Welcome back to Tasting Notes, everyone. On this episode, I'll be reviewing something really interesting and unique: the first limited-edition blend in the Low Country line of pipe tobaccos. For those unfamiliar with the line, Low Country's stable of mixtures are manufactured by Cornell & Diehl exclusively for Smokingpipes and our brick-and-mortar store Low Country Pipe & Cigar. Earlier this year, I re-reviewed the line in detail following the release of Edisto, and I'm really excited to dive into this limited-production release. So without further ado, let's dive into Low Country's Atalaya — available Wednesday, October 19th at 6:00 p.m. ET only at Smokingpipes.

The First Limited-Edition Low Country Blend

Meaning "watchtower" in Spanish, Atalaya is an estate and a castle in the Murrells Inlet area of South Carolina, and was constructed in the 1930s by a philanthropist from New York and his wife, named Archer and Anna Hyatt Huntington. Mediterranean Revival in design, it was built using local labor and its architecture echoes the ornate pálacios of southern Spain.. Now a feature of Huntington Beach State Park, it's a beautiful tourist destination and certainly a huge part of the history here in South Carolina — and a great inspiration for a limited-edition blend in the Low Country line.

As a pipe tobacco, Atalaya is a very special, ready-rubbed mixture of Dark Virginias, genuine St. James Parish Perique, and aged Orientals. The tin note is really deep and earthy, with a hint of a very dark chocolate and sourdough bread. There's definitely an earthy base to the tin note, but it's not too strong, and there's a little bit of that barnard funk that I associate with a really matured cigar or a significant portion of genuine St. James Parish Perique. It promises to be a rich mixture — not terribly sweet, but with a complexity that's off the charts.

When you're smoking Atalaya, that complexity is evident right off the bat, but it really starts to open up around a third of the way down into the bowl. The moisture content is perfect right out of the tin, and it produces a ton of smoke. Even smoking slowly, which I try to do all the time as a general rule, the amount of smoke this blend is producing is really crazy. It's dense, lush, and there's quite a lot of body. I wouldn't go as far as to say it's creamy, because this is a little drier on the palate, but it is dense and it is complex.

The earthy base and those bready notes from the tin note are definitely present and remain consistent throughout the smoke. I would say that the sourdough bread character becomes more prominent as the bowl progresses, while the loamy and earthy character begins to fade slightly into the background until maybe about the last quarter of the bowl.

Aged Orientals Meet Genuine St. James Parish Perique

Now, I'm not entirely sure the exact percentage of Perique in this blend, but it is genuine St. James Parish Perique. This is not a blended Perique that mixes foreign tobaccos and domestic Louisiana-grown tobaccos. This is genuine Perique sourced from a single farm that handles the entire process — from the planting, to the harvesting, to the processing — and is overseen by C&D's head blender Jeremy Reeves. And what you get is a little bit less of that pungent and funky character, and you get a lot more of those dark fruit notes, a little bit of sweetness, a little bit of chocolate. And that flavor just mixes so well with the Orientals here. You end up with something that is lightly floral, lightly fruity, but with not a ton of sweetness.

There is a healthy amount of spice on the retrohale, but it's not terribly spicy directly on the palate. I think this is super balanced and well-blended. Fans of Virginia/Perique and Virginia/Oriental blends are going to find Atalaya as something they can really smoke all day long. The spice does build and intensify closer to the halfway point of the bowl, but it is never a spice bomb.

With the Virginias themselves, you get a little bit of that fermented hay, a little bit of sourdough. They form a lovely base for the Orientals and the Perique to play off of each other, resulting in a sort of dance between floral and spicy notes, between some dry, grainy flavors and a little bit of dark fruit. It is super complex and constantly changing. Even after several bowls, I'm still kind of wrapping my head around it, but fans of Orientals, fans of Perique, and fans of really complex Virginia mixtures are surely going to love this one.

Excellent Burn and Great Aging Potential

I also think that this blend has long legs. That richness, that depth of flavor, the complexity — they're all going to continue to develop with time in the tin. I think you can also expect the sweetness to amplify as fermentation happens and the blend develops over several years. In fact, I think the fermentation and the added sweetness are going to really set this one off in a handful of years. This is cellar-worthy for sure.

As I mentioned earlier, the moisture content is perfect right out of the tin, but I also wanted to note that once you get Atalaya going, it has a really, really nice burn. The spontaneity of the burn is spot on: You can really slow down, nurse it, and experience that complexity. You can kind of puff away and it is very forgiving. Atalaya also performs really well in a variety of chamber sizes. The ready-rubbed cut is perfect to load into a larger bowl, but you can also break it up a little bit more and stuff it into a smaller pipe. Regardless, it performs very well in both cases. When you back off on your cadence, the complexity is just insane..

It's a lovely mixture, super complex and one that I am going to return to until I can wrap my head around it. Make sure to get your hands on some of the limited-edition Low Country Atalaya, and if you can, pick up enough to keep some in the cellar. That's what I'm gonna do. Thanks so much guys. We'll see you next time.

Low Country Atalaya will be available at 6:00 p.m. ET on Wednesday, October 19th — only at Smokingpipes.com