Condiment tobacco questions...

[gilgawulf]

I've been smoking a pipe on and off for the last seven years, and I thought by now that I knew what perique tasted like, and how to identify it in a tobacco blend. Last night I smoked a bowl of Mac Baren's HH Acadian Perique... and, well, if there was any of what I've thought was perique in there, I didn't taste it. It occurs to me that I may not know how to hone in on the taste of perique. So, I ask what may be a stupid question: what does perique taste like, and what are some good ways to distinguish it when it's in the presence of other tobaccos?
Also, I've been curious about cavendish. What exactly makes a tobacco cavendish? I understand the stuff in Captain Black is just burley that's really heavily cased, but what about the "uncased cavendish" in some Mac Baren blends, or the cavendish in Dunhill's 965?
Also, what about dark-fired Kentucky? Is it kind of like to virginia what latakia is to turkish?

 

[Blackhorse]

I always thought Dark Fired Kentuky was Burley...not Virginia.

Go to Pipedia (google it) and look up cavndish. It's interesting...it's a process, not a specific leaf. There are many types depending on what, if anything is added during the process. One of the better known is the stuff that Cornell and Diehl use...the famous Green River Burley.

Perique? No expert here. But of the two types...St. James Parrish and Accadian...there's a lot of difference. Growing region? Sure. Genetic differences....no idea. Often described as spicy...peppery. There are some really good articles out there pertaining to your specific experience though...perique is one of those mystical tobaccos I guess...it shifts and swirls and changes patterns and colors like some psychadelic wonder weed thing...because when you add it to different blends of tobacco...depending on what's in the blend and how much of which...it CHANGES on you! (I need some spooky Cajun music right here) So go ahead and smoke it by itself...get that flavor profile totally nailed...then smoke another blend with the same leaf in it and try to put your finger on it? No WAY Cher! It swirled and shifted away from you, always just a sniff away from awareness...it be like...PHANTOM TOBACCO! Or, well, something like that.

I think Greg Pease did a piece on it not too long ago...about the changing aspects depending on what it's with thing. Ot it mighta been Oulette! I'll cruise around and see if'n I can't find that for you. Sure easier that nailing down the Perique.

 

[williamcharles]

To me the taste of perique can range from raisiny to mushroomy to peppery depending on which perique is used (real or faux perique) as well as the amount in the blend along with the other components of the blend. Perique has a sweet, vinegar type smell and is sweet(ish).

Cavendish tobacco is not really a type of tobacco as it is a way of processing it. Many types of tobacco can and are used but is generally made from of Virginia, Burley, and Kentucky. The tobacco is then pressed and steamed. It can be made sweetened or unsweetened. The brown cavendish in Dunhill 965 is unsweetened. The cavendish in Captain Black is sweetened.

Kentucky is actually a specially treated Burley tobacco, produced in Kentucky. Unlike Burley, Kentucky is fire-cured. Its aroma is not as heavy as with Latakia, but very aromatic and unique. The nicotine content tends to be high, and is used in limited amounts.

Hope this is of some use to you.

 

[blendtobac]

Perique has often been described as having a "plum and pepper" flavor, meaning somewhat sweet and spicy, but it's a real chameleon as it tastes differently depending upon what it's combined with. Virtually all commercially used Perique today is a mixture of St. James (processed in St. James Parish from the Perique strain and grown there) and Acadian Perique (One-Sucker Burley grown elsewhere, but still processed in St. James Parish). I know of no companies using the "Perique" made in other regions as the results have been from poor to horrible.
Beside the smokiness, dark-fired Kentucky (which is Burley) has a fair amount of earthy spice about it, and has a high nicotine content, so it's normally used sparingly.
Cavendishes are usually flavored and pressed with heat, then sliced and tumbled out. The other type of Cavendish (the dry brown or black type) would be best described as "unflavored" rather than "unsweetened" because the method is to treat the Burley base with sugared water and then toast it until the sugar caramelizes and the tobacco turns dark. Some of the old English style brown and black Cavendishes were made with Virginia, but today we tend to refer to those tobaccos as "stoved".

Russ

 

[dshpipes]

Oh cher, dat der per-ique is sumptin special. Erebody done lost dey mine over it. Sumptin I look fo' when smokin' dat per-ique is dat fig flavuh wit a liddle kick in it! Aiee! Dat der is, oh cher, dat is some good smokin'!

 

[gilgawulf]

Wow! Thanks for all the info, guys.
I've smoked a lilttle bit more of that HH Acadian, and I think I kinda get the sort of mushroomy taste. So, would it be fair to say that when perique is combined with straight virginia it takes on a sort of tangy, peppery taste, and then takes on a different taste (ie. mushroomy) when blended with burleys and virginias, and then an even different taste (?) when in a blend like Chelsea Morning? And what about the sort of bitter taste I've been getting off of Dunhill's Nightcap? Might that be perique, or just the rehydrating the tin a year after I opened it?

 

[gilgawulf]

Also, thank you for explaining to me exactly what the hell cavendish is.

 

[williamcharles]

Wow! Thanks for all the info, guys.
I've smoked a lilttle bit more of that HH Acadian, and I think I kinda get the sort of mushroomy taste. So, would it be fair to say that when perique is combined with straight virginia it takes on a sort of tangy, peppery taste, and then takes on a different taste (ie. mushroomy) when blended with burleys and virginias, and then an even different taste (?) when in a blend like Chelsea Morning? And what about the sort of bitter taste I've been getting off of Dunhill's Nightcap? Might that be perique, or just the rehydrating the tin a year after I opened it?

By George, I think you've got it.
The bitterness in the Nightcap shouldn't be the perique but it could happen especially given the rehydration. I like to use distilled water so as not to pick up flavors from the water. Chlorine and fluoride might taint your tobacco. Note that I said might.

 

[Kyle Weiss]

I'm extremely sensitive to Perique, and unless it is in such scant amounts to be barely noticeable, I find it has a particularly burnt rubber/tarry flavor to it which can get bitter if I persist on coating my tongue with the stuff stubbornly.

Agreed, to rehydrate tobacco, distilled water will impart nothing but moisture back to the tobacco. I've been using the "sauna" method lately, and it works great... two bowls, one smaller than the other, small bowl filled with the dry tabak, larger bowl filled with boiling distilled water. Place smaller bowl into larger bowl (don't float the baccy bowl either, that's askin' for a disaster), cover for 20 minutes with a light towel, and store as usual. Tobacco should be still somewhat dry, but "springy," which I find is better than "cracker dry."

8)

 

[gilgawulf]

That sauna method sounds a lot better than my "fold up some wet toilet paper and put it in the tin overnight" method. I'll have to try that.
I've been smoking the Solani Virginia Flake with Perique and tasted it in a wholly different light. The taste that I now recognize as perique is one that I would have thought an unpleasant biproduct of smoking too fast before. Yet, now that I have an idea that it's supposed to be a pleasant taste, I find myself liking it. Thus, I'm realizing how much of my perception is dependent upon expectation and ideas of what is good or bad in a tobacco. Kind of frustrating.
Anyway, now that I've sort of narrowed down the taste of perique I'm going to go resmoke a bunch of tobaccos in light of that.

 

[Kyle Weiss]

Nice!

Hope the bacca sauna and smoking adventure both treat ya right!

8)