..Quite a nice tobacco...It is an elegant pipe tobacco as well. While mostly Turkish...it is a blend of several types of Turkish as well as some very "soft" Virginia leaf and is well rounded, and I don't see this as one-dimensional at all... Far too many nuances for that.
Very even burn rate and keeping it a bit moist brings out more flavor. Frankly, I was looking for a Turkish tobacco to replace SG Turkish Blend which I have been told will no longer be in production. If that indeed happens, I will enjoy the Newminster as a reasonable replacement. Smoked in a group 4 or larger pipe and could be an all day tobacco.
This has some really nice flavors. Orientals lead the Virginias by a small margin. Surprisingly fuller and deeper than expected. Mild to medium in body and medium in flavor. The only criticism I can level is that the Virginias give a little bit of a lip tingle. No bite, just a tingle on the lips. I enjoyed smoking this. 3+
The ribbons are very slender, medium brown, and the moisture's good.
One of my few complaints with this is the speed: partly because of the slim build it can burn a little quickly, so I puff quite tentatively; that's not a huge problem though, all the more reason to savour and enjoy! The Turkish tobacco is very charismatic, and gives more than the Virginia; the grassiness isn't in the same league. I find, for the first part of a bowl, the overall taste is one that's mostly sweet, it takes until everything's settled for the sourness from the Turkish to come through.
There isn't much nicotine to be had from No. 84, and the room-note's quite nice.
Yes, it burns quick, but the flavour justifies a recommendation:
Quite a disappointing blend. I'm not sure blend is the proper term...maybe mix or mixture. The two parts of this are clear and distinct, both visually and in the smoke. The Orientals stand out as the bulk component with some highest quality Virginia bright ribbon cut. About a 70/30 ratio to my estimate. It is quite dry and fluffy. A bowl can be packed very firmly. Lights well. At first it rminded me of C&D Izmir Turkish but that quickly faded to a flat one dimensional taste. Every once in a while the Orientals would peek through but mostly it reminded me of super premium cigarette tobacco. I recommend it as a blender for cased cavendish that needs tobe lightened. By itself it lacks anything resembling pipe tobacco.
Not a great tobacco, unless you enjoy the taste of cigarettes. If you are looking for the complexities of Orientals, such as you might find in Duhill's Durbar. Don't bother with this. I can grow to appreciate many tobacco if I smoke them long enough. I suppose I could grow to like this one. But what's the point? It is most definitely monochromatic. It does burn much too quickly. It does taste like Camel cigarettes.
I will keep the jar I have as a blender, but I'm certain I will not try it by itself again. Not saying I hate it. But I'm sure I can always find something else I would enjoy more. The fact that it burns at a rapid rate, and is difficult to pack tightly does not help the situation at all.
I grabbed a couple of ounces a week ago. Meh. Too dry and burns too quickly. I couldn't make a bowl go past the 20-minute mark, my usual being between 45 and 70 minutes depending on the mix, pipe, etc. I tried hydrating it a bit but now it refuses to burn over 3 minutes. Yep: I'm drying it up again. Maybe the ribbons are too thin. Perhaps the casing is not retaining enough humidity. The few full puffs were pretty good, touching on aromatic and, well, a little low on the Oriental experience. Too much work for too little return. Not for me.
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