Semois, Finally...

[skaukatt]

Well, thanks to the generosity of one of our most, if not, "the" most honored club members (many of you who are familiar can guess who, and BTW, all of our club members and attendees are honored in my eyes!), the 16 of us at our August monthly meeting last night had the grand opportunity to sample the fabled and elusive, Semois of the Ardennes!  It wasn't the famed version made by Vincent Manil, which I hear will soon be made available to the U.S. market; this blend is from the Butz Choquin line - I had no idea that BC even sold tobacco, but the tin (more like a canister/container) doesn't lie.  I thought it was a wonderful blend and provided a unique and enjoyable smoking experience.

Upon opening the container, which seemed more cardboard-like than tin, the tobacco had the look of a coarser cut (not so much a ribbon cut) of cigarette tobacco and had a similar color as well but more of a rich brown.  The aroma was earthy with hints of sweetness without any note of topping whatsoever.  The entire sensory experience was unlike any I have had before with other tobaccos: Virginia's, VaPer's, etc…  It smelled like no other.   It had the resemblance of burley, but not exactly.  It was very quick burning but was not harsh and seemed to become stronger towards the end of the bowl.  What a unique experience, which was quite nice after all these years of pipe smoking enjoyment!

I am eagerly anticipating the release of the Vincent Manil blends and look forward to trying them in the near future.

Happy Smokes  from NYC!

Lou

 

[nismo270r]

Very cool Lou! One of these days I'm going to try a bowl of Semois! What info did you have regarding the Manil version being brought over to us?

 

[skaukatt]

Very cool Lou! One of these days I'm going to try a bowl of Semois! What info did you have regarding the Manil version being brought over to us?

Hi Chris,

From Vincent himself.

 

[docwatson]

Interesting stuff there Lou, thanks for your input. It doesn't sound overly interesting to me with so many excellent blends on the shelves these days and I have plenty of stuff that's just sitting around waiting for a match. Someday I'll get to try a bowl but in the meantime I'll listen to you experts until I can't resist anymore.  

 

[skaukatt]

Well, here's a blow to my enjoyment...

From another forum, here's some info regarding the BC Semois blend...

BC Semois is made in Flanders and not in the Ardennes. It doesn't contain any semois tobacco at all, but is made from French style "tabacs bruns" (brown tobaccos) like wervicq and paraguay.
So how then is it possible that this BC tobacco is labeled as semois ? Because the appellation "semois" isn't protected by law and consequently anyone can label any blend as semois.

And, about the Windels Semois..

Windels semois is made by the same company in Flanders that produces BC semois. It doesn't contain any semois at all.

So, it would apepar as though we in the USA will have to wait until Vincent Manil sqaures away his US distributor (happening now as per Vincent) before we can enjoy the real deal.

Lou

 

[docwatson]

Lou,
That's some pretty good investigating and researching to come across those facts. I guess BC and Windels saw a market for a very limited and rare tobacco. I'm surprised that the name isn't protected and marketing it as "Semois" is deceptive advertising at best.
Keep us posted when you get the real thing and then you will be able to give us a comparison of both.
Thanks,
AC

 

[monbla256]

Well, here's a blow to my enjoyment...

From another forum, here's some info regarding the BC Semois blend...

BC Semois is made in Flanders and not in the Ardennes. It doesn't contain any semois tobacco at all, but is made from French style "tabacs bruns" (brown tobaccos) like wervicq and paraguay.
So how then is it possible that this BC tobacco is labeled as semois ? Because the appellation "semois" isn't protected by law and consequently anyone can label any blend as semois.

And, about the Windels Semois..

Windels semois is made by the same company in Flanders that produces BC semois. It doesn't contain any semois at all.

So, it would apepar as though we in the USA will have to wait until Vincent Manil sqaures away his US distributor (happening now as per Vincent) before we can enjoy the real deal.



Lou

Why would it "....be a blow to my enjoyment"  as the review you gave was of a seemingly nice, albeit a bit unusual tobacco. So now that you've found out it is not the SAME Semois as you were expecting it's now not good?  Sounds like it's just some good. locally produced Belgian tobacco mixture that is not readily available over here :twisted::twisted:

 

[Kyle Weiss]

Expectations of hope on unobtainium? Does funny things to fellas.

Still, tobacco cannot be wasted. Maybe it'll be good. <img class="emojione" alt="?" title=":shrug:" src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/emojione/assets/png/1f937.png?v=2.2.7"/>

 

[mimefrog]

Does anyone know the identity of the US distributor? My local B&M would certainly order it.

 

[nismo270r]

That's great to hear Vincent is going to be bringing Semois to us!

It's definitely hard not to have preconceived notions of how great or bad something can be. If it smokes great, more power to it!  

 

[Anonymous]

I don't think there is a formal distributorship now. Manil said that was in the works. I think this information was on his website and that I read it a month ago.

 

[Brewdude]

I sense a frenzy in the works...........

LOL!


Cheers,

RR

 

[Blackhorse]

More power to those who want to spend their money on it. Me? I'm thinkin' not. A friend from this site gifted me with a wee bit not too long ago. I very carefully added some hydration to it, on the suggestion of reviewers here and puffed up a bowl in a very trusty CAO Meerschaum. My read? Short on flavor except for a very faint floral note. VERY faint. Was it the strongest stuff I've ever smoked? Not by a long shot. Take a bowl of Gawith Dark Flake, as one strong example. Dump and weight it. Do the same with a bowl of Semois. My, my my. The Dark Flake weighs ten times what the Semois does. It's like a bowl of steel shot compared to steel wool. There's just not enough mass in the Semois for it to hold enough N to compare to heavier cut stuff, I'm thinkin'. Anyway, I wouldn't care all that much about that if it was a sublime smoke. But to me it was something to get through...like getting a tattoo....dinner with relatives you don't like...a visit to the dentist...etc. All joking aside, it's not horrible, it just doesn't line up with what I like to smoke I guess. .

 

[Kyle Weiss]

Well said, BH.