Public Profile

Oliva - Connecticut Reserve Robusto
A sleeper, but solid
Started off smoking this stick while out with my kids riding their bikes. While distracted with them it didn't seem to have much flavor, but after the first third when I sat down to enjoy it, I detected a subtle sweetness with a backbone of a deeper tobacco flavor behind it, and a bit of that herbal flavor that Connecticut wrappers will give. All in all not my favorite Connecticut, but a strong contender as a go-to stick that is not too expensive. Give it a try.

Romeo y Julieta - 1875 Bully
Great regular smoke
Medium/mild but still flavorful with just a perfect amount of sweetness. Possibly THE typical Dominican cigar (I find them to be generally milder than Nicaraguans). This may become a go-to regular smoke for me.

Foundation Cigar Company - Charter Oak Connecticut Toro
Exactly what the description says
This is a no nonsense, easy smoking Connecticut cigar. Just like the verbiage says you get vanilla and herbalness, just a good, mild (but flavor still there) Connecticut shade cigar that smokes easy

Peter Stokkebye - PS52 Proper English
Just great
Very flavorful for a bulk English. This replaces Balkan supreme as my favorite bulk English. Why chase expensive tins when you can get flavor like this from a bulk? That simple

Cornell & Diehl - Star of the East
Great
This blend is great. Sweetness from stoved reds, tang of oriental, and the great woodiness of c&d's latakia (I think theirs might be the most flavorful nowadays). If you like Balkans or heavy englishes like I do, give it a try. Required some substantial drying before it would stay lit well, but that is no biggie for me.

Filters & Adaptors - White Elephant 9mm Charcoal Filters (40 Count)
The best
I almost exclusively use 9mm filtered pipes and these are my favorite filters. Eliminates moisture and harshness from the smoke, leaving me with no tongue bite. At the same time it let's the flavor of the tobacco through well. Also I believe they have the best airflow of all the filters i've tried. I would put blitz in 2nd place behind these.

Cornell & Diehl - Star of the East
Great latakia & oriental
This a bang-up english blend with a nice strong latakia-forward taste, with rays of tangy, bright Turkish poking through constantly. The stoved virginia adds a pleasant background sweetness that is almost undetectable. Came a bit wet, and can be a bit hard to keep lit if not dryed out first, but wow is it worth the trouble.

Missouri Meerschaum - Diplomat Apple Bent (6mm)
My pipe of choice
I have a tongue sensitive to bite and been through meerschaums, briars, filtered briars, and simply put, an M.M. Apple diplomat with a cut-in-half 6mm paper filter in it is my pipe of choice. Smokes much like a meerschaum, but much cheaper and sturdier. Classic Americans and a pipe that just smokes great. I also like the down-home, unpretentious look, which fits my personality. Do yourself a favor, Get one.

Punch - Clasico Maduro London Club
Great shorter smoke
Simply: These are my favorite short smoke cigar for when you don't have time for a big cigar. Great nutty taste and deeper/darker natural tobacco maduro taste. Good, but not too complicated.

Daughters & Ryan - Two Timer
Great mixer
This burns a tad bit hot by itself, and the shag cut takes a bit of getting used to packing. BUT, for mixing with other blends to give them a bit of a savory taste and add some good burning characteristics, this blend is it. I mix it 50/50 with English blends to offset some of the sweetness of the virginias. Buy some. 2 oz goes a long way.

Cornell & Diehl - Morley's Best
A new favorite
I used to be head over heels for traditional English blends when I first started piping. Years later I have switched to cobs from briars, and to burley & dark fired kentucky blends. Morley's best is an amazing American English blend, and the perfect bridge between those two worlds. The sharp, woody latakia pairs just right with the savory dark burley in the blend. Recommended.

McConnell - Scottish Cake 50g
Amazing
This is the perfect blend for me, Kentucky and perique combine for a tangy, slightly woody and sweet blend that burns cool, packs well, and tastes great in my M.M. cobs

Missouri Meerschaum - Diplomat 5th Avenue Straight (6mm)
Mean smoking machine
This thing is great! Feels right in the hand, and has the look of THE classic corn cob pipe. Throw a forever stem on this bad boy and have something for under 50 bucks that smokes better than a 100 dollar briar. Get one.

Cornell & Diehl - Engine #99
Hate to say it
This is a well known tobacco. I am a balkan sasieni and nightcap fan, and I was hoping that this blend would fit in well with those. I came out of this realizing that I don't like burley in my English blends, because in this blend the burley just took over completely, burning harsh and completely covering up any balkan/English flavor. So even though this may be a good tobacco that many enjoy, it didn't do it for me.

Cornell & Diehl - Old Joe Krantz
I didn't get it
Whatever it is that people love about this one, I didn't experience it. I went into this one with high hopes due to many great reviews. I am usually an English/balkan guy, sometimes VA/Pers. Got this hoping to get into VA/bur/pers. I tried it multiple times. And only got hot, harsh, tasteless air each time. Maybe It was just me..either way this didnt do it for me.

Arango - Balkan Supreme
Excellent
I highly enjoy this blend. It had a bulk price, but a premium tin taste. It has an excellent floral taste that goes along with the latakia/oriental interplay, almost like a lakeland taste. I am assuming this distinct note comes to me from the Samsun. Anyways, I filled up 2 jars with this blend to age, I love it.

Cornell & Diehl - Super Balkan
Ok, but not super
I personally prefer a heavy English/ balkan blend most of the time. In this blend i did not quite get the heavier flavor I seek in a balkan blend. I mostly tasted the burley and Virginia's, and only tasted the orientals and latakia in the background. Not necessarily a bad blend, just not a flavor bomb to me. I would say a 2 to 2.5 blend for me.

Balkan Sasieni - Balkan Sasieni 50g
Great flavorful medium English blend
I recently came back to this blend after 2 years away from pipe smoking. I remembered loving this blend as an anytime English blend, one of, my old standbys. Well all I can say is good old STG does not disappoint. At first puff I realized that the flavor I enjoyed had not changed a bit. It had a little more punch than most other "medium" or "all day" english blends, but as someone who tends towards heavier blends like Nightcap, I sought out this exact type of tobacco for me days when I want something a bit lighter than a nightcap, but just as flavorful. Great orientals paired with the right amount of latakia and virginias to round things off