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All New Pipes
JUNEAUTHEBUTCHER
About Me:
Cook, butcher, brewer, musician, sound engineer and newbie pipe enthusiast
Reviews
Cornell & Diehl - Constellation
Well chosen name
The dark smoky-leathery latakia shrouds the Cav and the Burley most, in the tin note, which is sparkling with interspersed bright virginia notes like stars in the night sky. Has the taste of an exotic and buttery english even without the Oriental leaf, the latakia taste and smell is quite present and virginias contribute just enough sweetness to walk the fence between sweet and savory. Really interesting about this english is the presence of burley, producing a lot of smoke along with the Lat, but making it so completely mild it can be snorked or even french inhaled. (Not recommended, I was just impressed by how mild this mixture is)
G. L. Pease - Gaslight 2oz
Holy Macaroni
Id only read good stuff about GL Pease blends, so I went in with high expectations and I have to say, my expectations have been blown out of the water along with everything in the lake. This is the first tobacco I smoke thats a fully savory smoke. Mild sweetness and tang from the virginias, which, when mixed with the "still curing wallet leather" latakia, give off a strong fig/date/cranberry reduction aroma in the tin and smoked game stew along with dark fruit chutney taste in the smoke. Orientals spice it up, but this is my 3rd blend with orientals, and the only one whose smoke didn't feel/taste buttery. Just a slight peppercorny sourness. Its a fresh tin so I will come back to this review in a few months. Definite must-try, for those who havent; a game-changing english blend that will change the way you think about english and balkan mixtures.
Cornell & Diehl - Bayou Morning Flake 2oz
Mike Tyson strong
First of all: this pairs extremely well with a good, hot, black morning coffee, BUT, for the love of God, have breakfast. 3 eggs, a steak, bacon, potatoes, sausage, beans and toast. The whole thing. A full bowl of this on an empty stomach -will- knock you out and make you cry like a b**ch, you'll call your mom and say you're sorry. Don't say I didn't warn you. Tin note was of dark fruits and wet wood. Room note was of straight, manly, strong tobacco. Taste was spicy and fruity, but all-natural, it was a very fine smoke and I gave the rest of my tin to a cigarette smoking friend to get him into pipe smoking, and it worked! Even his roomates want to get in on it!
Balkan Sobranie - Balkan Sobranie 50g
Overhyped
I was really interested in buying some, seeing how hard it was to come by. But I have since then tried a very well-kept tin from (I think) the 40s or 50s, which was a little dry (but moistened back up with a small piece of orange peel), inherited by a friend of mine by his late grandfather. So you should keep that in mind reading this review. Tin note was of... english blend, but unremarkably so. Not much piquant, pretty monochrome. The orientals were there, but didn't liven the mix as much as the only other balkan blend I've smelled (that being Crown Achievement from Lane). There wasn't much virginia citrusy virginia "pep" but you could still smell it's "expensive cigarette" qualities, I think you can blame the age of the tin for that. It's taste was definitely much better than it's smell, full-bodied and smoky, and the room note was not too aggressive, there's somewhat of a "tang" to it, but you could easily smoke it unnoticed in a group of cigarette smokers. Nic-hit was felt in the mouth and throat but nowhere else.
Planta - Anno MMXVI (Cosmopolitan Mixture)
Well...
It's not bad at all. But it's not really good either. Doesn't really taste like cranberries or citrus to me, jar note was, well... jarring. Had me choking every time I opened it for the first week. But once I could, I smoked it, and it tasted a wee bit better than it smells, but still, no fruits to be found. There was this weird "buzzing" taste I just couldn't decipher, and mixed in with the pretty strong nic-hit (for an aromatic at least) meant I often had a numb mouth by the end of the bowl. So far it's been a "stressful day" tobacco I'll gravitate towards mid-afternoon, after having lunch, especially if I ate like a filthy pig and can't even walk around without moaning and groaning. And honestly, aromatic smokers should probably not smoke a full bowl unless they're asking for a headache.
Lane Limited - Crown Achievement
For the love of all that is holy
It straight punched me in the nose through the ziploc bag, the bubble wrap, the enveloppe and the mailbox. Woke up a week later and stored it in a jar. Anyone who unpreparedly opened the jar experienced the same fate. Smell is of strong spicy/peppery flowers salad and dusty retirement home couch fire. Tastes like the exhaust of a steam engine and tweed jacket leather elbow patches but in a good way. Indescriptible and unforgettable, I enjoyed this much more than the much hyped Balkan Sobranie. (Which was a well kept, still fragrant and moist tin from back when it cost 1,72$ in Canada, inherited by a friend from his late grandfather, mind you)
Lane Limited - BCA
Great taste, yet...
Got strong rum and vanilla notes from the jar, but once smoked it kind of disappeared into a short-lived pina colada wisp of flavor. Halfway through the oz I ordered I kinda got bored with it and decided to throw it into my jar of 1Q as many have suggested on the internet. It somehow only seemed to stretch my 1Q without really adding much flavor, only enhancing vanilla smells while reducing it's musky, peppery qualities. Anyhow, good room/hair note, good taste, pretty one-dimensional.
Lane Limited - 1-Q
Benchmark aromatic
Honestly love the peppery and musky vanilla-ish-ness. Gets good comments when smoking in public although everyone seems to agree it smells like their grandfathers. Even my grandma told me it smelled like her grandfather. Pretty mild nicotine, but you'll still feel it. Hard to dry at first but dries fast near the end of the jar. Will taste like dirty gutters and hurt like an angry mistress if smoked too moist. Has left a bitter aftertaste when I didn't clean the shaft halfway through the bowl.
Peter Stokkebye - PS303 Peaches & Creme
Smells good
Smells good unsmoked, smells good smoked. Tastes well decent, like main brand peach yogurt. No nic-hit whatsoever and room/facial hair note will create a strong love/hate reaction.
Peter Stokkebye - PS31 Optimum
Nice-ish
Tin note once settled in a jar is of moist black forest cake, with a hint of vanilla beans and (whipped) cream, room note is more or less the same, although deeper and darker, you'll be sniffing through the layers, and trying to fill every last millimeter of your nasal cavity in vain. Taste is of cherry and blueberry, still a hint of vanilla, not much tobacco. Honestly the only tobacco I've tried so far that gets a 10/10 wife rating from me (well, my wife technically). Inexistant nicotine rush. Will make you and everyone in your proximity crave sweets. On the downside, it's exceptionally hard to dry, even after a month in a jar that gets opened every few days, it still needs 10+ minutes under a lamp to properly light.
Peter Stokkebye - PS315 Black Coffee
Magnetic appeal
Tin note is more like brown sugar, caramel-ey startbucks specialty coffee. room/beard/mustache note is of mildly sweet tobacco and molasses chewy cookies. Taste is very good, but I just don't taste the coffee. Snorking reveals coffee like bitterness and acidity but tingles my nose like I snorked pool water. I may or may not buy more, but as long as I have some on hand I'll gladly smoke it, even twice a day!