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Christmas/Holiday Blends
jfreedy
Master
in Tobacco Talk
I know, I know... Christmas creep is getting out of control. But, I’d love to hear your thoughts and suggestions on seasonal tobacco blends. I’ve never tried any holiday blends. How are they different? What do they have something like pine or egg nog in them? Are they typically aromatics? Which companies produce the best ones (IYHO)? I plan on trying one or two out this year but would like to know more about them first.
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C&D has been doing a Christmas Blend and renaming it each year because it's a new blend and they are generally aromatic. The problem seems to be that once they are gone, they are gone. I didn't care for Golden Days of Yore (2015) which was a Virginia based aromatic or the 2012 offering, Chestnuts Roasting which was Cavendish/Latakia. But Corncob Pipe & A Button Nose (2016) was decent as was We Three Kings (2014). The 2017 version is We Three Kings also.
I found Peterson's Holiday Season (2015) to be good. Peterson's Holiday Season (2014) was better but is no longer in production. The thing with the Peterson's Holiday Blends is it changed every year and it came in a large rectangle tin with the tobacco in a cellophane bag inside. You had to move it to a mason jar quickly to keep it fresh.
Kohlase & Kopp did a series of Winter Editions that were good but again, it's hard to find them because they were limited. I recommend the 2015 blend.
My two favorites are the Rattray's Winter Edition 2015 which has an Almond, Cherry & Cinnamon flavor and Rattray's Exotic Orange (which has been renamed Exotic Passion). Both are manufactured by Kohlase & Kopp by the way. Exotic Orange wasn't intended to be a Winter or Christmas Blends but it has become my favorite to smoke during the holidays.
I tried We Three Kings as well, and at first wasn't too excited about it since it didn't have that over-the-top taste and aroma I was originally looking for in a holiday blend. I think the orientals threw me off as well. However, I let it sit for a few months, and for whatever reason tried it again in July and really enjoyed it. I found few more tins, and go to it several times a year when I want a little bit of oriental tobacco flavor, or just something different. I hope the 2017 version is the same as the last time.
I've tried a few of the Peterson's Holiday Season tobaccos, sometimes just for the tin art. I'll have to look for the Rattray's blends you mentioned once the weather cools down a bit.
- boo...
So, as far as I remember, it was a forgettable smoke. It wasn't bad but nothing made it memorable either.
Another one that has gone away. It also made me realize I didn't buy any of the 2016 blend from Peterson last year.
I'm going to miss some of these when they are gone.
I bought some McClelland 2016 Edition Holiday Spirit last year. I think I smoked one bowl since last Christmas. That was not because I didn't like it, it was just because there is SO many blends to try and i suppose we are on the everlasting search for that heavenly blend that always seems just slightly ahead of our reach. Maybe, just maybe it is a good thing that we never really get there.
This blend was very good, in fact I looked back and see that I had given it an 8.5 out of 10 at the time. The tobaccos were Virginia, Burley, and Cavendish flavored with dark rum, pecan (unusual?) and cocoa. I do recall the experience as very pleasant. I just reopened the tin lid and the aroma is very, very nice......damn, now I have to fit this tobacco into todays' schedule.
Not being very familiar with the McClelland offerings having only a handfull, I cannot really prove my following assumption.
I think the "Holiday Blends" that are offered by the leading tobacco companies could be using some of their "regular" blends customized for the season when we all go crazy buying stuff. They might (just an opinion) add this or that, put it in a different tin, give it a fancy name (or in the minimalist tradition just a suggestion) and put it out there for us to desire because after all, it is the holidays! They are almost always 'special" limited editions because they offer these to those who get caught up in the name relative to the time offered. They also run these typically as a limited edition with implied shortages. I would also bet that if a particular holiday blend went ballistic, it would then be marketed under a different name as some people might shun buying a "holiday blend" for the rest of the year just out of habit. The holiday blends of years past that are still available are perhaps stock that did not move for the supplier.
As much as we love our tobacco products we have to remember the relationship of the supplier and consumer......and understand which one we are. Very often we are the benefactors of that paradigm.
These are just my thoughts.......
On the other hand just in the past week I have smoked Rattray's Winter Edition 2014 and 2015. They are similar in that they both have some almond flavoring but the 2014 is an almond/caramel aroma and taste while the 2015 has almond/cherry/cinnamon. I can tell the difference between the two.
pipes and cigars has a bulk blend, Russ's Sugar Plum and a couple of other holiday bulks.
payless pipes, another on-line retailers I've dealt with for years, also has the two C&D blends I mentioned and they may also have Golden Days of Yore in stock.
My tobacco 'collection" (both daily use and cellared are growing at an amazing speed. I absolutely KNOW my position in the supplier-consumer relationship. I have also helped the Mason Jar company turn a hefty profit I am sure.
Been there, done that. A very large percentage of the blends available have very similar ingredients with what is assumed to be varying quantities. All they need to do is take a burley, virginia, and cavendish tobacco that is available all year long.....add some 'elf dust" or "Santas' Dandruff" or whatever and repackage it as a limited addition "Christmas", or "Holiday Blend" to conform to Political Correctness protocol, and off to the races they go. We get the catalogs, see this "new" blend and we have to have them. Again, just a supposition on my part.
With so many tobaccos on the market today it's hard for me to imagine that they are all unique. For the record, I have found at least four other tobaccos that are close matches to Molto Dolce in my opinion.
I don't consider us fools, myself perhaps, but there are some pretty sharp dudes on here that know the art of smoking a pipe. They have a wealth of knowledge, huge portfolios of experience, and dare i say have been around the block more than a few times. Just for full disclosure, I have been around the block myself a few times but usually with either blinders on or with rose colored glasses.
I think collectively this is the best pipe blog on the net. And, I think everyone is very enthusiastic to share their knowledge and experience.
In real life we smoke what we enjoy, and smoke what we want regardless of the name attached to the tobaccos we buy.