October 15, 2024
Product: Tabac De La Semois La Volute 3.5oz
5 star. This product is absolutely wonderful. This is the wizard weed from the misty mountains Tolkien wrote about.
August 07, 2023
Product: Tabac De La Semois La Volute 3.5oz
First time I've ever seen it but, it was at least 75% stems! I ended up throwing it b/c it wasn't worth the trouble cleaning out all the stems to smoke. I have two more vaccumed sealed but, I'm not really jumping to open them up. Disappointed for sure. Cheers!
February 25, 2023
Product: Tabac De La Semois La Volute 3.5oz
Im not sure why or what prompted me to ask smokingpipes.com to notify me when this tobacco was back in stock, but I’m so glad I did.
When I got the notification, rereading the description, I thought, ”but I don’t care for Burleys.” Going by gut feeling alone, I ordered a couple of each blend made.
When the shipment arrived, I was a bit irritated, so I wrote smokingpipes.com a lengthy email asking why they would ship something so damaged. It’s as if they left the pallets of tobacco sitting in the sun for a few days before storing them.
Fortunately, I did a bit of research before sending the email.
When they say this tobacco is dry, you have no idea what they mean by dry. This tobacco dryness is walking through fall leaves after weeks of no rain crunchy or drop a spark in the fall hay, and the barn burns down dry. It’s dry.
This particular blend is also very rough; stems, branches, and logs are in the package. It’s a mighty rough cut!
But let me say; it’s a beautiful smoking blend. On the first day, I enjoyed three bowls, each trying to pick out the different tobacco nuances. That day I ordered more of each blend. It’s something I want around often....Read More
February 23, 2023
Product: Tabac De La Semois La Volute 3.5oz
This is a high quality tobacco - dry and unorthodox by American standards. It smokes fast and relatively cool, with a ton of body. While a lot of American Burley blends are one-trick ponies, this blend has two or three powerful, distinctive notes that come out at different temperatures. Why the middling rating? I wouldn’t suggest smoking this on its own, it can be overwhelming on a clean palate, and has a bitter edge I’d suggest cutting with a drink. Would be challenging as an all-day smoke and isn’t something a new pipe smoker “has to try” even though it is super well behaved and easy to light. This is a boredom buster for experienced pipe smokers and burley fanatics....Read More
December 18, 2022
Product: Tabac De La Semois La Volute 3.5oz
Package note of mildly sweet, earthy, and mild licorice. Tobacco is brown fat ribbon cut, a little on the dry side but soft, no prep needed. Burns fast with few relights. The strength is medium and nic is medium. No flavoring detected. Taste is medium to full and very consistent, with complex notes of a moderately spicy cigar, very earthy, herbal tangy vegetative, bitter wood, mild sweet cocoa, very bready, floral, dry hay, sweet nutty background note, and a peppery retro. Burley is leading with the "secrete leaf" (maybe Virginias?) supporting. Room note is pleasant to tolerable, and aftertaste is great....Read More
My Preferred “Plume” From Vincent Manil
February 14, 2021
Product: Tabac De La Semois La Volute 3.5oz
La Volute, or The Plume. This was the last of the four Vincent Manil blends I ever had the pleasure of sampling, and Lord am I glad I did. And I am grateful for not just Manil himself but also the New York Times writer who brought his popularity to American pipesters, for without that piece some years back, many on my shores wouldn’t know of Sammy Hagar’s doppelgänger and his often hard-to-find blends showcasing the Belgian varietal burley leaf, Semois.
Don’t let the box note deter you. And it does come packaged in the form of a paper brick, containing a ribbons pressed into a brick-sized crumble cake. It does smell like musty barnyard hay. Just, if my nose is trustworthy, not quite as barnyardish as the brick note of Tabac Manil’s blends La Brumeuse and Reserve du Patron. Pack these quick thick, dry, and often long ribbons (that more resemble mahogany wood chips and shavings than tobacco) not as tightly as you would with those other two Manil blends, nor tamp as frequently. These won’t burn quite as swiftly. In fact, the burn rate on this is as slow as you’d find with the thickest ribbons, though not quite as slow as with a flake.
Scores of reviewers have attempted to describe this unique, earthy flavor, and the descriptions are widely varied. Here’s mine: that pure untopped Semois leaf comes out tasting like mixed nuts (not peanuts, however) with just the slightest trace of Camembert or Roquefort cheese. The moldy cheese element is just not as strong in La Volute as one finds in La Brumeuse or in Reserve Du Patron. Regardless, intuition tells me most pipers will either really fancy or really dislike this offering. But I sense most pipe tobacco connoisseurs will love it and at least value the first smoking session with this blend. The experience is unmatched: puffing a hard-to-obtain blend from an uncommon burley leaf, farmed, harvested, dried and prepared all by one person.
If you’re a burley aficionado and if this passes your test, you might want to save this blend for a Friday or Saturday night, or a weekend, or when your spirits are feeling low. I break out my four Tabac Manil blends only when I want my smoking session to be a special one. I used to do the same with Cornell & Diehl’s short-lived knockout, Sun Bear, before it became unobtainable.
When I want that full-throttle barnyard hay/mixed nuts/Roquefort cheese flavor but in a longer smoking session, I’ll reach for La Volute over its siblings. 5.0 stars....Read More
Strange cut beautiful tin note
July 01, 2022
Product: Tabac De La Semois La Volute 3.5oz
I knew I would like this because of its origins but I don’t know if the cut is ideal. It comes in a dry brick of mangled stem and leaf. It’s awkward to pack and smoke but I did experience three distinct flavor changes within the same bowl a very smooth , cool, and floral beginning. Then in the middle of the bowl very nutty almost sweet. Then earthy like dusty dirt but not just ashy end of the bowl like actual dark earthy notes. I’m excited to try more cuts this one is even listed as “other” there is a slightly lighter shag cut and a couple other ribbon cuts. I could see this as a daily fancy burley if given the right cut and pipe combo....Read More
March 06, 2022
Product: Tabac De La Semois La Volute 3.5oz
This is a very good basic tobacco with a unique profile. My only complaint is the large chunks of stem material. Otherwise would be five stars.
January 13, 2021
Product: Tabac De La Semois La Volute 3.5oz
Pardon me for my opinion, but I simply DON'T GET why so many other pipe smokers claim to love the taste of this, and for that matter ALL of the Manil Semois blends. There's so much that I don't get. The packaging sucks. I'm aware that the leaf is supposed to be dry, but I'm not crazy about that either. But ultimately it's the taste that I don't get. To me this tastes bad! Vegetal and musty, sour even. I'm primarily a Va/Per fan, and Va/Burley/Per smoker who enjoys the taste of straight tobacco blends. But I don't understand why I should love or even like this taste in my mouth? The cut is admittedly better than the ultra fine cut of the regular Semois. But the taste is foul. So why should I care that the bowl will last longer? It's just my opinion, but pardon me, but the Emperor HAS NO CLOTHES!!!...Read More
October 03, 2021
Product: Tabac De La Semois La Volute 3.5oz
It's very earthy, a little spicy with herbal notes, a little bread, a lot of wood, and grassy vegetation, with a light nutty sweetness. Nice and quality tobocco indeed.