I had been intrigued by Walnut prior to reading all of JP's glowing comments about it but was never able to find any locally. After reviewing all of his posts that he has made in defense of this venerable mix, I finally broke down and added 2 tubs to my last tobacco order, which arrived yesterday. Honestly, I don't remember the last time I was anticipating a tobacco with such interest, this had been wearing on my thoughts ever since I placed the order. I immediately cracked a tub open and was greeted by a the great smell of tobacco and very little else. No rum, whiskey or cherry, no chocolate-raisons like my current favorite burley, Carter Hall. Not even the citrusy, pungent smell of aged virginia. All I could smell was basic tobacco. Not unlike my sons RYO cigarette tobacco, but with more toastiness and nuttiness to it. As previously described, the tobacco in the tub was a mixture of ribbon and rough cut leaf, with mostly brown plus some black and a bit of red and yellow mixed in. It appeared to be about the same moisture as Carter Hall from the same sort of tub, not overly moist but OK to smoke as is.
I packed a MM cob pipe and set it down to dry out a bit, for about an hour while I finished up my days work. Thankfully our deep-freeze temps had broken so I was not going to be as rushed in my smoking as recently. Sucking through the unlit tobacco did not give me the impression of any sort of added flavoring. After the first match I tamped down the ashes and unlike my CH, the pipe had immediately gone out. I lit it again and got the familiar plumes of smoke that I get from my other OTC burleys. The initial taste was pretty bland, although I did detect some spiciness that was not normally present in my other burleys. In fact, I first thought I was getting a little tongue bite, but quickly figured out it was just one of the tobaccos making itself known. The first half of the bowl was fairly pedestrian, but by mid-smoke some of the sweetness started to come through and this stayed until the end. The tobacco was obviously wetter than I thought because it continued to try and go out and slow smoking quickly turned to lack of smoke. I had to relight twice more.
I finished the bowl feeling quite well satisfied. Despite being touted as an American "English" blend, I did not really detect any Latakia or Oriental leaf, which is fine by me as I only occasionally get the urge for these. There was enough Vit-N that I might want to make sure and only smoke this with something in my stomach. In fact, it did trigger my appetite and I finished up quite hungry for dinner. Other than the peppery taste, there was absolutely no tongue bite, and the finish was very mild. I could easily see this fitting in as an all-day smoke. The ash was dark and dry with no remnants of any artificial additives.
Only one bowl is a poor basis for a recommendation, but I have to say that Walnut is a more than respectable tobacco, and certainly a great bargain for someone wanting a slightly more complex, affordable smoke.
