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Post by william on Mar 3, 2018 18:29:00 GMT -5
I had a small tobacco order come in yesterday. Among my (gotta try this) tins was Rattray's Stirling Flake. Oh my--it is delicious. So I have this question. I know tastes vary dramatically, and that the way I pack and puff will have some degree of influence on how well any tobacco smokes--and even the type of pipe used will be a factor. I know so far my favorites include light English blends (EMP, Squadron Leader, John Cotton 1&2); but I do not especially care for Dunhill 965, or McClelland's Legends. Absolutely love some G L Pease blends (Quiet Nights, Chelsea Morning) and Low Country's Cooper. And I liked Wessex Campaign Dark Flake enough to order a few tins). Picked up some Carter Hall a couple of weeks ago and found it bland. Tried some Escudo and thought my tongue was on fire--first time I ever experienced that with pipe tobacco. I also tried some MacBarren Navy Flake and found it disgusting--felt like I was face down in a pile of hay being raped by a prison escapee. Actually threw away the mason jar I had temporarily stored it in because I could not get the smell out of it. Maybe it is the burley in that blend that I didn't like? Although when I read tobacco reviews of Virginias everyone seems to mention "hay." Anyway--apparently these dark flakes appeal to me. Any advice as to further tobacco exploration would be appreciated. I even have 3 mason jars of aromatic tobacco here (Lane's Dark Red, Nording's Labrador, which I understand is blended by McClelland, and McClelland Top Quality Gold and Toasted, which strikes me as Labrador with less "sauce.") But these are more for the occasional change of pace and I cannot see myself smoking any of them on a regular basis. I suppose I am saying that I see no clear connection among the tobaccos I like. The Wessex is a straight Virginia, I think; the Pease blends I mentioned both contain Latakia and Perique; The Low Country Cooper is about the same minus the perique; I even tried their Waccamaw and mostly enjoyed it--again Virginia, perique, and orientals. Wondering why Escudo (Virginia and perique) disagreed with me--simply the absence of orientals? And the MacBarren's--UGH!!! Any insights would be appreciated. And since I know you guys like pictures, I will attach a picture of my tiny jar of Stirling Flake and my Charatan Trafalgar posing with it.  |
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Post by That Falls Guy on Mar 3, 2018 18:34:18 GMT -5
You were right about the picture....beautiful pipe!
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Post by slowroll on Mar 3, 2018 19:03:23 GMT -5
If you're looking for interesting flakes, try MacBaren HH Latakia flake. A luscious tobacco without overpowering latakia . All the dark stuff in there is not latakia, has Dark Va and other stuff. btw, I also found Escudo to be pretty vile, so we may have similar taste. For me, Va and Burley have to have liberal amounts of latakia blended to be tolerable.
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Post by cigrmaster on Mar 3, 2018 19:16:11 GMT -5
If you like the Wessex here are a few other blends in that genre you might enjoy. I do not like grass and hey like flavors and get none of those with this list. These are all straight Virginia's.
Wessex Brown Virginia Flake
Astleys no 44
Astleys no 109
John Aylesbury Classic Flake ( used to be Luxury Flake)
Capstan Blue Flake
Dunhill Flake
Fribourg & Treyer Cut Virginia Plug- difficult to find but worth the chase in my opinion.
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Post by papipeguy on Mar 3, 2018 19:56:43 GMT -5
A bit of a story here. Rattray Stirling Flake is made by Kohlhase, Kopp und Co. and they made the Peterson blends before those moved to another producer. Since KK&Co own the blends they are now making them under the Rattray banner. So, Stirling Flake is the "old" Peterson Irish Flake in Scot's clothing. Wallace Flake is the "old" Peterson University Flake.
We need scorecards these days to keep track of this stuff.
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Post by zambini on Mar 3, 2018 21:08:04 GMT -5
A bit of a story here. Rattray Stirling Flake is made by Kohlhase, Kopp und Co. and they made the Peterson blends before those moved to another producer. Since KK&Co own the blends they are now making them under the Rattray banner. So, Stirling Flake is the "old" Peterson Irish Flake in Scot's clothing. Wallace Flake is the "old" Peterson University Flake. We need scorecards these days to keep track of this stuff. I heard about this too. I think the interesting thing is that between the Peterson and Rattray's name, they also switched the pricing on the blends. |
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Post by trailboss on Mar 3, 2018 23:57:38 GMT -5
A bit of a story here. Rattray Stirling Flake is made by Kohlhase, Kopp und Co. and they made the Peterson blends before those moved to another producer. Since KK&Co own the blends they are now making them under the Rattray banner. So, Stirling Flake is the "old" Peterson Irish Flake in Scot's clothing. Wallace Flake is the "old" Peterson University Flake. We need scorecards these days to keep track of this stuff. Thanks for the info John, never knew any of that. |
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Post by william on Mar 4, 2018 7:57:45 GMT -5
Thanks for the advice guys. Steve--I am glad to see I am not the only person to find Escudo disgusting. It is a highly rated tobacco. I will check out the MacBaren flake you mentioned. And thanks for the list cigrmaster. I will stroll over to tobacco reviews and do some reading.
And John, I have read about the Peterson/KK&Co. connection in the reviews at tobacco reviews. It is a bit confusing. Anyway--thanks for the responses.
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Post by peteguy on Mar 4, 2018 20:18:21 GMT -5
Grab a tin of Edward G Robinson on your next order. I would also look at SPC Plum Pudding and Mississippi River. They might fit your light English cat. I have been trying to add some Lat to my rotation and those are 3 that I have really enjoyed.
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Post by Legend Lover on Mar 5, 2018 4:32:28 GMT -5
Finally...a tobacco that I can get my hands on in the UK to try. I must pick some up and see if my tastes compare to yours, william. |
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Post by william on Mar 5, 2018 7:26:53 GMT -5
Finally...a tobacco that I can get my hands on in the UK to try. I must pick some up and see if my tastes compare to yours, william . Let me know what you think if you try it. I will admit that the reviewers who state this is a strong/full tobacco are right. So just curious--what tobaccos are difficult to obtain in the UK? |
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Post by william on Mar 5, 2018 7:36:14 GMT -5
If you're looking for interesting flakes, try MacBaren HH Latakia flake. A luscious tobacco without overpowering latakia . All the dark stuff in there is not latakia, has Dark Va and other stuff. btw, I also found Escudo to be pretty vile, so we may have similar taste. For me, Va and Burley have to have liberal amounts of latakia blended to be tolerable. Steve--I read your advice here, spent an hour at Tobacco Reviews, and decided you might be on to something here. It seems my favorite tobaccos so far contain some portion of latakia and/or perique (Quiet Nights, Low Country Cooper). And since I enjoyed a dark Virginia (Wessex Brigade Campaign Dark Flake), it makes sense that a flake of dark Virginias and latakia is the route to explore. I should have a couple of tins of the Latakia flake you mentioned in my hands in a few days. Thanks again for the insight. I assume this search for the "holy grail" of tobacco will be endless?  But the search itself is a pleasurable journey. |
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Post by Legend Lover on Mar 5, 2018 11:55:35 GMT -5
Finally...a tobacco that I can get my hands on in the UK to try. I must pick some up and see if my tastes compare to yours, william . Let me know what you think if you try it. I will admit that the reviewers who state this is a strong/full tobacco are right. So just curious--what tobaccos are difficult to obtain in the UK? We have some brands here, like person, Rattray, macbaren, mclintock, dunhill (for a while anyway), but not much more. MySmokingshop.co.uk is where I get my tobacco and its typical of what we get here. I think it has all possible ranges so you can see for yourself... But in many threads I'm hearing off so many tobaccos that I've never heard of before, so I think we don't have THAT many. You can be the judge of that. I did put in an order of cult blood red moon from smoking pipes, cos they do international shipping...but I think it gets held in customs while I fork out for the extra duty. I've given it a go to see what happens. |
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Post by slowroll on Mar 5, 2018 12:29:26 GMT -5
Let me know what you think if you try it. I will admit that the reviewers who state this is a strong/full tobacco are right. So just curious--what tobaccos are difficult to obtain in the UK? We have some brands here, like person, Rattray, macbaren, mclintock, dunhill (for a while anyway), but not much more. MySmokingshop.co.uk is where I get my tobacco and its typical of what we get here. I think it has all possible ranges so you can see for yourself... But in many threads I'm hearing off so many tobaccos that I've never heard of before, so I think we don't have THAT many. You can be the judge of that. I did put in an order of cult blood red moon from smoking pipes, cos they do international shipping...but I think it gets held in customs while I fork out for the extra duty. I've given it a go to see what happens. Try ordering from cup o' Joe's or 4 noggins. They're not obviously tobacco sellers. I hear some guys have luck with their shipments sliding past customs. Not that i advocate ever avoiding giving Ceasar what's his  |
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Post by zambini on Mar 5, 2018 13:25:17 GMT -5
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Post by Legend Lover on Mar 5, 2018 13:27:35 GMT -5
Cheers. I don't want to avoid customs. I'm happy to pay the duty if I can get to enjoy the wealth of tobacco available in the USA... But I read that customs might just cease the stuff and not allow me to have it at all... Time will tell.
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Post by Legend Lover on Mar 5, 2018 13:34:54 GMT -5
Thanks for that... And that is cheap.i don't understand Turkish and my phone won't translate the page, but that's £4 for a pouch. Over here 25g is £7 and 50g is £14. |
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Post by zambini on Mar 5, 2018 13:45:49 GMT -5
Thanks for that... And that is cheap.i don't understand Turkish and my phone won't translate the page, but that's £4 for a pouch. Over here 25g is £7 and 50g is £14. An excuse to get to know the kebab guy, I guess. I've heard the Tabac Turc former state monopoly tobaccos are interesting too. |
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Post by william on Mar 5, 2018 14:12:35 GMT -5
Thanks for that... And that is cheap.i don't understand Turkish and my phone won't translate the page, but that's £4 for a pouch. Over here 25g is £7 and 50g is £14. An excuse to get to know the kebab guy, I guess. I've heard the Tabac Turc former state monopoly tobaccos are interesting too. Yikes!!! I took a look at your UK website. A 50 gram Dunhill tin was £14.95--that's a bit over $20.00--right? It's generally about half that cost here. I did drool on my keyboard a little looking at all the Germain tobaccos we cannot get here. |
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Post by Legend Lover on Mar 5, 2018 17:25:29 GMT -5
An excuse to get to know the kebab guy, I guess. I've heard the Tabac Turc former state monopoly tobaccos are interesting too. Yikes!!! I took a look at your UK website. A 50 gram Dunhill tin was £14.95--that's a bit over $20.00--right? It's generally about half that cost here. I did drool on my keyboard a little looking at all the Germain tobaccos we cannot get here. Yea, it's about $20 for 50g. Government have got to get their money some way. Sure, petrol (gas) is currently $6.65 per gallon (converted). Current average US gas price is $2.50 per gallon. Bonkers. |
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But the search itself is a pleasurable journey.
