What Is An "American" Blend, Exactly?

[--dante--]

The reason I ask, is recently I've been posting how I've begun to like latakia again, but only in burley-based blends (Bow Legged Bear and Billy Budd for example). On tobaccoreviews, I often see blends referred to as 'American', and they seem to be along the lines of codger burley blends with a touch of latakia. Is that about right? I realize this is one of those things with no hard and fast rules. I'd just like to hear some of you folks' input.

[edit: I just realized this probably isn't the right forum for this post]

 

[mso489]

I don't know what the pro's call American, but they seem to be English blends with burley as a base or condiment. Apparently burley is very Americano. I do love the stuff. I guess I'm a Yankee Doodle Dandy.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

I think the term comes from American Over-the-Counter (OTC) blends like Carter Hall, Prince Albert, and Sir Walter Raleigh. Some see these as chemically laden, semi-aromatic, some see them as merely burley blends. But, what they all have in common is a mix of Virginia and burley. So, in my mind an American blend is a burley-Virginia blend.

PS Cubed Cut is one that I've been enjoying lately, and I think of it as a simple burley-Virginia with very little noticeable casing. I like it way better than the chemically laden OTC blends.

 

[--dante--]

I don't know what the pro's call American, but they seem to be English blends with burley as a base or condiment. Apparently burley is very Americano. I do love the stuff. I guess I'm a Yankee Doodle Dandy.

Well then I guess I like American blends, and will call them so

 

[--dante--]

I think the term comes from American Over-the-Counter (OTC) blends like Carter Hall, Prince Albert, and Sir Walter Raleigh. Some see these as chemically laden, semi-aromatic, some see them as merely burley blends. But, what they all have in common is a mix of Virginia and burley. So, in my mind an American blend is a burley-Virginia blend.

PS Cubed Cut is one that I've been enjoying lately, and I think of it as a simple burley-Virginia with very little noticeable casing. I like it way better than the chemically laden OTC blends.

Yes I can see calling those 'American blends', but what I meant is when I see the blend-type on tobaccoreviews dot com, they seem to only use 'American' with blends that are primarily burley, with latakia.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

but what I meant is when I see the blend-type on tobaccoreviews dot com, they seem to only use 'American' with blends that are primarily burley, with latakia.

95% of the people have no damned clue what they are talking about. The industry has their own categories, companies may have their own category for each company, and then there are the smokers, who just string big words together for their word salad posts on there. Ha ha. I don't think anyone could adequately explain some of the ideas those guys have, nor where they even got those ideas.
Me too, don't exclude me. Only between narrow margins during the day do I even know what the hell I'm talking about, ha ha.

It's pipesmoking. It's not a serious thing like... bumper cars. It's more just random bits of information people have picked up along the way like cat hair on your socks.

 

[philobeddoe]

An “American English” blend is an English tobacco mixture with the addition of Burley, such as Walnut or LJ Peretti’s D-7485, both quite tasty btw.. They are usually on the lighter side as far as the amount of Latakia in them.

 

[redrooster1977]

I agree with most of the comments. I think honestly it boils down to the company's discretion as to how they describe the blend. That said..... I feel an "American" blend is pretty much any blend aimed at the American consumer.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

An “American English” blend is an English tobacco mixture with the addition of Burley, such as Walnut or LJ Peretti’s D-7485, both quite tasty btw.. They are usually on the lighter side as far as the amount of Latakia in them.

Funny, one of my favorite latakia blends is Savinelli's English, which is just burley, Virginia with a dash of latakia. It's ironic that it is just called "English" if it is an American.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

I was just posting about my experiences growing tobaccos on another thread. To be able to communicate with other farmers and tobacco processors, the first thing I had to learn is everything people have been talking about in these forums, categorizations, names of tobaccos, etc... is all just made up crap that has nothing to do with the real world of tobacco. Try asking a Virginia farmer about red virginias. There's no such thing. There's not even a such a thing as Virginias, even to a Virginia Farmer. None. There is a seed stock called Virginia Gold, but the category is "bright leaf." Virginias will make no sense to them. Also, red Virginias are color cured bright leaf, like how a cigar leaf is processed.
All the terms we used is just made up. Literally, made up.

 

[mso489]

I like "cat hair on your socks."

 

[sandollars]

All the terms we used is just made up. Literally, made up.

FINE! Go ahead and just rip the ROMANCE out of my HOBBY!

 

[cosmicfolklore]

FINE! Go ahead and just rip the ROMANCE out of my HOBBY!

I think of it as a secret code that we all know about on this forum that allows us to discuss things within this hobby, so that we all know what we are talking about.... but as soon as you start talking to a farmer or someone in tobacco processing they will think you are a looney case from outerspace.

 

[Country Bladesmith]

I’ve always heard “American” as a descriptor for traditional Burley or Virginia/Burley blends (Codger blends, in other words), and “American English” to describe Englishes that have Burleys as a base or condiment.

 

[lawdawg]

I think the term comes from American Over-the-Counter (OTC) blends like Carter Hall, Prince Albert, and Sir Walter Raleigh. Some see these as chemically laden, semi-aromatic, some see them as merely burley blends. But, what they all have in common is a mix of Virginia and burley. So, in my mind an American blend is a burley-Virginia blend.

PS Cubed Cut is one that I've been enjoying lately, and I think of it as a simple burley-Virginia with very little noticeable casing. I like it way better than the chemically laden OTC blends.

I've put that one on my list. Sounds right up my alley for a go-to no-fuss smoke. I've also been smoking some P&C / Scotty's (or whatever it is) Angler's Dream by Russ Oulette. It's my favorite burley blend I've ever tried, and that's saying a lot. Excellent stuff.

 

[olkofri]

nor where they even got those ideas.

Maybe they've been smoking too much HH Rustica. ?

 

[--dante--]

Thanks for all the replies. I believe I will consider all blend descriptions as essentially useless However, if one mentions English I'll at least make the assumption that it has latakia, which is decidedly not from England . Except when the reference is to how they are cased, in which case...ah, forget it!

 

[--dante--]

I will just enjoy this Billy Budd American-English-Balkan-Aromatic-Navy blend, thank you very much haha.

 

[--dante--]

95% of the people have no damned clue what they are talking about. The industry has their own categories, companies may have their own category for each company, and then there are the smokers, who just string big words together for their word salad posts on there. Ha ha. I don't think anyone could adequately explain some of the ideas those guys have, nor where they even got those ideas.
Me too, don't exclude me. Only between narrow margins during the day do I even know what the hell I'm talking about, ha ha.

It's pipesmoking. It's not a serious thing like... bumper cars. It's more just random bits of information people have picked up along the way like cat hair on your socks.

I'm definitely _not_ serious about it. I'm not drawing circles and arrows on a whiteboard here -- just thought there might be an actual definition. I was wrong, and will hereby make up my own blend description
for everything!

 

[smudgersmissingleg]

American blend often means an aromatic of some kind over here in England. Gawith do an "American Blends" range and they're virtually all aromatics, I don't know why this is.