Archive: August 2020

Last week I taste tested a new range of pipe tobacco from a brand that is generally more associated with making pipes, rather than tobacco: Chacom. Strangely enough, this week we have more of the same. The Erik Nording brand is normally associated with making exquisite and unique pipes. As is also the case with Chacom, Nording is a small, family-run business. If you haven’t looked through the range of Nording Pipes before, I highly recommend at least having a glance through it, as they make some of the most striking, eye-catching and unusual pipes on the market. As I’ve suggested though, this week I’m not looking at the pipes, as – like Chacom – Nording have now made the leap into the world of pipe tobacco blending, with a modest but fulfilling range of three tobacco blends. So once again, it falls to me to give the new range a thorough taste test.

Erik’s Reserve

Erik’s Reserve gets the ball rolling in simple, classic style. It is a straight, no-frills “Fairly bright” Virginia Flake. That’s it; beautifully straightforward. The flake itself, while described as “Bright,” certainly has some darker flecks, but I’d agree that it falls just on the lighter side of the spectrum. The cold aroma is about what you’d expect from this type of tobacco, subtly sweet with a slight tanginess. What did stand out was how easily the flake rubbed down, I barely had to poke it with a finger before it was mostly crumbled. It also lit (and remained lit) exceptionally easily, straight from the tin, with no need for drying or any other prep.  Taste-wise, it’s also about you’d expect; slightly sweet and woody, developing a warm toasty character as the bowl progresses. That classic Virginia tang is also present. All in all, this flake probably isn’t going to surprise you, but it does what you expect of it in a very competent manner. Actually, I tell a lie; the ease of preparation might surprise you, as I found it striking enough to bring up twice in one paragraph…

 

Sea Weed

Next up we have Sea Weed. This takes us in a different direction as it is a traditional yet striking Scandinavian style aromatic tobacco. The tobacco blend is a mix of Virginia, Burley and Black Cavendish, with a “Caramel and Cream” casing. One thing that immediately struck me on opening the tin was just how pronounced the “Cream” element of the casing is. All too often, when tobaccos promise a cream flavour, it turns out to be a bit nothing-y; just a vague hint or a light tobacco that gives the impression of creaminess. However, I’ll be damned if this blend doesn’t actually smell and taste of cream. The caramel side of the casing pulls its weight equally well too, which when combined with the cream taste, gives a flavour similar to crème brulee. As far as the casing: tobacco taste ratio goes, I’d call this a textbook Scandinavian aromatic, as the casing is strong enough to be noticed, but not so strong that you can’t taste the tobacco. Perfect balance.

Tumbleweed

Finally, here is Tumbleweed. As with the Sea Weed, this is a traditional Scandinavian aromatic, but there’s something quite arresting about it. It starts fairly by the book, a mixture of Virginia, Burley and Black Cavendish, with a Vanilla casing. Classic, right? The reason I call this blend “arresting” is that the aromatic casing is surprisingly pronounced for a Scandinavian Style Aromatic. The blenders also describe a more floral element, along with the vanilla, but to me it all comes together to make something a bit different. This is especially noticeable in the cold aroma. In fact, from the second you unseal and unscrew the lid, the aroma immediately seeps out to entice anyone in the vicinity. This aroma lead to a debate between me and my colleague, Karen. My immediate thought on the aroma was chocolate sponge cake, while she thought it was more of a fruit cake. Either way, we could agree it was definitely very “Cakey.” Once lit, I found the taste to be a combination of chocolate and a gentle vanilla undertone. Once again, I found the casing to be surprisingly strong for a Scandi Aro – almost bordering on American Style – but I could just about taste the tobacco underneath.

So, that’s the small but intriguing range of tobacco from Erik Nording, yet another pipe manufacturer turning their skilled hands to producing pipe tobacco. All in all, I’d recommend this range. It does a lot in a small range and dares to wander outside the confines of tradition, which is always a plus for me!

-Calum

Store Manager @ Turmeaus & LCDH Chester

A is for Amphora

Another week in the A’s! Give it a few more and we might eventually hit the B’s. This week I’m looking at Amphora, a small but varied range, brought to us by MacBaren.

Amphora Full

Formerly known as “Full Aromatic,” this is a genuinely interesting blend. It has the base of a traditional English style aromatic (Virginia, Burley and Oriental/Turkish) but it also uses a surprisingly varied casing, with hints of chocolate and fruit with a slightly floral element. Pipe tobacco tends to sit in either one of these camps, so it’s very unusual to see a blend with a foot in both territories. The result is very satisfying. The cold aroma is very distinctive: deep, rich tobacco, invigorated by the fruitiness of the casing. It translates really nicely to the taste when burning too. The natural tobacco taste comes through very powerfully, which is a rarity in a cased blend. Again, the tobacco is rich, full-bodied and earthy with a slightly smoky edge. The casing doesn’t fight with this taste, it simply adds a slight puddingy sweetness to it. Overall, this blend has really surprised me (in a good way) as it uses casings in a way very few blends do, but with excellent results.

Amphora Special Reserve No.2

After quite an “Out there” start, we’re getting into more tried and tested territory with the Special Reserve No.2. It has its feet planted firmly in the aromatic side of the scale, with a blend of Virginia, Burley and Black Cavendish, topped with a “Ripe cherry” casing. While cherry is very familiar grounds for any aromatic pipe smoker, this blend takes it in an interesting direction by choosing a casing that isn’t “Black” cherry. This means it has a much more fresh and natural character, compared to Black Cherry, which is often extremely sweet and can sometimes stray into sickly sweet. The casing is clearly applied with restraint as it doesn’t totally dominate the blend, allowing for the quality of the tobacco to shine through amongst the sweetness. This is definitely one to try if you like cherries, but have found other cherry flavoured pipe blends not to be to your taste.

Amphora Original

After straying back to more traditional territory, the final blend I’m tasting goes straight back to the more unusual (but not totally unheard of) side of the tracks. It begins simply enough; a blend of Virginia, Kentucky, Burley and Oriental. So far, so normal; a traditional sweet, slightly spicy and smoky English style mixture. However, the interesting twist on this blend is the addition of a chocolate flavoured casing, not something you usually see in conjunction with “Spice” tobaccos. Like I said though, it’s not totally unheard of; Bob’s Flake from Gawith & Hoggarth goes for a similar concept.

While it might seem a little strange at first, I think it works really well. The chocolate is sweet but subtle, so it simply balances out some of the base blend’s intensity, rather than trying to override it. As the bowl progresses, the two types of flavour start to mingle beautifully, turning into a crisp, caramel type flavour, almost like burnt sugar/Crème Brulee. I feel they’ve also made a smart choice with the cut of the blend: It is a long, ribbon type cut, with pieces of what appears to be broken flake. This creates a very cool, slow burning mixture, which really allows the blend’s character to develop in a slow, tantalising manner.

All in all, this range has really pleasantly surprised me. Considering it only features three blends it manages to cover a lot of different bases, sometimes within the same blend in ways you might not expect. The blend names are quite unassuming, so I imagine a lot of people could have overlooked this range, not knowing the intriguing concepts that lie within the packaging (I definitely did.) If you’re in the same boat, I definitely recommend giving them a go, even if it’s just for a change of pace.

Next time… I’m still on the A’s but I think it’s the last one and then I can finally move onto the B’s!

-Calum – Store Manager @ Turmeaus & LCDH Chester.

I have a rare but very welcome experience this week in Chester; a whole new range of pipe tobacco has just arrived. New individual pipe tobacco blends aren’t that common, so it’s especially exciting when we get a whole new range (and not just because It means I get the arduous task of taste testing it…)

This time our new arrival is from brand with whom you might already be familiar: Chacom. However, those who already know of Chacom will most likely associate them with their pipes, rather than pipe tobacco. Chacom (a portmanteau of “Chapuis-Comoy&Cie”) are a French pipe-maker from St. Claude with a well-earned reputation for making extremely high-quality pipes. They are a small, family-run company, with their current MD being the sixth generation to head the small team of 20 dedicated employees. After a storied history of pipe-making they have decided to throw their hat into the ring of tobacco blending, by launching an interesting and varied range of four tobacco blends. Naturally, that means it’s time for me to roll up my sleeves, fire up my pipe and get to taste testing!

While the range is small – featuring just four blends – Chacom have done a very good job of giving a wide range of blends a fair representation, with two natural/non-aromatic blends and two with casings, as well as a combination of three shags/ready rubbed mixtures and one flake.

Chacom No.1

Chacom are starting off their range with a traditional English mixture that confidently and competently hits all the right notes. It utilises broken Virginia and Black Cavendish for a comforting, naturally sweet base, with the broken flake style of Virginia allowing for a cool and slow burning smoke. Naturally, this wouldn’t be a true English Mixture without a little bit of added spice: this comes in the form of the classic combo of Oriental tobacco and Cypriot Latakia. As is often the case, this stands at the forefront of the blend’s flavour, giving it a rich, smoky taste with a slight hint of perfumey spiciness. However, they manage to nail the essential task of not letting these elements completely overshadow the other tobacco, but simply allowing each to enhance the character of the other. It is fairly strong, but not flooringly so, all in all a very well-balanced blend.

Chacom No.2

While it would’ve made sense for me to work through these blends in numeric/name order, I’ll be honest and say I couldn’t resist trying this one first after reading the description. This aromatic blend uses a base of “Various Virginia and broken Virginia” as well as Burley and Black Cavendish. All of these have been chosen for their natural sweetness, so as someone with a massive sweet tooth, it would have already really appealed to me. However, that’s not the thing that hooked me. That would be the casing: a “Delicious but subtle flavour of fruity yellow plum and sweet vanilla.” Right?! As someone who loves it when blends use slightly more “Out there” flavours that stray off the beaten path, I couldn’t resist a plum-based flavour. Man, I can tell you it does not disappoint. The tobacco itself is sweet, but subtle enough that the fruity flavour can shine and it does so beautifully. The taste and aroma with its sweet fruitiness and vanilla reminds me of a delicious comforting pudding, like fruit sponge (or maybe crumble?) with custard. Super warming and comforting but without being overwhelming or sickly. Definitely a potential all-day smoke and I can’t recommend it enough.

Chacom No.3

Chacom’s third blend is another sweetly cased aromatic. This time, they have gone for a mixture of double fermented Black Cavendish, golden and red Virginias and a small portion of Burley. This is topped with a “Bourbon Vanilla” flavour. The Black Cavendish makes up a large proportion of the blend which gives it an extremely smooth, creamy and slightly sweet flavour and the casing really amps up that sweetness, while still remaining pleasantly light. Personally, the aroma and flavour of the casing reminds me of honeycomb, with a satisfying crisp edge to the sweetness. It is definitely the sweeter of the two aromatic blends, but it manages this without being sickly. The room note is super enticing too; my colleague, Joss walked by while I was testing this one and he immediately asked for a bowl so he could also “Help me test it.” Always a promising sign…!

Chacom No.4

The final blend in the range, Chacom No.4 is a flake cut, Virginia and Perique combo. “VaPers” – as they are often referred to – are very popular among pipe aficionados, yet they are surprisingly uncommon (pure Virginia/Perique blends, that is, without other tobaccos mixed in too.) For some reason, Chacom have decided not to actually state that this is a flake cut tobacco on the tin, so it might come as a surprise to some people. I can’t see it being a huge issue though, as this is a masterfully made flake; fine and precisely cut, mid-brown in colour with some golden highlights and some smaller, dark patches. It rubs down very easily and is packaged at a perfect level of moisture content, so it is ready to be rubbed, loaded and lit straight out of the tin, with no need for drying. This makes it an ideal “First flake” for a curious new pipe smoker. For a Perique-driven blend, the flavour and aroma are surprisingly subtle, as the four-week cold-pressing process really gives the tobaccos time to marry and merge flavours. The Virginias have that classic sweet tang that develops a great toasty character as the bowl progresses, while the Perique adds an ever so subtle layer of fruit and spice to elevate it from a straight Virginia blend. As I’ve already said, this would make a great introduction to flake tobacco. However, now I’ve tested a few bowls, I can also say it would make a great introduction to Virginia/Perique blends (or just Perique-centred blends) in general.

So that’s the full range of Chacom’s new pipe tobacco blends. Overall, I’m impressed; In a small range they have managed to give even representation to a number of different types of blends and styles of presentation, while also offering something a little different from the standard varieties. Not only that, but they have done so with impressive competence for a completely new range. I’d strongly recommend trying them. If you can’t make up your mind on which to try first (and frankly, I wouldn’t blame you; even now, I’d struggle to pick a favourite) we offer all four in a sampler, so you can do your own taste test.

Amazingly, Chacom isn’t the only new range of pipe tobacco to launch recently, we have another brand new range to test, which I’ll be covering in my next blog. You’ll have to wait till then to see what it is though. Hope to see you there.

Calum

-Store Manager @ Turmeaus & LCDH Chester