a try instead of Crooner so I can get a feel for what deer tongue tastes like without having to deal with what the dreaded "Burley throat" lol
 

Skippy B. Coyote

Part of the Furniture Now
Jun 19, 2023
567
6,925
St. Paul, MN
Surprise surprise! This week I actually have two blend of the week reviews to share! Up first is...


Blend of the Week #12: Cornell & Diehl Pegasus

IMG_9670~2.JPG


If someone was to ask me, "What blend should I try if I want to find out what Burley tastes like?" the first blend I would point them to is Cornell & Diehl's Pegasus. To me Pegasus is the absolute Platonic ideal of a Burley blend, which lets the natural flavors of the Burley tobacco shine through with no added toppings whatsoever.

The tin note is a simply marvelous nutty, cocoa'y, musty Burley aroma with just a touch of sweetness, and when smoked it gives you everything you'd expect flavor wise from a top notch Burley blend. There's the dark, earthy, slightly sour walnut nuttiness, the occasional hint of unsweetened cocoa, some black coffee, a little bit of that distinctive Cornell & Diehl magical barnyard Burley funk (which is much more enjoyable than it sounds, I promise), with a touch of grassy hay-like Virginias supporting it to keep the flavors from becoming flat and every now and then a very slight amount of mild sweetness from the unsweetened Black Cavendish; which smooths out the rougher blend and adds density to the smoke.

Speaking of rougher edges, the retrohale on Pegasus can be pretty hit or miss. Some puffs it's silky smooth but in others it can sting your sinuses something fierce, so the retrohale on this one is a bit of a dice roll as to whether you're going to get a better taste of the blend or watery eyes and a burnt schnozz. Otherwise it's quite well behaved, lighting easily and burning cool and clean with little moisture left in the pipe after smoking. The room note is rather cigarette'y though and anyone who smells it is going to have no doubts in their mind that someone is smoking tobacco, so bear that in mind when smoking Pegasus around company. The nicotine content is a solid middle of the road medium and satisfying, but still plenty approachable for those with a lower nicotine tolerance.

Overall I really like Pegasus, which isn't surprisingly since it's basically just Haunted Bookshop with the Perique removed and swapped out for unsweetened Black Cavendish, and if I had to pick an all time favorite pipe blend based on flavor alone it would most certainly be Haunted Bookshop. Sadly though flavor isn't the only determining factor when it comes to my choice of blends to smoke, which leads me to the one and only problem (sinus scorching retrohale aside) with both Pegasus and Haunted Bookshop as well as a great many other Burley blends.

It's an unfortunate fact of life for me that if there's Burley in a blend, and the Burley hasn't been fire cured, steam pressed, or drowned in a sugary sweet topping to heavily soften it's rough edges, I'm going to spend the rest of the day and possibly the next couple days after enjoying a pipe of that blend with a sore inflamed throat and a froggy sounding voice.

For some reason I'll probably never fully understand my throat just hates Burley and won't tolerate it, so as much as I love the flavor of Pegasus and it's sister blends and Haunted Bookshop and Briar Fox (the latter of which is essentially Pegasus with more Virginia added and pressed into a cake) I just can't smoke them without getting a sore throat; so Pegasus sadly is not a keeper for me. I sure wish it was though, and would wholeheartedly recommend Pegasus to anyone who doesn't have my strange intolerance to Burley. It's a wonderfully natural, simple, authentic, and just downright perfect Burley blend in my book!





Blend of the Week #13: War Horse Bar

IMG_9676~2.JPG


I'm starting to get to the point that I don't feel frightened of these incredibly strong blends with whackadoodle flavorings anymore, and while I'm not entirely sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing, I do know that fortune favors the bold and this blend certainly seems plenty bold enough so I'll give it a try! Let us see what horrors/delights the tin note of this one yields...

Apple, licorice, dark fruity red Virginias, orchids (though which particular variety I couldn't say), and a little bit of dark fired smokiness far in the background. This is my kind of weird! The tobacco itself comes in the form of a very dense cake, which seems to be about halfway between a crumble cake and a plug, in that it's about as dense as it could possibly be while still remaining easy to pinch off a bit with your fingers and rub it out; no knife required. It rubs out quite agreeably into a rough ribbon cut that's nicely dry and ready to smoke straight off the cake.

War Horse Bar takes to the flame with ease, and the melange of flavors that greets you are much more mellow and gentle than the tin note would lead you to believe. The predominant flavors that come through are a relatively equal portion of softly barbeque pit smokey dark fired Kentucky and dark savory leaf littery red Virginias with a little tang, then just a bit of chocolatey nutty Burley and a teeny tiny touch of grassy lemony bright Virginia lingering far in the background to brighten up the experience. The aftertaste is when the fairly powerful assortment of toppings make themselves known, with the expected bit of licorice and floral note that really does remind me of orchids. Not grandma's underwear drawer or any sort of perfume, just the sweet natural aroma of orchids blooming in the garden on a summer's eve.

There's a ton of different flavors going on here and it's easy to get so caught up in tasting and pondering them all that you forget just how strong this blend is, at least until about 20 minutes into the smoke when the nicotine comes in and bashes you over the noggin with a two-by-four. War Horse Bar is most definitely an "extra strong" blend, right up there with others I've reviewed like 1792 Flake and HH Bold Kentucky, but you really wouldn't know based on the flavor or the mouth feel of the smoke. It's a comfortable smoking blend full of subtle complexities, far more so than any sledgehammer strength blend I've smoked before, with a prominent sweetness that lingers on your lips which I'm guessing comes from the licorice topping. Really the only thing at all that gives it away as a strong blend before the nicotine hits is the retrohale, which produces a powerful zing through the sinuses in a way that tells you this is no ordinary easygoing aromatic.

The room note is an odd yet rather appealing dense and heavy combination of that floral orchid aroma, fresh baking bread, and some sort of men's cologne with a little bit of fireplace smokiness from the Kentucky. It's a very strange combination of smells but the other members of my household did find it agreeable, so perhaps yours will too! It's quite a heavy and strong assortment of scents, but not an unpleasant one.


Being that War Horse Bar is a Dark Fired Kentucky, Virginia, and Burley blend I sadly had the same problem with this one that I did with Pegasus; though to a slightly lesser extent due to the lower portion of Burley in the blend. Still, as much as I enjoyed every other aspect of War Horse Bar it did leave me with quite a sore throat every time I smoked it so it wasn't a keeper for me. Maybe that's for the best though, since as of this week production of both War Horse Bar and War Horse Green has ceased and unless STG decides to bring it back at some point it's now a dead blend and what's still available in stores right now is the last of it.

Fare thee well War Horse, you were a good one and will be sincerely missed. 🐎 🪦





Next week is Christmas, so for my blend of the week next week I'll be trying out one with a very wintery feel. It might not be a blend you'd typically associate with Christmas time, but it does have flavors that mirror the aroma of cedar chips and pine trees so I think it's very seasonally appropriate! Next week's blend of the week is...


Gawith Hoggarth & Co. Dark Flake Aromatic

IMG_9658~2.JPG
 

Sobrbiker

Lifer
Jan 7, 2023
4,255
55,750
Casa Grande, AZ
If you haven't tried this year's batch of 1792 Flake there is no floral flavoring in it at all. Zip, zero, nada, zilch, zippo. There is still tonquin, but that's just a little herbal vanilla'y and not floral. If you'd like to find out what 1792 tastes like with zero toppings at all though, I recommend giving Gawith Hoggarth Kendal Dark a try! It's a shag cut dark fired Virginia with zero added flavorings of any kind, and I'm pretty darn sure it's what 1792 would taste like without the tonquin.puffy
I’ve not had any 1792 or Cob Plug that has had any florality
 

Skippy B. Coyote

Part of the Furniture Now
Jun 19, 2023
567
6,925
St. Paul, MN
This is a first for me, but I actually need another week with Gawith Hoggarth Dark Flake Aromatic to figure this one out before I review and make a verdict on it. At first I thought it was amazing, but now I'm not sure whether or not I actually like the topping combination on this one. I also can't quite tell if the 50% Burley content in it is bothering my throat (since the African and Indian Burleys used by Gawith don't typically bother me) or if I've just had a minor cold.

Either way, I'm gonna need another week to make up my mind on Dark Flake Aromatic so no review this week!