The Natch Files

[jefe1037]

So Natch hooked me up with some rockin' samples and I would like to first offer a public THANK YOU! I mean, I have over twenty samples that will keep me busy for quite some time. If there is no objection to a little self indulgence, I wish to chronicle my adventures here.

NB I am posting under the "Right Now" section rather than the "Tobacco Jar" because these aren't so much reviews as much as a journal. Also, I believe I have nearly thirty different tobaccos to sample, all courtesy of Natch, and I want this thread to stand and be updated as a testament to his generosity and kindness to a new brother!

I think all will agree that I am starting off on the right foot today with a bowl full of John Powell's Storm Front.

This is highly recommended by many of the brothers, and I now understand why. This my first burley heavy tobacco. The nuttiness was nice and the cigar leaf really did add a nice body to this silky smooth smoke. A nice light pack was enough for an hour long smoke. I can sum up my experience by simply saying SOLD. I understand what makes this such a likable blend, and why it is often suggested for newer smokers. It smokes cool and keeps lit with minimal effort. I had been looking forward to trying this one, and this will probably be my first online tobacco purchase (4noggins is the only place you can find it, right?)

Not a bad way to start my day today.... and I am off all day, so lets see if I can make an honest start of the hard work that I have lying ahead. Someone has got to do it, might as well be me.

 

[George Kaplan]

OK, that does it! I'm starting a new account under the name "Jorge Caplan" to take advantage of the "puros_Natch effect". Jorge is a bit younger and fairly new to pipe smoking. He wonders if this $20 Baraccini and a pouch of Paladin would be a good place to start, and doesn't have a lot of money 'cause he's caring for a three-legged dog he rescued from a sinking battleship. Jorge will certainly try Storm Front based on this review.

 

[PipeGeek]

I've seen Storm Front mentioned several times around the boards.

As it turns out, Storm Front is also the title of the first book in on of my favorite fiction series, the Dresden Files series of books by Jim Butcher.

Coincidence?

 

[roogles]

OK, that does it! I'm starting a new account under the name "Jorge Caplan" to take advantage of the "puros_Natch effect". Jorge is a bit younger and fairly new to pipe smoking. He wonders if this $20 Baraccini and a pouch of Paladin would be a good place to start, and doesn't have a lot of money 'cause he's caring for a three-legged dog he rescued from a sinking battleship. Jorge will certainly try Storm Front based on this review.

Strange... "Jorge" sounds a lot like this guy I know... uh, "Rewgles"

Very new to pipe smoking, dirt poor, needs all the help he can get!

 

[PipeGeek]

Very new to pipe smoking, dirt poor, needs all the help he can get!

He sounds a lot like me, especially after I was forced to make an unexpected investment against my will...

 

[George Kaplan]

As it turns out, Storm Front is also the title of the first book in on of my favorite fiction series, the Dresden Files series of books by Jim Butcher.

Coincidence?

Tried watching that when they made it a TV show. The whole time I was thinking, "This would make a better book."

 

[PipeGeek]

As it turns out, Storm Front is also the title of the first book in on of my favorite fiction series, the Dresden Files series of books by Jim Butcher.

Coincidence?

Tried watching that when they made it a TV show. The whole time I was thinking, "This would make a better book."

They do at that, sir. They do at that.

 

[jefe1037]

C&D Haunted Bookshop

This is the first blend I have tried that contains the fabled Perique. I really think I caught a lot of the subtleties of this one. The burley was the core ingredient with Virginia and Perique as "condiments" (I have read this term, and now I understand the phraseology). I really got some nice jammy flavors and dried fruit nuances. I really enjoyed the first half of this one. Unfortunately, I had to set down the pipe for an hour or so halfway through the bowl, and upon relighting, These flavors never reached the intensity that they had in the first half of the smoke. I am going to give this one another look when I get through my rotation, just to give it a fair shake. I have a feeling this was "user error:" it started hailing and I ran out of coffee, so I'm sure I was smoking hotter than normal, even if unconsciously; to quote my father, Never Blame the ARROW when you should Blame the INDIAN. Not exactly PC, but it works.

 

[Puff Daddy]

Ya gotta watch that Natch, he's a crafty devil! :twisted:

 

[jefe1037]

C&D Old Joe Krantz

Someone on tobaccoreviews called this one Haunted bookshop's older brother. Both are Bur/Va/Pers so I wanted to smoke them next to each other to compare notes. This one Has more burley up front, and had some nice pepperiness to it that had to be the Perique. I am glad I did one then the other because it really let me see what a blender can do with his ingredients. I couldn't detect the Virginia, because it was probably a background thing that was there as a support for the other leaves. A little note about the cut: this one seemed coarser than the HB, but no difference in smokability, still stayed lit and burned down nicely.

This is just cool, and I am having so much fun. Three down in one day, BTW. Maybe I will sneak in one more before the evening is out, but it has now started snowing, so I might not want to brave the cold.

 

[jefe1037]

!Dan's Hamborger Veermeister

I'm sitting here at the train station after smoking a bowl of HV in my va pipe and it is hard for me to type. Partially because my hands are numb but mostly because my head is swimming. What a dose of vitamin N! This is a bold VA. Compared to irc va, I don't see a boatload (bad pun) of difference, but this is a great smoke. I like the pure tobacco flavor that I get from this. Simple and delicious.

 

[puros_bran]

OK, that does it! I'm starting a new account under the name "Jorge Caplan" to take advantage of the "puros_Natch effect". .

Big difference is I only do it every great now and then... Natch does it every day, at least it seems like it.

I know this guy that had to deal with Natch once.. ended up with something like 200 cigars in a box outside his door.. Still hasn't figured out how to 'pay him back' yet.

 

[George Kaplan]

Ya gotta watch that Natch, he's a crafty devil! :twisted:

Come to think of it, Jefe, wasn't it Natch you pissed off with some Bears vs. Packers bs a while back? Better check those samples for rubber bands. Or gunpowder. I hear he keeps an old coffee can full of mouse turds and crumbled dead bees he calls "cubed burley". Better send me the rest of that Veermaster for "inspection". irat:

 

[jefe1037]

I appeased him with the cookie monster avatar. We made amends....

Better check those samples for rubber bands. Or gunpowder. I hear he keeps and old coffee can full of mouse turds and crumbled dead bees he calls "cubed burley"

so THAT's what Peretti #333 is!

Looking forward to some Balkan Supreme tomorrow in my Pete... The Gentlemen over at sterling sent me some 1776 Bostonian (lipipe's Recommendation -- another free sample!) So I might give that a try, or not. who knows. I am having fun playing with all my little baggies of tobacco, arranging them into piles to match up with my different pipes. one for english/balkans one for burley blends, and I am trying to keep my Ben Wade VA only so I dont know where the Va Pers really fit in, plus there are a few aromatics that I think i am going to use my new pipe for when it comes next week...

I am getting giddy here. Its time to go to bed before I stay up all night smoking. That would REALLY piss off wifey.

 

[s.ireland]

Well, Jefe, I'm not going to say who but I have it on good authority that someone has sent you a parcel of assorted VA and Burley flakes to add to your pile of tobacco to try :twisted:

 

[jefe1037]

They give the highest honors for volunteering for certain death, S.I. Bring It.

 

[jefe1037]

Peter Stokkebye Balkan Supreme

My first Balkan. I really kept getting a lavender not from this one, with the latakia smoldering underneath. This really had a silkiness to the smoke that was a first for me. The lavender kept coming out as a "perfuminess;" is this the oriental?

A side not that is sort of relevant: a lot of restaurants use lavender as an ingredient in food. Where i work now has a lavender rim on a drink, a place I used to work had a lavender port wine dressing on a popular salad. My grandmother kept lavender soap in her powder room, and if I had a foul mouth, this is what i was "Ralphie'd" with. I want to be careful with this description, because a soapy flavor is something that bad tobacco is sometimes associated with. This is not what I mean. I truly mean lavender, and I love the aroma in a candle or perfume but I DONT Like it in my mouth. I will revisit this one when the weather breaks a little.

Back to the grindstone tomorrow!

 

[jefe1037]

A couple of burleys yesterday. Peretti #333 and Pipeworks & Wilke Nut Brown Burley

Both of these are cube cuts withand are very similar. Listening to the advice of others, I stuck with a gravity fill and a light hand on the tamper to keep the smoke going. I ame writing the two reviews together because, while the NBB was a little nuttier, and the Peretti had some other subleties that my palate isn't quite trained enough to identify, these two tobaccos are good, "tobacco-y," easy to smoke, and tasty.

So after my foray with four or so burley blends, I think I have a handle on the main categories of burley, vas, vapers (only had 2 of these so far, more to come!)though I have had a few english and balkans,I don't quite understand the subtleties within this category other than latakia being a common thread. My aromatic experience is minimal, but I have a gambit to run in the near future. I am having a little plmcake today in my new pipe to break it in tthen back to… The Natch Files

 

[jefe1037]

GH&Co. Bob's Chocolate Flake

Too windy for the pipe today. After one or two puffs, the pipe was already smoking like a blast furnace. Got a touch of cocoa for flavor before it felt like I was sipping hot battery acid. Not a good day for me, but a learning experience nonetheless. I will add to this when I can as an edit rather than a new reply to give the uninterested a break.

 

[jefe1037]

Boswell No Bite DeLite

I didn't realize this was an aromatic with caramel flavoring; I expected a light english blend. The entire time I was smoking it, I was saying to myself, "What IS that sweetness?" An interesting experience, to say the least.