morleysson":uxqm9si8 said:
Vito, I am astonished that you have smoked the Schipper's in the pouch w/ the green highlights. Perhaps, not so astonished as being genuinely pleased that some other smoker knew of the tobacco... What a joyful excursion through Nicotinia.
Most Esteemed morleysson:
If I had to lay a wager on which other BoBs were most likely to have known
Schipper's Speciaal in its day, there are only two candidates who would immediately spring to mind, and you're one of them. Greg Pease is the other. I'm curious now as to whether he smoked it. I'll have to ask him...
morleysson":uxqm9si8 said:
Do you recall the Schipper's Grosse Coupe w/ the brown shading and the ubiquitous Dutch sailor with the clay on the pack?
Alas, I did not have the pleasure of smoking
Schipper's Grosse Coupe in those days of yore, although I have since located an
overseas source for it (that's "an" – singular) in my searches for
Schipper's Speciaal. In fact, I don't recall ever seeing
Grosse Coupe back in the day. I'm quite sure no weed shop I ever visited stocked it, because—being delighted as I was with
Speciaal—the different (brown) color of the old Dutch seaman on the
Grosse Coupe package would surely have caught my attention had I seen it. I certainly would have latched onto a pouch of it.
I suppose I shouldn't be surprised that there are so few pipers who are aware of
Speciaal's existence. Even when it was readily available, it was never
widely available. It certainly was not a drugstore tobacco, even in the days before that term became institutionalized as a derogation...back when one could find any number of fine old Burleyweed straights and blends available just about everywhere.
I first discovered
Speciaal in my college days in Ithaca, where I could find a wondrous selection of weedage at The College Smoker, a well-stocked pipe and tobacco shop on College Avenue, just outside Cornell University's main gate. I don't recall ever seeing
Grosse Coupe. I'm quite sure no weed shop I ever visited stocked it, because—delighted as I was with
Speciaal—I certainly would have latched onto a pouch of
Grosse Coupe.
morleysson":uxqm9si8 said:
There was a powerful astringent or citric aroma in the smoke. A short smoke, but very flavorful.
A short smoke indeed; the fine cut made for a rapid burn, and I always used a smaller pipe into the bargain to avoid nico-buzz. A relatively low-capacity Rhodesian's bowlful was my limit.
You are so right about the flavor; it was fairly explosive in its intensity. But it was the character of the flavor that set
Speciaal apart from all other tobaccos. You know what I mean, but I'm sure everyone else who reads this will think I'm just ranting in nostalgic reverie, as if to say, "OK, Vito, I get it...so, you liked the stuff. But surely there are other similar tobaccos..."
No. There aren't any. Not one. Or, if there are any, I don't know about them, and would happily stand corrected if someone were to point me to a reasonable facsimile.
How to describe the flavor of
Speciaal? That's a real challenge. I'm usually sufficiently articulate to find suitably descriptive verbiage for the aromas and tastes in find in all sorts of tobaccos, but
Speciaal leaves me dumbfounded. There unquestionably was a certain zesty character in the smoke, although I never perceived it as astringent. Citrus comes closer to the mark, but more as a description of the effect, rather than the actual flavor. It was similar to the effect of eating a ripe red grapefruit at room temperature.
But there was something else in there—something far more pronounced that dominated the flavor of
Speciaal—a very definite smoky-spice taste. It's not the herbaceous smokiness of Cyprian Latakia, or the leathery smokiness of Syrian Latakia, nor is it the rounder, sweeter, more toasted smokiness of fire-cured Virginia. It's the kind of smokiness that I would associate with the smoldering of an aromatic resinwood like cedar.
morleysson":uxqm9si8 said:
There were two others from the same period that I haven't sen in more than 30 years: Rotterdam Shag, a black birdseye RYO that went very well in a pipe, and Van Nell's Strong Shag, favored by the Dutch writer Jan Cremer.
Never had the pleasure of smoking either one of those. I wonder whether they're even in production any more.
:joker:
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