Gawith Hoggarth Balkan Mixture

TAD has been getting the best of me lately. It doesn't help when you have friends that send you out of this world tobaccos you've never smoked before.

Esteemed tobaccoreviews contributor and Tamp & Puff member doctorthoss sent me a sample of Gawith Hoggarth Balkan Mixture. Before it was gone I had ordered two 500g bags, and I'm about to order two more. 

I opened this bag and was hit by traditional English floral tobacco scenting. Oh brother. I have actually learned to love geranium, lavender and a few other floral elements in nasal snuff, but I've always had a hard line stance against anything that isn't tobacco in my pipe tobacco.

Well, this tobacco is an exception. Or perhaps this is the tobacco that made me suspend that prejudice. What we have here is a scented Lat blend. Balkan? Not in my book.

Castello Sea Rock 65 KKKK

I used to like rusticated pipes. Used to, because once I got my first Sea Rock I kind of lost interest in the rest. Naw, I say that, but I still have a soft spot for Les Wood's Bark finish.

Anyway, I generally much prefer a blast, but there is just something magic about Castello's Sea Rock. I felt kind of dumb ordering another 65 in the same finish, but I just hadn't scratched that itch yet I guess.

This one's a KKKK instead of a GG, and it's a perfect Lat blend pipe. It is the best smoking Lat blend pipe I own. The finish is brown instead of the black on red of the first, and the bend is the traditional 65 half bend instead of the closer to 3/4 the first one I bought has. They're very different pipes but with very similar and excellent smoking qualities. 

My tastes have definitely fled the borders of Italy for the green of England, but Castello is one marque I always keep one eye on. There is something incredibly substantial about their pipes, they're gorgeous, and they smoke like you wouldn't believe.

Cornell & Diehl Home From The Hills

This blend answers a question you may have had when smoking any American blend: "What if this had more Latakia? What would an American blend be like if it was big and full like a meaty Lat blend?". 

Here's your answer: like Cornell & Diehl's Home From The Hills. 

This is another tobacco from the late, great Bob Runowski. This time the players are Burley, Va, Latakia and Perique. Initially this struck me as Haunted Bookshop with a heaping sccop of Latakia. 

There is a decided nutty sweetness here. From the Perique this is one C&D blend where I get pepper instead of the fermented fruit tang I usually get from their Perique. 

...and there is Latakia. Lots of it. Not lots as in lots by Lat blend standards, but it does kind of overwhelm this one. You do get a nutty-sweet, earthy Burley here, but the presentation is made spicy by the Perique and Latakia content. Some times I really enjoy this one, but some times I long for the bowl to end. It just isn't as soothing as some of the milder renditions on this theme. Lesson learned, be careful what you ask for...

James Upshall bent billiard

I have been fighting a near overwhelming compulsion to start collecting Charatans for the last few months. If I ever do start buying them, I won't have buyer's remorse. Not after all the time I've spent reading about them and looking at them on ebay and elsewhere on the web.

I didn't do so well staying away from former Charatan carver Barry Jones. Barry was responsible for a chunk of Charatan's output during the Lane era, and has been stamping James Upshall on his work since 1978. Barry is still making pipes today and is an international treasure for pipe smokers everywhere. There won't be any more guys like Barry, a carver who worked under the old house system and whose work has never had his own name on it, yet is known by name worldwide by people like you and me. I picked up my first Upshall pipe right after the holidays this year. 

Barry's work under the Upshall marque has included the signature look of the Charatan take on the Dublin theme, along with his own unique interpretations of other classic English shapes. The Dublins still steal the show, but his apples and billiards are also top notch. 

This pipe has a substantial feel despite its light weight, and it's a definite that there will be more Upshalls on my rack. In fact, I am seriously stalking one right now, and there might be a new Upshall article soon. Anyway, here's my first, a group 5/6 rusticated bent billiard with a generous bore depth but only a 3/4" bore. An excellent smoker.

Ser Jacopo bent Dublin

I love a good blast. It's my preferred finish. It looks great, takes weight off the pipe, and makes for much less attention keeping the pipe looking its very best.

I found a trio of really good deals at Christmas time this year, and this is one of the three pipes that was waiting for me under the tree. It's a Maxima, and it's the largest pipe I own, with a deeper bore than my Randy Wiley Rhodesian. It's a great Burley pipe.

This is the only plateau rimmed pipe I own, and I really like it on this one. This is also one of my heavier pipes, but owing to the bend and the wide saddle stem it clenches fine. Even so, it's one I like to sit and smoke while holding the pipe. 

This is probably it for me and Ser Jacopo, because my tastes have wandered off in another direction. As far as their pipes go, they're excellent. I definitely think some of their work approaches Castello quality, with the added bonus that if you fancy Ser Jacopo pipes and you're on a budget, you can find quite a few nice examples for less than $200. The three I own are all above average smokers and I can recommend them heartily.

Cornell & Diehl Red Odessa

Looking at the component tobaccos in Cornell & Diehl's Red Odessa, you'd think that this blend was a fairly standard Lat blend with some added Perique. It contains Red Virginia, Turkish, Latakia and Perique. 

I know I did. In fact, my hope was that this was a decent Lat blend with Perique at a good price. A poor man's Artisan's Blend if you will. I only started cellaring in 2011, and with my first 16 kilos put away and a bill in committee in the senate that adds about $47/pound in taxes to pipe tobacco, well, let's just say I'm not comfortable with just 16 kilos and have been buying a lot of tobacco. Good blends at less than $30/pound really help to add weight to a young cellar like mine.

I am consistently amazed by the tobacco blends of Cornell & Diehl, C&D hereafter. My introduction to C&D came through a generous care package from a forum member. He sent me a superb care package when I was a very new pipe smoker to help introduce me to Burley. In that package were three hallmark C&D blends; Old Joe Krantz, Haunted Bookshop and Three Friars.  All three of those blends are worth cellaring by the way, and all three sell for about $30/pound. 

It took me a little longer to find C&D Lat blends I liked. It started with the GL Pease stuff, but I thought, surely if Greg can coax this out of C&D's inventory, some of the C&D labeled stuff has to be good too. Red Odessa is the first one of them that has become a favorite of mine.