Friday, August 21, 2009
Finally: A Peterson Tobacco in my Peterson Pipe
As you may recall, about a year ago, I received, from a very dear friend of half Irish ancestry who had come back from a trip to Ireland bearing gifts as a belated birthday, in the midst of moving and early starting a new job as a perfessor present, a new Peterson pipe. Well, now I have finally decided to get something other than my beloved C&D "kitchen sink" tobacco and finally smoke a Peterson tobacco. Irish Oak, to be exact. It was between that and Old Dublin: Irish Oak is aromatic and lacks Latakia and Old Dublin lacks perique, and perique won out over non-aromaticity and Latakia. I just hope this mildly aromatic (aromatic in this case meaning seemingly only aged in sherry oak) doesn't foul up my pipe for smoking my usual non-aromatic blends.
In any case, in spite of mixed reviews, I am so far impressed with this tobacco. It has a very nice tin aroma with oak and sherry nicely complementing the fig and musty odors of the perique. It looked like the meta-blend that attracted me to kitchen-sink tobaccos in the first place -- my blend of RLP-6 and Revelation. And it kind of tastes like that too. It was sure strong on the match, having an initial nicotine kick rivaling Missassippi Mud. But as I sit in Rufus King Park (yes, I am writing this blog entry in Notepad in the park, so pardon the spelling errors) smoking it whilst my mechanic desparately tries to find a new tire for me (I ran over a curb Wed. and busted a tire ... and my wife's car has the hardest to find tires evah, evidently), it has a coolness (again similar to Mississippi Mud --albeit without the smokiness of the Latakia containing Mississippi Mud -- or possibly even a hookah -- that must be the Cavendish talking) together with cigar notes including an almost unidentifiable spiciness (remaniscent of Onyx Reserve cigars), presumably a combination of the perique, "exotic" Virginias and the sherry oak aging, of the sort that goes well in coffee (it sure is a nice after coffee smoke, which is how, luckily, I am having it) or with nuts. It would be wonderful to bottle this in syrup format and use it in everything one has with breakfast. It's indeed a good morning smoke.
We'll have to see, though, how well it works in the afternoon and evening and whether I can still smoke non-aromatic kitchen sink blends in my pipe after this. But, while I had been thinking "maybe I should have gone with Old Dublin" and not worried about my pipe, I'm now very glad I got this. Kitchen sink blends with a little sherry note won't be bad at all, anyway.
Update: the tobacco has now had a chance to settle in a bit in the tin (drying out, getting re-humidified, etc.) and now the Perique is really strong (and I am also getting more herbal cigar notes). Just opening the tin now, you can really smell the musty and fig like odors of the Perique and the nicotine, while not noticeable in terms of pepperiness, really has a kick ... it's hard to walk up stairs after smoking this! This tobacco is good! I do miss the Latakia ... but only a little.
In any case, in spite of mixed reviews, I am so far impressed with this tobacco. It has a very nice tin aroma with oak and sherry nicely complementing the fig and musty odors of the perique. It looked like the meta-blend that attracted me to kitchen-sink tobaccos in the first place -- my blend of RLP-6 and Revelation. And it kind of tastes like that too. It was sure strong on the match, having an initial nicotine kick rivaling Missassippi Mud. But as I sit in Rufus King Park (yes, I am writing this blog entry in Notepad in the park, so pardon the spelling errors) smoking it whilst my mechanic desparately tries to find a new tire for me (I ran over a curb Wed. and busted a tire ... and my wife's car has the hardest to find tires evah, evidently), it has a coolness (again similar to Mississippi Mud --albeit without the smokiness of the Latakia containing Mississippi Mud -- or possibly even a hookah -- that must be the Cavendish talking) together with cigar notes including an almost unidentifiable spiciness (remaniscent of Onyx Reserve cigars), presumably a combination of the perique, "exotic" Virginias and the sherry oak aging, of the sort that goes well in coffee (it sure is a nice after coffee smoke, which is how, luckily, I am having it) or with nuts. It would be wonderful to bottle this in syrup format and use it in everything one has with breakfast. It's indeed a good morning smoke.
We'll have to see, though, how well it works in the afternoon and evening and whether I can still smoke non-aromatic kitchen sink blends in my pipe after this. But, while I had been thinking "maybe I should have gone with Old Dublin" and not worried about my pipe, I'm now very glad I got this. Kitchen sink blends with a little sherry note won't be bad at all, anyway.
Update: the tobacco has now had a chance to settle in a bit in the tin (drying out, getting re-humidified, etc.) and now the Perique is really strong (and I am also getting more herbal cigar notes). Just opening the tin now, you can really smell the musty and fig like odors of the Perique and the nicotine, while not noticeable in terms of pepperiness, really has a kick ... it's hard to walk up stairs after smoking this! This tobacco is good! I do miss the Latakia ... but only a little.
# posted by alberich @ 10:07 AM 
