AUTUMN FRAGRANCE

For the past few weeks, summery September has faded into a brisk and brittle October, and lately it is chilly from dusk till dawn in the city. No, there will not be many crunchy leaves underfoot; this is the Bay Area, we do not have the classic four seasons, and we are far from a forest in any case.
The ginkgo trees will turn yellow in a few weeks, though, gilding those streets lucky enough to have them -- down near Battery on Sacramento, or up between Leavenworth and Jones on Clay, as well as in front of the projects in Chinatown on Pacific. There may still be quite a few warm days, but they will be punctuated by sweater weather, till at last the rain comes.

Whereupon people will say stupid things.

"I don't mind; we really need the rain"

"It's not the cold, it's the humidity"

As well as:

"Why does everyone smell like wet dog?"


Truth be told, San Franciscans always bellyache about the weather.
Just shut up and be glad we have some.
This isn't New York.


From late summer all the way to early winter is the perfect time to enjoy certain Virginia compounds from our friend the Lat Bomber.
Otherwise known as Greg Pease.
And, unresisting, I have fallen into open tins of two of his blends.
There is immense pleasure among the leaves.
Life is very good.



TELEGRAPH HILL
Virginia and Perique

Spicy, bold even, but not a tobacco that will bash you around on the school yard. It's a mostly flue-cured ribbony mixture that makes itself known without bullying, and might in some ways remind you of Dunbar by Esoterica. There is Perique in here, behaving gracefully rather than thug-like as it so often does. From personal experience I know that several bowls of this can be smoked in quick succession while high as a kite on caffeine, and amidst a social crowd of cigar smokers. We dare not get up and go to the bathroom, because there are vulgarians behind us who will steal our seats. So we light another bowl, and wait for them to eventually leave.
Oh Thomas, one more whisky please! Thank you.

Grassy in the tin -- that's the lighter Virginias -- but I suspect that there is also more than a touch of fire-cured leaf. It hints of toast.


UNION SQUARE
Virginia Flake

Oh yes! This is a classic. The grassy notes shade into a tangy fruitiness, and if this were aged a couple of years you would never share it with anyone, but hide in your basement far away from other pipe smokers.
Go away, I am not home! You don't hear me! I am invisible!

But there is no need to wait. It smokes fine without prolonged maturity, providing a rich soothing medium flake experience, brights and browns with a touch of red. Mid-afternoons wandering around Chinatown are made lovely by this, the time spent lost in thought near the back-end of the Four Seas on Waverly was remarkably productive in consequence. This tobacco is perfect and sweet and enchanting and just dreamy after a charsiu turnover and a hot cup of Hong Kong milk-tea at Hang Fook.

I wonder if that rowdy teenage girl is a delinquent.
Or just likes hanging out with the boys.
She's got a laughing eye.


秋香

It's been a good weekend. I restored several Dunhills and Charatans, plus a Barling Ye Olde Wood Canadian and a Becker & Musico black sandblast military mount. Dinner on Saturday was chicken and vegetable over rice (菜遠雞球飯 'choi yuen gai kau fan') and a tall glass Vietnamese ice-coffee (凍咖啡 'tong ka fe'), on Sunday night I had a petite baguette with Italian meats and peperoncinis, and a latte.


BTW, the title of this post rendered into Chinese to caption the afterthought, is also the name of the bright young missy (秋香 'chau heung') courted by China's most famous middle-aged perv: 唐伯虎 ('tong paak fu' - old uncle Tang). There's a sprightly and entertaining comic opera about that. This is neither here nor there, being absolutely irrelevant to the subject at hand.
Just a happy coincidence.
A fortuity, if you will.

Despite what you may have heard, I am not a middle-aged pervert.
I am, in fact, still quite young.

TOBACCO INDEX


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A SUITABLE PIPE TOBACCO FOR A WOMAN

Back in the seventies many manufacturers started producing tobacco mixtures with what can only be described as whore-house scents.
At that time it was virtually unthinkable that a well-bred woman would smoke a pipe in public, and such people were clearly not the intended audience for these noxious concoctions.
Their dissolute older brothers were.
There is something very unnatural about a cavendish that reeks of strawberries and coconut. It's Frankenleaf.

Unsurprisingly, such things appealed to men of questionable tastes.
As well as highly individualistic clothing choices.

Back then such people did not have tattoos or piercings, and the poor dears had to express themselves in a different vulgar fashion.

One of the selling points of these perfumed monstrosities was that they would not offend the gentler sex. It is more than likely that they offended so well that the anti-smoking movement was given a boost beyond all reason.
Even pipe-smokers like this blogger were almighty upset.
For years, whenever I smelled burnt cherries or chocolate vanilla and boiled nicotine exudate bubbling in the unclean brier of some macho degenerate half a block away, I was outraged, and resolved to give the hairy savage a piece of my mind. Of course my youthful indignation was tempered by the realization that it is useless to lecture such people, as it only makes them more convinced of their own irresistible sex appeal. They will puff up, and think to themselves "dang I must be studly....... because of this wonderful aroma of tropical fruits and nuts!"
It was usually a balding dweeb with a beer gut.
Pathetic, but let the man be.
He's got issues.
Idiot.


If a man shouldn't smoke crap, then a woman should not either.


A WOODSY SORT OF SMELL

In the early eighties I knew a woman whose taste in pipes and tobacco was beyond compare. One of her prizes was a Sasieni sandblast that made men swivel their heads when she entered the room. To my knowledge, she never ever smoked an aromatic therein, solamente full Latakia mixtures (Drucquer & Sons Blend 805 -- now no longer made). The fragrance was heady and sensual, and added more to her attraction than she could possible realize.
Because of her, all over Berkeley there are middle-aged men who still associate the smell of certain tobaccos with likable lovable women. Especially bespectacled brainiacs with a ready wit and impeccable taste.
She didn't drink, by the way. That wasn't her thing.
Good books, fine pipes, excellent tobaccos.
Absolutely ladylike. Well-bred.

Nice women should smoke nice tobacco. Leave the questionable fruity stuff for questionably fruity boys.

Go for smoky Latakia blends and good pressed Virginias. Perhaps something full and dark, or a robust British flake. Even a Burley mixture for solitude, and also if you have a fondness for corncobs.
In fact, there is nothing wrong with a corncob; properly cared-for these will last for years and yield an excellent smoke, especially if you stuff air-cured leaves in them. Burley and a cob are miraculous.

But under most circumstances, the well-bred young lady should probably tend toward fine tinned tobacco with a noticeable Latakia content, up to nearly half of the mixture. These inspire thoughtfulness and vibrancy, and abundantly reward the woman of good taste. Nothing adds to a good book as much as a nice long smoke, quietly by oneself, while any relatives or roommates who lack understanding are off gallivanting about elsewhere.
If you were to have a spot of sherry or a cup of oolong tea while thus engaged, that would be excellent too.


Looking around my own rather crowded living quarters, I can spot several tobaccos that would be utterly perfect.
Wilderness, Legends, Three Oaks - made by McClelland.
These are well-balanced full Latakia mixtures.
Over two hundred tins of G.L.Pease tobaccos, mostly somewhere in the Oriental spectrum, ranging from mild Latakia and Turkish content all the way up to Westminster, which is a lovely full mixture with a profoundly old-fashioned character, splendid with a strong cuppa.
Samuel Gawith and Germains are well-represented - again, full Orientals, additionally various lovely Virginia compounds.
A three year supply of Rattrays, mostly the Virginias, but also Accountants, Black Mallory, and Red Rapparee.
Several boxes filled with tins by Cornell & Diehl in Morganton; full Latakia, exotics, and Burley blends.
More boxes, containing various Dunhill tobaccos, nicely matured.
And of course numerous jars with my own blending experiments, the majority of which range from 20% Latakia to 42.5 percent. Given that I do not have access to the range of raw leaf that commercial blenders can command, I seldom go beyond the low forty range in my Oriental mixes.
My best blends are around one third Latakia or slightly more, and one of which I'm particularly fond is only in the low twenties. In all cases I rely on a good solid Virginia flake to give spirit to the blend; that is key.

After you've had one or two bowls, and before your housemates come home, air the place out a bit, and wash your face. If necessary, fry up some bacon to confuse their sense of smell.
Yes, you will still have an echo of a dark perfume.
But it will be mysterious and alluring.
Quite complimentary.
Enchanting.

A few good pipes, a selection of tobaccos, a favourite tea-cup, and a private place to smoke. That, and a book you cannot put down. Can you imagine anything nicer?

If your room overlooks a garden, open the window one summer evening and enjoy a bowl of flake in the twilight. It will be magical.


AFTER THOUGHT

Of course it is not a good idea to drink tea late at night, and while sherry or singlemalt are nice, you might not have them on hand.
And perhaps you do not drink alcohol.
In that case, I recommend a glass filled with equal measures of ginger ale and cold water, pepped-up with a squeeze of lime. The slight sweetness and the acid will prevent dry-mouth or minor discomfort on the tongue, and will also help bring out the flavours of the tobacco.

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NAVIGATOR

Some things are ethereal, yet in combination with other elements leave a lasting impression. Without fully realizing how it happened, the mind is permanently marked, and what had been cannot be called back.
Progress has been made, developments have taken place, things have become different.

I'll probably always associate Greg Pease's most recent product with smiling women, being whacked to the gills, and marked improvements in the weather.

As well as a sudden surge-remembrance of old friends long out of touch, whom I last saw in a small town in the Netherlands.

But perhaps mostly with Chinatown.

Not, however, with rum.


NAVIGATOR
Old London Series

Tin blurb: For centuries, men of the sea have known the pleasures of fine Virginia tobaccos, pressed and aged with a drop of rum. The addition of rich dark-fired Kentucky leaf brings a new dimension to the flavour and aroma of this timeless combination. Chart your course for a new world of enjoyment, light a bowl, and set sail with Navigator.
-----G. L. Pease.


It's an easy smoke. Perhaps a bit generous on the nicotine, which may leave one lightheaded, but soft and smooth on the palate. It consists mainly of a gentle Red Virginia, with a touch of bright and other flue-cured leaves, given an intriguing nose with a light touch of fire-cured Kentucky. The rum facilitates the melding of the leaves, but it is barely noticeable in the tin, even less so after rubbing out, and almost entirely absent in the smoke.

Especially once you're near the end of the tin.

This tobacco is not strictly a powerhouse, but too much might leave you somewhat nicotine crazed. After one bowl, you will not want to wait to light up again.
Slightly sweet, and soothing in a not-quite-red-flake kind of way.
It works best in a generous size.


VALKENSWAARD

The hint of Kentucky, combined with the red Virginia fragrances, reminded me of Herman Ritter, Peer van de Palen, and Tom Bouten, who lived together in a cottage on the Kromstraat in Valkenswaard. Three bachelor music-afficionadoes who made and repaired instruments. Watching Herman Ritter gently heating up rabbit's hide glue and steaming a sheet of wood, then carefully applying an even ribbon of paste ere pressing the wood in place, was always fascinating. Effortlessly, as if it were part of the process, he would tamp down the tobacco in his pipe in between his several other hand movements.
The red Virginia reminds me particularly of him. That hint of Kentucky calls Tom Bouten and Peer van de Palen to mind; smokers of dark Dutch shag, the spicy reek of which permeated the house as much as Herman's paler pipe tobacco.
Though not at the same times.


TONG YAN FAU

I've smoked this every day since I got it, often while strolling around Chinatown. The weather is nicer than it was at the beginning of the month, and while the aroma truly benefits from a crisp chill, the smoker himself is happier this way.
More folks are about. Perfect people watching conditions.

Two pipe-fulls on Jackson near Powell, during mid-afternoon. An elderly gentleman pushing his wife up the hill, slowly and painfully. Once past the entrance to Adele Court, she got up and together they inched further afoot. It was obvious that she did not want to be such a frightful burden, equally obvious that he did not mind at all. He was mighty pleased to be with her.
There was a gentleness to their faces.
Especially the eyes.

Teenagers leaving the bubble-tea place on the corner scattered down the block, twittering like birds. One said "oh, pipe" when he saw me.

A little tyke going food-shopping with her mom stared in goggle-eyed fascination, swivelling her head almost like Linda Blair in the Exorcist in her attempt to keep the apparition (me) in view from the top of the block to past M. P. Seafood Market (銘發海鮮 Min Fat Hoi-Sin) at the corner of Trenton Street.

The day was more golden because of the tobacco. Possibly the spiced fragrance worked upon the subconscious, likely the various stimuli sparked the mind.
Marvelous.

Do I remember the waitress with the warm smile?
Of course I do. Her charm was more noticeable with a jolt of nicotine, the flavour of the tobacco made more sweet because of the memory.

No, still not going to pursue that woman. She is far too young, and I'm smoking a tobacco that suits a mature man. But inextricably her complexion and this fine leaf intertwine in my mind's eye.
Definitely a maiden for Virginias.

Hardly any coffee this week. Instead I've been swilling extra-strong Oolong as if there's no tomorrow. I'm more attuned to certain smells after a few bowls of this tobacco. It's a strange interplay I cannot explain.


I'm whacked, but not tweaky.


Down to only four tins.
Need to order more.

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NAVIGATOR - SMOKING ON THE EDGE OF CHINATOWN

I remarked to Dante that if one had a choice of service with a warm smile from a pretty woman, or haphazard attention from a not very bright uncle, it was always better to go on a night when the person who is pleasing to the eyes is working.
He agreed. As, naturally, any man would.
And I will admit that I tend to go to that restaurant ONLY when the pretty woman is working. The food seems to taste so much better that way.

That, possibly, also affects my present perception of Greg Pease's latest tobacco product: Navigator. I smoked a big, BIG bowlful after dinner.
But I had let enough time pass that the residual taste of the bitter melon chicken rice (凉瓜雞球飯) was long gone, though not the memory of the keen intelligent eyes and sincere smile.


GREG PEASE'S NAVIGATOR
[Sixth in the Old London Series.]

No, the person in question does NOT resemble red Virginia, neither in ribbon cut form nor lightly pressed flake. But if they began featuring charming women on tobacco posters again, she would be in the running.
Certainly my first choice.


'Smoke a blend of predominantly red VA, with a touch of yellow, brown, and something aircured plus a demure and mysterious extra note;
smoke GLP Navigator!'



I think we can all agree that my skills as an advertising copy writer leave something to be desired. But don't worry, she would be fully clothed. Shirt and v-neck sweater (it was cold last night), plus jeans. Although we'd have to shop around a bit for the jeans, leastways a better fit.
The sweater made her look very fresh and collegiate, and crisp white cotton shirts evoke innocence and clean living. The hair was perfect. Long, black, clean and shiny, with a clip keeping it out of her face.
She'd be the ideal poster-girl for a pure and generous tobacco.

Navigator tastes velvety in the mouth, with a good balance of boldness and complexity. Yet it is more subtle than you would at first think. This is the type of mixture that, if you smelled someone else smoking it, would inspire you to reveries, and might colour an entire period of your life, or bring back brilliant memories of an era long ago.

The pipe was a biggish Barling billard, and it sang. Perhaps overly optimistic of me to load such a large pipe to the brim with a product laden with nicotine (flue-cured leaf and Kentucky tend toward wallop), but an hour and a half later I was happy as a clam and high as a kite.
Nicotine stimulates quite a bit.
Navigator, a lot.

It was a splendid evening, what all Saturdays should be.
Good food, good company, good cheer.
Plus something evocative.


I'm wondering whether I should first order eight tins, or twelve. Or place two separate orders.
This tobacco will age well, I think. And it will likely end up in my regular rotation. Smokes down cool and clean, delivering graduating spectra of complexity, then quietly departs, leaving naught but happiness and a fine white ash.

 

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TASTEFUL MATURITY

Through the kind agency of a friend, I have been able to smoke some of Greg Pease's latest mixture. Which has, as of this writing, not been released yet. Greg's own website does not indicate when we will see it on the shelves.


Navigator: Red Virginias and orange and yellow leaf, with a bit of beautiful dark-fired tobacco,
then softened with a little dark rum.
[Descriptive data lifted from this site: G.L.Pease.com ]


This one will not knock your socks off. Instead, it will grow on you. The first bowl was okay -- and I must mention I had smoked several bowls of other stuff that evening, so I could just as well have put some smoldering rubber in my pipe for all the tastebuds that were still alert that I had left -- but the second bowl a day later was extremely satisfying, and the third bowl yesterday after dinner induced reverie, as well as a great greedy sadness.
I had only enough for three bowls, you see.
It's gone now, and I want more.

My fellow pipe-mavens know that I own enough pipe tobacco to survive the coming zombie apocalypse. Many different blends and brands. So I should, really, be able to satisfy all my cravings without needing to acquire a stash of yet one more smoking mixture.
Logically speaking there is no need.

That, of course, makes no difference whatsoever.
I anxiously await the availability of Navigator.

Fullish, yet ethereal. A pensive tobacco, with gentleness, and a haunting fragrance on the nose. Navigator is a blend for mature men.

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GREG PEASE REVIEWED - A REPRESENTATIVE SAMPLING OF HIS OEUVRE

One of the nicer things to happen in the last twenty years is Greg Pease deciding to sell his own products. It has raised the bar in that field, and we have all been enriched in consequence. Yet there is such a large selection available now with his imprimatur that a little oversight might be helpful.
This post is an attempt to address that need somewhat.

GLP

Many of Greg's blends recall a time when all bright young men walked around with a pipe, and aspired to own a tweed jacket. The pipe likely represented a teenage experiment that had been marvelously successful, and the tweed jacket was a desire to emulate older relatives and family friends whom they respected and of whom they were fond - men who were worth emulating in many other ways, but the tweed jacket at least was relatively easy.

That paradigm shifted to dross in the fifties, was corrupted by the sixties, and destroyed by the wide lapels and shoulder pads of the seventies and eighties.
Pipes and tweed? What?

I still dress rather like that; decent professorial jacket, slacks, collared shirt.
And, you will understand, I eschew most aromatic mixtures.
Consequently I can only think well of Greg Pease.

Please note that bright young men should still smoke good pipe tobaccos and aspire to tweed. Women too.
Well, perhaps not the tweed.

[Note: Some readers have cocked an eyebrow at my insistence that women should smoke pipes, and wondered at my sanity for suggesting that the young must also be invited to take up the habit. But really, this is all easily explained. The female of the species is quite as capable of enjoying fine tobacco as the male, and if people in their early years do not learn to enjoy the fragrant weed, then who will push our wheelchairs out to the legally permitted smoking zone four blocks from the old-folks home when we are in our eighties?!?   This blogger has NO desire to smoke alone in the rain when dotage comes. It’s also fairly certain that Nurse Hatchet will cut off our balls if she catches us lighting up in the bathroom. ]


CAPSULE REVIEWS


ABINGDON
Full Balkan: Virginia, Latakia, Turkish.
Meaty and Latakia-rich, with more balance than Odyssey (one of his other blends), woodsy and broad-reaching.
Exceptional.

ASHBURY
Medium Oriental: Virginia, Latakia, Turkish.
This is a complex blend with a balance between the Virginia and Turkish, fairly light on Latakia.

BARBARY COAST
Burley, Virginia, and Perique. Faint addition of Brandy.
It can bite.

BLACKPOINT
Oriental type mixture: Virginia, Latakia, Perique, Turkish.
This blend centers around the Flue-cured spectrum. It is complex, medium, airy.
Even a little busy.

BOHEMIAN SCANDAL
A finely balanced full Balkan: Virginia, Latakia, Turkish.
Really showcases how different Syrian Latakia is from Cyprus leaf. This tastes particularly fresh and clean after some of the pointless Latakia dumps that other blenders produce. Unfortunately it is no longer available. Smoke Westminster instead.
Exceptional.

CAIRO
Medium-mild Oriental with Perique.
A complex milder blend which changes considerably with age. This is a very Berkeley product, what all college boys should smoke. Especially when going to tea at the dean’s house.
Intriguing, but not an overload.
Excellent.

CARAVAN
Medium-full Balkan: Virginia, Latakia, Turkish.
Understated, even uncomplex, in some ways a German-style Balkan. Orientals to the front, and almost old-fashioned; the type of tobacco which, if discovered in a dull provincial town makes the visit a memorable experience.
Excellent.

CHARING CROSS
Medium-full Balkan: Virginia, Latakia, Turkish.
Good interplay between the Turkish and Latakia. A very fine tobacco for Autumn.
Do not trust the smoker of this around your kid sister.
A truly outstanding mixture.

CHELSEA MORNING
Light English: Virginia, Latakia, Perique.
A rather sparkling tobacco which evokes fresh-faced young ladies.
Who, I shall insist, should also smoke this.
The Red comes through nicely. It has softness.

CUMBERLAND
An American mixture – dark aged Kentucky and span of Virginias with Perique.
Nutty, and it smells better than it smokes.

EMBARCADERO
Pressed Virginia and Turkish.
A splendid product, but not very exciting to me. Pressing Virginias and Turkish together always seems empty. As with all such, I have an urge to add Latakia.
It might suit a smoker with a palate more finely attuned to Reds.

FILLMORE
Broken Flake.
Complex and sherry-like, very well made. Often satisfying, sometimes not sweet enough.
Smokes slow.
Excellent.

HADDO’S DELIGHT
Virginia and Perique, small amount Burley.
Ideal for lovers of American blends with spicy qualities, and much like many fine products available before the war. It will not appeal to a great many smokers who cannot appreciate the older style of blends at local tobacconists. The aroma upon opening the tin is rich, robust, and evocative.
Excellent.

JACKKNIFE PLUG
Plug: Kentucky and Virginia.
This is not for the faint-hearted. But it is very good. There is depth beside the nicotine wallop, and it smokes cleanly and enjoyably down.
Burly truck drivers might quail, but I can imagine a lovely little teenage miss with laughing eyes thoroughly enjoying this. Later, when she comes back in the house, her parents will ask “what’s that smell?”. And she’ll reply “no idea, maybe fumes from the bakery fire near the school today”.
The mischievous girl will be hard pressed to come up with more excuses as time goes by.
But her grades are excellent. And she is considerate and very well behaved.
She’ll get a scholarship to an East-Coast college after high-school.
A pity, as I would love to meet her upon graduation.
Exceptional.

KENSINGTON
Medium Balkan: Virginia, Latakia, Turkish.
There are very fine Virginia notes here. By no means top-heavy in the dark department. A well-balanced go-to blend, especially for smokers who favour products that aren’t too tarry.
A truly outstanding mixture.

KEY LARGO
Cigar leaf blend: Virginia, Latakia, Shade leaf, Turkish.
Flaky, of medium strength. A very good tobacco, which should be more popular, as the layering of flavours is masterfully done, and will awaken memories you didn’t know you had..
Recommended.
Exceptional.

LAGONDA
Pressed full English – Virginia, Latakia, Turkish.
This is the kind of naughty mixture that all zesty girls should smoke. Indiscreet, but utterly charming.
Yes, this goes with a nice cup of tea, and will make doing your homework a pleasure. Such a pity that your parents will scream bloody murder if they follow the smell and find you smoking.
Exceptional.

LAUREL HEIGHTS
Virginias and Latakia.
Complex, and great with a tawny Port. Not a domineering presence, perfect for the thoughtful man not blessed with a chattersome wife. On the other hand, great consolation if that is his good fortune. Cool, mostly Red.
Excellent.

LOMBARD
Light English: Virginia, Latakia, Perique.
Very American. Old school. Some people will like this very much.
It is pleasant enough for a while.

MALTESE FALCON
Medium – full English: Virginia, Latakia, Turkish.
From the same era as Westminster. There is something else here.
During my last trip to Vancouver this was a constant smoke. Alluring in the crispness of winter, and it grows on the smoker at other times. Cellared several tins. Tangy, sweet, a little spicy. Balanced.
Excellent.

MERIDIAN
Pressed medium English: Virginia, Latakia, Turkish.
Very nice, and something I would smoke late at night. When everything is quiet and dark, one is more attuned to subtlety.

MONTGOMERY
Virginia mixture: Virginia and Kentucky.
Top notch basic tobacco for someone who does not like Latakia or drenched Cavendish mixtures.
A decent simple smoke.

ODYSSEY
Full Balkan: Virginia, Latakia, Turkish.
Quite an overload of flavour, hence sometimes a challenge. Too much Latakia to be universally splendid, but in the right bowl at the right time it sings.
Very smoky. This blend dominates the discourse.
Excellent.

PICADILLY
Light English: Virginia, Latakia, Perique.
Good and mild if puffed slow. It may appeal to people who are less adventurous than they imagine themselves to be. Those who like the herbal effect of Virginia dallying with the dark elements will find charm here.

QUIET NIGHTS
Pressed full English: Virginia, Latakia, Turkish.
Complex, and better in late afternoon than the name suggests. This is the kind of tobacco that reminds you what vacations are all about: late tea, good roast beef, a spot of sherry or port in early evening. You might want to have another bowl after ten with a bit of whisky.
It is very endearing.
Excellent.

RAVEN’S WING
Dark English: Virginia and Latakia.
This was oddly Scottish. Hard to smoke at the time, though great fun. It is now unavailable.
You will probably like Maltese Falcon.

RENAISSANCE
Medium English Mixture.
Now unavailable.
Smoke Westminster instead.

ROBUSTO
Cigar leaf blend: Virginia, Latakia, Shade leaf, Turkish.
Spicy. As with all cigar-leaf pipe tobacco blends, age mellows it.
Fine for rainy days.

SAMARRA
Medium Oriental: Virginia, Latakia, Perique, Turkish
There is an interesting interplay here, marked by the Red Virginia and the Latakia, very much like something I would blend.
But I actually like some of his other mixtures more.
Excellent.

SEXTANT
Pressed composite: Virginia, Kentucky, Latakia.
Sooty, rich, and orgasmic.
Deep, dense, and an excuse to light up. Again.
Really? Really.
Highly recommended.
An outstanding mixture.

STRATFORD
Virginia mixture: Virginia and Perique.
Noticeable spiciness, mild Virginias. But if smoked carelessly or hot-boxed it will bite.

TELEGRAPH HILL
Virginia mixture: Virginia and Perique.
Not as assertive as some other VaPers, but it is complex and will age well.

TRIBUTE
Virginia mixture: Kentucky, Virginia, Perique.
Spicy, with a broad flavour spectrum. Though rich in Virginia content it isn’t overly sweet.
A bit much at times.

TRIPLE PLAY
Plug: Virginia, Kentucky, Perique.
A jolly good smoke, this. It has a sweeter note than the Jackknife Plug, but is in the same league.
Smokers of the British VaPers of yore will definitely find much to like.
This is a clean pure product, however. It might baffle them at first.
Recommended.
Excellent.

UNION SQUARE
Classic Virginia Flake.
This is a flake-lovers flake.  I have several tins stashed away.  In addition to being a great good smoke on its own, it is also a fine blender for luxurious experiments.
Straight Virginia needs coddling.
Excellent.

WESTMINSTER
Medium-full English: Virginia, Latakia, Turkish.
One of my absolute favourite tobaccos. Very old-fashioned, and quite delightful.
Dense, broad flavour spectrum, complex, and rich.
It is everything an English mixture should be.
Highly recommended.
A truly outstanding mixture.


UPDATE:

SPARK PLUG
Pressed Balkan. Latakia, Turkish, Virginia.
Oowadda-wadda. Urkle. Rich and leathery, faint hint of seashore. Delicious and tarry, settles down nicely. More Latakia than you might expect. This will trigger every Karen for a hundred miles around. It is good.

TEMPLE BAR
Virginias, Turkish, Latakia, and a touch of Perique.
Sort of a light Oriental, but very similar to many American tobacconist blends from the thirties. Earthy. A block of tobacco that ages well. The virginias sing.

THE VIRGINIA CREAM
Virginias, black cavendish, Kentucky, Perique, and a booze vanilla topping.
A somewhat subtle overture to the aro whores. Very skillfully done. Tangy - fruity - earthy. The Perique is scarcely noticeable, and I feel that there must be something Burley-like in this. It is very American. Old-fashioned too. I could smoke this if the local tobacconist carried it.


One could do far worse than to smoke the tobaccos I have characterized as excellent, exceptional, or truly outstanding, in the list above.
But it would be hard to do better.


Other posts mentioning Greg Pease may be found here: GLP

TOBACCO INDEX


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SEXTANT BY GREG PEASE

A few weeks ago I was at an event which Greg Pease also attended.
He had brought a sample of his latest blend, and several of us dove in happily.
After smoking several bowls in quick succession, I asked for the rest of the tin.
I am greedy and an opportunist at times, as well as a cheapskate Dutchman.
This was too good to pass up.

It's like smoking an orgasm.

Excellent stuff.

I've smoked many more bowls from the liberated stash since then.
And gloated to the Porpoise that it is good.
Really really good.

[The Porpoise is one of the other local pipe smokers.  Not a real cetacean, please understand.  And no one has ever seen him swimming in the bay, although David at the wall claims that he found him making dolphin-like noises.]

A woman I shared some with likened it to filet mignon.
Her eyes closed while she smoked.
Utter bliss.

[She's already happily married (and a cigar smoker to boot), so don't get any ideas.]

Latakia and a number of other tobaccos, including something with a somewhat high nicotine content. Rich and lovely, and very satisfying.




SEXTANT
By G. L. PEASE

"A classic mixture harmoniously interwoven with a Navy flake. Ripe Virginia tobaccos, Cypriot Latakia, fine Orientals, and a touch of dark-fired Kentucky leaf, infused with a hint of dark rum, then gently pressed, matured, and sliced. Rich, bold and satisfying. "
http://www.glpease.com/CompleteList/

This presents a marvelous smell when you open the container.  Deep, dark, and riotously vegetal.
The smokiness is complex but by no means overpowering.  This is not a Latakia dump - I have my own ideas about the percentage - but it will make most Latakia smokers happy, along with a very great number of people who veer towards a broader spectrum of tobaccos than just English blends.
It is smooth, but not bland.
The nose-whiff is hard to describe.  Chocolate plum pudding, slightly burnt?  Grilled meat with a dab of sauce?  Chilies drying in the sun?  Old fashioned red-coloured carnauba wood polish?  A peaty single malt?
Something nice in the kitchen?
All of these.
Spring, summer, and autumn all together.

No, I shan't say what I think the leaf components are, nor in what proportion.  Primarily because with a product like this I'm bound to be wrong.  After making the smoker happy, it renders down to a velvety ash.

I do not know if it will age nicely, but I think it will.
Placing an order for ten tins with Cornell & Diehl.
Then pressuring the local tobacconist to stock up.



AFTER THOUGHT

No idea whether my roommate will notice if I smoke this in the teevee room late at night.  If she does, she'll probably think I did something wicked in there.  Especially when she catches the grin on my face.
A knowing self-satisfied smirk, nay, a veritable gloat.
I ate the canary.  I also stole the smoked salmon.
And I found out where you hid the catnip.
The cream is gone too. All of it.
This is excellent tobacco.

TOBACCO INDEX


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BALKAN SOBRANIE ARTICLE BY G. L. PEASE

Greg Pease discusses Balkan Sobranie Smoking Mixture in an article at PipesMagazine.com.
It is a significant essay, which pipe smokers will find well-worth reading.


BALKAN SOBRIETY by G.L. Pease
http://pipesmagazine.com/blog/out-of-the-ashes/balkan-sobriety/#more-5519


One of the things he reveals is that the original recipe contained 50% Latakia, which would put it exactly in line with several other well-known mixtures, including what was probably the most popular blend at Drucquer & Sons in Berkeley.

The proportion of 'Coarse Cut Turkish' was 20%. The other tobaccos are unidentifiable, but were most likely flue-cured products.


I have not smoked a significant quantity of the Gallagher versions of Balkan Sobranie - his evidence establishes that Gallagher tinkered with the recipe several times, reducing the Latakia content - and as far as the Drucquer mixtures are concerned I did not smoke them after the early eighties either, as I was going through a bit of a non-smoking spell.
By the time I woke up, both Drucquers and Balkan Sobranie had disappeared.


50%

That fifty percent proportion is very interesting. When I started blending on my own again, I remembered what I had smoked before among the Druquer spectrum, and compounded accordingly.
The Latakia was not the same as it once had been.
Many of the varietal Virginias and other American tobaccos that were available to Drucquers were no longer made.
Black Virginia Ribbon was nowhere to be found.
Consequently my first efforts, while conceptually similar to what I had liked in the past, were unsmokeable monstrosities.
This was back around the turn of the century, and since then I have come up with better personal mixtures.
Of some of them I've made several batches over the years.


It wasn't till Marty Pulvers at Sherlock's Haven on Battery Street introduced me to Greg's products that I realized that actually there were still many fine tobaccos well worth smoking. My initial stockpiling of the new era was several dozen cans of Greg's blends, significantly Kensington and Blackpoint.
Since then I've also put aside a few score tins of Westminster.
Et autres. Lots of autres.

G. L. Pease learned at Drucquer's that age makes a difference.


Age was something that many of the factories in operation since the sixties did not fully understand. They had streamlined their production methods, tightened up their supply chains, and by the eighties what had taken years from farm to smoker was often a much younger, "fresher" product. Some old-style manufacturers had been notorious for having blending stocks older than the owner's grandchildren.
In the modern era, tying up funds for that length of time lessened competitiveness, especially when others kept no more on hand than what was needed for the next production run.
The effect of increased efficiencies on the blends was noticeable over time.
Retail tobacconists and wholesalers also tightened up their stocking practices.
That too had its effect.
Even if the composition was EXACTLY the same as it always had been, it no longer yielded the same end-result.

Robert Rex at Drucquer's understood the effect of age on tobacco.
Greg Pease understood the effect of age on tobacco.

When I first popped open a tin of Greg Pease's Kensington, it reminded me of the smell from tins of Balkan Sobranie when I first became fond of the mixture back in Valkenswaard.
My tobacconist at the time had a supply which had been acquired years before, and I was the first customer in a very long time to develop a fondness for stinky English offerings, as the vast majority of his clientele prefered cigarettes or Dutch cigars. At some point he ran out of stock, and I survived on various other products, including some Dunhill mixtures that had been gathering dust. The newer supply didn't taste quite the same, and when I returned to the States in 1978, the Balkan Sobranie here did not taste the same either.
A certain smell was missing. Plus something else.

Was it really Balkan Sobranie? I had doubts.

But it did have the right amount of Latakia.

So it kept me happy for a while.


THAT CREOSOTE REEK

Nowadays I do not use more than about 42.5% Latakia in my own experimental mixtures. And really, given the blending tobaccos available to the average consumer, 36% to 40% is probably best. This week I've smoked several bowls of something I put together a few months ago that's around thirty percent Latakia, the rest being mostly a medium red Virginia flake, plus some other stuff including Turkish.
The proportions seem quite balanced. And it's pleasantly leathery.


In conversation recently, Greg stated that the quality of Latakia available today is excellent, and again mentioned that since the seventies or earlier the leaf available has been Cyprian rather than Syrian.
He avers that the Latakia today is much the same as we used at Drucquers.
The differences between the two types can be significant - Cyprus grows Smyrna seed tobacco (small leaf, more or less 'Turkish') - whereas Syrian was usually Shek al Bint; large leaf, and to my mind that suggests something more akin to a mild air-cured tobacco, possibly somewhat similar to Maryland (?).
The smoke-curing is also different.

I tend to doubt that modern Latakia is sustainable in a mixture at anywhere near the measure that was once fairly common. But Greg has access to much more good blending stock, and greater variety too. Plus a lot more familiarity and experience with tobacco.
So I'll yield the floor, and refer you to his article for more assured information about Balkan Sobranie.


Besides, Kensington and Westminster are among my favourite tobaccos.
He sure knows how to make a lovely blend.

TOBACCO INDEX


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JACKNIFE PLUG, BY G. L. PEASE - ROWBOATS, ROPE, TAR PAPER, AND A GUN

Following my experiment with Triple Play, which you may recall is a pressed tobacco in brick form by Greg Pease, it was only fair that I should also try his Jacknife Plug. Never mind that I think that a solid block of pressed tobacco that one has to tackle with a steak knife is ‘precious’ in the modern era.
After all, that’s what cutting machines in factories are for, right?

Grudgingly, and with extreme reluctance, I admit that I was wrong.
I cannot imagine this stuff tasting as good if it were presented otherwise.


JACKNIFE PLUG
[New World Collection - G. L. Pease]

Tin description:
JackKnife Plug - dark-fired Kentucky leaf and ripe red Virginia tobaccos, with their deep, earthy flavors, are layered on a central core of golden flue-cured for a hint of bright sweetness, then pressed and matured in cakes, and finally cut into 2oz blocks. Slice it thick and rub it out for a ribbon cut, thin for a shag, or chop it into cubes. The choice is yours.


Either use a heavy cleaver pressed down in the manner of a Cantonese chef, or go at it with your finest Ginsu knife. Reduce it to more manageable shreds with a pair of kitchen shears. Then rub it.
Only after it looks like something you can smoke should you dry it to the right moisture level.

Hacking and rubbing do not take much time, and it should not prove onerous to prepare a two or three day supply in between watching the eleven o'clock news and popping your favourite animé porn disc into the VCR.
Or, in my case "The Life-cycle of the Common Pipistrelle" - (3 disc set).

I don't watch animé porn. But I will assume that you are normal.


This is a wonderful tobacco to smoke when everybody else is asleep.
You don't want them awake, they might disturb you.
Instead of leaving you the heck alone with this splendid stuff.
You and your mild perversions.

There's an undertone of sweetness, and while it is a nicotine-rich product, it does not catch the throat or tingle the glands in your mouth the way some other overweight tobaccos do. Nor does it taste heavy. Instead, it has an earthy saveur that bears slow contemplation.
Slightly suggestive of chocolate and cigars, though that impression is fleeting.
Becomes somewhat spicier as the bowl progresses.
Yields a very soft crumbly ash.

This tobacco will persuade you that telecommuting is a damned fine idea.
Just thinking about being able to smoke this during the working day brings a warm glow.
Either that, or you could retire to a tarred shack out in the Sacramento delta and shoot river rats and seagulls in a contemplative manner.
As if that were meditational, not just for the pot.

I really really like it.
Haven't cut myself yet.
So SEVERAL thumbs up.

TOBACCO INDEX


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TRIPLE PLAY, BY G. L. PEASE - PLUG FROM THE NEW WORLD SERIES

Legends are made of this. Triple Play by Greg Pease is the kind of pipe tobacco that years from now superannuated old fossils will tell their grandchildren about, happily boasting about the time they stayed up all night smoking while repairing the number five steam pump and watching nudie dancers twirling in the silver moonlight. Oh boy yes, and we swilled Bourbon!
Nothing like the nicotine patches you youngsters feel so manly about today, or your multiple prescriptions for ethanol!
Real tobacco. Real pipes.
Real human hootchies.
No plastics here, boy!



NEW WORLD COLLECTION - TRIPLE PLAY

"Ripe red and bright flue-cured tobaccos are joined by piquant Acadian Perique and a balanced measure of smoky dark-fired Kentucky. The leaf is pressed and matured in cakes before being cut into 2oz bars, resulting in a bold blend for Virginia and Perique fans."


I would NOT recommend staying up all night smoking this.
Get a good night's sleep, and enjoy another few bowls tomorrow instead.

'PLUG TOBACCO'

Triple Play is a beautiful and complex product of a very old-fashioned type. The initial aroma upon opening the tin is distinctly plummy, with a hint of dates. After cutting some off the plug and rubbing it out, you should dry it a bit before loading your pipe. It is too moist to smoke as is, which makes it easy to cut.
Top the bowl with some desiccated shreds for an even light-up.

Far mellower and rounder than Peterson's Irish Flake, not as dark or dry-tasting as Samuel Gawith's Bracken Flake, and reminiscent of Escudo, albeit considerably spicier and more full-bodied.
Somewhat in the same vein as St. James Flake by Gawith, but much more intriguing.

Triple Play is a smooth smoke, but deceptively so. The soft velvety sweetness might fool you into thinking that this is a mild tobacco. At least until you notice a tingling in your cheeks, an itchiness in the middle of your back, and a disturbing woozy sensation from the nicotine whompus.
If you were to smoke two bowls of this in succession, for heaven's sake do NOT do so before breakfast. Or while gyrating on a ladder.
Smoke it slowly, and enjoy the flavour of the tobacco.
Combusts well, does not give tongue burn, and reduces down to a soft floury dark grey ash.
It will leave you feeling happy.

Beautiful, old-fashioned, and not for teenage boys.


NOTE: Vaper smokers often preface their review of a blend beyond their normal rotation with some form of apology or predictive denial: "I didn't think I would like this, and I was right/wrong".
As I will give anything a try, that would be rather pointless here.
Though in general I do prefer Latakia blends.

Normally I would not have bought a plug.
The local tobacconist had an open tin, I stuck my nose into it, and on the strength of the wonderful old-timey aged tobacco aroma, I snagged some.
Darn good thing. Need more.
I shall now purchase a bottle of Armagnac.
Which would go very well with this, I think.

TOBACCO INDEX


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DRUCQUER & SONS LTD - A BERKELEY INSTITUTION

One of the first places in Berkeley that became a home away from home away from home for me was the tobacconist at 2059 University Avenue, just below Shattuck.
Drucquer & Sons Ltd. had been founded in London in 1841, then re-established in California in 1928 when John Drucquer III settled in Berkeley. My father had shopped there before the war, my uncles bought their blends from the store when they were at school, old family friends and classmates of my parents.......
Sometime in 1978, in August or September, I walked into the store puffing a pipe and dripping from a deep gash on my hand.
A few months later I was working there.
Must have been that excellent first impression.


BLEND 805

The other employees persuasively introduced me to the most popular blend at the store - made with Latakia, Djubec, and three types of Virginia - before I had even started working there, as well as the strongest Latakia mixture on the shelves (Royal Ransom), Arcadia (similar to Craven A Mixture), Levant (in the same category as Balkan Sobranie 759), and Red Lion (a very traditional English-style mixture of Virginias and Latakia, no Turkish leaf at all).
But Blend 805 was the absolute standard, the hallmark blend - in the same range as Dunhill 965 and Dunhill Standard Mixture, various Rattrays blends, and a multitude of now long gone blends and compounds from legendary English and Scottish houses.

Over several months I obsessively, neurotically even, absorbed more data about pipes, tobacco, and cigars than I had ever imagined possible. More, in any case, than most smokers will ever need.
For a couple of years I also spent time in the back room polishing pipes, steaming out dings, cleaning away caked-up crud, refinishing, restaining, restoring - mostly on collectable pipes left in the care of the shop by the coterie of aficionados that had made Drucquer's their home-base.

[The other employees at Drucquers also introduced me to single-malt Scotch, pure grain alcohol, various Chinese and Philippino restaurants, Vanessi's on Broadway in San Francisco (long gone), Chez Panisse, and sinsemilla. That last substance convinced me that I should never become a pot head - I buffed the trademark off a Barling pipe after Don insisted I have a toke. He used the effect the stuff had on me as the benchmark - one evening I spent several hours on the bus after two puffs, not being able to find my way to the back exit. Haven't touched the stuff in thirty years.]


Robert Rex sold the store in 1982.

Greg Pease started working there a few years later.

Though it was long after I had ceased to frequent the place due to some rather interesting ups and downs in my life, many other regulars still hung around - one does not gladly forsake a provider of good products - and Greg describes both the atmosphere and their company every Saturday at the second location (4024 Piedmont Avenue, Oakland, CA 94611), in an article on his site.



The Back Room

Quote: "...where I first began to learn the subtleties of the pipe, and the profound pleasures it could bring. It was where I was introduced to vintage tobaccos, and the advantages a few years of age would offer those patient enough to lay some tins aside. Very few people consciously aged tobaccos then."

The idea of aging tinned tobacco was, more or less, a happy discovery. Several famous brands had either changed hands or were disappearing during the seventies and eighties, and desperate addicts had stockpiled their favourite smoke before it permanently vanished. Not only the now legendary Balkan Sobranie, about which I have perhaps waffled more obsessively on the internet than almost anybody else, but also State Express (a medium English style mixture with bright Virginia and Syrian Latakia), John Cottons No. 1 & 2, John Cottons Smyrna (like burning ambrosia!), Dobie's Four Square......

Even Dunhills changed enormously, as the old factory in London was closed and BAT moved production to Northern Ireland. What came out of Belfast in the first years was well-nigh unsmokeable, being nasty, twiggy, and rough. Putrid, when compared to the fine old blends we were familiar with.
So it was with considerable amazement that I heard other people complaining about what the Danes were doing to the blends when Murrays was finally shuttered and production moved to the continent.

Given that crusty old farts had insisted that Dunhills and other brands just weren't the same after some seminal event or disaster for at least twenty years already, it was inevitable that old tins were opened up during the seventies and discovered to have changed considerably - a metamorphosis that considerably improved the leaf, while yielding a smoke that bore little resemblance to the smoker's nose-memory of the blend.
Aged tobacco - better than a fresh tin.

[It was while working at Piedmont Avenue that I developed an addiction to fine dark chocolate, by the way. Cocolat had one of their locations diagonally across the street, and daily I would go in for a three or four truffle fix. Cocolat (started by Alice Medrich in Berkeley in 1976), also, is a gilded memory, having closed its doors in the early nineties.]


Greg continues: "It was where I had my first bowls of so many classic tobaccos, including my first brush with the now legendary Craven Mixture, stronger than I’d been led to believe, and which sent me spinning on the dreaded E-ticket ride on the Whirl-n-Hurl, my first experience of high-octane, pipe-induced nausea."

That's quite understandable. Craven Mixture had a strong dark aged Virginia as one of its primary components, and everything else was tailored to fit around that. So it smoked like an English or a Balkan, but kicked like a Navy Flake or a mule.


Greg's article is worth reading in its entirety.
Please visit him HERE.

Many of the people he describes are familiar to me. But the person named Mark whom he mentions is NOT the Mark whom I remember.

Mark Kaufman, alav hashalom, was a brilliant attorney, married to a violinist, who took his own life sometime in the early eighties.
Zichrono livracha.
I still have one of his pipes.
Can't smoke it. Keep thinking of the man.


G. L. PEASE
The Briar & Leaf Chronicles
On the Pleasures and Gentle Art of Pipes and Tobaccos
http://glpease.com/BriarAndLeaf/


ROBERT REX
Deerfield Ranch Winery
http://www.deerfieldranch.com/


I still have a seven-ounce tin of Trafalgar on the shelf, along with a few other Drucquer tobaccos from that time.
One of these days I'll just have to open it up and see how its changed in all these years.

==========================================================================


Other blogposts about tobacco:

BIG HEAP OF TOBACCO
http://atthebackofthehill.blogspot.com/2010/01/big-heap-of-tobacco.html
BALKAN SOBRANIE
http://atthebackofthehill.blogspot.com/search/label/Balkan%20Sobranie/
DRUCQUER & SONS LTD
http://atthebackofthehill.blogspot.com/search/label/Drucquers


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All correspondence will be kept in confidence.
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TOBACCO COMPANIES, TOBACCO BLENDS

This post is about pipe-tobacco, and consequently there will not be much here for many of my regular readers; sorry, but I promise that there will be the usual zany antics later on - in particular something quite perverse in time for Purim.

[NOTE: There are several links scattered throughout the text below - clicking them will bring up my own posts on that subject (EXCEPTIONS: GLP and C&D).]


TOBACCO COMPANIES

Since the nineties several of the old tobacco houses have changed, due to the deaths of guiding hands and profound legal and tax developments in Britain.


DUNHILL

Dunhill blends have not been made in the British Isles since the late nineties, and have been unavailable for the past few years nearly everywhere.
British American Tobacco, which had owned the blends since Rothmans ceased to exist, quarreled with the company to which they had farmed out the manufacture.

Dunhill tobaccos were made in England till 1981, when Rothmans (who had acquired the company from Carrerras in 1972) moved manufacturing to the Murrays factory in Belfast. While a lot of later smokers praised the Murrays product in comparison to what Orlik put out, it should be remembered that the early Murrays tins were quite unsmokeable - sourcing and quality control improved considerably over the years.


RATTRAYS

Now manufactured in Germany by Kohlhase, Kopp und Co. KG (who also do Astleys, formerly of 109 Jermyn Street, as well as the blends of Robert McConnel) according to the recipes developed by Charles Rattray in Perth. The Germans are doing a decent enough job. The one thing they cannot reproduce is the microclimate of the Scottish home of these blends - moisture content in the air, temperature ranges, and the eccentric non-standardization of manufacture combined to produce some very fine tobaccos. What Charles Rattray never realized was that combining different batches of the same blend had more impact on smoking quality than his much vaunted panning method. A variety of ages united to produce richness, whereas uniformity of age and heat treatment makes for a mono-dimensional smoke.

[PLEASE NOTE: The Rattray Virginias are described in this later post: RATTRAY'S VIRGINIA TOBACCO: OLD GOWRIE, MARLIN FLAKE, BROWN CLUNEE, HAL O' THE WYND. They are excellent, still. If you age the tin for a year before popping the seal, you will have a treat. There's enough Rattrays of various ages stashed under the bed, in the book shelves, and on the desk to last quite a long while. Good stuff. ------- ATBOTH, August 12, 2013.]


SAMUEL GAWITH

Still the same, still in Kendall, boruch Hashem. An ancient company with all of the eccentricities of previous generations smoothed out by age, still producing tobacco as they believe it should be. Except for a few monumentally odd aromatics, they are right. They also make snuff.
Supplies are spotty at present - no explanation.


GAWITH HOGARTH

Less pronounceable a name than their cousin Samuel, but no less respected. More steampressing, and more aromatic disasters, but a fine company.
They also make snuff.


MURRAYS

The originators of Erinmore. Which has been described as the painted whore among the tobaccos, the veritable clapped-out harlot drenched in cheap cologne that shakes a syphilitic tit at the unwary. The factory closed in 1998 and the blends moved to Denmark. If you ever wondered why Dunhill Flake seemed reminiscent of a perfumed tart, now you know - same factory and same machines as Erinmore Flake.
Which, despite my austere Calvinist tastes, I am actually fond of, though I will not admit it.

Erinmore Flake, calmly smoked, burns down to a fine white ash, and leaves scant funk. If smoked fast, the top-dressing boils into your cake, and you will experience profound regret.


J. F. GERMAIN & SON

This company makes some very fine tobacco, both under their own flag and for Esoterica Tabaciana. Unfortunately it is becoming harder and harder to find either - blame the continentals for that, as the Europeans have become as daft as the Californians and wish to cripple the tobacco industry entirely. A good place to start the final assault is small eccentric family companies, in the estimation of Brussels.
Supplies are spotty, there is no explanation. And that is likely to continue.


BALKAN SOBRANIE

Yes, it was only a matter of time before I brought up that name - you were anxiously waiting its appearance in this text, weren't you? The company was started by an Eastern-European Jew with Russian and Southern Slav connections. He made very fine cigarettes and a limited range of pipe-tobaccos. The Balkan Sobranie Mixture in the white tin was more famous than any other product, and is no longer available. Nor could it be reproduced exactly in any case - European Tobacco laws would prevent it.

In order: Syrian Latakia, Yenidje and other Orientals, a medium flake, a lighter Virginia ribbon, a dark toasted or steamed flue-cured leaf, and something I cannot identify that wasn't tobacco. Probably deertongue, but I wouldn't stake my life on it. Combine everything except the Latakia and meld with light heat, then add the Latakia, age for a few days, and press it into the tin - which means more heat. Like many tinned tobaccos, the moisture level was upped to make it more malleable and less likely to crumble and fragment with this treatment.

Note that the preferred Syrian Latakia in the sixties and seventies was choice Shek El Bint with far more smoke-curing than is used for any Latakia-style tobacco nowadays. Consequently that exact flavour will not be possible. Yenidje may be replaced with other Greek or Macedonian tobaccos - again, not an exact match. Prilep might not be a bad choice, with Samsoun and Smyrna for a better spectrum. It is worth experimenting, but don't get your hopes up too high.
For more about the Balkan Sobranie Mixture than you would ever want to read (no exaggeration), click here: BS CLICK

[NOTE: Because this post discusses Balkan Sobranie, as of this writing it will be the very first post that you see - simply scroll down for other articles.]



Even though these companies and many others have disappeared, the situation is comparatively rosy. Here in the States we have three companies that make enough fine English tobacco to sink the empire.



GLPEASE

Greg Pease worked at Drucquer and Sons in Berkeley nearly a decade after I left that firm. He learned far more than I ever did. Drucquers was known for its English mixtures, and Greg continued that blending tradition on his own. To such commendable result in fact that his nickname on the internet is "The Dark Lord".
G. L. Pease owns Latakia in the same way that McClelland owns flake.
He has in recent years also done some very fine things with pressed tobaccos and Virginia mixtures.

[For all other posts mentioning his tobacco, click here: GLP. This post will also be shown - just scroll down to whatever you have not read yet. Same rule holds for some of the links embedded elsewhere in this post.]


CORNELL & DIEHL - CRAIG TARLER

Despite having a peculiar fondness for Burley tobaccos, Craig produces some of the best blends in the business. As well as manufacturing Greg Pease's blends. If you are so inclined you can purchase many blending tobaccos from his company, or simply order the blends that your local tobacconist does not stock.
I particularly recommend Red Odessa.
Yale Mixture and Old College are also very fine products.
His flakes are excellent and deservedly well regarded.


MCCLELLAND

By now this company has the hoary veneer of respectable age, having been founded over a quarter of a century ago, and many of the other tobacco houses having disappeared since then. This company is famous for pressed Virginia, on which they more or less base all their products. They also employ heat and steam for particular effects. Many house blends at local tobacco stores are bulk McClelland mixtures; many other retailers depend on blending tobaccos supplied by McClelland. Not everyone likes them. But without them, pipe smoking in America might have disappeared.
You can find out everything you need to know about them elsewhere.



With GLPease, Cornell & Diehl, and McClelland in the market, we need not worry overmuch at present. These three are keeping America's smokers more than adequately supplied with high quality pipe-tobacco.



BLENDING A BALKAN MIXTURE

Balkan Sobranie Mixture as made by Gallagher was probably around 36.00% Latakia, 24.00% Oriental (Yenidje etcetera), 32.00% Mixed Virginias, and 8.00% Black Virginia (steamed and baked, rather than pressed or fired), or an unflavoured Black Cavendish.
Black Virginia is quite unavailable nowadays, and unflavoured Black Cavendish is extremely hard to find.

If you simply want to blend a good Balkan, you may increase the proportion of Latakia or Virginia - the Oriental is nearly at full capacity anyhow, and as long as you use some remarkable Virginias you can not go wrong.

Fluffed flake should not be much more than the other Virginias unless you are aiming for a slow and almost boring blend; ribbon Virginias increase smokeability, but also heat and tongue-bite.
Plain Cavendish is smooth, and doesn't add much flavour - it can be used in lieu of too much yellow ribbon.

Toasted Cavendish (actually fire-cured Kentucky) up to one twelfth of the total adds depth and body. Any more and you might end up with something too acrid.

If you use Perique, be discreet. Optimum percentages are between four and eight.

Avoid dark pressed (black) flake as a blending tobacco. It doesn't really work, as it is only narrow-range compatible. Which means Virginia mixtures and nearly nothing else.


Final note: Do NOT create a Latakia dump. While Latakia is a remarkable tobacco, it works best in concert with others, not as a solo. Anything over fifty percent is both juvenile and excessive - maximum 45% is plenty. You can increase the dark component of your blend by adding unflavoured black Cavendish (if you can find any) and Toasted Cavendish (which is actually similar to Burley and other air-cured leaf).
Doing so will produce something remarkably Scottish in character, which is probably what you want anyway.


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TOBACCO INDEX


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