A little late night AJ's VaPer in the Chacom Canadian. Taking my time, sipping slowly. Only put in 2/3 bowl full, partly because I want to begin to develop cake a little lower in the bowl, plus I didn't want to be here too long with it tonight. So far bowl is staying barely lukewarm. I'm trying to decide what tobaccos to include in my order when I get one placed with P&C for the unfinished Savenelli Liverpool. I like AJ's, but there may be some other blends I want to try before stocking up on AJ's, Lousiana Red or SG MVF. I'm certainly going to pick up some H&H Virginia Spice. May get another small tin of Orlik Golden Slices. Had a 2 hour long smoke last night in the Neerup. That pipe is already broken in, so that was one nice sweet smoke. Edit: 2 hour smoke in Neerup was with Golden Slices
I do normally smoke aromatics; though I don't know if that would be preference, or just that I have as of yet to try a non aromatic really. Though there are several I have my eye on to try. The only non aromatic I have tried, was some 1792 Flake, and it was not a great experience. It had some good points, but by the by I'd have to label it a horrible tobacco. =(
1792 Flake is very different from US Style aromatic tobacco. IMHO the perfect intros to traditional tobacco are Orlik Golden Sliced and Stokkebye Bulk Navy Flake. They are both very reasonably priced on P&C. What are some you're looking at?
Comoy Cask #1, Mclelland 221 B- Arcadia and Black Shag, Balkan Sasieni, Orlik Golden Sliced, and a few others I've looked at and said "Hmmmm, I'd like to try that.", but can't remember the names of.
Have you ever smoked a Latakia blend, or one with Oriental/Turkish tobaccos? If not, I would suggest not jumping into Comoy's Cask #1, McClelland 221, or Balkan Sasieni. Latakia in particular is a very distinctive tobacco, very pungent with a smoky flavor and fragrance. it will be totally different from any aromatic. The 1792 is perhaps the strongest Virginia blend made by Sam Gawith, and different from basic Virginias and VaPers. I would agree with Bama Samurai on Orlik Golden Sliced as a great way to get into Virginias, VaPers, non-aromatics. I prefer Stokkebye Bullseye coin flakes to their Navy Flake, but either would be good. Other great tobaccos that are non-aromatic and great for someone to begin with are Astley's 109, any Former blends, McClelland 5100 Red Cake, and Stokkebye's Virginia #701. Former Private Flake is technically an aromatic, but nothing like most aromatics. In fact, that might be an ideal choice to try something different. Mild to medium Virginia blends will have a natural sweetness to them, but nothing like the really sweet typical aromatic.
I do the same thing when I'm smoking ribs or a turkey breast or whatever. I'm not familiar with that tobacco, what type blend is it? And how did the ribs turn out?
Ribs turned out good, 6 lbs for 5 people, no left overs....the baccy is a very mild cherry with zero bite. Mix of burley, va and black cavendish. Room note is great. I have been gravitating more towards English but this is a nice change once in a while.
Tonight: Louisiana Red Virginia Parker Jockey Club (dedicated VaPer pipe) (H/t @BamaT ) About to toast the top and head outside for a bit!
BamaInsomnia here. As an occasional latakia smoker, and that is becoming very occasional, I did not enjoy Comoy's Cask #1. It is a fairly stout latakia blend, as I recall. I've tried Cask #7, Spiced Virginia. Supposedly an aromatic, but not a goopy candy cotton sweet aromatic. It was pretty good. Haven't tried #4. The Comoy's I tried were some samples courtesy of The Briary. Now, you may like Cask #1, but I didn't care for it. My preferred latakia blends as of now are Dunhill 965 (actually a Scottish blend with orientals smoothing the Latakia), any of the McClelland Frog Morton series (preferably Original or On The Town, with On The Town containing more orientals), and Lane Crown Achievement (also containing orientals as well as a touch of Perique). I've got 2 tins of Sam Gawith Skiff that I,haven't tried yet. I did enjoy the one tin of Sam Gawith Squadron Leader I have tried. It also contained some orientals. Skiff is more oriental heavy than Squadron Leader. Squadron Leader is supposedly a classic among latakia lovers.
So, I unfortunately didn't get to make it to Happy Jacks smoke shop on saturday, as the GF had to work. However, she did stop by today to give me a pleasant surprise! She picked these two beauties up for me at the 2nd hand and antique store across the street from her house. The pipe rack is really nice! Room for 7 pipes (a full weeks rotation), the bottom drawer holds my matches, cleaners and filters, and the middle "drawers" are actually cleverly hidden tobacco jars! Whatcha guys think?
I will skip #1. I have a tin of SG Navy Flake. The only Navy with Latakia. That should be enough Latakia for life. I ok with some Orientals, but think I am over Latakia for a bit.
Notes on LA red - After one late night bowl, I can say I liked it. It is a lot like H&H Anniversary Flake. Typical high grade VaPer! I expect nothing less from @BamaT and his thoughts on VaPer.
You may actually like Dunhill 965. As I mentioned, it is a Scottish blend (you do have some Scottish blood in you, don't you?), and isn't as full bodied as a lot of "English" blends. The term English blend has lost some of it's meaning, and I guess there is some varying definitions of Scottish as well, but generally contain Virginia, unflavored cavendish, oriental/Turkish, with latakia in a supporting role. I might know where you could get a sample...
Louisiana Red in my Saseini bent bulldog. It has a somewhat smaller bowl to start with, and has a pretty good cake built up so capacity is limited. That's just what I wanted tonight, a little shorter smoke. It's amazing the difference a good cake makes in the way a pipe smokes, combined with a good cleaning regimen. The pipe is sitting on top of the leather pipe rest so you can see it better. The rest is actually made to expand and let the pipe bowl fit down inside it. I told Skip, the proprietor of The Briary where I got it, that the maker's inspiration must have been a ladies spike heel. He said that was not the first time he had heard that! It really is a neat little rest.
I actually smoked 965 back in the nineties a bit. I really don't know what happened to my tobacco palate with regard to Latakia, I used to be ok with it. And yes, I am of Scots lineage, some Norman French also.
