Welcome to another episode of Tasting Notes. I was recently on location here in a very old tobacco barn probably from at least around the 1940s not only because the vibes are impeccable and because I love old tobacco barns but because I was smoking the new addition to BriarWorks' pipe-tobacco line to commemorate the 10th anniversary of their pipe tobaccos produced by Jeremy Reeves and Cornell & Diehl: Smokehouse.

The latest addition to the BriarWorks line of pipe tobaccos made by Cornell & Diehl and Jeremy Reeves, Smokehouse is classified as an English, and that is true, but it is more than the sum of its parts. Really, this is an homage to fire-cured tobacco in general, and I'll get back to that when we're talking about the actual profile of the blend.

"We launched our line of pipe tobacco in 2015," says Pete Prevost, President of BriarWorks, "so it felt like it would be cool to get a new blend out this year for the 10th anniversary of the tobacco, and that is Smokehouse."

Smokehouse Components

Smokehouse consists of a base of 2019 Red Virginias, with two different grades of Turkish Izmir added. One is from 2018, the other from 2020. Then we have two different examples of the finest fire-cured leaf in the world, the first being Latakia from Turkey. The overall quality is incredible. It's very consistently fire-cured to a degree of precision that I don't think anybody in this industry has seen before. The other example is a very nice Dark-Fired Kentucky from the United States.

"Last year, Jeremy Reeves and I started talking about ideas of what we could do for an additional blend for the BriarWorks tobacco line," says Prevost. "One thing that I have always wanted to see us do that we hadn't done before was a flake with Latakia in it. What ended up being the blend that we went with was a very Dark-Fired-forward flake with Latakia as well, and just this really cool, really smoky blend."

As the name suggests, Smokehouse is a tribute to the fire-cured tradition, which happens in barns not dissimilar to this, maybe just a little more functioning at the moment, and then the play on the widely loved process of smoking meats and other good stuff.

"Smokehouse was the name I came up with," says Prevost. "Ultimately, it fits perfectly with how the tobacco ended up."

Smokehouse Tin Note

Like all the other BriarWorks blends, Smokehouse comes in the very handy reusable and very green mason jar here. Popping the lid from that, even though this is recently produced and basically as fresh as it gets, the tin note is so rich and balanced.

"The aroma of it and the initial smell you get when you first pop the tin has a really rich smokiness to it," says Prevost. "I think the blend and the name go perfectly together."

I'm also getting a fair degree of sweetness detectable on the nose. Of course, you have that lovely earthy mesquite wood, and the sweeter caramelized notes that come along with that fire-curing process. There's a little bit of earthiness, a little bit of spice, but this one's actually much softer and more delicate on the nose than I think your typical English blend would be, even something that's a medium-bodied, all-day sort of English.

It is produced in a flake cut, which is very supple. I think that it's really well-performing at the moisture content right out of the jar. I did give this one some air time as I was rubbing it out and that seemed to work pretty well. It still takes to the match really well, burns very slowly and very coolly, and with a ton of flavor right off the bat.

A Strong Post-Dinner English Blend

My initial impression right off the first light is that this is an immediately different English mixture. I think that the split duty of the condimental leaf between the Latakia from Turkey and the Dark-Fired from the US makes the mixture extremely balanced and neither too smoky camp-fiery, or too much on that mesquite, barbecue kind of side.

I'm actually getting a fair bit of sweetness right off the bat, not just from the 2019 Red Virginias, but I think some of that sweetness tends to come from Dark-Fired leaf in certain grades. It's not like a sugary sweetness, but there is a caramelized feel to those tobaccos, and I'm attributing that to the Dark-Fired more than the Latakia in this case.

From certain English blends, I tend to get almost that wine-like sort of quality that goes hand in hand with some of the incense notes. When I smoke a dry fire-cured cigar, for example, I tend to pick up some of the more caramelized notes, a little bit more sweetness, and even a little bit of a fruity character, and both of those qualities are immediately, right off the bat, in this tobacco doing a dance on top of the base tobaccos here and lending both of their best features to the blend.

What Pete and Jeremy were trying to achieve with Smokehouse was effectively like a stronger after-dinner type of English mixture. This blend is very well balanced and very refined. The flavor is incredibly rich, and it will continue to amplify throughout the bowl, and it doesn't take long for you to feel the power of this blend. I'm about a quarter of the way into it.

In most fuller English mixtures, I think you'll find that they are heavy on flavor and the smoky quality, particularly if there's a high percentage of Latakia. Latakia doesn't typically retain the same strength that an American Dark-Fired leaf will retain. I think what they've done here is they've been able to keep the feel, the quality, and the creaminess of a full-bodied English mixture and add a little bit of extra intrigue and complexity to it.

Dense Smoke & Easy To Stay Lit

Smokehouse is really dense on the palate and the almost salty, minerally type vibe that you tend to get from Dark-Fired forward blends, or dry cured, Dark-Fired cigars, balances so well with that creamy, almost woody texture and notes from the Latakia and the other Orientals in this blend.

One thing about this that I really enjoy, which is something that I find common to both Dark-Fired and Latakia, is that when you add these components to a blend, it makes it really easy to control your burn rate. I'm yapping kind of a lot here, and the spontaneity of this blend keeps it going. You can really push it far too and get the full impact of the spices, the woody character, and the smoky character from all of these components without experiencing too much heat in the pipe or too much heat on the palate.

Latakia and Dark-Fired both are pretty forgiving on temperature, and sharing the stage in this blend, you end up with something that has a really perfect and spontaneous burn that will always smoke really coolly. You have to try really hard to overheat this one.

Amplified Flavors & Complex Character

Nearing the middle of the bowl, as expected, everything's amplified quite a bit here. It's still very balanced and pillowy, and even though it's dense on the palate, it is not overpowering. The strength is dialed up a notch for sure, and then I'm getting a lot more of the interplay and the complexity from the Latakia and the Dark-Fired leaf.

I'm tasting a little bit of warming spices from the Turkish Latakia, maybe through the retrohale, there's an earthiness in that incense-like quality coming through, and maybe even like a hint of anise that I get from that. It's just enough to add a little bit of intrigue, but honestly, the overall mouthfeel and even the aftertaste are really clean. It's not lingering at all.

I think if I were given this blindly at various points in the bowl, I would question whether or not I was tasting either Latakia or Dark-Fired, and I think that's part of the fun of a blend like this.

It's not typical to find something like this on the market. "Smokehouse adds something different to the Latakia flake market," says Prevost. "It's not as common to find Latakia flakes, so I think that was our way of doing our best to add something unique to the tobacco market that you don't commonly see all the time. I'm really happy with the way it turned out, and I think it's gonna become a favorite for sure, especially for those that aren't necessarily fans of Aromatics."

I highly suggest and recommend trying this blend during a variety of times of day and on occasions to try this blend in different pipes and with different degrees of either rubbing it out fully or packing it flake style. You're gonna find a lot of different levels of sweetness, complexity, and smoky character here.

Typically, I find that even the English blends that I enjoy the most tend to develop throughout the bowl, but usually in big blocks of what I'm tasting in the beginning, what I'm tasting in the middle, and what I'm tasting at the end. It becomes a little bit predictable when you are familiar with a blend like that.

However, this adds enough to set it apart through the Dark-Fired leaf that basically you're gonna have a wide variety of different experiences here, especially if you are somebody who chases complexity in the blend. Yeah, there's just a lot going on. It is a powerhouse of flavor and of strength. I'm glad it's not warmer out here right now because I'd be getting a little hot under the collar, I think.

Ideal For Dark-Fired and Latakia Lovers

This is not my first pipe of the day, thankfully, but, yeah, I'd say that this is firmly an after-dinner smoke for many. I think if you like stronger stuff or if you're a big fan of Dark-Fired leaf in particular, you might find this works well throughout the day. This is a bit of a nightcap smoke for me.

"There are a couple of different audiences that I think would be interested in this blend," says Prevost. "People who really like robust-flavored tobacco with Dark-Fired will love this blend because that's such an important factor. Also, people who love flake tobacco and aren't afraid to get some Latakia in their blend will likely enjoy this. For fans of Latakia and Dark-Fired, it's hard not to like this blend. It's so good."

I'm smoking Smokehouse today in a J. Alan English pipe with a Group Four size chamber. It's performing beautifully. I'm just thankful that Jeremy Reeves and Pete Prevost put their heads together again to create something else innovative like the rest of the BriarWorks blends, and I wanted to wish the boys down in Tennessee a happy 10th anniversary as well.

"Jeremy Reeves ultimately gets all the credit for making our blends," says Prevost. "I just do my best to give my input for tobacco blend ideas, but he's the master blender."

As for what's next from BriarWorks, after the busy spring season of shows and their own show, Muletown, they are hopeful that another new release will take off this year.

"We're hoping to get another pipe shape launched this year after all the business of the pipe and trade shows," says Prevost.

For now, we can enjoy the complexity and power of the full-bodied English blend that is available on-site from BriarWorks' dynamic tobacco portfolio in celebration of the 10th anniversary of their pipe-tobacco line: Smokehouse.