English blends

PappyJoe · March 2017

The biggest problem with Perique isn't the the length of time it takes to process it, but the fact that true Perique is only grown in St. James Parish (between New Orleans and Baton Rouge) and the number of families growing the Perique and the amount of acreage dedicated to it has declined. Mark Ryan, of Daughters & Ryan and the current owner of the L.A. Poche Perique Tobacco plant in St. James Parish gave us a good history of Perique during a tour in Oct. 2015. He said that most of the Perique on the market today is a blend of Perique tobacco and burleys processed as perique. This has been going on since the 1950s.

This is a picture of the fermentation room for the Perique tobacco. Each barrel is full of Perique

The aging room

Bundles of tobacco waiting to be processed.

motie2 · March 2017

@Charles -- Thank you for the info. I'm a fan of Escudo.

Darmon · March 2017

My English go to would be Frog Morton on the Bayou, followed by either Dunhill 965 or TCS Bag End

Woodsman · March 2017

Some tobacco shippers are advertising "Acadian Tobacco" as a Perique like addition.

PappyJoe · March 2017

Some companies are trying to process different tobacco using the "perique method" but it's not the same as real deal as it doesn't contain any Perique.

motie2 · April 2017

Here's a detailed contribution to the English/Balkan/Oriental discussion:

http://pipesmagazine.com/python/pipe-news/english-blends-and-latakia-blends-one-in-the-same/

ghostsofpompeii · April 2017

I guess the closest English blend I smoke would be Captain Black Black Sea. I imagine most purist wouldn't really consider that an English blend but since it has Latakia in it I'll make my case that it's about as English as I'll get.

motie2 · April 2021

Ten English blends to try before the end of 2021
https://www.tobaccopipes.com/blog/10-english-blends-to-try-before-the-end-of-the-year/

PappyJoe · April 2021

I bought a couple of tins of the Father the Flame (Straight Up English) when it came out and was not really impressed with the tin I smoked back then. I was so unimpressed I threw the second tin into my "sea chest" and forgot about it.

I pulled it out about two weeks ago and decided to try it again. (The date stamp on the bottom says 4-5-17 so I'm thinking it's been aging for four years.) Surprisingly, it is considerably better now than it was.

Zouave · April 2021

For an English, I keep going back to Westminster. It has the weight and a smoothness that makes for a great smoke.

johnspecht · April 2021

I got curious and sprang for a packet of this:

Unique and delicious!
Cheers

johnspecht · April 2021

Oops! Posted that to the wrong thread. It's still delicious, however!

AnantaAndroscoggin · April 2021

While reading through this, I'm once again reminded of just how much I miss the English blend I got from the Vottis Pipe shop in Schenectady NY during the winter of '73-'74, while I was stationed at Captain of the Port, Albany NY. Still looking for something that even comes close to matching it, but so far have only found one that came about halfway there.