Tobacco Talk

As noted in my previous post, I resolved at the beginning of 2014 to smoke my way through the G.L. Pease line of tobaccos. My original plan to complete this project within the year went up in smoke — literally — but not frequently enough it seems, as I now find myself in a new year with several blends yet to smoke ... Read More

A few weeks back, I mentioned that my New Year's resolution was to try more tobaccos and, more specifically, a wider variety of them. My goal for the first few weeks was to explore Perique. Now I'm fairly familiar with Perique's effect on Virginia and Burley based blends, but I was curious to really explore its role in Latakia blends — namely how its spicy notes would complement the often overwhelming, smoky tones of the exotic leaf. ... Read More

And so it's that time again: time to introduce an unidentified blend to several of my coworkers and see what happens when their combined with it. A gentle fizzing? A sudden change in complexion? An explosion of noxious gases? While we can all make our predictions, there's no real telling until they've stuck it in their pipes and smoked it — which they have. ... Read More

Since our "buy a Savinelli pipe, get a free Savinelli tin" deal has been underway, we thought this would be a good chance to highlight Savinelli's newest tobacco blends. With Doblone d'Oro and Essenza Cipriota smoked, and enjoyed to good measure, I thought I'd take a crack at describing my time with Savinelli's Brunello Flake. ... Read More

After I cracked open a tin of Doblone d'Oro the other day, a few of our Latakia lovers around here noted that they had a particularly enjoyable experience with another of Savinelli's newer offerings: Essenza Cipriota. Here's some of their thoughts. ... Read More

When the Savinelli blends first came out a few months ago, we, of course, all lined up to try them (including those who had been testing out the various prototypes long beforehand). Somehow though I never got the opportunity to try Doblone D'Oro. ... Read More

I smoke a lot of different tobaccos. It sort of comes with the territory. Lots of things I smoke before they're on the market, or even while they're still in the development stage. I also get to smoke lots of things that never make it to market. Of course, this would be obviously true for things C&D makes, but it's also true for blends from a host of other tobacco manufacturers. ... Read More

With this month's mystery review, I once again chose something I thought would be outside our test subj... participants' usual course. The key word there is thought. This is an old blend, been around for ages, and I probably should have expected that even those who are in the habit of sitting around, puffing contemplatively over the latest Pease blends ... Read More

It's become something of a tradition around the office for one or two of us to head back to the warehouse once a month and pick up a tin of something we've never tried before. Now I happened to try a really old tin of Repose a week or two ago and was looking for something with a similar flavor, but with a bit more spiciness. For me the ideal combination was this: Orientals, Virginia, Burley, and Perique. ... Read More

As many of you are aware, Cornell & Diehl merged into our parent company Laudisi Enterprises almost one year ago. I was really excited about this merger for a number of reasons. First, I was, and am, a big fan of Cornell & Diehl's offerings. Second, I was, and am, a big fan of Smokingpipes. But my third (and most selfish) reason for being excited about this merger was that it greatly increased the likelihood that I might get to visit Cornell & Diehl's plant in Morganton, NC. I got my chance to do just that a couple of weeks ago, and what fun and inspiring experience it was! ... Read More