alfredo_buscatti":o2nax2p7 said:
What would be your recommendation for the best Syrian blend that is available in 1 pound bulk?...Also Blatter and Blatter carry a blend made for McLintock of Germany called "Syrian Latakia Blend"...Anyone ever tried that?
I'd rather that it is expensive and a truly premium blend than mediocre and cheap.
And nothing that bites. I smoked a Heinrich blend that was fantastic but it bit me.
Thanks!!!
Signore Alfredo:
I know what you mean about the Heinrich blends. When they're young, they're unfocused and tongularly rambunctious. I’ve been able to get one of them (No. 169) to yield sublime smokes in a vintage Peterson Oom Paul graciously gifted to me by Esteemed Brothah Yak, but I have to smoke it with great presence of mind (meaning sslloooowwwlllyyy) in order to avoid Poach-Mouth Syndrome. I ended up jarring the rest of them in the hope that time will mellow them.
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Alas, your requirement that a SyriLat blend must be available in bulk greatly narrows your available choices. McLintock's Syrian Latakia Blend is not available from any U.S. vendor as far as I can tell. Blatter & Blatter might sell you some, but you'll have to contact them by phone or email. The idiotic Quebec laws prohibit them from displaying any tobacco information on their website. (
Just another example of the state "protecting" your interests. Sieg Heil! :evil: ) Anyhow, I'm sure you don't need me to recommend that you try some before you commit to a bulk purchase...assuming B&B will even sell you any.
At any rate, if you only want bulk, the only blend I can recommend is Mac Baren's
H&H Vintage Syrian (HHVS). I have found that it is superb in almost any pipe, but like any tobacco, it's best in pipes that are dedicated to it.
My first tin of HHVS was generously gifted to me by Brothah Puff Daddy some years ago at TJ's Sonora Smoker. I must admit that I wasn't especially impressed with it the first couple of times I smoked it. I found that it shared a common characteristic of all Mac Baren weedages—namely, it MUST be smoked slowly to avoid the Fire Needle Dance Of Death<img class="emojione" alt="
" title=":tm:" title=":tm:" src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/emojione/assets/png/2122.png?v=2.2.7"/> on your tongue. Greedy puffing will avail you naught but shadow and flame. I'm glad I persisted.
Sipping it is the doorway to SyriLat bliss.
Well...a form of SyriLat bliss, at least. If, like me, you have an insatiable lust for the toasted oak and leather notes that are only found in Syrian Latakia, there are few blends that deliver it in anywhere near the luxurious quantity found in HHVS. Not that it's in any way comparable to those great SyriLat blends that are now extinct (e.g., GLP's
Bohemian Scandal, C&D's
Syrian Trawler, and innumerable others it pains me to mention), but it does satisfy the craving for Syrian.
And please don't take that as a case of damning with faint praise. HHVS is a fine blend of quality tobaccos, and the quality is consistent. I have more of it in my cellar than any other weedage, and I wouldn't have made that commitment of my hard-earned bux if it weren't quality tobacco. But it does demand that you smoke it thoughtfully.
I wouldn't characterize HHVS as high-octane pipeweed by any stretch of the imagination; so, being the lover of HO weedage that I know you are, I would recommend that you smoke it in a pipe with a large diameter bowl. In that way, you’ll greatly increase the cross-sectional area of burning weed, thereby delivering more smokage per puff, without taking a trip down Zorchtongue Lane.
If you haven’t tried HHVS, shoot me a PM with your current snail mail addy and I’ll send a bunch your way.
There are other Syrian Latakia blends I can recommend, but none of them are available in bulk as far as I know. If you’re willing to buy tins, I can give you some recommendations. There are a couple of great ones, and at least one that (with some age) is well above the quality of the others. But the sad truth is that, regardless of whether you buy in bulk or tins, there simply aren't many high-quality SyriLat choices available any more, and that condition won't change unless the Syrians allow large-scale production and export to resume.
:joker: