ATTENTION: CB Pipe Tobacco Review Bombing Run Version 2.0

[JustTroItIn]

Received in the mail today:

Yellow Vacuum Sealed "i"
Pink Vacuum Sealed "C"
Pink "F"
Yellow "R"

[Tobias Lutz]

Details
4-11-15
Tobias Lutz
Yellow “T” E&C The Deerstalker circa 1982
Chacom Manet Billiard
Outdoors

Observations
This blend was a dark brown, thin sliced flake, with a spattering of unfinished maple colored notes. The flakes were caked together quite solidly (even though they weren’t vacuum packed), and they failed to remain intact when pulled apart. Under the light of my desk lamp I was able to see quite a bit of glittering sugar on the tobacco, sparkling against the espresso background. I thought it smelled like a mix of dry hay and leather- like the tack room in my aunt’s barn. It was very mellow with the slightest hint of something like sandalwood but what really stuck me was how “balanced” all the odors were; none really stood above, or under, the others.
I rubbed a chunk out to produce fine, dry, but not nimble ribbons. I packed using a three step gravity fill method.

It took me three lights to really get it underway, but then the tobacco burned steadily and stayed cool for the duration of the bowl.

The first impression I got was that of clover blossoms- light, with a faint floral sweetness. It had a dry grassiness that was similar to the experience of mowing over sun baked grass clippings. I found it to be medium strength, with qualities that reminded me of dark stoved Virginia. At the very end of the bowl I picked up a touch of citrusy “zing”.

Comments and conclusion
I thought this was a very enjoyable smoke and it reminded me of Butera Royal Vintage (though without much spice). I would prefer this later in the day, and believe it would pair particularly well with a cup of Constant Comment tea.

[BryGuySC]

Details
04/11/15
BryGuySC
Tobacco: Pink Q Balkan Sasieni
MM Eaton
Outdoor

Observations
Examination: This is a nice combination of light and dark strands of tobacco.
Preparation: Opened the package, and shoved it right in the pipe.
Burn: No burn problems at all. Lit easily and stayed lit with no problems.
Tin Note: Smokey, meaty, like a smoked jerky.
Flavor: Started out like an English, and continued to taste like an English. That being said, it was very smooth. I did get a little bit of a burn on the roof of my mouth. There is some spiciness along with the normal English smokiness.


Comments and conclusion
I’m not a huge English fan, but we’ve come to terms. I don’t have a lot of distinction of tobacco nuances, and that goes doubly (halfly?) for English blends. That being said, this reminds me of one of the Dunhill offerings, maybe Nightcap.
It is a nice, solid, smoky English.

[Branzig]

Tobacco has arrived!



Pink B
Pink P
Green W (vac)
Orange C (vac)
Orange J (vac)
Orange X (vac)

I have a bit of a cold I am fighting through, but I am on the tail end of it...so my first review will be up as early as today or as late as tomorrow.

Thanks Pete!

[Tobias Lutz]

Details
4-12-15
Tobias Lutz
Pink “B” G&H No.7 Broken Flake
Kaywoodie Sterling billiard
Outdoors

Observations
This is an attractive, medium oak colored broken flake, sliced into medium width ribbons. It has a decent moisture consistency that only requires a bit of drying time. Rising out of the bag is a distinct floral note that I’ll call “Lakeland-light”. It is not overwhelming, but definitely present. Behind it is a mature Virginia scent of hay and moist soil.

I let the tobacco dry for about 30 minutes and then I rubbed out some of it out to create very springy ribbons that I packed using a three step gravity fill. I found that the floral essence actually abated some once the tobacco was rubbed completely.

The burn was good, requiring on two relights for the entire bowl. It left an extremely fine, white ash behind and managed to stay cool, even when puffed on while I played hopscotch with my four year-old.

I thought it began a bit mild, and it made me think of a summer walk through a field of wildflowers. The Lakeland like profile lessened greatly towards the middle of the bowl and I got distinct notes of pistachio and vanilla, dancing around among the hay. The more I smoked, the more I discovered a pleasant, honey sweetness.

Comments and conclusion
Overall, I considered this a pleasant smoke for a hot afternoon. The floral essence isn’t something that necessarily turns me off, and the fact it didn’t endure the entire bowl was interesting. I also liked the way it grew in sweetness as it progressed. I found it to be bite-proof, and the “mustache note” was pleasant.

[Horsefeathers]

Details:
Date: 4/11/2015 & 4/12/2015
Name: Horsefeathers
Tobacco: C - Pink (VAC) G&H Dark Flake Unscented
Pipe: Missouri Meerschaum Huck Finn Cobb
Indoor / Outdoor: Outdoors (Garage)

Observations & Examination (how it looked, felt and smelled): The tobacco was vacuum sealed. Upon opening, it very much resembled a stick of beef jerky. Closer examination revealed it appeared to be 3 flakes firmly stuck together. I manged to free one flake, but others were too well pressed to pull apart without deconstructing the flake. The color looked dark brown, almost black until it was separated. Once separated / broken down a bit it was a mottled dark brown with small tan spots. The smell was very interesting. I was initially hit with a very strong mint odor, with a little bit of chocolate in the background (think girl scout Thin Mint Cookies). The smell didn't change much until I let it air out for a few minutes. After it aired out the chocolaty / minty flavor was still present, but a distinct barnyard aroma presented itself, along with a noticeable figgy smell.

Preparation (how did you prepare and pack it): I took the loose bits of tobacco from the vacuum seal and put those aside. Then I took the one flake I was able to separate and loosely pulled it apart / crumbled it into smaller chunky strips. I combined both the deconstructed flake and loose bits and filled the pipe with a basic three step method (which was more like two and a half due to the size of the strips). Checked the draw and noticed no interference with the air flow.

Burn: The burn was...an experience. Being a new pipe smoker I'm still feeling my way around the proper moisture level for pipe tobacco. That being said it was noticeably dryer than other tobacco I've smoked, so I thought it should be good to go. I put flame to the tobacco and it took about four lights to get a solid charing light, and I thought I was off to the races. Instead it kept going out repeatedly. I put flame to the bowl about 20 times over the course of 15-20 minutes. The bowl had only decreased about 1/8th of an inch and I decided that maybe it was just too wet (or I'm terrible at this) and I'd let it sit for a day and resume the following evening.

A little over 24 hours later and I'm back in the garage putting flame to it again. I flat out could not get it to light. I recalled that sometimes dumping the ash may be necessary when smoking so I broke up the top layer of dried ash and dumped it. Low and behold that seemed to do the trick, and at least get it going. I had much better success than the prior evening, but still had to relight about 10-12 times, also dumping the ash an additional two times. It was a fine ash all the way to the bottom of the bowl.

I will say the smoke was cool dry and I couldn't imagine this would bite your tongue, as I was really chiefing on the pipe trying to get this bowl to burn. I also smoked both times about 4-5 hours after I'd eaten lunch and before dinner, and was not affected by the nicotine in the slightest. The tobacco was paired with glass of water on both days.

Flavor: It tasted nothing like it smelled. The flavor was initially very mild, and built a bit after the repeated relights into a very perfumey floral character. The taste and smell very much reminded me of when I was a child at my grandmother's house, and after taking a bath, she would use a soft puff a dab me with a scented powder all over (I'd guess this was talcum powder, but don't really know). The retro had produced a slight tingle in the nasal cavity, and an interesting, yet fleeting, sweet bakery flavor. Sort of like an under cooked sugar cookie. I didn't taste any pepper, but my tongue had the same sensation as if I'd smoked a peppery cigar. My wife was able to confirm the scent. She was also not a fan.

Day two it was as if everything and nothing changed. The flavor on day two was just as day one, but seemed much less intense, and more harmonious, than the prior day.

Comments and Conclusion: I found the flake interesting and the "tin note" greatly enticing, but ultimately I can't say I much enjoyed the taste or the lit smell. Getting the tobacco to burn was a frustrating experience, but at this point it could be (and probably is) as much my fault as the tobacco. If a floral / perfume flavor is your thing I can't see a reason (other than possible burn issues) that this wouldn't be right in your wheelhouse. Although it's definitely not in mine it also wasn't offensive enough that I wont finish smoking the samples that have been sent to me, and will be interested to see how this may change with more drying out time / age.

P.S. I went inside and popped open a Brooklyn Brewery Black Chocolate Stout right after smoking this the first night. The combination of the taste was akin to the toothpaste orange juice flavor combo. The flavor of this tobacco will ruin a good dark beer. Not recommended, hahaha.

P.P.S. Pete thanks again for the samples! I'm looking forward to reviewing the next one, which will be U - Pink, as chosen randomly by my wife.

[bluenoser]

Details
Date Apr. 12/2015
Name Bluenoser
Tobacco Green "O" Stokkebye Luxury Twist Flake
Pipe Brindisi Briar
Indoor / Outdoor

Observations
Packed tightly into sqaures in package. Aroma seemed very familiar but couldn't %100 place it, kind of like licorice. Still new to pipe smoking and different types of tobacco but I believe this would be Flake? Great looking tobacco once pulled apart and ready to load.

Preparation
After pulling enough off of the block to load I did a noobs attempt at fold and stuff with it. Loaded into the Brindisi well, though once trying to light I noticed I had missed a "clump" and had to pull some out to rip it apart and re stuff it. Noob mistake, can't blame the baccy. The cat (Willie) always comes to supervise my loading, and he lets me know when I do it wrong...

Burn
Had alot of troubles getting this lit. I again can't entirely blame the baccy since I only smoke outside and there was a bit of wind blowing in a little rain storm as I was getting underway. Once lit it burned perfect, tamped when needed but didn't need a relight. Wasn't able to get it to the bottom of the bowl as I was rained out but I was well below the final 1/4 when I let it go out. Nice burn and didn't need to dump ash at all either so did enjoy that.

Flavor
As for flavor it seemed no two puffs were quite alike. It started out woodsy with a hint of sweetness that transitioned into an almost maple flavor with some spicy/pepperyness in the retro hale. As I moved further through the bowl it seemed to increase in spicy/peppery flavor and the sweetness cut back. There was another flavor in it though that I picked up throughout the whole bowl I couldn't quite grasp, "smoky"?. I came in craving some beef jerky so maybe a deli meat of some sort? Was enjoying a cup of coffee with it that seemed to bring it all together amazingly. I'm not usually a fan of spice/pepper but it was a rather nice smoke.

Comments and conclusion
Really looking forward to revisiting this and seeing if I can get any better read on it with another bowl. Since the rain storm was coming in fast from the west I was puffing a little faster than I'd usually prefer but this offered only a slight bite, so I look forward to, and will update this review, when I can get another go at it.

[Emperor Zurg]

As promised, here's a pic of the damage...



Green B looked like a nice, tasty, broken flake so I opened that one up and shook out a small pile to dry... but smelling it, I'm having second thoughts. What an evil smelling weed this is. It positively reeks of some acrid perfume with an underlying scent of cinnamon or tonquin or something. The stink completely masks any scent of tobacco. Pot smokers should mix this odor in with their dope to throw off the drug dogs. I'm going to have to scrape around to find a cob I dislike enough to risk putting this stuff in it. It smells so strongly of cheap perfume that I'm less afraid of cancer and more concerned that it might give me the clap.

I picked up a bit of the flake and torched it with a lighter to get an idea of the room note. It reminds me of an old lady wearing too much perfume and smoking a cigarette, while attempting to cover the smell in the room with incense.

[Sticky B]

Hi Sean,

Can you write down the color, letter and whether the pouch was vacuum sealed for the samples that you received? Thanks.

I can do better:



Pink F
Pink M Vacuum Sealed
Yellow G Vacuum Sealed
Yellow S Vacuum Sealed

[Tobias Lutz]

Details
4-13-15
Tobias Lutz
Yellow “A” G&H Dark Sliced
1983 BC Millesime 368
Outdoor

Observations
This is a dark brown colored rope that is half sliced into coins, and half rubbed out. The espresso color is slightly deceiving, because when you look at the individual ribbons, they are much more of a bronze tone when the light shines through them. The moisture level feels perfect right out the bag, and the aroma is wonderful. It had a touch of fire-cured smokiness, but there was some sort of floral essence that blended with it to produce a very intriguing scent, atop the fresh hay foundation. It reminded me very much of when I was a child and would explore a relative's library, with walls of books from 1850-1950, all with a sweet mustiness, combining with the fireplace, that was anything but repugnant.

I rubbed out the coins into a nice pile of medium width ribbon that was ready to go. I used a 3 pack gravity fill and even found the cold draw to be enticing.

I had a little trouble getting this stuff going, but it eventually took and it was steady going from then on. The ash was very fine and I didn’t have to tap it once, though I did tamp once or twice after the initial char.

I found what little sweetness was in this blend was only to be had when it was gently sipped. Then it came across as a molasses like flavor that was not overly sugary. At one point I thought the blend was very earthy and savory, in some ways resembled the marks on a char grilled piece of meat. I found it to be medium/strong in regards to strength, with a touch of pepper that tickled the nose in the retrohale. It seemed that the fire cured smokiness really emerged in the second half of the bowl.

Comments and conclusion
This was a touch too bold for my tastes- I tend to prefer less stout blends, and the pepper was the straw that broke the camel’s back for me. I like the spice of Perique in a good VaPer, but not when the base of the blend is so strong. It smoked fine, and for someone looking for a strapping mix I believe this would be rather popular.