I've been smoking English blends for two decades now and only recently discovered Northwoods. To my surprise, it is now at the top of my rotation and I smoke probaby 5 to 6 bowls of Northwoods for every bowl I smoke of other latakia mixtures (usually Magnum Opus, Odyssey, Maltese Falcon or GH Balkan Mixture).
I'm not entirely sure what Boswell's has done with this blend, but it's amazing, IMO. It comes across at first as a crossover (moist tobacco, almost as if it contains PG but I'm not sure) but smokes like an English dream! Although the flavor is dominated by the latakia, it's a somewhat sweet mixture that never fatigues or burns my mouth. The room aroma is exotic -- the aroma of campfires, pines and incense ebb and flow as the bowl burns down. The nicotine level is a solid medium. In fact, it's the combinaton of ease of smoking and strength that has made it my favorite -- Odyssey, Maltese Falcon, and Wilderness are equally tasty and more complex, but I NEVER get even a hint of tongue bite with Northwoods, it never overwhelms the palate while retaining its flavor (unlike some lat-heavy blends), and it's satisfying without being too much.
After I smoked through my first couple of orders, I described this in my TR review as a "full-on crossover blend," meaning that I believed it contained perhaps some black cavendish or topping/casing. I'm no longer sure of that description, even though it may well have a (very small) amount of PG. I think the blend instead uses a kind of cavendished virginia (similar to what C&D uses in some VAPERs and American Englishes) in addition to a mix of "straight" -- possibly stoved -- VAs. In any case, while I generally like my English/Balkan mixtures to be as "natural" as possible, in this instance I simply don't care -- I seem to have finally found my "holy grail" of Englishes, and I hope to buy several pounds in the immediate future so I have a good stockpile.
I'm not entirely sure what Boswell's has done with this blend, but it's amazing, IMO. It comes across at first as a crossover (moist tobacco, almost as if it contains PG but I'm not sure) but smokes like an English dream! Although the flavor is dominated by the latakia, it's a somewhat sweet mixture that never fatigues or burns my mouth. The room aroma is exotic -- the aroma of campfires, pines and incense ebb and flow as the bowl burns down. The nicotine level is a solid medium. In fact, it's the combinaton of ease of smoking and strength that has made it my favorite -- Odyssey, Maltese Falcon, and Wilderness are equally tasty and more complex, but I NEVER get even a hint of tongue bite with Northwoods, it never overwhelms the palate while retaining its flavor (unlike some lat-heavy blends), and it's satisfying without being too much.
After I smoked through my first couple of orders, I described this in my TR review as a "full-on crossover blend," meaning that I believed it contained perhaps some black cavendish or topping/casing. I'm no longer sure of that description, even though it may well have a (very small) amount of PG. I think the blend instead uses a kind of cavendished virginia (similar to what C&D uses in some VAPERs and American Englishes) in addition to a mix of "straight" -- possibly stoved -- VAs. In any case, while I generally like my English/Balkan mixtures to be as "natural" as possible, in this instance I simply don't care -- I seem to have finally found my "holy grail" of Englishes, and I hope to buy several pounds in the immediate future so I have a good stockpile.
