Theodorus Niemeyer Flying Dutchman

I first tried Flying Dutchman nearly 30 years ago. As a medical resident I was attending a conference and the speaker (chief pathologist at the hospital) came in smoking a pipe. When the aroma hit me it immediately brought back the memory of what my great grandfather's pipe smelled like when he smoked. I wanted to know what the blend was so I passed by the speaker's office after the conference. I spied, literally, dozens of 50g tins of Flying Dutchman stacked up against one wall. He could have been a wholesaler for all I knew!

I bought my first 50g tin at a Rite Aid, I believe. The tin aroma had the most subtle hint of what I perceived as vanilla, unlike any other vanilla blend I have ever experienced before or since, as well as another sweetness I can't seem to place. It was fresh and consisted of a thin ribbon cut tobacco with the tiniest curls of tobacco I have ever seen. I assume those were the oriental curled tobaccos used in some Dutch Cavendish blends. As a novice pipe smoker of a few years I was in for a trial - by fire. It burned fast, hot, and my tongue was sore for I don't remember how long! I was determined to tame this beast (that's how good the room note was at the conference), and it took me a while at that! With this blend I learned the gentle art of sipping while I smoked. I would liken it to a lion tamer working with his animals. One needs to be prepared once the cage door closes behind you.

The 50g tins seemed to be the freshest of all its packaged forms. The 14oz can (in a twist-tied plastic bag) was a bit drier, and the pouch was always totally dry as straw - and I have been through many a pouch. There was always a pleasant, but subtle tin/pouch aroma of tobacco and that ghost of vanilla in all three varieties. Pleasurable to smoke, and with slow smoking, I would on occasion get a whiff of that wonderful room note. Very much to my liking and to those around me.

With the passage of time comes change. Along with a change in the package art, Flying Dutchman has limited availability, and when available, only in the 14oz can. I don't feel the need to hunt it down. Troost Special Cavendish has now taken its place; in room note and taste, but without that hint of vanilla. Flying Dutchman gave me many pipe bowls of smoking pleasure over the years, and for now, the nostalgia of pleasant memories. Who knows, perhaps one day the Dutchman's and my path will cross once again.

UPDATE 12-10-21: Well, the Dutchman's and my path have once crossed again. I recently purchased a 10 oz sealed tin of Flying Dutchman from our friend Pipestud. I haven't had this since the 1990s and anxiously awaited its arrival in the mail. The tin had its tobacco stamp seal intact. Once broken, I opened the twist can top to find a densely packed bag of baccy, twist-tied tightly. The tobacco was a lot darker than what I remember it to be, firm to the touch, and by no means dry. There was that faint smell of vanilla and for my nose this time, anise. Both very subtle. There was a nice, not over the top aroma of fine tobacco. Loading and lighting were easy and the predominant taste while smoking were the Orientals and in a way not remembered. Surprisingly, this did not burn hot nor was there any appreciable tongue bite - only an ever so slight tongue tingle. Very delighted with finding this again, and one I will savor over time.

The nic-hit is mild. The strength and taste levels are medium. The licorice topping is lightly perfumy, and moderately sublimates the tobaccos. The black cavendish plays a minor role with a typical vanilla taste while the gold cavendish is a little honey-like. The burley is barely woody, earthy and nutty, and the Virginia is very grassy/hay-like with a little citrus. The flavor is consistent all the way to the end. There’s an herbal/spicy quality to it that becomes uncomfortable half way into the smoke. Added to that is this blend being a shag cut and burns fast, it’ll burn your mouth if you puff at anything but a slow sip. The peppery tongue sizzle gets stronger as you smoke it down, and some harshness creeps in at the finish. I realize some of these characteristics are often present in Danish aromatics, but this is more annoying than most others I have smoked where it wasn't so bothersome. Even slow sipped, it started biting me, and I almost never experience tongue bite. This is as objective a review as I can write considering the bite problem is so huge.

-JimInks

11-Jun-2010 Update: True Flying Dutchman has returned! Theodorus Niemeier sold rights (& their tobacco crinkling machine too, I think), to Orlik & it's being made in Denmark. It smokes cooler than what TM had been sending to the USA in those non-airtight pouches. To me it tastes the same as it did in the old 50gm tin-days. It is not being imported to the US, but can be ordered at http://wwmarkt.de/Pfeifenshop/ where Lothar Wasko will take good care of you. Be sure to get set up to no pay tax as a non German citizen, too!

In Pipesmoking a 21st Century Guide, R.C.Hacker gives an objective description of the Dutchman: "An old time classic tobacco. ...Finely cut & easy to pack in a pipe, it is not for someone who smokes rapidly, as the tobacco will start to burn hot. Rather, it is for the slow and methodical person who likes a woodsy flavor that is mild but not light." An excellent pipe tobacco for those trying to deepen their powers of restraint and powers reflection, I find it requires careful packing and the frequent LIGHT touch of a tamper. It's room note is pleasant, but not sweet. It is without parallel.

Flying Dutchman is a wonderful tobacco unlike any other. I have a pleasure in smoking it unmatched by my enjoyment of any other tobacco ? and (on separate occasions), I do also love the heavier latakia blends, each for themselves as well as other types of blend ? but for me Flying Dutchman is special. ?In the day? you?d walk into a drugstore (or in my case into the Navy Exchange), and FD was the best tobacco in the place ? generally, it was the only tinned tobacco there. You?d open the tin and in the eye of the white accordion paper was a clear piece of cellophane which, when you pulled it out, stuck to the moist and VERY firmly packed tobacco underneath. No other tinned tobacco I've ever smoked has been as firmly packed at it was in a tin. You?d have to pluck the finely cut cavendish out with your fingers, bit by bit, and then fill you pipe in stringy pinches. Filling a pipe with FD in it?s proper condition was not like loading any other tobacco I?ve smoked. The object was (in this not unlike other tobaccos, but different in the details because of it?s moist and finely stringy nature), unlike the same process with other tobaccos.

After a 20 year haitus I returned to the pipe. I?d smoked Flying Dutchman ,almost exclusively, twenty years before. One of the reasons I stopped smoking was due to my inability to get Flying Dutchman in a tin. FD in a pouch was generally dry (maybe not so across the water?), and was unsmokable. I never bought the cans in those days for the same reason. Adding a slice of apple or a humidifying tab did not FULLY restore the tobacco to it?s original condition. I don?t know when the 50g tin was finally dropped, so I can?t say it started that far back ? probably they gradually phased it out with the tin and pouch both available for a time;, but definitely, the pouch-packed tobacco now received is too dry to smoke comfortably (for me).

Almost any aromatic tobacco, after all is generally smoked more moist than non-aromatic tobaccos, but Flying Dutchman must be smoked more moist than most aromatic tobaccos and the pouch does not keep the tobacco at the proper smoking moisture. It can be moisturized and smoked, of course (I now put two moisturizing coins in the pouch as soon as I open it, and I replace them three or four times, trying the tobacco out each time until it?s right ? once it starts to stick to your fingers, it?s about right).

Now when you tamp Flying Dutchman (and you probably will have to tamp, and quite possibly relight it to make it to the bottom of the bowl), just very gently lower the tamp to the bottom of the fluffy ash ? no further; because you don?t want to pack the bottom tobacco at all beyond the way you?ve (hopefully) properly packed it in the first place. The object is not to end up with a damp and unburnable mass at the bottom. With practice this can be avoided, but often you may (as I do), have to empty your pipe furtively so as not to embrass yourself before non-aromatic (or perhaps more specifically, non Flying Dutchman) smokers who do not have this problem, at least not to this degree. So, when your ashtray fills wil dottles of Duchman, know that you?re not alone. It comes with the territory.

Peter Stokeby?s ?Natural? is similar to Flying Dutchman in some respects, not with regard to the peculiarities just mentioned, but with regard to it's general background flavor; but Duchman has a subtlety of its own that is evidently missed by many. Good as it is in its own right, PS?s Natural is missing the distinctive flavor I?ve always enjoyed in Flying Dutchman. But some of that flavor is gone due to packaging ? that, it seems to me is simply an objective fact. It was always lost by drying out and it still is. For that reason, I call on the brotherhood of the briar to email Theodorus Niemeyer at [email protected] and make the case for bringing back the tin, once and for all! Packed as it was of old it, richly deserved four stars ? in my opinion, this is simply due to the loss of oils that come of the drying-out process. Even taking all this into account, I?d like to give a solid three stars to Flying Dutchman even as it is now.

As I reminiscence back to the early 60?s this was my tobacco of choice, this tobacco went with me during my military days and still today I enjoy a bowl of Flying Dutchman. Smoke it slow, keep your pipe cool and enjoy it longer.

This is a classic old aromatic that is easy to appreciate. The smoking characteristics are great and the smoke nice and light. There is a complexity here if you want to look hard enough, one you don't see in many drugstore blends. There are hints of some oriental leaf- for a second I even thought I might have detected the ghost of some latakia?!! The casing is minimal and seems very natural and tasty. Watch the first half of the bowl as it can sting you pretty good. The second half calms down however, leaving you with a great smoking experience. Definitely the top of the pile where drugstore pouches are concerned.

Although this has been a staple for several years now I have to be honest; it can bite. It makes up for that in its wonderful aromatic aroma when I open a pouch, and the taste as I begin lighting. It helps if it is packed more firmly than other blends as it seems to keep it from buring too hot. The room aroma is the best part, after I have finished smoking I often go outside for a few minutes then come back so I can smell the spicy, (almost peppery) scent.

Its not for everyone I admit, but if you are looking for something different then this it the one.

My first experience with Flying Dutchman was due to my High School History teacher leaving the school room full of the pleasant smell that this blend produced. It was also a blend that was heavily advertised, especially in Playboy magazine where it was considered as a fashionable mixture for the smart set. It is true that the tin was vastly superior to any pouch format. It is also true that the tobacco failed miserably when the Tin was scuttled in favor of the pouch. Personal experience found the room full of flavor but with a tongue lashed constant search for a companion pitcher of Iced Tea to stem the tide of bitedom. The brand smoked hot inside the pipe.

There is no doubt that the pleasing aroma was the major factor for continuing with the product, but the appearance of a rival sailing vessel, "Borkum Riff" outgunned the Dutchman in the battle for Pipe tobacco supremacy. The Dutchman eventually struck her colors and survivors awash on the shore barely remember the Dutchman's effectiveness in easing through a winter afternoon by the fire.

Recommended only for veteran seadogs if they still have an unopened tin leftover from the era of "The Normal Recreation of Noble Minds".

You look up DUTCH CAVENDISH in Noah Webster's Smokers' Dictionary, and you'll see they've got a picture of this next to the entry. It is a typically mild, clean-palate aromatic, that can actually be quite flavorful, unless "flavour" to you means "Latakia". As is often the case with the better steamed Cavendish, there is a pleasant light spiciness; the Dutch actually add more at the lower end of the spectrum than the "warm air" Danes, and a certain intensity develops if you let your pipe smolder quietly.

The cut is as narrow as shag, but is actually a long, thinly sliced ribbon; it did not overheat for me.

If you cared to read my SAIL reviews, you know that I kind of like this type of Dutch bonne-bouche. I like SAIL better, but this old favourite will be anjoyed by anyone who can appreciate a quality aromatic. Surely the legions who have smarmed over HADDO's DELIGHT?like yours truly?would not decline to be counted in that number?

I was feeling nostalgic and though this review is about Flying Dutchman I want to preface. I bought the Sutliff Match Flying Dutchman the other day and smoked some and really liked it. Between 1998-2000 I was a relatively new pipe smoker and during that time I saw this tin at Hiland’s Tobacco Store at the mall and liked the way it looked so I bought it without knowing anything about it. It is a blue tin with a ‘Holland Import’ red label made in the EU under the authority of Royal Theodorus Niemeyer B.V. Groningen Holland distributed by Lane Limited Tucker GA. Unlike the website description, my tin has a white label at the bottom with net weight of 10 oz instead of the 12 oz. The tobacco was in a clear ‘bread bag’ twist tied. Almost as if it was pulled out of the bulk bin, bagged and you were given a complimentary tin. I really liked this one but could only smoke a few ounces before giving it up because it burned my mouth like you would not believe. The tobacco is still in the clear bread bag twist tied sitting in the tin so I ceremoniously untwisted the rusted twist tie and pulled out a few bowl fulls. It is a dark and medium brown shag cut with still a pleasant smell to it. After all these years it still burns hot but not as near as bad as I recall. Pleasant taste but after three bowls I am letting my tongue take a few minutes break. I am once again burying the Dutchman at sea but will always have fond memories of one of my first tobaccos.