Post by atison on Mar 27, 2019 8:54:23 GMT -5
I have to be honest, I am a bit nervous about even trying to review this one. It seems like one of the golden children (see what I did there) of the pipe world where people just quietly disappear off the face of the earth if they utter anything negative about it. "I don't get what all the hype is about" then suddenly your brakes don't work coming home from work one day.
I am being a bit dramatic with that first paragraph but this baccy is definitely a blend loved and prized by many, while a few that try it just don't seem to latch on to it.
This review is going to be quite comparative, which I find helpful in others reviews that I read, to my new regular. Davidoff Flake Medallions (DFMs from here on). It isn't a true fair comparison since the blends do not contain the same ingredients. DFMs have perique and a spot of Cavendish while OGS is flue cured Virginia with supposedly a touch of perique (going to check my brakes after that comment before I go home this afternoon). There is a big debate on whether this actually has perique which I will not go into here. I don't pick up much if not any of it so I think of this as just a straight Virginia.
Opening the tin is a beautiful experience. You are greeted with a glorious site of perfectly presented flakes of varying colors. Mine came on more of the golden side but this flake can vary from bright golden to a darker brown. There is a great myriad of shades in the flake regardless of overall color though. Mine seemed to darken quite a bit in its mason jar over just a few months rest.
The tin/jar note is unique, at least to me, in pipe tobacco. Orange peel. That's about all I smell. Not much hay, earth or figgyness.
Probably smokable with no drying time, however, I have found a bit of air can make it less of a fuss for lighting. It is the perfect form as one flake folded a few times along its width followed by one fold lengthwise and given a gentle twist to break it up slightly slides perfectly down in my cobs. DFMs coins are great too but folding a circle vs a rectangle just doesn't work as neatly and the dot of Cavendish can be a bit of a chore to break up and distribute (my personal preference). Plus, with DFMs, one coin is not enough and two coins is too much. OGS perfectly fits one flake. Don't pack it down in there tight as it will swell once heated. I rough up the top just a tad before giving it its final pack down to help the top layer take to the flame.
Takes a few charring lights to get going. It might fire up with billows of smoke on an initial light and you think you have it going, then BAM, its completely out again. Fear not though, once it truly gets lit and you get it neatly tamped on top it burns like a champ with very few relights.
FMs for me come out of the gate singing its figgy, dried fruit goodness. OGS starts a little slower. The orange does not come through to the smoke at all for me, which I am personally thankful for. Hay/leather are what I get in the beginning. Think of a saddle sitting on a pile of hay in the hot sun. As you get into the meat of it you start getting some of that dried fruit but never to the amount of DFMs. If DFMs are a piece of cinnamon raisin bread with fig preserves spread on top, then OGS is a slice of sourdough with a few small raisins baked into it while a brown sugar candle burns in the other room. It settles into a pretty consistent pace of those three flavors for the rest of the bowl maybe bringing in a bit more brown sugar as you get past the mid point.
I truly get why this has the following it does. Beautiful to look at. Fun to pack. Straight up good tobacco flavors. Not something you need to sit quietly to "figure out" yet has enough to keep most interested throughout the bowl.
I thoroughly enjoy this stuff. It isn't quite up to DFMs status in my cellar yet but I definitely will get nervous when I get low.
Very curious what some age will do to it. It isn't, to me, an edgy or rough blend straight out of the tin so I don't think there is a need to age out the rough edges. But I would be curious if the main flavors that are there will darken up after a year or two.
I am being a bit dramatic with that first paragraph but this baccy is definitely a blend loved and prized by many, while a few that try it just don't seem to latch on to it.
This review is going to be quite comparative, which I find helpful in others reviews that I read, to my new regular. Davidoff Flake Medallions (DFMs from here on). It isn't a true fair comparison since the blends do not contain the same ingredients. DFMs have perique and a spot of Cavendish while OGS is flue cured Virginia with supposedly a touch of perique (going to check my brakes after that comment before I go home this afternoon). There is a big debate on whether this actually has perique which I will not go into here. I don't pick up much if not any of it so I think of this as just a straight Virginia.
Opening the tin is a beautiful experience. You are greeted with a glorious site of perfectly presented flakes of varying colors. Mine came on more of the golden side but this flake can vary from bright golden to a darker brown. There is a great myriad of shades in the flake regardless of overall color though. Mine seemed to darken quite a bit in its mason jar over just a few months rest.
The tin/jar note is unique, at least to me, in pipe tobacco. Orange peel. That's about all I smell. Not much hay, earth or figgyness.
Probably smokable with no drying time, however, I have found a bit of air can make it less of a fuss for lighting. It is the perfect form as one flake folded a few times along its width followed by one fold lengthwise and given a gentle twist to break it up slightly slides perfectly down in my cobs. DFMs coins are great too but folding a circle vs a rectangle just doesn't work as neatly and the dot of Cavendish can be a bit of a chore to break up and distribute (my personal preference). Plus, with DFMs, one coin is not enough and two coins is too much. OGS perfectly fits one flake. Don't pack it down in there tight as it will swell once heated. I rough up the top just a tad before giving it its final pack down to help the top layer take to the flame.
Takes a few charring lights to get going. It might fire up with billows of smoke on an initial light and you think you have it going, then BAM, its completely out again. Fear not though, once it truly gets lit and you get it neatly tamped on top it burns like a champ with very few relights.
FMs for me come out of the gate singing its figgy, dried fruit goodness. OGS starts a little slower. The orange does not come through to the smoke at all for me, which I am personally thankful for. Hay/leather are what I get in the beginning. Think of a saddle sitting on a pile of hay in the hot sun. As you get into the meat of it you start getting some of that dried fruit but never to the amount of DFMs. If DFMs are a piece of cinnamon raisin bread with fig preserves spread on top, then OGS is a slice of sourdough with a few small raisins baked into it while a brown sugar candle burns in the other room. It settles into a pretty consistent pace of those three flavors for the rest of the bowl maybe bringing in a bit more brown sugar as you get past the mid point.
I truly get why this has the following it does. Beautiful to look at. Fun to pack. Straight up good tobacco flavors. Not something you need to sit quietly to "figure out" yet has enough to keep most interested throughout the bowl.
I thoroughly enjoy this stuff. It isn't quite up to DFMs status in my cellar yet but I definitely will get nervous when I get low.
Very curious what some age will do to it. It isn't, to me, an edgy or rough blend straight out of the tin so I don't think there is a need to age out the rough edges. But I would be curious if the main flavors that are there will darken up after a year or two.