Upcoming VaPer Showdown

[Slow Triathlete]

After a long hiatus, filled with too many other blends, I give you the next installment in the VaPer Showdown.

[SIZE=3]Well, I’m sitting down with yet another blend from the Hearth & Home stable. This time it is Rolando’s Own. This is one of the last VaPers from pipesandcigars.com that I have not tried. I ordered this one on kind of a whim due to the fact that no matter how hard I searched and how many people I had asked, not many people knew about this blend and even fewer had actually tried it. So in the name of curiosity and this showdown I decided to order half a pound and check it out for myself.[/SIZE]
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[SIZE=3]Here is the description off of the website:[/SIZE]
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Named for renowned pipemaker Rolando Negoita, this is a Virginia/Perique blend with Rolando's artistry in mind. A mixture of lemon, red and stoved Virginias is enlivened with a moderate dose of wonderful Perique, for a sweet and flavorful all-day smoke.

[SIZE=3]I have read a lot online that some of their blends are getting shipped out a little raw and need to age a bit more. This is probably due to the fact that most of their blends are so good that it is hard to keep up with demand. My plan with this blend is to smoke 3 or 4 bowls and then put the rest away for a month and see how it has changed in that time.[/SIZE]
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[SIZE=3]Okay, off to the review.[/SIZE]
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[SIZE=3]The first thing that shocked me about this blend was how light the color of it was. It has a lot of light tan tobacco in there some dark browns and some near black. It has a wonderful aroma fresh out of the bag. It had the spicy/sour smell of a VaPer that I have grown to love so much. This tobacco comes as kind of a mix cut. Some small pieces and some longer pieces mixed together. It says that it is supposed to be a ribbon cut on tobaccoreview but they are not really any kind of uniform length to me. Packing and loading was really easy with this one. I had to take care not to pack it too tight in there (I’m trying to learn from past mistakes). Lighting it was pretty easy as well. This blend came with the proper amount of moisture in it. I just put it out for 15 minutes before I packed it and I had no trouble lighting it or keeping it lit throughout.[/SIZE]
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[SIZE=3]I have to say that the different Virginias add an interesting twist to this blend. It is a bit sweeter than most of the others that I have tried. Not sure if this is due to the addition of the Lemon Virginias or not but I like it. The flavors are a bit muted in the first third of the bowl but they all seem to fall into the groove a little before the halfway point. I would agree with their description as to the Perique amount in this blend. I would say it is moderate to medium. It’s not going to overtake the blend but it is also not in the background. Take your time with this one. I learned the hard way that if you puff too fast then the blend can turn a bit harsh. [/SIZE]
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[SIZE=3]This blend maintains its sweetness to the bottom of the bowl. The spiciness also kicks in a bit more towards the bottom.[/SIZE]
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[SIZE=3]Overall I think that this was a really good VaPer. I rank it right up there with my other current favorite of theirs, AJ’s Blend. It doesn’t taste the same. AJ’s is a bit more bold but Rolando’s makes up for it in flavor. I think that this one is my third favorite bulk VaPer behind AJ’s and Peretti’s Park Square. Now I don’t know Rolando and will probably never be able to afford one of his pipes but I will agree with him on this blend. It is very tasty!![/SIZE]
[SIZE=3] [/SIZE]
[SIZE=3] [/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]1) McConnell Scottish Cake
2) Samuel Gawith’s St. James Flake
3) Escudo
4) GL Pease Filmore
5) H & H AJ’s VaPer
6) Peretti’s Park Square[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]7) H & H Rolando’s Own
H & H Anniversary Kake
9) G & H Louisiana Flake
10) C & D Night Train
11) Reiner’s Long Golden Flake
12) Treasures of Ireland - Limerick
13) Dorchester
14) Luxury Bullseye Flake
15) McClelland Bulk 2015
16) GL Pease Telegraph Hill
17) Kajun Kake
1 Luxury Navy Flake[/SIZE]

[squeeze left]

Thanks for another great review!
I re-read your Night Train review, too - very similar take as my own. I love the end of the bowl where the "sour" taste takes over.

[Slow Triathlete]

After a poignant letter and tobacco donation from EvanS stating

"Time to get back to the VaPer Showdown slacker!!"

I've decided that it's time to resurrect this thread. He sent me one of the original tins signed by Craig Tarler of Exhausted Rooster.

I still have a bunch to review so it's time for the fun to begin!!

Blame Samuel Gawith's Best Brown Flake for my departure from this showdown.

[Joan]

Originally Posted by Slow Triathlete

After a poignant letter and tobacco donation from EvanS stating

"Time to get back to the VaPer Showdown slacker!!"

I've decided that it's time to resurrect this thread. He sent me one of the original tins signed by Craig Tarler of Exhausted Rooster.

I still have a bunch to review so it's time for the fun to begin!!

Blame Samuel Gawith's Best Brown Flake for my departure from this showdown.

Hee hee... okay, D--N YOU SAMUEL GAWITH BBF!

Oooo, that sounds... kinda cute!

And props for the prodding, EvanSsence! The Showdown Must Go On!

[Slow Triathlete]

Originally Posted by Joan

And props for the prodding, EvanSsence! The Showdown Must Go On!

Don't encourage him. Then he gets all high and mighty!!

[Slow Triathlete]

Now for something completely different.

Well not that different (forgive me Eric Idle). There are a few VaPer hybrids that I would highly recommend. One of those would be Haddo's Delight commented on by a lot of people on this board. Another would be the Exhausted Rooster that EvanS sent to me. Exhausted to me seems more like a Virginia/Burley (golden sliced) with a bit of Perique mixed in. Since Evan is always trying to pull people over to the dark side of Burley, I truly believe that this is his attempt to tarnish my beloved VaPers with the vile leaf of Burley that he so loves. Sorry Evan, evan a tin signed by Craig Tarlor won't pull me over to that dark side.

One final that I gave props too earlier was the Virginia Spice blend from Hearth & Home. While I appreciate these blends very much, I feel it an injustice to put them in the Showdown due to the fact that the Perique plays such a small role in the overall blend.

The above three along with Peterson's Irish Oak would all be in the top 8 of VaPer hybrids if I were ever to put a list together. Another notable mention would be Waccamaw from Low Country Tobacco (smokingpipes.com). This blend is made for them by none other than the mighty man Craig Tarlor from C & D. This VaPer is made with red virginias (which I love, think Hal O' The Wynd) and also has Izmir Leaf in the blend which adds an extra spice of oriental in there.

Also, if you are a lover of the VaPer blends and you haven't noticed from my reviews, you people really need to hop onto the Hearth & Home website and order some of their bulk blends. Russ is doing a great job with these blends and I enjoy them (and their price) a lot more than some of the more expensive tinned blends.

And now for some dancing chickens:

[Slow Triathlete]

[SIZE=3]Louisiana Red is another bulk VaPer that is available from Russ and the people at pipesandcigars.com. It is one of their Hearth and Home blends. I was very excited when I first read the description of this blend. It was taking my favorite Virginia tobacco (Red) and turning it into a VaPer. I thought to myself, “Great, Hal O The Wynd with a generous amount of Perique thrown in there.”[/SIZE]
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[SIZE=3]Here is how the blend is described on their site:[/SIZE]
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[SIZE=3]A great sweet and spicy blend containing two different Red Virginias and a good amount of outstanding St. James Perique. The rich, round sweetness of the Virginias are complimented by the plum and pepper hints of the cool-burning Perique. An overwhelming favorite of our local pipe club members.[/SIZE]
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[SIZE=3]The blend is mostly reddish with black perique here and there. It is kind of a long strand cut and smells divine in the bag. Mine arrived with a medium amount of moisture in the bag. I dried it out for about 15 minutes and packed the pipe with ease.[/SIZE]
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[SIZE=3]The first half of the pipe was rather harsh. The aroma was good but the two tastes just didn’t seem to meld together very well in the beginning. One minute it tasted like pure Virginia and then the next minute I was hit with pure Perique. It didn’t blend together harmoniously like it should have. I will note here that I came back to this blend after letting it sit for about 2 months and the tastes had melded together beautifully. When I originally received it the blend may have been a bit raw.[/SIZE]
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[SIZE=3]For both the fresh blend and the aged blend, the sweetness of the Virginias seems to become muted towards the end of the bowl and it becomes a bit sour. Not unpleasantly sour but you can tell the difference. I would say that this blend does have a decent amount of Perique in there. [/SIZE]
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[SIZE=3]Overall, this is a very good blend. If you get a batch that is raw like mine was in the beginning, then set it aside for awhile and come back to it. I promise that you won’t be disappointed. While this certainly does not have the nicotine hit of Hal O The Wynd I will say that the Virginias tasted very similar. I think that this one will take over the #11 slot.[/SIZE]
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[SIZE=3]This is probably the last VaPer blend that I will review of the Hearth & Home Series. There is another VaPer blend listed on their page called LG Heart Virginia but it only lists that it has a “whisper” of Perique in there. Since I like a medium to full amount of Perique, this one probably will never be ordered for the Showdown. I am really impressed with the Hearth & Home’s selection of VaPers. They have 4 that I reviewed for this Showdown plus the LJ Heart Virginia and Virginia Spice, which is a VaPer with cigar leaf blended in. For a blending house to have that many Vaper blends is outstanding. All of the ones that I reviewed were each different in their own way. I really learned a lot about flavors while smoking these.[/SIZE]
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[SIZE=3]Here’s the ratings so far:[/SIZE]
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[SIZE=3]1) McConnell Scottish Cake
2) Samuel Gawith’s St. James Flake
3) Escudo
4) GL Pease Filmore
5) H & H AJ’s VaPer
6) Peretti’s Park Square[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]7) H & H Rolando’s Own
H & H Anniversary Kake
9) G & H Louisiana Flake
10) C & D Night Train [/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]11) H & H Louisiana Red
12) Reiner’s Long Golden Flake
13) Treasures of Ireland - Limerick[/SIZE][SIZE=3]
14) Dorchester[/SIZE][SIZE=3]
15) Luxury Bullseye Flake
16) McClelland Bulk 2015
17) GL Pease Telegraph Hill
1 Kajun Kake
19) Luxury Navy Flake[/SIZE]

[squeeze left]

Glad to see you've resurrected this thread! On your review I got me some Scottish CAke and love it.

[Big D KC]

Bravo!! This thread alone added about 6 tobacco's to my ever growing list to try!! Having been on a va/per bender as of late this was a great read from start to finish! I can only hope you will update soon with more blends! I am especially curious about the McClellands St James Woods! I got a tin from '05 or '06 that I am curious about..

[dmkerr]

Originally Posted by Big D KC

Bravo!! This thread alone added about 6 tobacco's to my ever growing list to try!! Having been on a va/per bender as of late this was a great read from start to finish! I can only hope you will update soon with more blends! I am especially curious about the McClellands St James Woods! I got a tin from '05 or '06 that I am curious about..

I've got a tin of that from '95 that I haven't gotten to yet. Let me know when you open yours and I'll swap you some. We'll see if the extra 10 years does anything. LOL!

[Big D KC]

I looked just now and it is indeed from '06 Dan, and you got a deal! Would love to swap some with ya! Only problem is I have no idea when I'll get to it lol. I have so many samples still left from trades with you good fellas that I am just buying stuff now to stock up on! I have committed to only smoking through all the samples before cracking any new tins, so it could be a couple months! I have to admit though a tin of the escudo is begging to be opened! Self control...self control!!

I also went ahead and picked up a tin of the McConnell's Scotish Cake tonight as well! And I rec'd the Maccanaw I bought from a fellow here, and I picked up another tin of McClellands Oriental #14 from 2001 so that makes two of those! Sheesh!

[Slow Triathlete]

2009 will see the revival of this thread and probably another that has to do with VaPer varients (not 100% Vapers, like Haddo's, Hearth & Home's Virginia Spice, Low Country Tobacco's Waccamaw, etc).

[Bent Stem]

Originally Posted by Big D KC

I looked just now and it is indeed from '06 Dan, and you got a deal! Would love to swap some with ya! Only problem is I have no idea when I'll get to it lol. I have so many samples still left from trades with you good fellas that I am just buying stuff now to stock up on! I have committed to only smoking through all the samples before cracking any new tins, so it could be a couple months! I have to admit though a tin of the escudo is begging to be opened! Self control...self control!!

I also went ahead and picked up a tin of the McConnell's Scotish Cake tonight as well! And I rec'd the Maccanaw I bought from a fellow here, and I picked up another tin of McClellands Oriental #14 from 2001 so that makes two of those! Sheesh!

FYI, AFAIK, all the McClelland tins dates on the bottom are always a couple years old. I would guess that if you ordered any now they would all have '06, possibly '07 dates.

[Slow Triathlete]

Just an FYI,

Once this site turns into Puff.com I will no longer be posting new reviews to this thread. I will, however, keep up with it on the other forums that I belong to.

Thanks

[IHT]

Originally Posted by Bent Stem

FYI, AFAIK, all the McClelland tins dates on the bottom are always a couple years old. I would guess that if you ordered any now they would all have '06, possibly '07 dates.

i don't agree with that. there are plenty of McC tins at the local shops (here around KC) with dates from '07 and '08 on them. i just don't think that Oriental #14 is all that popular. i found one recently from '97.

next time i see Mike i'll ask him if they hold onto tins before they ship them out.
last time i talked to him about tin dating, he explained the coding on the bottom as being three two digit codes: product #, batch #, year made. so, 140401 would be blend 14, 4th batch of 2001.
but i will ask if he holds onto them for a while after they're made, which i doubt, if you ever check the dates of his "new" product lines that come out.
will be an interesting question.