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Scott L.
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Reviews
Cornell & Diehl - Bijou 2oz
Excellent Sweet Red
Medium-sliced soft flake rubs out easily. Rich tin note of honey, sweet leather and toast.
Sutliff - J4 - Burley
Comparison
Compared to my usual blending burley, C&D Burley Ribbon, this is a bit lighter in strength while still being fairly flavorful. It’s a bit nuttier, while the C&D exhibits more earth and bitter cocoa.
Savinelli - Brunello Flake 100g
First Class Ticket
This is a first-class tobacco in every respect. Every aspect shows attention to detail. Thin and perfect slices of a distinctive pressed flake are packed neatly and sized just right for the tin. Topped with an essence that evokes tropical fruits, the tin note suggests sweet pineapple, kiwi and grapefruit soda. This aroma works staggeringly well with this blend, reinforcing the Virginias and Oriental. The flavor is complex and natural — sweet with a touch of tartness and a bit of spice. The Burley adds a note of black walnut, while raising the pH of the blend and contributing to a fuller, smoother smoke. To me, this is a rare 5-star offering.
Cornell & Diehl - Morning Light: Boker Or 2oz
Smooth and Balanced Oriental Blend
Lovely mahogany blend of finely broken flake and ribbon. Mild tin note of sweet dark hay, light earth and dank spice. Flavor is very smooth, with well-balanced components, backed with a modest, but clean, perique spice.
Cornell & Diehl - Hearthside 2oz
Interesting Aromatic for the Latakia-Curious
This blend is pretty nice, for what it is: a mellow, sweet, strongly-aromatic Virginia flake with a dab of Latakia added. In the tin, this blend comes as a soft flake of yellow and medium Virginias. Very easy to rub out to a soft cloud. Tin note is sweet and smooth, dominated by the aromatic mix of chocolate, sweet vanilla and a hint of a very light floral Lakeland-like note(?). The aroma of the Virginias is present, the Latakia is understated. In the bowl, the added aroma also dominates the flavor, sending off clouds of sweet smelling incense, with a modest taste of Latakia, which serves to make the mouthfeel a bit more full and smooth, considering the sugar/acid combo typical of light Virginias. Ghosts heavily.
G. L. Pease - Fillmore 2oz
Mild and Balanced
Moist, medium broken flake. Mild tin note - a bit more hay than fruit. Very smooth and well-balanced smoke with modest perique. Very nice.
Cornell & Diehl - Exhausted Rooster 2oz
Nice and Smooth
Medium-thick sliced, perfect flake. Burley does not appear much in the tin note, which is balanced grass hay and dried fruit. Thorough rub-out brings out more sweet grass and a faint spice note. The dash of burley comes to life in the smoke, adding a round fullness to the flavor. Light, clean, perique tang on retrohale.
Cornell & Diehl - Red Carpet 2oz
Very Nice
Medium-thick sliced, lightly-broken flake, soft and with a dark mahogany color. Tin note of luscious dark dried fruit and hay. Pleasant smooth smoke with a moderate perique content. Seems to be best in a wide, open bowl.
Cornell & Diehl - Chenet's Cake 2oz
Age for Balance
This blend is recommended for a 10-15 year aging. However, the age of my sample is only 1 year, so I expect balance will improve with time and this may become a 5-star blend when properly aged. Medium-light color, in a cleanly-cut cake, with a small bit of loose added to make weight. Nice complexity to the nose. Fruit, spice, hay, sweet bread and faint chocolate. Cake shreds to fine, short rough ribbon that burns quickly. Relatively unbalanced flavor with the perique quite dominant. A rich smoke with significant perique evident in retrohale. Buy to lay down, not to smoke now.
Castello - Fiammata 2oz (2015 Vintage)
Excellent VA/Per
Rich, sweet tin note of dark fruits with a slightly floral citrus overtone. Hints of bitter cocoa and spice. The soft, medium-sliced flakes are folded and slightly broken. A fairly dark blend, exhibiting tones from black walnut to red mahogany. Smoke is flavorful and smooth delivering the sweetness of red Virginia spiced with a moderate amount of excellent Perique. Update 12/28/19: This blend has become my go-to VA/Per since St. James Woods has passed. Continues to impress.
Comoy's - Cask No.4 3.5oz
Inoffensive. Unexciting.
Thinly-sliced, mostly-whole moist flake. Tin note is soft grass hay with barely a whiff of fruit when first opened. Delicate flake crumbles a bit when rubbing out. Pleasant natural Virginia flavor with very light Perique. Deposits more tar than is typical.
BriarWorks - Back Down South 2oz
Nice Bourbon Note
A medium-sliced, soft broken flake. Nose is distinctly sweet bourbon backed with mild fruit tones. Smoke is smooth, but not particularly flavorful. Perique is mild to my tastes.
Peter Stokkebye - PS400 Luxury Navy Flake
Smooth Mild VA/Per
Delicate, thinly-sliced perfect flake. Medium color. Mild dried fruit, sweet anise and grass hay to the nose. Tends to crumble finely when rubbed out, so fold-and-stuff seems to work better. Pleasant, smooth smoke is neither a flavor nor Perique powerhouse. Very approachable mild VA/Per.
McConnell - Scottish Flake 50g
A Satisfying Smoke
The tin note is rich, earthy, natural tobacco and not much else. Thinly-sliced perfect flakes are dark brown and behave well in the pipe. The Burley is somewhat dominant in the smoke, with a good Perique content. The strength builds in the second half of the bowl, becoming somewhat stronger than average. Unlike many flake tobaccos, this one seems smoother when fully dried. A year ago, I wouldn't have given this a second glance, but now, in the post-McClelland era, I may reorder.
G. L. Pease - Stonehenge Flake 2oz
Lightly Lakeland
A medium sliced soft flake tobacco. Rubs out easily. Very light floral and spice to the nose. Smokes nicely with a medium Perique sharpness and no bite.
McClelland - Craftsbury: Frog Morton on the Town 100g
Excellent
FMOTT is a charming light English that is soft and vaguely sweet. The modest amount of an excellent Latakia blends nicely with the woodsy tone of the Basma, evoking the aroma of burning maple leaves on a crisp autumn day. In my opininion, the description that mentions Vanilla seems a bit misleading. Think vanilla as in the note contributed to chardonnay by an oak barrel, not a vanilla bean or extract. The blend just works really well.
McConnell - Folded Flake 50g
Nice Enough
Thinly-sliced perfect flakes, not folded, carefully wrapped and nested in a round tin. Tin note is mild light sweet Virginia on top, a smooth plum/raisin tone in support and little to no contribution by the Kentucky. After lighting, the spicy perique and a note of toasty/woodsy Kentucky come to the fore. The blend delivers a suprisingly smooth smoke given the components.
G. L. Pease - Regents Flake 2oz
VA/OR w/ Perique
This is a fresh tin, about 6 months old. A soft, medium-sliced flake that falls apart as it is removed from the tin. The tin note is predominately sweet-tart, citrusy hay with a distinct floral tone and mild oriental incense-like backing. Reveals little perique to the nose. Smokes well as-is or rubbed out. Flavor is a bit here-and-there so far, could perhaps benefit from aging. The perique content is trivial compared to my usual blends.
Mac Baren - HH Old Dark Fired 1.75oz
Great Blend
Thinly-sliced perfect flake, redolent of raisins and earthy spice with a rich hardwood smoke character. This tobacco is extremely well-behaved in the pipe. It rubs out to a soft, yet springy cloud, or smokes quite well simply folded into thirds. The smoke is velvety and rich, with no harshness. An outstanding blend.
Davidoff - Flake Medallions 50g
Smooth Twist
Soft, sweet, grassy tin note dominated by the Virginias. The Perique is understated to the nose, contributing a mild fig aroma. Sliced twist tobacco that is extremely well-behaved in the pipe. Smooth and mild smoking with a medium perique zing. Delightful.
Gawith Hoggarth & Co. - Louisiana Flake
Just OK
Relatively mild VA/Per with notes of honey, bitter cocoa and a touch of peppery spice. Long flake, medium cut. Folds well or easily rubs out. The perique flavor develops a bit in the bowl, but is never particularly strong. Somewhat astringent/sharp, with a minor bite.
McClelland - 2035 - Dark Navy Flake
Much Better Than it Looks
A wonderful pouch note, redolent of raisens, prunes, dark honey and spice, reminiscent of mince pie. The dark, broken flakes rub out with minor crumbling to a moist and slightly springy consistency that benefits from a little extra drying. The smoke is full, but surprisingly understated, adding just a bit of toastiness while preserving much of the fruit and spice. There is a minor, but undeniable, sharpness/acidity that will bite if smoked too hard, but all-in-all a nice blend. Four stars.
McClelland - VBC - Vanilla Black Cavendish
Great Blender
McClelland's VBC has a medium-heavy topping that adds a substantial vanilla aroma and flavor without much sweetness. The tobacco has a medium casing and is rather coarsely shredded, offering a cool, slow smoke. It makes a great blending component, and adds a relatively strong vanilla characteristic to your blend without adding sweetness.
Cornell & Diehl - Orion's Arrow
A Sleeper
In muscle-car terms, Orion's Arrow is what one would call a "sleeper." There is a lot more under the hood than a look at the relatively bland exterior leads one to expect. The blend is an unprepossessing, medium brown, springy ribbon cut, exhibiting relatively little variation in color and texture. The pouch note is quite grassy, dominated by the flue-cured Virginias. The aroma is supported with a sour dried herb/leaves note from the Turkish and enriched by a very slight dried fruit tone, presumably from the perique. But, the proof is in the pipe, so pack it, light it up and ... bam! The blend just roars with power and the perique, reinforced by the Turkish spice, leaps to the forefront. There's a definite role-reversal here, now the virginias are trying with some success to sweeten what has become a very peppery smoke. If it bites the tongue a little bit, it's only because I'm drawing too eagerly to explore the nuances of this interesting smoke.
Sutliff - 523 Voodoo Queen
Voodoo Queen
Sutliff Voodoo Queen is a very nice addition to the SmokingPipes catalog. It's not really an English, as it contains no orientals, yet it fits most closely in that category. The pouch note is rich and mellow. The mild grass-to-floral Virginia flake blends beautifully with a toasty/yeasty note from the medium Burley. The smokiness from the Latakia is detectable, but very minimal at this point. The Perique adds just a bit of stewed fruit. The mocha note is insignificant in the pouch. The Virginia flake is more finely-broken than ready-rubbed. It benefits from a little additional rubbing out, which releases more aroma from the flake. Lighting the blend really wakes up the Latakia, which remains mild by comparison to a "proper English," but adds a welcome dimension to the well-balanced flavor. The burley is the stand-out contributor: it makes the smoke seem much fuller and rounder in flavor than the typical light Latakia blend. The Perique is a supporting player. The coffee/mocha note seems to come and go now and then, but is not a big component. It's an interesting blend. A good choice for something a bit different now and again.
Lane Limited - Black Raspberry
Distinctive Aromatic
I've developed a new appreciation for Lane's Black Raspberry. As previously noted, it offers a very juicy, intense, sweet and distinctly berry top note on a decent, if unassuming tobacco blend. It delivers a flavorful, but smooth and mild smoke with little harshness or bite when smoked gently. I recently began smoking this in a cob dedicated to the blend and the combination really shines. Raised to 4 stars.
Dunhill - Elizabethan Mixture 50g
Surprise Inside
Dunhill Elizabethan Mixture is a very good blend, but it is rather different than the catalog description and tin art would lead one to believe. The tin says, "Dark Virginia Tobacco with Louisiana Perique." Imagine my surprise to find a substantial proportion (maybe 25% or more) of flue-cured yellow Virginia. In fact, the dominant tin note is grass/hay. Not exactly the characteristic VA/Per expected. That being said, it is a very nice tobacco blend if smoked properly. It wants to burn fast and hot, and like most flue-cured light Virginia blends, will deliver a good tongue bite and little to no flavor when smoked too fast. In addition, the Perique is one of the sharpest, revealing its own teeth when pushed. But, when smoked slowly, it delivers a very rewarding flavor. Probably best for smokers who have mastered the gentle art of smoking yellow Virginias.
McClelland - CPCC: New Century 50g
Beautiful Blend
A good tobacco blend reminds me of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. As a dance team, they were two very distinctive individuals, very different from one another in style and character, yet they could come together and dance beautifully in a very balanced way. McClelland's CPCC New Century is a bit different. This blend is more like a marriage than a team. More than "balanced," the individual elements are closely melded. Nearly perfectly so. It almost seems as if the blend has given birth to some new kind of leaf that offers a union of all the characteristics of the originals. Yes, the expected characteristics are all there: spice, floral and smokiness. But, rather than dance in counter-point to each other, they intertwine -- enveloping and supporting each other. The resulting synergy is sublime. The can says it all: "Smooth, Rich, Mellow." I rarely give a tobacco 5 stars, but this one deserves full marks.
Cornell & Diehl - Bayou Morning Flake 2oz
Perique Forward
Cornell & Diehl Bayou Morning Flake is a very thinly-sliced flake that is one of the best-behaved in the pipe that I've encountered. It just smokes really nicely, no matter how you prepare it. The Virginias are a middle-of-the-road blend that leans more towards the delicate end of the spectrum. The Perique is sharp and quite forward, but doesn't totally overpower the Virginia. All-in-all, a pleasant, peppery, wake-up call for Perique lovers.
Planta - Anno MMXIII (California Dream)
Bright but Acidic
Planta's Anno MMXIII California Dream has a top note that is very nice. The topping is distinctly and accurately orange. Tart and clean, not syrupy or like a heavy liqueur. Think early season Valencias, not ripe Washington Navels. The tobacco blend is very forward on the yellow Virginias and pretty heavily-cased. While the topping complements the yellow Virginias nicely, the blend smokes rather hot and bitey -- in spite of the Black Cavendish content. All-in-all, it's a bit too tight and acidic as-is. Blend it or smoke it very gently for best results.
Peterson - Old Dublin 50g
Nice Light English
Peterson's Old Dublin is a light English blend. The tin note is pleasant, with the expected mellow smokiness well-balanced by a sweet floral character. The dash of Basma adds a subtle spice. The tobacco is mostly a fine ribbon cut, with yellow flue-cured Virginia somewhat dominant. It smokes like a light Virginia -- moderately sweet and hot. A bit of Black Cavendish is added to the modest amount of Latakia to further cool the Virginia. A nice blend that has a character all its own.
McClelland - Personal Reserve: St. James Woods 100g
One of the Best
McClelland's Personal Reserve: St. James Woods is arguably one of the two or three best VA/Pers currently available. The blend is a relatively thick-cut flake, roughly broken. The tobacco is well-behaved - easy to rub out and smokes well. The Virginias are full and extremely flavorful in the McClelland style. The tin note exhibits a very distinctive sweet/tart stewed fruit tang. Fully rubbing the flake out mellows this tartness and brings out some spice. This is a relatively robust VA/Per offering a full measure of saucy Perique.
McClelland - 2015 Virginia-Perique Flake
Good Bulk Option
The 2015 Virginia-Perique Flake blend is a mild VA/Per that is an approachable smoke and springs no surprises. It is well-known that most Virginias from McClelland exhibit a distinctive, signature tang that can evoke an aroma often described as ketchup and/or stewed fruit. The 2015 blend is no exception. A tin note of dried fruit and spice transforms when the tobacco is rubbed out, warm and flexible. It is then a fuller, richer note that is clearly like ketchup to my nose. A modest amount of Perique contributes to a sweet/spicy smoke that fans of McClelland Virginias should like quite well. One of the best bulk VA/Pers, IMHO, but a little light on the Perique.
Peter Stokkebye - PS403 Luxury Bullseye Flake
Kind of Gimmicky
Luxury Bullseye Flake offers a great tin note that evokes the smell of mildly spicy fruitcake. I had my wife smell it and she said, "Christmas!" However, it is not a very well-behaved tobacco in the pipe. The Black Cavendish core remains damp and sticky and will not rub out properly, instead forming gummy little wads. A bit too wet to fold and stuff, I found the coins impossible to dry evenly. I finally cut some coins into small cubes and then dried it. The smoke was fine, but nothing special and pretty light on the Perique. Too much trouble for too little reward.
A & C Petersen - Escudo Navy Deluxe 50g
Times Change
The current manufacturer's take on Escudo Navy De Luxe is a surprisingly mild and well-mannered VA/Per that exhibits near-perfect balance. The tobacco is well-behaved in the pipe, either rubbed out or simply stuffed. However, it is a quite middle-of-the-road smoke that lacks any real distinction in either the Virginias or the Perique.
McClelland - 5125 - Coyote Classic Full
Good Value Blend
In contrast to this tobacco's name and description as "full" and "stout," 5125 - Coyote Classic Full is a relatively medium blend that exhibits a good smokiness well-balanced with a distinct floral note. The Virginias contribute their characteristic sweetness that works well in the blend -- they do not exhibit the signature McClelland Virginia tang. The blend delivers a mildly sweet smoke with a rich, rounded mouth-feel, albeit exhibiting a small amount of harshness. Pretty good for a bulk blend, this tobacco might be a candidate for a value choice in a rotation.
