Pipe Tobacco Review - Peter Stokkebye Luxury Twist Flake - including FREE Tobacco Wallpaper!
Here at Toad Hall we've been smoking our way through the collection of pipe tobaccos I received in last month's order. In service to the pipe smoking community on Steemit and at large, we are ready to report our findings and experiences. It's a service that My Lady Nicotine and I are happy to provide!
Smoke with me!
We'll start with Peter Stokkebye's Luxury Twist Flake
Retailer's Description
Smokingpipes.com says:
a pure Virginia blend from the best fields of Zimbabwe and the eastern United States, these leaves are hand-rolled into a spun cake, then pressed and sliced.
Pipesandcigars.com says:
a wonderful, all-Virginia flake made in a singular way. Virginias are layered with a smooth added essence and rolled into ropes which are then placed into a form and firmly pressed. After pressing, the block is sliced for easy preparation.
I wonder what "added essence" means? Let's find out!
Jar Aroma
It definitely smells sweeter than I was expecting - there's no mistaking that a topping has been used. But it's not over-powering or obnoxious, or really obvious. Bit of a sweet tea with floral notes, and maybe caramel - pleasant, not too perfume-y. I'm open to a flavoring if it can enhance rather than overwhelm a blend.
Preparation
This tobacco is one of the prettiest preparations of a flake that I've seen. Layers of light and dark Virginias alternate in waves, and you can see just a hint of the crystallizing sugars.
This image has been sized to be used as a desktop wallpaper, if you'd like to save it.
It rubs out easily, crumbling into fine ribbons. It's best to pack this one firmly. I've noticed that most of Stokkebye's tobaccos tend to burn fast, and this one does too (which is rare, for a flake).
If I were to smoke this outside, I would just fold a couple of flakes in half and cram them in that way, since less surface area means a slower burn.
Smoking
Luxury Twist Flake is one of the few tobaccos where the aromatic component seems to remain present in the flavor, giving it the mellow, sweet-tea piquancy I smelled in the jar. It starts to fade by the second half of the bowl, and then come back occasionally to surprise me.
This is very mild for a Virginia blend. Just slightly sweet, very smooth, and very mellow. There's not a lot of complexity to it beyond that topping, but the fundamentals are satisfying.
It burns cooler than many Virginias, and with no threat of tongue-bite.
There's not much of a nicotine kick to it either. I was able to try it out in two pipes, consecutively, without getting dizzy.
Room Aroma Report from @donnadavisart:
"Sweet undertones. The first thing I think of is Marzipan -- a cross between sweet marzipan and a smoky scotch."
This blend has been rated safe for spouses!
Summary and Score
A good early-morning blend or an all-day smoker, particularly if you work outside and need an easy flake for smoking outdoors. Highly recommended for aromatic fans who are looking to branch out into Virginias.
A solid four out of five stars.
Great review! That luxury twist flake looks fantastic. It reminds me of the Davidoff medallions I have, I dig that tobacco.
I have to remember to use the #smokewithme tag!
Thanks. It's been a while since I've smoked a tin of Davidoff. Have to make a note for the next order.
Next review (tomorrow or Wednesday) is of some bull's-eye flake. It came in bulk and the tobacco was rolled up into a tube!
That looks like a tasty tobacco. I've still yet to try any of the Stokkebye tobaccos but I've had Bullseye Flake on my list for a while now, and I'd like to try some of the Erik Stokkebye 4th Generation tobaccos too.
I don't think I'm sold on straight Virginias yet. I currently have a tin of Mac Baren's HH Pure Virginia flake that was quite nice when I tried it first, but I have it set aside for the summer months, I think it will go down really well some evening after a nice, hot day.
Actually, I just remembered one of my favorite tobaccos, Sam Gawith's Black XX, is a straight Virginia, but that's a different beast altogether.
Have you smoked anything from McClelland? There stuff is very distinct and they're reknowned for their straight Virginias but their virginia based blends are awesome too.
Sadly they haven't been able to source one of their major components so they're discontinuing a bunch of classics (so if you see a tin of Red Virginia snap it up and hoard it) but I'm optimistic that what they introduce to replace them will be just as good.
No, I've yet to try any McClelland blends, the only American blends I've gotten my hands on so far have been Bayou Morning by C&D and Briarworks' Country Lawyer, which is also made by C&D. I think the next time I'm ordering tobacco from the states I'll have to get a McClelland blend or two, I just don't know where to start with them, haha. I think I might get one of the Frog Morton blends because they always seem to get a lot of praise, also the art on the tins really appeals to me, haha.
And, yeah, I heard about that. It seems that while there might be a surge of popularity in pipe smoking over the last few years, the tobacco industry is not looking to be in great shape. Between constantly increasing regulations and the sourcing of certain tobaccos becoming more and more difficult, and with stories that some of the biggest players in the game are planning to stop producing tobacco altogether, the next few years should be interesting to watch unfold. Hopefully things will get better, but I'm not very optimistic.
I sometimes feel like we'll have to all grow our own tobaccos and make our own blends in the future. That wouldn't be a terrible thing either.
Yeah, Dunhill is discontinuing their pipe tobacco. Dunhill! That's like Mercedes saying, "sorry, we're just not going to make cars any more." Oh well.
The original Frog Morton is way too bland for me. They've "Cavendished" all the flavor out of that lovely Latakia. But Frog Morton on the Town and ...on the Bayou are both good - the latter if you want something stronger with Perique.
Yeah, the Dunhill thing is crazy, and I'm still not entirely sure what the deal with it is. Almost everything I've read about it is dealing with the American market, I can't seem to find any concrete information about their plans for Europe. I assume it's the same story but I just find it odd that there's virtually nobody talking about this in Europe.
And thanks for the recommendations. I do enjoy a good amount of Latakia so I'll probably avoid the original Frog Morton. I was kind of interested in trying out Frog Morton's Cellar, but I really do think it's just because they're doing something different with their packaging by including that little piece of wood from a whiskey barrel, haha. It's kind of silly but sometimes these little (marketing?) tricks work. I probably wouldn't have bothered buying a Briarworks blend if it wasn't for the fact that they are sold in jars, for example.
I've not heard of Briarworks - I'm a sucker for a nice jar so I'll check them out. I haven't tried FM Cellar either so you'll have to fill me in when you try it.
I didn't realize there was a chance Dunhill might still be selling in the UK. That seems weird.
I assume Dunhill won't be still selling in the UK/Europe because it would be strange otherwise, but like I said, I haven't seen much info about it or people complaining about it.
I've only had Country Lawyer from Briarworks, it's a nice, tasty, good quality tobacco, but it just wasn't what I was hoping for from a blend with cigar leaf in it. They have one or two other blends I'd like to try at some point. I look forward to reading your review if you end up buying a jar.
The king of tobacco from morocco lol!
What a beautiful field!
in venezuela we also have a large mass of consumers and growers of this green leaf shrub that despiesubrecoleccion despie tend to dry for a long time and get this characteristic color and its odor that overcomes barrier is ready for trade and consumption is an arduous process of 5 months between sowing, harvest and final product
I'm not sure that I got all that but it sounds like a lot of hard work.
he is an incredible friend the day of the farmer I say it with property so he lived in his own flesh the work of the field since dawn until dusk
It looks good enough to chew! I was never much of a pipe enthusiast- I tried but I gotta inhale. I stick with cigars or my home rolled Mac Donalds/Balkan blend
I love a nice hand rolled cigarette once in a while, although I need one of those little roller machines to pull it off. Can you make them entirely by hand?
What kind of cigars do you enjoy?
Do I enjoy or do I buy lol??? I enjoy Ghurka'a I usually buy Macanudo's
I've never had a Ghurka. My, they are pricey, aren't they? Macs are a good standby. I quite like the Romeo y Julietas and Ashtons - just a little more body than Macanudo, but still very mild.
I buy those also. Never had an Ashton, in fact I haven't seen them. There's a cigar club up the street from where I live. When I feel really wealthy (once a year maybe) I get a Ghurka. I also used to like Rum Soaked Crooks, but I wound up chewing more than I smoked.
haha I love that first picture :)) It sounds interesting! I bet it smelled good too
It sure does.
Actually, might be time to fire up another bowl!
Lol. Smokers.com