Cornell & Diehl Autumn Evening

I’m admittedly not a huge fan of aromatic pipe tobacco. I know there are a lot of good aromatics out there, but I’ve been jaded by a few that I’ve tried that burn hot, bite the tongue, and just don’t taste nearly as pleasant as they smell. Instead I tend to gravitate toward English latakia bombs, the pure grassy, citrus, and sweet tastes of Virginias, and variations of all those.

The few I do enjoy are “hybrids” such as Sillem’s Black, which is an English with a toasted marshmallow flavor, and Peterson University Flake, a Virginia with a very light berry topping.

My world is starting to open up, however. An online buddy (hi, Traderbob!) sent me a sample of tobacco blend called “Honey Smoked” from Sidetrack Tobacco in Bristol, VA. Like the name implied, it has a flavor that is darkly sweet, like, well, smoked honey. It’s on a red Virginia base and absolutely pleasant. It doesn’t bite your tongue, and it leaves the room smelling like you’ve smoked a nice Virginia tobacco.

I ran out of this and promptly started looking for a replacement. I plan on contacting Sidetrack to see if they’ll ship me some, but in the mean time I started looking for similar-styled aromatics.

It was recommended that I try Cornell & Diehl’s Autumn Evening, an aromatic with a maple flavor. It is supposed to have the same type of dark sweetness that isn’t overpowering, balanced against a good tobacco base. The tobacco base is a red Virginia cavendish, and it is a course ribbon cut that loads easily into the pipe. 

When I popped open the tin, I was greeted by the scent of maple syrup. It’s more than that though: The scent is somewhat buttery, and reminds me of pancakes or even french toast. Either way it’s enough to set the tummy rumbling, so don’t smoke it on an empty stomach.

Lighting the tobacco is effortless. Most bowls I don’t even need more than just the initial charring light, and it just continues to burn all the way to the bottom, leaving a small amount of fine, grey ash. It’s one of the easiest tobaccos I’ve encountered so far. It’s very forgiving. It also produces a nice, thick cloud of smoke so if you like that, you’re in for a treat.

The taste is strange. What makes it strange is that it actually tastes like it smells. You get a lot of maple flavor coming through, but you can also taste the tobacco on the backend. The tobacco is there but not really noticeable until the midpoint of the bowl where the tobacco hits the “sweet spot” and you get that nice, mature taste of Virginia. 

Autumn Evening can bite the tongue a little if you’re not careful, but nowhere near as much as some aromatics have hit me. The one time I got tongue bite from this, it was when I was quickly trying to finish a bowl during lunch and smoked way too hot. So it was user error.

The room note is exquisite. I smoked this with my friends and they all commented about how they wanted to head to IHOP afterward thanks to the smell, and how it reminded them of their mother’s breakfasts. I’m glad I brought plenty in my tobacco pouch, because soon everyone wanted to try a bowl. Even my wife, who isn’t a fan of any other tobacco I smoke, said she really liked the smell.

This blend is readily available online in tins (2oz, 8oz, and 16oz) as well as in bulk form. It comes highly recommended. It’s great for all pipe smokers, from beginners to seasoned veterans. It is a must have in my book and one to keep on hand.

-- Tagged under: review virginia cavendish aromatic --

Review: Samuel Gawith Full Virginia Flake

Today I finished up the last of a sample of Samuel Gawith Full Virginia Flake an online friend sent to me for Christmas. At first I was a little skeptical about this blend, because I haven’t really been a huge fan of Virginia flakes before. I’ve tried a few that were just too strong for me to handle as everyday smokes, or they had flavor profiles that I didn’t thoroughly enjoy. However, Full Virginia Flake has turned around my opinions of Virginia flakes.

The flake in its bulk form is presented as long strips of tobacco, densely packed and slightly moist. It resembles beef jerky in look, weight, feel, and texture. The flakes are hardy and don’t crumble in your hands. The smell of the flake is one of pure bliss. When you smell it you get a sweet, grassy, and slightly citrusy flavor. It’s light and very pleasant.

I picked a pipe with a tall bowl for this to accommodate an entire flake. Folding over this flake results in better flavor, so I’ve heard, so that’s what I did. Instead of rubbing the tobacco between my hands I folded it in half twice, then rolled it into a cylinder and plopped it into the pipe.  Doing it this way gave me a decent draw without being too loosely packed, which helps bring out the flavor more.

I didn’t dry out the flake before lighting it up, and it didn’t really matter. The flake lit nicely and remained lit through my smoking session, with only a few tamps along the way. The flavor is very similar to the smell: it’s light, sweet, and grassy. The smoke matures halfway through matures but doesn’t change much in taste profile.

The room note is a bit darker in quality but still very pleasant and quite a different nasal sensation than the room note of a heavy latakia blend. This one you can smell and enjoy as opposed to wondering if your car’s tires spontaneously caught fire.

Overall, this blend is solid. It’s not the most complex, nor is it one that will completely wow the seasoned pipe smoker, but it is one that would have a very welcome spot in your rotation and in your tobacco cellar. I like it quite a bit because it doesn’t have a very strong nicotine kick to it, nor does it have the tanginess present in other stellar Virginia blends such as Orlik Golden Sliced. It’s just a simple, well-executed Virginia. 

It kind of upsets me that I’ve finished all of mine, because Samuel Gawith pipe tobaccos have become rather rare in the USA lately. Sources tell me that their small production runs cannot keep up with the growing popularity of their blends. They ship what they can to the USA as they prepare it, but it is usually snatched up rather quickly. I’ll be waiting eagerly for the next shipment to stock up on Full Virginia Flake for certain.

-- Tagged under: flake virginia --

Review: Rattray’s Red Rapparee

The second tobacco in the Pipe Smoker’s Forum “2t2m” review is Rattray’s Red Rapparee. Originally produced in Scotland, this tinned pipe tobacco is now made in Germany and sold round the world.

It is a “medium English” blend. Cracking it open and giving it a smell really shows this off as you get the smokiness of latakia balanced well with the smell of orientals.

It doesn’t smell overly oriental, with the smell of Heinz 57 sauce like you get with some other manufacturer’s blends. Instead the smells meld together nicely and create a fragrance that is characteristically English. It’s a solid sensation.

The tobacco is tinned rather moist for an English blend, but I had no trouble keeping it lit and smoking it down to a fine, grey ash. It was a pleasant smoke, with none of the smokiness of the latakia overpowering me. It was a delicate balance, but the flavors showed off the Virginia and oriental tobaccos quite nicely. 

Because of the moisture and the fact that I didn’t let it dry out, the smoke was a bit hot and it did bite. I blame that on user error and won’t hold it against the tobacco.

While I appreciated the flavors and how they played off each other and thoroughly enjoyed the smoke, there wasn’t anything that really “wowed” me with the tobacco. I’d prefer a bit more latakia coming through the taste instead of just the smell, and something a tad drier out of the tin, but this isn’t by far a bad tobacco.

Overall I can sum this blend up in a few words: mild, pleasant, and solid. It’s one I’ll likely come back to and cellar to see how it matures with age.

I give Rattray’s Red Rapparee an 8 out of 10.

-- Tagged under: review english virginia latakia oriental rattray --

Review: Presbyterian Mixture

On the Pipe Smoker’s Forum for July and August we’re reviewing a couple of oriental-heavy tobaccos, so I decided to throw in my own review of the first blend and tell the world what I think about it.

I cracked open a 50g tin of William P. Solomon’s Presbyterian Mixture, a blend created before World War I by the Very Reverend Dr. John White. The 1st Earl Baldwin of Bewdley liked the mixture so much he suggested the blend to be named the Presbyterian Mixture in the reverend’s honor. It is still made today and is a staple English blend for many pipe smokers.

The blend consists of Virginia and “high-quality Macedonian grade” tobaccos. The “Macedonian grade” tobaccos are oriental and latakia.

Opening the tin the first thing you notice is the smell. It has the deep smokiness of latakia and the scent of leather and sandalwood. It is a very comforting and pleasing aroma. The tobacco itself is packaged inside a plastic bag in the tin, keeping it very moist. In fact, some people prefer to let it dry a bit before smoking as they find the moistness too much.

I didn’t have any trouble packing and lighting the Presbyterian. There’s an interesting change in flavor when you smoke it: You don’t get a lot of latakia in the taste, but instead you experience the spiciness of the orientals, with a barely-perceptible latakia smokiness.

The tobacco is quite mild, and the room note contains a lot of oriental and latakia. If you’re smoking around people not used to these tobaccos, they might not enjoy it but for a dedicated pipe smoker it is quite tolerable. It smokes down to a fine ash and didn’t leave a lot of moisture in the bowl. There was no real tongue bite, nor did it kick me in the face with nicotine. 

I was hoping to be wowed by the latakia in this blend, being a fan of that particular type of tobacco. However, I was disappointed that the tobacco smell didn’t carry over to the taste. The Presbyterian Mixture is pretty solid, though, but doesn’t really stand out as anything super special. It’s a good staple for your cellar, but not something to wow people with.

On a scale of 1-10, I give the Presbyterian Mixture a solid 7.  

-- Tagged under: tobacco review presbyterian virginia oriental latakia --

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