I just tried Rattray's Marlin Flake

[Smoker99]

I love most the Rattray's tobaccos, particularly the Va's. All of the big three, ie, HOTW, Marlin Flake, and Old Gowrie are regular smokes for me. Their other blends are reknowned to be great orientals, and I like them all.

 

[Kyle Weiss]

"Mon Blanc, age 256" has a funny idea about Virginia's. RR is an Oriental. It used to be a red Va plus a lot of Orientals plus just a touch of Latakia. Pretty lively stuff. It's the kind of blend you smoke in the afternoon as a pick-me-up if the ATF has your house surrounded, guns drawn, and is about to crash through your door.

I'm almost sure that, if it had been in existence, the Light Brigade all would have been smoking it before charging cannons on horseback.

I paid little mind to Monbla's light gaffe mentioned--though actually paying attention now, I found my list and notes of careful tobacco information, both personal and general, states RR is indeed more than just a Virginia. I have it listed as a Cavendish, Red VA and Oriental mix--in fact, it is in my "Oriental Blends" section (I organize by [assumed] predominant bacca). I probably got that info form TR.com--which is unreliable at times (both information-wise and working order... :lol: ). I'd be pushed to try RR faster if there was a touch of Latakia in it, truthfully.

Stuff I'm categorizing as being somewhat similar (ignorantly so) that I haven't tried yet, but wish to:

Pease's Blackpoint, Embarcadero, Maltese Falcon, Kensington, Ashbury, Samarra.

McClelland's Legends, Wilderness, Oriental Mixture 8, Virginia Woods.

 

[monbla256]

"Mon Blanc, age 256" has a funny idea about Virginia's. RR is an Oriental. It used to be a red Va plus a lot of Orientals plus just a touch of Latakia. Pretty lively stuff. It's the kind of blend you smoke in the afternoon as a pick-me-up if the ATF has your house surrounded, guns drawn, and is about to crash through your door.

I'm almost sure that, if it had been in existence, the Light Brigade all would have been smoking it before charging cannons on horseback.

I paid little mind to Monbla's light gaffe mentioned--though actually paying attention now, I found my list and notes of careful tobacco information, both personal and general, states RR is indeed more than just a Virginia. I have it listed as a Cavendish, Red VA and Oriental mix--in fact, it is in my "Oriental Blends" section (I organize by [assumed] predominant bacca). I probably got that info form TR.com--which is unreliable at times (both information-wise and working order... :lol: ). I'd be pushed to try RR faster if there was a touch of Latakia in it, truthfully.

Stuff I'm categorizing as being somewhat similar (ignorantly so) that I haven't tried yet, but wish to:

Pease's Blackpoint, Embarcadero, Maltese Falcon, Kensington, Ashbury, Samarra.

McClelland's Legends, Wilderness, Oriental Mixture 8, Virginia Woods.

I made no "gaffe", RR is what I would classify as a Scottish/Balkan blend with a nice smooth red virginia base. And it has more spice and flavor from the Orientals than the amount of Latakia (very little if any to my experience) in it. As far as a "straight" Va, Virginia Woods is one of my favorites, I smoke a bowl or two every other day or so. Some NICE stuff

 

[Kyle Weiss]

I made no "gaffe", RR is what I would classify as a Scottish/Balkan blend with a nice smooth red virginia base. And it has more spice and flavor from the Orientals than the amount of Latakia (very little if any to my experience) in it. As far as a "straight" Va, Virginia Woods is one of my favorites, I smoke a bowl or two every other day or so. Some NICE stuff

Sure you did, Monbla, and it was a good thing, too: it reminded us are indeed human, with your sixteen centuries of experience and whatnot... :albino: I think more to the point the fabled RR is a bit more than Virginia, and I've heard this from a few others, too. The Orientals in the mix sing pretty darned loudly. 8) As you noted, Virgina Woods is very squarely among my "to try" in the list above. I'll give you full credit for it when I try it--I promise.

 

[Rusty]

Stuff I'm categorizing as being somewhat similar (ignorantly so) that I haven't tried yet, but wish to:

Pease's Blackpoint, Embarcadero, Maltese Falcon, Kensington, Ashbury, Samarra.

McClelland's Legends, Wilderness, Oriental Mixture 8, Virginia Woods.

Embarcadero & Virginia Woods are the ones that are in a different category than the others. Matured Virginias. Embarcadero is a Virginia with a little Izmir as a condiment. The Izmir is subtle & difficult to detect when the tin is young. The one I had recently had four + years in the cellar and it was wonderful. The musty Izmir made a more obvious but still subtle contribution. Marvelous stuff. I love that trio. However, Embarcadero is nothing like RR, in which the Orientals are very prominent. With Embarcadero the Virginia's dominate and the oriental dressing them up some. It's a condiment rather than a star in the blend. If you like Embarcadero then there others that are similar with a bit of Or condiment to primarily Va's. McClelland makes quite a few that are also very good - Butera RV Blended Flake, Ashton Revival Pebblecut, Tudor Castle, plus most of the Grand Oriental series. Some of these have Perique as well but it's not in large amounts. I love Perique!

The others (except Virginia Woods) in your list all fit the broad English Mixture category. They're all very good. Blackpoint is another favourite. Add GL Pease Caravan to the list; it's another marvelous one that is rarely mentioned these days but superb. Another good one is C&D's Plantation Evening. These are all mixtures where there is an obvious balance between flavours of Lat, Or, and Va. Mixtures are usually obviously different from Virginia's even visually. They're a mix of leaf colours. And yes, RR belongs here in this category too.

 

[Kyle Weiss]

10-4 that, Rusty--thank you. 8)

I'm a bit beyond trying to classify tobacco in an understand that others can relate to, because I've found it so differing from one gent to the next. Everything seems to be "English." :lol: The only reason why I would take something that seems "English" and classify it as something other (Balkan, for example) is if the description says it is. Other than classification semantics, I don't really care--I just try and figure the blend sounds good or it doesn't. :lol:

Sadly, I'm not into Perique. It doesn't agree with me, unless very sparingly used.

Funny, there's a lot of Pease stuff on my list that I'm excited to try these days. Caravan sounds great! :cheers:

 

[Smoker99]

It is hard to compare same type blends between different manufacturers, as each has a characteristic of it's own, and each are distinctive. The Rattray's all seem to have an aged sour Va aroma to them. McClellands has it's acetic acid smell, and McBaren has it's honey/molasses casing. When I find a maker I like, I tend to like most things from them.

 

[Kyle Weiss]

It is hard to compare same type blends between different manufacturers, as each has a characteristic of it's own, and each are distinctive. The Rattray's all seem to have an aged sour Va aroma to them. McClellands has it's acetic acid smell, and McBaren has it's honey/molasses casing. When I find a maker I like, I tend to like most things from them.

This is exactly why I think it is important, to also to compare them as such (even if it seems apples to oranges)--not for finding the similarities, but to find the differences. At least this is my take on it, anyway--as a newbie, I sometimes come across a blend that "does it" for me. I have two options...I can chase down the various forms of the mix, or I can meander through the blender. Both have their merit, I've discovered. Rattray's has a lot of blends that seem very similar to one another, so often I'll find the one I like, get to know the others, and then see what another blender's opinion on the situation is. I rather like Rattray's, McClelland and Mac Baren all for very different reasons, it turns out, and I haven't even begun to say I fully understand their individual approaches or styling. On that note, I think I may have just discovered why I enjoy Pease's stuff so much: he's really into "the new." He comes out with stuff all the time, some heralded by the public, others shrugging their shoulders. Discovering all these tobaccos (and my approach to them) at this stage in my piping and finding a blender that's dedicated to discovering new blends has been a real treat. 8)