Suggestions for more lat blends.

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I have the luxury of living within a reasonable drive to the showroom for smokingpipes.com (the benefit is i can order online and have it shipped and still support local business) and two tinder boxes! But back to the original topic, C&D star of the east is my recent muse and well as PS proper english. I'm a fan of the frog morton across the pond blend, but have yet to try anything else in the line. I also like the dunhill EMP but it has to be the first english blend i smoke of the day or else it tastes really bland to me. and of course the mac daddy's of english have been mentioned, esoterica, squadron, ten russians and oriental 14.
 
did you ask your B&M about ordering something he doesnt have? a lot of times they will get you what you want if they don't stock it specially if they know you smoke it already they like to see you come in and buy it
 
He'll order what I ask for but they only have certain brands. Such as dunhill, mcclelland, macbaren, and c& d. I've got some suggestions in those. Star of the east seems real popular.

Cool story though , he only smokes cigars so I gifted him a savinelli starter kit . I figured if I could get him hooked then it'd bode well for me. Sure enough I stopped in earlier and he was puffing on some kajun cake. :cheers:
 
Dave_In_Philly":do8mn9w3 said:
My three favorite English blends are:

C&D Star of the East
Peterson Old Dublin
Esoterica Penzance

A close fourth would be Esoterica Margate (I constantly flip-flop between Margate and Penzance).

Though I wouldn't necessary consider them prototypical English blends, SG Navy Flake and Lancer Slices are both VA/Lat flakes and are each worth trying.

i.keenum":do8mn9w3 said:
PS. Smoking Frog morton right now. Nothing against it just a big fan. Kind of seems boring and a little swampy / musty smelling to me. Not quite an aro not quite a english not bad just meh.
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This was exactly my experience.
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+1 on all of these..
Star of the East taste alot like Penzance to me.. its my go to baccy' of the moment.
McCleland Dark English is good in my book.
Tinderbox Sherlocks choice is a good'un. (if you have one close)
Mississippi River, is amazing and you owe it to try a tin at least.
Ive found that I really love the way C&D does english blends..
Bow Legged Bear, Star of East, Pirate Kake (if you want an all out Lat assault).
Sometimes the full on Lat bombs tend to be 1 dimensional, in my book (still good, dont get me wrong)..but they aren't very complex blends..
 
I've tried sams blend a lat blend from c and d and it was really good just a little monochromatic.
 
Dunhill: EMP, Nightcap, 965 are the ones I've tried and they're all good. Their other mixtures are well liked, as well.

GLP: Odyssey, Lagonda, Meridian, Maltese Falcon are the ones I've tried and they're all good, too.

Esoterica - Penzance and Margate. Different sides of different coins, but they're all good, too.

McC - Plum Pudding, if you're not partial to the Frogs. I seem to like FMOTT the best...

the ole classic - Balkan Sasieni - great standard and very cheaply had.....a great addition to any selection


Hit up any one of these and I'll doubt you'll be much disappointed.
 
Ian, Star of the East Flake is Penzance-like, in fact, I like it more. That's why I suggest it to people pulling their hair out over not finding Penzance. There's more body and better flavor. Star of the East "regular" is spicier and a little easier to light, less "gritty" in cut, and is a fantastic take. At half Latakia though, boy, it'll test your love of Cyprian, that's for sure. :)

Edit: GLP Sextant is another I think you might like, Ian. Just to add to the long list. Heh. :mrgreen:

C&D/GLP are probably my universally go-to guys, followed by SG. Everyone else seems to have at least something in their lineup I like. Except Lane. :p

Great you got the cigar-guy owner to try piping, what a cool move on your part. If he has reps/accounts with all the companies you say, and he's willing to order them, you'll have PLENTY to try.

8)
 
deepbass9":94mlxqc9 said:
the ole classic - Balkan Sasieni - great standard and very cheaply had.....a great addition to any selection
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I still have yet to try this one, I should pick up a tin at the Tinder Box soon...lotta guys there have been appreciating it lately. Good reminder for me, thanks.

8)
 
I wish my local tinder box carried tins of tobacco. They only have bulk. Where can i get star of the east in flake? I bought some star of the east in bulk the other day and I'm almost positive it was rubbed out flake.
 
dpramsey":nj0lr3wz said:
I wish my local tinder box carried tins of tobacco. They only have bulk. Where can i get star of the east in flake? I bought some star of the east in bulk the other day and I'm almost positive it was rubbed out flake.
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What...? That's rather annoying. I'd be speaking to the manager/franchise owner right-quick if my Tinder Box didn't carry tins. I'm assuming they carry more than just the typical Lane tobacco in the jars (house stuff) by mentioning the SOTE...

...Star of the East is a little different from Star of the East Flake. One is a bulk blend (the former) and C&D will press the loose stuff and slice them into Flakes. So, it starts out a loose mixture, and then they compress it. I believe the Flake form only comes in tins. The loose SOTE is excellent, though, a bit more "bright" than the mellow Flake.

8)
 
they used to carry tins and a good number of pipes, but i guess due to its location in a very tourism based town they found they made more on cigars and expanded their humidor while scaling back on pipes. Lane is all they have now. I live close by to Low Country Pipes & Cigars which is the showroom for smokingpipes.com, which is where i get my pipe baccy. the tinder box in south park mall in charlotte is owned by the same person as the one here in myrtle beach, sc and they have a good selection of pipe tobacco. I may ask if they would consider getting some tins in though.

I'll have to try the flake version of SOTE
 
Well, all I have, really, is the local Tinder Box, but they really do a good job keeping things in stock. In fact, I'm going to try more to make suggestions of what they stock just based on what people here at BoB have been enjoying, to have a good, broad-spectrum of tins to choose. Often, they just randomly get stuff, and not all of it good, and in a store, stuff that sits doesn't pay the rent. I often help the workers there with the pipes, customers and tobacco selections, so they'll listen to me. :)

Since you have other options nearby, at least you can get what you might be interested in! Meanwhile, yes, I'd talk to the Tinder Box. The more that do, the more likely they are to support the pipe guys along side the cigar world. Hopefully they will listen, but cigar sales in a store usually make the money, and I can't blame them for that. Those that also support pipes are doing us a favor, really.


8)
 
Balkan Sasieni
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A friend sent me a tin of this when it hadn't been out for too long. It tasted exactly like later-'60s-earlier-'70s BS used to (I expect from the casing) although it lacked the substantiality of the original and the tobaccos were obviously stand-ins. (Formerly white & black like the tin art, with only occasional brown strands -- now black & brown).

FWIW

:face:
 
Just got a ton of samples in from drumsandbeer. Thanks alot, gonna get my notebook out and take notes of em as I try them. Got a lot to look forward to this week. :D Lots of great stuff, will let me narrow down my preferences for Lats more.

Can't thank you enough.
:cheers:
 
i.keenum":v9emc4il said:
Just got a ton of samples in from drumsandbeer. Thanks alot, gonna get my notebook out and take notes of em as I try them. Got a lot to look forward to this week. :D Lots of great stuff, will let me narrow down my preferences for Lats more.

Can't thank you enough.
:cheers:
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Woah, that was quick. :shock:

I mailed that package out from CA on Saturday afternoon. Almost enough to make me have faith in our postal system. :p

Enjoy Ian. :D
 
i.keenum":fn8dbb0e said:
Do you just like beer or is it part of work?
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Love beer, was an avid home brewer for a number of years but a lower back injury that ultimately lead to surgery has kept the kettles cold over here. Too much heavy lifting in brewing, or at least the way I was doing it. Now it's mostly keeping up with little ones, drumming, and IT work for a day job (and pipes of course) :p
 
Smoked the penzance and all I can say is wow. Just amazing. Will put up review soon
 
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