Skippy's Blend of the Week

[Skippy Piper]

Time for this week's blend of the week review!


Blend of the Week #15: G.L. Pease Union Square




Starting with the ol' sniff test, the tin note here very much reminds me of the autumn, with the aromas of soil and damp fallen leaves really filling your senses. It's a pleasant scent combination that gives me the feeling that this Virginia was made for the chillier months of the year.

That damp autumn leaf litter aroma is well mirrored in the flavor of the red Virginias when smoked, accompanied by a little bit of breadiness and the occasional hint of lemony citrus from the bright Virginias; at least until the last third of the bowl when the lemon citrusy'ness becomes the dominant flavor for the remainder of the smoke. Those are really the only three notes I get from this one, so it's not the most complex Virginia in the world, but there is enough going on here to keep it from becoming monotone or boring.

Like the vast majority of pure Virginias it's a fairly subtle blend and none of the flavors are terribly bold or in your face, and after smoking so many strongly flavored dark fired blends lately I actually had a fairly difficult time recalibrating my palate to taste the softer understated flavors present in Union Square, but with a few days of effort I finally got a feel for it. I don't know the exact ratio of red Virginia to bright Virginia in Union Square, but if I had to venture a guess I'd say it's probably about 70% red and 30% bright based on the flavor.

In terms of mechanics, Union Square comes in a visually pleasing marbled broken flake which rubs out easily and comes slightly moist but can be smoked perfectly fine straight from the tin; which is the blender Mr. Pease's recommendation for best flavor. When smoked straight from the tin it requires a fairly average number of relights, particularly if you're a fan of the "fold n' stuff" method, though if you're willing to rub it out and give it a little dry time before smoking then relights will be minimal. In either case it smokes clean and dry and leaves little to no moisture in the pipe after smoking.

When it comes to my usual retrohale test, Union Square produces a mild sting through the sinuses but is still fairly retrohale friendly. I wouldn't want to retrohale every puff, but a little retrohale here and there isn't going to make you feel like you snorted a line of chili powder. Nicotine wise this one was a bit of a surprise, since I think Union Square might be the strongest pure Virginia I've ever smoked that didn't have any dark fired leaf in it! This isn't a Gawith heavy hitter by any means, but I would put it at the upper end of medium in terms of it's nicotine content, whereas every other pure Virginia I've smoked previously has been more towards the lower end to middle of medium. Union Square is definitely stronger than the vast majority of pure Virginias out there, but I don't think it's going to knock your socks off either unless you're totally unaccustomed to nicotine; in which case a little caution might be warranted.

Another surprise is that room note on Union Square is strangely tobacco'y, much more so than I'd typically expect from a pure Virginia since pure Virginias usually smell more like bread baking in the oven rather than anything non-smokers associate with tobacco, but the other members of my household found this one to be very tobacco'y and didn't care for it one bit. I thought it was a rather pleasant aroma myself, but it got a big thumbs down from the non-smokers in my life. On the flip side, when I reviewed Coniston Cut Plug awhile back I thought it had a very dense, heavy, and tobacco'y room note but when they got the chance to smell it this past week the other members of my household thought it smelled great and gave me approval to smoke it indoors anytime; so go figure!


Wrapping up this week's review, I'm actually a little indifferent on Union Square. It's a pleasant enough blend and I didn't mind smoking it for a week, but it didn't really wow me either. I liked the autumnal vibe it was going for with the red Virginias, but then the bright Virginia would pop in every now and then going, "Oh hey, by the way, I know you're enjoying those earthy autumn flavors but here's some lemon!" which just felt a little out of place to me. On the other hand I can see how it might taste a little flat and become bland without the bright Virginia in the mix, but the lemoniness of the bright Virginia in use here does clash with the red Virginia in a way that I just wasn't terribly fond of.

Ultimately this one isn't a keeper for me because of that, but thankfully I do have a few other red Virginia blends to try and may find one that suits me a little better! Speaking of which, next week's blend of the week is another red Virginia, though it's one that won't be around much longer and I may have a difficult time acquiring more of if I end up liking it's distinctly vinegary tang. Still, better to try it while I may still have some small chance of getting more of it than before it's entirely gone forever. Next week's blend of the week is...


Sutliff 515 RC-1

 

[Skippy Piper]

Every now and then I like to do a bonus week where I review two blends instead of one, and since next week's blend of the week is one that'll be discontinued in the near future on account of STG's acquisition of Mac Baren and Sutliff, I thought I'd inject a little positivity into the week and do a Mac Baren produced blend that'll be remaining in production as well! Next week's bonus blend of the week is...


Bell's Three Nuns (Current Mac Baren production)

 

[Skippy Piper]

Blend of the Week #16: Sutliff 515 RC-1




Cracking open the jar of this one, which had remained sealed for about 4 months since I got an ounce sample of 515 RC-1 in the mail last September, the malt vinegar aroma just about bowled me over! That has without a doubt the most intense vinegar aroma I've ever smelled from a pipe tobacco, though there is a little bready Virginia scent behind it. Altogether the tin note weirdly reminds me of eating at the seafood fast food chain Long John Silver's, since on the rare occasions I go there I always get the Hush Puppies (which are basically dense cakey balls of deep fried bread, if you've never had one) and thoroughly douse them in malt vinegar. As I load a pipe of 515 RC-1 I get the strange feeling that I'm about to smoke a malt vinegar dressed Hush Puppy.

The tobacco comes in a rough chunky ribbon cut that has a very rustic look to it, with a mix of red, dark brown, and light brown Virginias; so there appears to be three different grades of Virginia in this blend. It's a bit too wet to smoke straight out of the jar, likely due to the heavy vinegar casing, but it does dry quickly and easily and was ready to smoke after only 5 minutes of dry time (bearing in mind that the indoor humidity here has been about 35% this week).

Firing up the pipe and... Oooh that is tangy! So very, very tangy! The vinegar doesn't come through much at all in the taste of the tobacco, but oh boy does it ever create a powerful tanginess the likes of which I've never tasted from a blend before! Having never gotten to try a McClelland Virginia I've never had a Virginia that I would describe as "tangy" until now, but holy cow does this blend ever have a serious tang to it that strangely seems to compliment the underlying red Virginia flavors perfectly. In terms of the flavor of the tobacco itself, it's uncommonly dark and earthy for a Virginia. It's boldly savory, bready, darkly fruity, earthy like soil, autumn leafy litter'y, slightly floral, and all surrounded by a profound tanginess. Based on the shockingly vinegary tin note I wasn't expecting a lot of complexity from 515 RC-1, but I'm happy to have been proven very wrong! It also leaves a vinegar tang that hangs around on your lips for a good hour or two after smoking.

Mechanically speaking it's a surprisingly fast burning blend and it's easy to smoke through a small pipe of it in half an hour even sipping it slowly, though it does burn fairly cool, and to my additional surprise the retrohale is silky smooth! I can retrohale every puff of 515 RC-1 with no sinus discomfort at all, which is a great thing in my book since I am admittedly a habitual retrohaler. The nicotine content is squarely in the middle of medium, and I find it to be consistently satisfying but never overwhelming. It's a definite all day smoke for anyone who appreciates the flavor profile, and I think your pipes could smoke it all day too since it burns down to a very clean ash with almost zero moisture left behind.

In terms of what the other members of my household thought of 515 RC-1, they felt that the room note was fairly cigarette'y with a bit of that typical bread baking in the oven Virginia aroma mixed in and really didn't care for it, but I'm starting to discover that cigarette'y room note may just be a red Virginia thing since I've never gotten that room note from bright or heavily stoved Virginias. In any case though, I wouldn't expect non-smokers to find the smell of 515 RC-1 to be pleasant and was succinctly denied indoor smoking approval for this one.


That's okay though, since for all the nice things about this blend I don't think it's a keeper for me. At the start of a smoke and for the first 20 minutes or so I thought it was fantastic. "This is like smoking a hush puppy!" I thought to myself. But, by the time the bowl was done I was beginning to feel a little nauseous from all the vinegar. Sometimes smoking can be like eating, and while eating one hush puppy is great and half a dozen of them might be even better, by the time you've been eating hush puppies for half an hour straight your stomach starts getting really unhappy about the matter. I think, for me at least, that's kind of the situation with Sutliff 515 RC-1. The vinegar is great at first, but after smoking it for half an hour I've had more than enough of it and feel a little green around the gills; and the potent vinegar taste that lingers on your lips for an hour or two after smoking (and is very difficult to wash off, as I unfortunately found out this week) certainly didn't make my stomach any happier about the vinegar overload.

This one isn't for me, but that's okay, since I've got several dozen more blends to try and I'm sure this jar of Sutliff 515 RC-1 will go to someone who will cherish and enjoy it when I eventually get around to selling all the blends I've decided not to keep. For now though, on to the next one!

 

[Skippy Piper]

Blend of the Week #17: Mac Baren Bell's Three Nuns




Before I get into the review I'd like to say straight off that I've never had any of the previous versions of Three Nuns so I can't compare the current iteration to the older stuff, but I do hope to give you a pretty good idea of what to expect from this particular trio of habit wearing ladies of the cloth.


A poke of the sniffer into the jar gives you a solid impression of what to expect from Three Nuns right up front. There's some sweet bready darker Virginias, a bit of barbeque pit smokey Dark Fired Kentucky, and a little kiss of honey. Not too much honey, it doesn't drown out the aromas of the tobaccos in the mix or turn it into an aromatic, but you can definitely smell that there's a few drops of bee squeezings in there.

In terms of it's presentation, Three Nuns comes in what could loosely be called a coin cut. Emphasis on "loose" since the majority of coins straight out the tin were either broken or partially rubbed out, and there's quite a bit of loose ribbon cut tobaccos in the mix, but you will find a few intact coins here and there. In any case, it all comes at the perfect moisture level to smoke straight from the tin whether you want to stack a few coins to fold and stuff in your pipe or fully rub them out to a fine ribbon cut, with no dry time needed unless you like your Virginias exceptionally dry; in which case a few minutes of dry time before loading your pipe won't hurt it.

Flavor wise, it tastes a lot like it smells! You get those slightly sweet and mellow bready darker Virginias as the lead component with an occasional bit of grass, hay, and acidity from the less prevalent brighter Virginias, then trailing a fair bit behind the Virginias in a supporting role is the barbeque pit smokey, woody, darkly earthy, every so slightly sour Dark Fired Kentucky. Lastly, as a very subtle background note there's just a little bit of honey adding a tiny touch of sweetness that serves to mostly smooth over the brighter acidic notes of the Virginias and sourness of the Dark Fired Kentucky to create a very even middle of the road flavor profile that never gets too sharply bright or darkly earthy; in spite of the flavor of the smoke varying quite a bit from puff to puff depending on how much Virginia or how much Dark Fired Kentucky is burning away in the chamber at any given time. There is a little Burley in the mix as well, though I can't seem to taste it and it must be a fairly small amount since it only bothered my very Burley sensitive throat a couple times throughout the week of testing.

Even though the base components of Three Nuns are fairly simple and straightforward, there's a lot of variety to the flavor and many different notes to taste if you want to sit back and analyze the smoke; but they're all mellow, smooth, and cohesive enough that it's a perfectly fine blend for absent minded puffing as you go about your day working on other tasks. That little bit of Dark Fired Kentucky and the kiss of honey mostly smooths over and tames the acidity of the Virginias to create a very comfortable and easygoing mouthfeel, though occasionally the bright Virginia does overpower the honey and Dark Fired Kentucky with it's acidity and stung up the roof of my mouth and sinsues a bit.

The nicotine content is at the very upper end of medium, which makes it a fairly perfect all day anytime smoke in my book. It's a bit stronger than a pure Virginia or the vast majority of English blends, but just a little less potent than a strong blend like Nightcap. I'd put Three Nuns at right about the same strength level as Cornell & Diehl's Haunted Bookshop, maybe a tiny touch stronger, if that's a helpful point of reference. It's relaxing and satisfying, but not so strong that you have to keep an eye on how long you've been smoking it for or make sure to have some food on your stomach before you smoke it.

The retrohale varies from puff to puff, with most being quite smooth when you get more darker Virginia or honey, and others being fairly spicy when you've got more Dark Fired Kentucky or bright Virginia burning in the chamber. The majority are pretty smooth though and I did find myself retrohaling this blend fairly often.

Relights are infrequent when the coins are rubbed out, though it will take a fair few relights to get it going if you choose to stack up a few coins to fold and stuff instead. Either way it burns clean and dry, though it does leave behind a small amount of moisture at the bottom of the bowl; but no ghost to speak of. I actually used Three Nuns to break in the new Dublin Hunter bowl on the Falcon pipe pictured above and it did the job admirably! However, like most blends containing any sort of Burley (which includes Dark Fired Kentucky) it will turn a little harsh and acrid tasting if you set down partway through the bowl and return to it some hours later, though being that this is a mostly Virginia blend it won't turn quite as harsh or unpleasant as a Burley forward mixture if you do need to put the pipe down for an hour or two.

On a final unfortunate note, the room note from Three Nuns is fairly dense, heavy, and cigarette'y and will not appeal to anyone who doesn't care for the aroma of burning tobacco. There is a little bit of baking bread and barbecue pit scent to the room note, but it's mostly overpowered by the cigarette'iness.


Gathering my thoughts to form a final personal opinion on Three Nuns, I'm starting to learn that outside of a few particular blends that are very bright and summery tasting all around like Sutliff 507C Virginia Slices, Orlik Golden Sliced, or Samuel Gawith Fire Dance Flake I simply don't like bright Virginias very much. I don't care for the citrusy flavor they impart to darker earthier tobacco blends and I don't like the way the acidity of bright Virginias stings up the roof of my mouth and the back of my sinuses. I rarely find blends containing significant amounts of bright Virginia to be comfortable to smoke, which as someone who generally can't have Burley is rather unfortunate.

Just like with last week's Union Square, the bright Virginia in Three Nuns kind of kills it for me. I loved the darker Virginias and the Dark Fired Kentucky, and the little honey note was great, but every time that bright Virginia crept in I found myself wishing I was smoking something else. On the plus side, stoved and dark fired Virginias seem to treat me just fine, and with each new blend I try I learn a little bit more about what does and doesn't work for me.


As far as next week's blend of the week goes, it's an odd thing but ever since I started smoking Gawith's dark fired Virginia blends like 1792 Flake and Coniston Cut Plug, as well as some others I haven't reviewed yet such as Kendal Dark and Bosun Cut Plug, nothing else seems nearly as enjoyable to smoke. Maybe it's intense bold flavors or the richness and smoothness of the dark fired Virginias, or the fairly significant nicotine sedation feeling that comes on after about 10 to 15 minutes of smoking them, but every other style of pipe blend has just felt a little anemic to me lately when compared to Gawith's dark fired Virginia blends.

It could just be a phase and maybe my tastes will change eventually, but at this point I do feel like I may have finally found my style of pipe blend that I enjoy most and haven't felt much desire to smoke anything else recently. Some people like bright or red Virginias, some people prefer Burleys, and other folks enjoy English or Balkan blends with Latakia, but dark fired Virginia blends are what ticks all the boxes for me. I suppose that is what this review process has always been about though, just figuring out what works best for me and what I want to deep cellar for the long haul, so if dark fired Virginias are where the pipe blend exploration train stops for me then I'd be pretty alright with it.

That all said, I've got quite a few dark fired Virginia blends left to review and next week's blends of the week are two such blends. They're said to be the same blend, with one version coming in rope form and the other pre-sliced and ready rubbed, but the tin notes do smell rather different so I'm going to smoke them both and compare them. I haven't tried smoking the ready rubbed version yet, but I have smoked the rope half a dozen times already and my initial impression is that (for my tastes at least) it is the absolute finest non-aromatic pipe blend I've ever smoked! Whether or not I'll still feel that way after smoking it every day for a week is yet to be seen, but either way I'm sure to find out! Next week's blends of the week are...


Gawith Hoggarth & Co. Happy Brown Bogie & Brown Twist

 

[khiddy]

This one isn't for me, but that's okay, since I've got several dozen more blends to try and I'm sure this jar of Sutliff 515 RC-1 will go to someone who will cherish and enjoy it when I eventually get around to selling all the blends I've decided not to keep. For now though, on to the next one!

Is it too early to put a dibs on your jar? I use 515RC-1 as a blender, and it's an essential ingredient in my "The Famous Howie Kailin Blend". And there's nothing like it on the market, so I'm hoovering up every bit I can get, in order to forestall the inevitable. The loss of 515RC-1 is a disaster, frankly. I'm hoping that C&D or someone will offer an equivalent, or I may just have to figure out how to turn whole leaf into what I need.

 

[Skippy Piper]

Is it too early to put a dibs on your jar? I use 515RC-1 as a blender, and it's an essential ingredient in my "The Famous Howie Kailin Blend". And there's nothing like it on the market, so I'm hoovering up every bit I can get, in order to forestall the inevitable. The loss of 515RC-1 is a disaster, frankly. I'm hoping that C&D or someone will offer an equivalent, or I may just have to figure out how to turn whole leaf into what I need.

Sure thing! I'll send you a DM about it.

On a side note, I seem to be having trouble staying on task this week. I smoked Brown Bogie for a bit on Monday, but since then all I've wanted to smoke is Haunted Bookshop and Carter Hall!

 

[Skippy Piper]

As y'all might have guessed, I got totally sidetracked last week and ended up only smoking Brown Bogie once and never got to Brown Twist at all, so those reviews will have to wait until this weekend after I've had a chance to smoke them both throughout the week.

What sidetracked me was suddenly discovering that if I smoke a Burley blend in one of my Falcon pipes, which draw moisture and tar away from the tobacco into a little reservoir below the bowl as you smoke so the tobacco doesn't turn harsh as you get further down the bowl, they actually don't seem to bother my throat hardly at all! I still got a little bit of Burley throat after smoking Carter Hall three days in a row, though it was only about ¼ as bad as usual.

With that in mind I think I'm going to try to pick up a Falcon International stem that takes 6mm filters and try a bunch of different filter styles (Medico and Dr. Grabow paper filters, Savinelli balsa, and Vauen Dr. Perl charcoal filters mainly) and see if the combination of Falcon's humidome system to draw moisture away from the tobacco and a filtered stem might make Burley blends smokable and non-irritating to my throat. I'd sure be happy if it did, since I'd smoke Haunted Bookshop every day if I could! Carter Hall, Briar Fox, and Pegasus are favorites of mine as well, and I'd love to revisit Irish Flake if I can find a way to make it tolerable to my throat.

That's a project for another week though. This week, back on task!

 

[Puff nstuff]

I'm late to the party, but I'm really enjoying catching up on your reviews!
GH Rum/Jamaica Flake struck me in exactly the same way as you described:

'To me Gawith Hoggarth Jamaican/Rum flake is, in fact, a codger style Burley blend of unusual strength...'

It's like a premium quality codger blend, with extra depth and more nicotine. I really like it.

Keep up the good work, Skippy!!

 

[Brendan]

Yes
Thanks for the effort, although I'm sure you're enjoying yourself doing these
This thread swayed me to give 1792 Flake a go, so glad I did, it's been a daily smoke for the past 2 weeks. Loving the GH & Co.
reviews here. Just need to get my hands on some Rum Flake apparently.

 

[Donutslinger]

I finally got up to date on these reviews! They’re such a great read and have really inspired me to tackle my enormous stockpile of tobacco myself. You are doing an hell of a job and I can’t thank you personally enough! And the way you describe the burley throat(tm) and nasal cavity burn has actually helped me explain a lot with my own mouth chemistry tremendously. It finally clicked for me haha. I’ve had a ton of blends that I was ‘supposed’ to like because of what I tasted and even read on paper. But couldn’t explain why it literally pained me afterwards to smoke them, and I’m about as slow a smoker as they come usually. I guess what I’m saying is I knew there was something more to it but you were able to articulate it in a way that made it ring like a bell in winter. So I’m taking some notes and gonna do my own little reviews for myself to thin my herd and focus on what I like, and what likes me back! Thank you again and please keep up the great work.

 

[Skippy Piper]

I'm late to the party, but I'm really enjoying catching up on your reviews!
GH Rum/Jamaica Flake struck me in exactly the same way as you described:

'To me Gawith Hoggarth Jamaican/Rum flake is, in fact, a codger style Burley blend of unusual strength...'

It's like a premium quality codger blend, with extra depth and more nicotine. I really like it.

Keep up the good work, Skippy!!

Thank you for the kind words! Jamaican Flake is a really great blend, especially if you're fond of Prince Albert or Carter Hall. It certainly ticks a lot of the same boxes!

Yes
Thanks for the effort, although I'm sure you're enjoying yourself doing these
This thread swayed me to give 1792 Flake a go, so glad I did, it's been a daily smoke for the past 2 weeks. Loving the GH & Co.
reviews here. Just need to get my hands on some Rum Flake apparently.

Some weeks are definitely more fun than others, but overall I am really enjoying the process! The only time it stops being fun are times like, well, the last two weeks. Sometimes I just get burnt out on certain styles of blends (dark fired ones in this case) and don't want to smoke them anymore, like my palate gets fatigued and I need to smoke something else for awhile to recalibrate it. That's alright though, since I can always come back to whatever I'm feeling burnt out on later when it sounds good again.

In any case, I'm glad you've been enjoying 1792 so much too! While I wasn't too sure about it initially, it's actually become my favorite of all the dark strong blends I've smoked! It was one of those blends that didn't really jump out as something special at first, but the more I smoked it the more I liked it and eventually it climbed the list to the top!

I finally got up to date on these reviews! They’re such a great read and have really inspired me to tackle my enormous stockpile of tobacco myself. You are doing an hell of a job and I can’t thank you personally enough! And the way you describe the burley throat(tm) and nasal cavity burn has actually helped me explain a lot with my own mouth chemistry tremendously. It finally clicked for me haha. I’ve had a ton of blends that I was ‘supposed’ to like because of what I tasted and even read on paper. But couldn’t explain why it literally pained me afterwards to smoke them, and I’m about as slow a smoker as they come usually. I guess what I’m saying is I knew there was something more to it but you were able to articulate it in a way that made it ring like a bell in winter. So I’m taking some notes and gonna do my own little reviews for myself to thin my herd and focus on what I like, and what likes me back! Thank you again and please keep up the great work.

Thank you so much! That is really high praise and it means a lot to hear! It sure is a daunting task trying to whittle down the super wide cellars a lot of us seem to accumulate, and trying to figure out what works for your own personal mouth chemistry and what doesn't can be an even more difficult guess-and-check endeavor. It is a fun journey once you really buckle down and get started though, so I wish you the best of success and enjoyment with yours and I'll just keep on working on mine!


As far as what comes this weekend, I won't have a Brown Bogie or Brown Twist review to share on account of my continued palate fatigue with dark fired blends that I'm still trying to shake myself out of, though I do have a different blend review in the works to share instead.

 

[MisterBadger]

As far as what comes this weekend, I won't have a Brown Bogie or Brown Twist review to share on account of my continued palate fatigue with dark fired blends that I'm still trying to shake myself out of, though I do have a different blend review in the works to share instead.

i concur with all the nice things that have been said about your reviews, matey, and always look forward to reading them even when I have no particular interest or intention of ever smoking a blend in question. In any case you write well, and to read good writing is always a pleasure.

Now go and smother your mucus membrane with a protective layer of some aromatic goop beloved of the heathens, and get you back to those delicious dark-fired Virginias and Burleys quick and soon as you have recovered. I shall look forward especially to your Brown Twist review whenever it comes.

 

[Skippy Piper]

Surprise surprise! I did say there would be a blend of the week review coming this weekend, and while isn't the one you might have been expecting here it is nonetheless!


Blend of the Week #18: Lane Limited Very Cherry




Starting with the tin note, it is indeed Very Cherry! Some cherry aromatics can be cherry cough syrupy, others more of a natural tart cherry, but this one smells just like a cherry flavored Blow Pop lollipop tastes! It's a sweet and sugary cherry candy aroma, and I think it's quite pleasant if you're into sweet stuff. There's no tobacco aromas to be found here, just candy cherry lollipop scent.

The tobacco itself is a nice medium width ribbon cut, comes at a good moisture level for an aromatic, and is ready to smoke with no dry time needed. It's moist but not wet, and is easy to pack and light. That's one nice thing I can say about all of Lane's aromatic blends, that they always get the moisture level of the tobacco just right and it makes for a very forgiving smoke that's easy for a new pipe smoker to have a good experience with and absolutely effortless for an experienced pipe smoker.

Getting on to the flavor of the smoke, when I'm in the mood to smoke an aromatic I want to taste the topping, and I mean REALLY taste the topping like if I was smoking molasses shisha tobacco in a hookah; and Lane's Very Cherry is most certainly a blend that delivers in that regard! As our good friend Jim might say, "The topping sublimates the everliving daylights out of the tobacco." When I buy a cherry tobacco blend I buy it because I want to taste cherries, and oh boy do I ever taste sweet candied cherries with this one!

There are some real tobacco flavors to be found here though, and the tobacco varietals selected actually compliment the cherry topping quite well! The Burleys are very nutty tasting and buttery and the Virginias are exceptionally bready, the flavors of which combine to create a sort of marizpan-like pastry flavor. If you've ever had a cherry danish with slivered almonds on top that's pretty much what the combined flavors of everything going on in this blend taste like. Sweet candied cherries (with no cough syrupiness I might add), almond nuttiness, buttery bready puff pastry, and I get a very distinct cinnamon note here and there as well; pronounced enough that I suspect there is a little cinnamon and almond extract added in addition to the cherry topping. Lane's masterfully steamed Black Cavendish adds a lot of density and smoothness to the smoke as well, allowing every puff to be retrohaled with a silky nose feel that provides a bounty of flavor but zero sinus irritation whatsoever. Again, it reminds me a lot of smoking a hookah!

Anyone who might be in your vicinity will enjoy the smoke as well, since everyone I've smoked Very Cherry around this week commented that it smelled absolutely wonderful; like warm toasty cherry pie. One of my neighbors that I sometimes walk my dog with commented that it smelled just like the cherry pipe tobacco her uncle used to smoke and that it was a really nostalgic aroma for her, and stuck close to me so she could continue taking in the aroma on our hour long walk last night. Needless to say, this one is a real crowd pleaser!

As far as the mechanics of the blend go, I have no real complaints. It's very easy to light and keep lit, burns down to a clean ash with no trouble and retains it's cherry almond pastry with little hints of cinnamon flavor profile all the way to the bottom of the bowl, and even when smoked outdoors in windy conditions it won't turn harsh or unpleasant tasting unless you puff it extremely aggressively. This is about as effortless and forgiving as blend gets, and as I mentioned earlier you can retrohale every single puff with zero sinus discomfort whatsoever.

It doesn't have a lot in the way of nicotine, though there is some there and you'll notice it by the end of a 45 minute smoke. I'd put it towards the upper end of mild but just shy of the lower end of medium. It does leave quite a bit of moisture in the bowl after smoking, but not a ridiculous amount and it's easily cleaned up just by running a couple pipe cleaners down the stem then wiping down the chamber with a wadded up paper towel. Easy peasy!

On a final mechanics note, I should add that as far as aromatics go this one cellars very well! Most aromatics will lose a lot of their flavor or occasionally even turn rancid after a year in a jar, but my jar of Very Cherry has almost a year and a half of age on it and it still smells and tastes just as nice as the day I got it. I don't know how it'll retain it's aroma and flavor over the very long term, but I'd imagine it should keep at least 2 or 3 years since it seems to have lost none of it's goodness thus far.


Altogether I was surprisingly impressed with Lane Very Cherry! There's a lot more complexity and interest to the flavor than I was expecting and I think it gives Cult Blood Red Moon some serious competition for the title of best cherry aromatic! In fact, I actually like Very Cherry a bit better than Blood Red Moon since I prefer the almond pastry secondary notes of Very Cherry over the chocolate and vanilla secondary notes of Blood Red Moon. There's also a bit of nicotine in Very Cherry, whereas I find Blood Red Moon to be completely devoid of any Vitamin N whatsoever. I always have to rush out for a cigarette as soon as I finish a pipe of Blood Red Moon, whereas I'm not in any hurry to go out for a nicotine stick after smoking Very Cherry.

All things considered I think the best way I could describe Very Cherry in terms of it's flavor profile, smoothness, and mechanics is, "Imagine if Captain Black made a cherry blend except it was actually good. Really good!" There's still a handful of cherry blends I've never tried, such as CAO Cherrybomb, Paladin Black Cherry, and Borkum Riff Mixture with Cherry Cavendish, but at the moment I'm having a hard time imagining finding a cherry aromatic that I like more than Lane Very Cherry so I'm calling this one a keeper! I'll try the rest of the cherry blends on my short list of ones I haven't tried yet before I order more Lane Very Cherry, just to make sure there isn't something else I like better before I stock up on this one, but I'm guessing there will be a pound of Very Cherry in my cellar in the not too distant future; and at $46 a pound it's a pretty easy recommendation!




As far as next weeks blend of the week goes, it might be awhile longer until I circle back around to Brown Bogie and Brown Twist since I seem to have just completely lost my taste for dark fired blends as of late, but I do have a different tobacco flavored tobacco lined up! In fact, it might be the most "plain tobacco flavored tobacco" I've ever smoked and will definitely appeal to current or former cigarette smokers. Next week's blend of the week is...


Cornell & Diehl Briar Fox

 

[Skippy Piper]

Also on next week's review docket is a blend that's a close personal friend of mine. In fact, it was the first blend I picked up and tried when I really started delving into the pipe hobby about 3 years ago! This review has been a long time coming for me, and next weekend I'm finally doing it!


Cult Blood Red Moon

 

[LeafErikson]

Loving this thread man!

 

[Kollman]

Like a bunch of us, I am playing catch up to your reviews and really appreciate it. Fun to give everything a good smoke and think about what you like and don't, but more importantly a "why" over a couple of days. Keep it up and thanks!

 

[Skippy Piper]

Blend of the Week #19: Cornell & Diehl Briar Fox




Starting off the review in traditional fashion, it's sniff test time! A close personal friend of mine who is a non-smoker always says that the tin note on pipe tobacco just smells like figs and raisins to him. Whether I offer him a sniff of Escudo, Full Virginia Flake, Haunted Bookshop, Captain Black, or any number of other aromatics his response is always, "Figs and raisins." Personally I think his sniffer is broken, but in this case his universal tin note description would be spot on! Briar Fox really does smell like figs and raisins! There's a very slight vinegar casing aroma as well (which I seem to be especially sensitive to ever since that somewhat traumatic week with Sutliff 515 RC-1) but for the most part, "figs and raisins" nails it.

Unfortunately, for me at least the tin note is pretty much where the excitement ends. On one level, and possibly more than one, Briar Fox is a profoundly boring smoke as far as pipe tobaccos go. It's a Virginia forward blend with Burley playing a supporting role and a little bit of unsweetened Black Cavendish to provide some body, but the Black Cavendish goes relatively unnoticed and flavors of the Virginias and Burleys are all mellow and subdued enough that nothing really jumps out at you and you kind of have to search your palate to taste much of anything. The Virginias aren't very bright or sweet (though they are quite acidic), the Burleys aren't very nutty, chocolatey, or earthy. There's just no real standout flavors at all here. You can get a little bit of grass and hay from the Virginias if you really search for them, but that's about it.

Altogether the flavor of Briar Fox really reminds me of a cigarette, moreso than any other pipe blend I've ever smoked. A good cigarette without any added chemicals or flavorings, but a cigarette nonetheless. If you've ever had an American Spirit cigarette you'll know exactly what to expect here. Depending on what you're looking for in a pipe blend though that might not necessarily be a bad thing! If you're looking for a straightforward cigarette replacement that you can smoke all day without having to analyze the flavors or think too much about then Briar Fox could be a good choice, especially with it's solid middle of the road medium nicotine content that also makes it a good all day cigarette replacement smoke.

Really my only major complaint about Briar Fox as a cigarette replacement is that the retrohale is quite sharp and stings the sinuses, which as a cigarette smoker who exhales through my nose most of the time (and as a habitual retrohaler when it comes to pipes) is quite off-putting. You can smooth out the retrohale a fair bit by smoking it in a filtered pipe, but it's still not entirely comfortable and in my experience the flavors here are already so subtle that running the smoke through a filter mutes them to the point of total blandness.

As far as the mechanics go, it's easy to pinch off some tobacco from the crumble cake with your fingers and it rubs out with little effort. You can smoke it fresh or dried at your preference, though each has it's pluses and minuses. When smoked fresh the flavors are more pronounced, though the Virginias are a bit more nippy (for my mouth chemistry at least) but the Burleys are smoother and less harsh. When dried the acidity of the Virginias is toned down a little, but the Burleys turn fairly harsh and abrasive. Either way it burns clean and dry and leaves just a small amount of moisture in the pipe after smoking, though it does burn rather hot and should be smoked slowly as to not overheat your pipe. All things considered it's a fairly challenging blend to get a good smoke from and I wouldn't recommend it to newer pipe smokers.

In terms of what the other members of my household thought of Briar Fox, there were many wrinkled noses and scrunched up faces and I was told quite plainly to take it outside. Briar Fox smells like a cigarette, and that's just all there is to it.


Wrapping up the review with my personal thoughts on Briar Fox, as you probably already guessed this one wasn't a keeper for me. Between the sharpness of the bright Virginias, the harshness of the Burleys, the muted flavor, unpleasant room note, and troublesome mechanics I have to say, "No sir, I don't like it." To add insult to injury it also bit my tongue like a rabid fox, which was really surprising since it's been so long since I actually got tongue bite from anything that I thought I was experienced enough as a pipe smoker that I was immune to tongue bite at this point. Briar Fox proved me wrong.

However, all that isn't to say that I think Briar Fox is a bad blend. Quite the contrary. It can be troublesome and challenging, but I think it would be just the thing for a very particular type of pipe smoker; specifically former cigarette smokers longing for an all day smoke kind of blend that reminds them of the cigarettes they once enjoyed. Briar Fox definitely scratches that cigarette flavor profile itch, and if you can deal with the mechanics and the pH of the blend doesn't bother your tongue then I'd say give it a try. Briar Fox isn't for me, but it might be for you.

 

[Skippy Piper]

Blend of the Week #20: Cult Blood Red Moon




Our frenemies at Scandinavian Tobacco Group are here to bring you what is by far the most popular and well regarded cherry flavored aromatic on the market: Cult Blood Red Moon! It also happens to be the very first pipe blend I smoked when I really got into the hobby a few years ago, so it's a rather nostalgic blend for me.

The tin note on Blood Red Moon is quite enticing, with a mix of sweet candied cherries and dark chocolate pervading the senses. It's only slightly cough syrupy and mostly just reminds me of the flavor of a Queen Ann Cordial Cherry! It's really lovely smelling stuff!

Lighting up the pipe, it's easy to see why this is such a popular blend! The first flavor that hits you is a very realistic cherry pie flavor, with none of the dreaded cough syrupiness that plagues so many cherry aromatics. Behind the cherry pie is a bit of sweet milk chocolate and just a hint of creamy vanilla. There's a little bit of natural tobacco flavor to be found as well, with a touch of grassiness from the Virginias and a little nuttiness from the Burleys, though the cherry pie, milk chocolate, and vanilla flavors are the main things you're going to taste; and I don't think that's a bad thing since they're all quite well done and very tasty.

Mechanically speaking it's an easygoing and non-fussy blend. In spite of the tobacco being quite moist from the tin, bordering on wet, it needs no dry time and burns well with few relights required. It's not quite "smoke it all the way to the bottom from the charring light" easy like Captain Black or last week's Lane Very Cherry, but it's by no means troublesome at all. It's not picky about burn temperature or smoking cadence either and can be smoked outdoors in windy conditions and puffed quite aggressively, though if you do freight train it hard enough it can start to taste a touch burnt; though even then it never turns harsh. It would make a very good blend choice for a new pipe smoker for sure.

As far as the nicotine content goes, it's also quite beginner friendly since the nicotine content in Blood Red Moon is... well... nonexistent. As far as I can tell there is no nicotine in this blend whatsoever. Zip, zero, nada, zilch, zippo. This is a blend you smoke just for the flavor and the relaxation of sitting down and sipping a pipe, since there's no nicotine at all to be found here. You might find yourself with some company while smoking though, since the room note is very appealing! Warm and toasty with just a hint of cherry, like a cherry pie baking in the oven. It's not quite as sweet and enticing smelling as last week's Lane Very Cherry, but it was enjoyed by everyone I smoked it around this week and was widely approved by the other members of my household.

Finishing up the mechanics section with a few minor nitpicks, the retrohale is mostly smooth though it can sting a little here and there. You'll still be able to retrohale it quite a bit without too much discomfort, but it's not perfectly smooth like some of the other aromatics I enjoy. The cherry, chocolate, and vanilla flavorings also diminish quite a bit when you get down to the bottom quarter of the bowl, and it does leave the pipe's chamber absolutely sopping wet after smoking so you'll definitely want to give the inside of the bowl a thorough scrubbing with several paper towels to clean up the wet sticky mess after smoking.

All of those are just me being picky though, and overall there really isn't much to complain about here. Cult Blood Red Moon is an expertly crafted blend that, unless you're someone who absolutely despises all aromatics, is really quite hard to dislike. Regardless of what anyone may think about STG as a company, Blood Red Moon is one helluva fine smoke and it's easy to see why it's the market leader in the category of cherry aromatics!


Trying to decide whether or not it's a keeper is a tough one for me though, because as much as I enjoy Cult Blood Red Moon and as nostalgic as it is for me, it is competing with Lane Very Cherry for the cherry aromatic spot on my shelf. Blood Red Moon is also just a little over twice the price of Very Cherry, and while it is very good I can pretty safely say that Blood Red Moon isn't twice as good as it's competition; and I'm not sure it's actually better than Very Cherry in any regard, just different. Ultimately I think Cult Blood Red Moon isn't a blend that'll have a regular spot on my shelf, so not a "keeper" in the typical sense, but I do like it a great deal and may pick up a tin to smoke through every now and when the nostalgia strikes once I've smoked through the last of my jar this weekend.

For now Lane Very Cherry retains the title of my favorite cherry aromatic and the keeper spot on my shelf, but if you're someone with even a passing interest in aromatics then I don't think you could go wrong picking up a tin of Cult Blood Red Moon to try!

 

[Skippy Piper]

Before I get onto what next week's blends of the week will be, now that I've reviewed 23 blends with the inclusion of the little bonus feature on Mac Baren's vanilla aromatics, I feel like it would be a good time to take a look back at what my keepers have been!

The interesting thing here is that my keeper list isn't set in stone, and has changed a little since some of the initial reviews were done. Some blends I got tired of after smoking them more after the week long review period was over, and some like 1792 Flake I reversed course on and added to my keeper list after initially declaring them not a keeper. Out of the 23 blends I've tried for this project, here's my 6 keepers as the list stands today:

Captain Black Original
Lane Limited - Very Cherry
Samuel Gawith - 1792 Flake
Gawith Hoggarth & Co. - Coniston Cut Plug
Sutliff - 507C Virginia Slices
Cornell & Diehl - Pegasus


One surprise here might be the addition of Pegasus, since as followers of my reviews might remember my throat is quite intolerant to Burley, but the recent discovery that my throat doesn't mind Burley if I smoke it in a filtered pipe made Pegasus an automatic keeper for me; since I still think it's a pretty much perfect Burley blend and have been really delighted to finally be able to smoke it without getting a sore throat!

Thus far I've only tried 6mm Dr. Grabow and Medico paper filters, and my preference has been for the Dr. Grabow ones since they seem to offer more filtration than the Medico filters (at the expense of a tighter draw) and make Burleys completely irritation-free for my throat, but I do have some 6mm Savinelli balsa filters and 6mm Vauen Dr. Perl Junior charcoal filters coming in the mail to try for comparison. Maybe I'll do a writeup comparing them all as a bonus article some week! I'll also have to revisit the previously reviewed Burley blends that bothered my throat at some point, now that I know I can smoke them without issue if I use a filter.

A couple notable omissions from the keeper list are Mac Baren's Vanilla Flake, partially because it's now out of production and partially because I like Captain Black Original better (I know, I'm a heathen) and I really don't need two vanilla cream aromatics in my cellar, and you may notice the absence of Peterson Early Morning Pipe as well. Early Morning Pipe fell off the keeper list simply because as I gained more experience with English blends I found that EMP just didn't have enough Latakia to satisfy my palate's craving for the smokey stuff on the somewhat rare occasions I felt like smoking an English blend, and I ended up finding a couple other English blends that I actually like quite a bit more!

That leads into next week's blends of the week, which are the two English blends in question! I decided that it would be fun to take a week to smoke them both back to back and compare them to pick a winner, since I really don't need two English blends in my keeper cellar on account of how infrequently I tend to smoke them. Which will win? Or will I be positively sick of both of them after smoking them every day for a week? I really don't know, but regardless of how it turns out next week's blends of the week are...


Arango Balkan Supreme




Cornell & Diehl Cordial

 

[MisterBadger]

Thanks for these two latest reviews - thorough and well-considered as ever. A pleasure to read, even if (as with these two) I realise I have no intention of ever smoking either. Now I know why I don't have to. I much appreciate the time taken on my behalf.