Upcoming VaPer Showdown

[CigarGal]

Originally Posted by Slow Triathlete

Ha, I thought that I was the only one who used the "Investment" excuse. Only I tell her it is an investment for future relaxation. All the cigars and pipe tobacco that I own are to keep me away from high blood pressure, heart issues, stress related diseases etc.

Does she buy it?

[Slow Triathlete]

Not really. She just smiles and shakes her head. It scares me when she does that!!

[Slow Triathlete]

[SIZE=3]Well, after a couple of day’s absence, I’m ready to review another blend. This time it is the CAO/Dan Treasures of Ireland-Limerick blend. I also have the good news that the order that I placed with pipesandcigars.com is finally going to get here. Apparently they were waiting on the McConnell Scottish Cake to come in. With that said, I will now be able to review the McC 2015, H&H Anniversary Kake, and the McConnell Scottish Cake.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=3]Right, now back to the Limerick blend. I have to say that this blend smelled better in the tin than any of the others so far. It has a very sweet Virginia smell and to tell you the truth, I didn’t really smell any Perique in there. This blend comes in flake form so I grabbed two flakes and rubbed them out to dry. I let this dry for about 2 hours as it is rather moist in the tin.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=3]It packed decently even with the long flake strands in there. It was a little hard to light up but once it was lit it burned very well. I had mostly sweet Virginia tastes in the first part of the bowl but then the Perique kicked in a bit and stayed present for the rest of the bowl. It may have been that when I rubbed it out and packed the pipe I may have separated the tobaccos a bit. Either way, once it got started I knew that this was going to be a great blend! This blend is kind of in between Escudo and Dorchester as to the amount of Perique involved. It isn’t hidden in the background like Dorchester but it’s not really in your face like Escudo.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=3]This was a well behaved blend and it didn’t require many relights. It burns down to a grayish-white ash that is very easy to tamp. It burns very cool and I never had any hint of bite from this blend. I have to admit that this blend didn’t wow me the first time that I smoked it. But after the first, it got better and better with each consecutive smoke. It took me a while to notice the subtleties of the different Virginias playing off of the Perique. It is medium in strength and can probably be smoked throughout the day. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=3]All in all, I really liked this blend and will definitely buy more. This blend almost unseated Escudo as my favorite. Almost. I rank this one a solid second.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=3]Here are the standings so far:[/SIZE]

[SIZE=3]1)[/SIZE] [SIZE=3]Escudo[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]2)[/SIZE] [SIZE=3]Treasures of Ireland – Limerick[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]3)[/SIZE] [SIZE=3]Dorchester[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]4)[/SIZE] [SIZE=3]Luxury Bullseye Flake[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]5)[/SIZE] [SIZE=3]Kajun Kake [/SIZE]

[Slow Triathlete]

[SIZE=3]Okay, looks like I’m back on track with the reviews here. I was going to review the Hearth & Home Anniversary Kake in this post but the past few bowls that I have had shows that this blend is still too wet for my tastes and it would not be fair to judge it in that state. So instead I will be reviewing the Robert McConnell Scottish Cake, not to be confused with their Scottish Flake offering. I know that IHT has recommended it in the past as a good VaPer and when I called pipesandcigars.com to order it, I told them about the VaPer comparison that I was doing. The gentleman on the phone stated that they had some on order but I had to wait for it because this was his favorite VaPer. With those two recommendations and what I’ve read on tobaccoreviews.com, I knew that this was going to be a good, possibly great, blend.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=3]I got the tin the other day and I immediately cracked it open and took a whiff. Mmmm, it smelled like the sour fruitiness of the Virginias and the peppery spice of the Perique. I think that I read somewhere that this might have a small amount of burley mixed in there for good measure. It is a course cut flake and I rubbed it out a little more to help with drying. The appearance is kind of a red, and light and dark browns (mostly dark brown). I let it air out and dry for about 15-20 minutes and then loaded it up into my Peterson Bent Bulldog.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=3]Right off of the bat this was a great tasting blend. Lighting was extremely easy with only one false light. As the bowl progressed, the flavor got fuller and fuller and leveled out at about a medium to full in taste and strength. The Virginias provide the sweetness throughout and while there is a decent amount of Perique in this blend it never overpowers the taste. It’s always there in the background and weaves itself in and out through the Virginias. It has a great, lively flavor that never goes flat. Also, I never had any kind of tongue bite even though I’m sure I got it going hot a few times. The Virginias never go sour either.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=3]The smoke aroma comes off as sweet and fruity and for some reason it smells a bit chocolaty to me. Not sure why that is or if it’s another scent that I just can’t identify but it is close to chocolaty.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=3]Now, I know that I’m going to cause a stir by saying this but I enjoyed this more than Escudo. And the tin of Escudo that I’ve been smoking from is 4 years old. Escudo seemed to have a lot of ups and downs throughout smoking it whereas this blend is steady throughout. It burns slow and it didn’t require a lot of relights from me. With that said, this is just me and my opinion. I know that Escudo has a huge following and I’m one of them but I’m ranking this one above Escudo. Not far above.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=3]Here are the standings so far:[/SIZE]

[SIZE=3]1)[/SIZE] [SIZE=3]McConnell – Scottish Cake[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]2)[/SIZE] [SIZE=3]Escudo[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]3)[/SIZE] [SIZE=3]Treasures of Ireland – Limerick[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]4)[/SIZE] [SIZE=3]Dorchester[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]5)[/SIZE] [SIZE=3]Luxury Bullseye Flake[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]6)[/SIZE] [SIZE=3]Kajun Kake[/SIZE]


[SIZE=3]Here are the blends that are remaining:[/SIZE]

[SIZE=3]Dunbar[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]McClelland Bulk 2015[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]H & H Anniversary Kake[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]Bayou Morning (Just received this in a PIF so I thought that I’d include it)[/SIZE]

[IHT]

Originally Posted by Slow Triathlete

[SIZE=3]So instead I will be reviewing the Robert McConnell Scottish Cake, not to be confused with their Scottish Flake offering. I know that IHT has recommended it in the past as a good VaPer and when I called pipesandcigars.com to order it, I told them about the VaPer comparison that I was doing. The gentleman on the phone stated that they had some on order but I had to wait for it because this was his favorite VaPer. With those two recommendations and what I’ve read on tobaccoreviews.com, I knew that this was going to be a good, possibly great, blend.[/SIZE]

glad that i could help, it's a great tobacco.

[hagen]

[SIZE=3][SIZE=2]

[/SIZE]

The smoke aroma comes off as sweet and fruity and for some reason it smells a bit chocolaty to me. Not sure why that is or if it’s another scent that I just can’t identify but it is close to chocolaty. [/SIZE]

i do think there's been added as well chocolate as cherry flavouring to scottish cake.

[carbonbased_al]

Originally Posted by hagen

[FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3][FONT=Verdana][SIZE=2]

i do think there's been added as well chocolate as cherry flavouring to scottish cake.

I don't think there's any topping in scottish cake. Interesting review. Scottish cake is one blend I just never got. People reccomended it to me, I read great reviews here, bought a tin and bleh. First tin was just bland, smoked maybe seven or eight bowls, let it dry out, tried another two bowls, tossed the rest. Bought a second tin a few months later, same thing. Smoked less than half and pitched it.

Nice set of reviews so far, I missed this thread when it started. You skipped my favorite vaper though, Solani 633!

[Slow Triathlete]

633 will probably end in here eventually.

[buckloner]

any chance you could ad Pease` Fillmore to the line-up ?
Fillmore is my all-day smoke . I was hooked on it from the start . Although there was an issue with quality last year , if you can get a tin from `06 or from `08 you are almost sure to get the stuff its supposed to be.
I`d be interested in Fillmores` ranking among your line-up.

[Slow Triathlete]

[SIZE=3]So, I decided to bundle all of the remaining bulk blends together into one post because only one of them really knocked my socks off. These three include McClelland’s Bulk 2015, Hearth & Home Anniversary Kake, and I just recently got some Stokkebye Luxury Navy Flake so I thought that I would include it in here.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=3]I’ll start off with the ones that didn’t really impress me. First off is Stokkebye’s Luxury Navy Flake. When I put my nose down into this one I didn’t really smell much and what I did smell was more like buttered popcorn than any kind of Virginia or Perique. Weird, but that's what I smelled. This comes in small flakes that are a bit smaller than Orlik’s Golden Sliced flakes. It had the right amount of moisture right off the bat so I rubbed some out and packed it in.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=3]To summarize the whole smoke I would say that it was bland. Bland to the point of monotony. I kept hoping that maybe, just maybe the taste, strength, or spiciness would develop somewhere but it didn’t. Nothing stood out to me with this blend. Oh and it had a bite like a rabid dog when I smoked it a bit too fast. This one is going to the bottom of the list.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=3]Up next was McClelland’s Bulk 2015 blend. Originally this blend was a pain in the butt because it came extremely wet and no matter how much I rubbed it out it never seemed to dry out. Finally, I put my sample on a cutting board and minced it as I do garlic. It finally broke up small enough that it was able to dry out. I did smoke a bowl before it was dried out enough. I was extremely disappointed because I had to relight so many times that I couldn’t take notes well enough to give a proper review. After chopping this blend into oblivion I was able to smoke it almost to the bottom of the bowl. Even though this blend is pretty good for a bulk blend, I feel that the amount of prep work just isn’t worth it to me. However, if you are very patient with this then you will be rewarded with a fine bulk blend. The different Virginias taste very good against the amount of Perique that is in this blend. Taste-wise this was a very good blend but like I said earlier the amount of work to get it there just isn’t for me. I put this one just above the Kajun Kake blend because the taste was a lot better than the Kajun Kake.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=3]And finally, Hearth & Home’s Anniversary Kake. This blend is made for pipesandcigars.com by master blender Russ Ouellette. I had never had any of his blends before this one but everyone raves about his skill. After tasting this blend I believe them. I ordered 4 ounces of this about a month ago. I spoke with someone there before I got my order and he stated that when they make this, they make it in a 3 lb cake and then split it out from there. He also stated that they run the machinery that makes this blend pretty much 24 hours a day to keep up with demand. My sample was about an inch thick and looked like it had been ripped off of the larger block. It was extremely dark brown and smelled wonderful. The only way to get this blend smokable is to rip off a hunk, rub it out and then rip off another hunk. By the time that I got done my hands were a bit stained but I didn’t mind because it was fun rubbing it out. This is a hard blend to describe when you rub this out. It just kind of falls apart and packs into the pipe extremely easy. I went to do my false light and soon realized that this was all I needed to get this blend going. From there this blend never stopped surprising me. This bulk blend was better than a lot of tinned blends that I have tried so far. The description on their website states that there are many different Virginias in this blend, from Brown to Lemon and it has a healthy dose of Perique added in. Although I’m not experienced enough to know that difference in taste between a Brown or a Lemon Virginia, I can say that this blend is delicious. The flavors change throughout the smoke and the Perique really kicks in towards the end of the bowl. I thoroughly recommend this blend not only as a good, cheap bulk blend but possibly as an everyday smoke. I plan on grabbing a couple of pounds of this, separating it into smaller samples and cellaring it. I want to see how this blend changes over time. This blend has now taken over 3rd place.[/SIZE]


[SIZE=3]Okay, here are the results so far:[/SIZE]

[SIZE=3]1)[/SIZE] [SIZE=3]McConnell Scottish Cake[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]2)[/SIZE] [SIZE=3]Escudo[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]3)[/SIZE] [SIZE=3]H & H Anniversary Kake[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]4)[/SIZE] [SIZE=3]Treasures of Ireland – Limerick[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]5)[/SIZE] [SIZE=3]Dorchester[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]6)[/SIZE] [SIZE=3]Luxury Bullseye Flake[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]7)[/SIZE] [SIZE=3]McConnell Bulk 2015[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3][/SIZE] [SIZE=3]Kajun Kake[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]9)[/SIZE] [SIZE=3]Luxury Navy Flake[/SIZE]

[SIZE=3]After several people requested this be added, I was finally able to pick up some Solani 633. In addition, I grabbed some Gawith’s St. James Flake as well. I also have Dunbar and Bayou Morning Flake to add as well. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=3][/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]I never knew how many good VaPer blends were out there until I started this. I hope that these reviews are helping everyone out because it’s been a lot of fun reviewing and judging these.[/SIZE]

[Joan]

[applause]

Excellent reportage, Mr Tri! Good writing, too!

I for one feel particularly fortunate you are doing all the homework for us (me).

[Slow Triathlete]

I'm heading out for a long weekend. When I get back I'll update with reviews of the Salani and the Bayou Morning Flake.

[uncballzer]

I've been watching this thread, and just finally had my first VaPer last night of PS Luxury Navy Flake. It was delicious! But, appearently it's pretty far down on this list. Makes me want to get some of those others to try now!

[Slow Triathlete]

Okay, sorry for my absence but I am now officially back in town. In other news, I just ordered a new Peterson (picture below) and picked a tin of Filmore and a tin of McC St. James Woods. These have now entered the showdown. By my count I have 7 more blends to try. And they are:

1. Solani 633
2. Gawith - St. James Flake
3. Dunbar
4. Bayou Morning Flake
5. Reiner Long Golden Flake
6. McC - St. James Woods
7. Filmore (added for buckloner)

[Slow Triathlete]

Smoking some Salani in the new pipe. I think the tobacco is too wet and the pipe too new because I'm not getting what everyone else does with this blend. I'll try it in a more broken in pipe and dry it out. I'll smoke it a few more times before I post the review about it.