All packed up and ready for the great Semois experiment: bone dry on the right, lightly hydrated on left. I'll report back.
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To begin, the differences were very subtle; I likely wouldn't have noticed were I not comparing them side by side as well as being in an analytical mode as opposed to just smoking my pipe mode.
The hydrated batch took a little edge/roughness off, particularly during the light and just after.
The base note of barnyard funk was ever so slightly more in the forefront in the "wet" batch (I'm tired of typing "hydrated"; it was actually about the perceived moisture level of, say, Three Sails.)
However the funk (which if you dislike you won't enjoy this tobacco wet or dry) was probably accentuated because the top note--floral-- was slightly suppressed. The dry batch was overall a bit brighter, the wet batch darker.
Additionally, there was sort of a chest-nutty middle note in the dry batch I didn't notice in the wet. Interesting and pleasant, perhaps the biggest plus for the dry.
On balance I've got to go with Sammy Hagar; it's better bone dry. More complex, better balanced...at least provisionally, based on one casual experiment. And you can't roll a decent cigarette out of it and it's a tobacco that works great as a cigarette. Think Gauloise.
This, of course, begs the question: is there something specific about Semois, or would
everything taste better dry? There are people who think so, but in any case I won't be taking on
that experiment.
To close non sequiturially:
Triple Play in a small pipe.