The Country Squire Tobacconist Northwest Trek

The smoky, woody, earthy, musty sweet Cyprian Latakia is the primary component. The very nutty, earthy, woody, molasses sweet burley is a supporting player. The grassy, citrusy Virginia sits in a secondary position behind the burley. There is alittle sugary black cavendish is in the mix, too. The creamy sweet maple and vanilla toppings sublimate the tobaccos to a moderate extent. It also sports an alcohol note, but it's not very distracting at all. The strength is just past the center of mild to medium, while the taste falls just short of the medium mark. The nic-hit is just shy of the center of mild to medium. Won’t bite or get harsh, and has few rough edges. Burns cool and clean at a reasonable pace with a very consistent sweet and mildly savory flavor that translates to the lightly lingering after taste. Leaves little moisture in the bowl. Requires an average number of relights. Can be an all day English aromatic smoke.

-JimInks

I am typically not an aromatic smoker because I like my blends to be rich and savory, not syrupy sweet. However Country Squire has an amazing ability to turn out aromatics that fit my palette and this is certainly one of them. I have smoked this on the Hoh River Trail in Washington state and it is a perfect complement. It is rich and smokey but with just a hint of sweetness.

Early morning smoke. Today I'm smoking Northwest Trek by The Country Squire. It's an English Aromatic with Black Cavendish, Burley, Latakia, and Virginia Tobaccos and a Maple/Vanilla topping.

It's still dark out, 60 degrees and feeling like a fall preview this morning. Luckily the wind is minimal or I'd need a hoody. This is perfect weather for a wake up smoke. I proceed, coffee in one hand and pipe in the other.

The tin note is warm and comfy, savory, smokey with the vanilla and maple coming through. Very pleasing and a perfect compliment to early morning.

The tobacco was a little moist, but not sticky. It could benefit from some drying time but I didn't bother this morning. I just loaded it up. It loaded easily into the Savinelli Spring 311 KS and was nice and springy in the bowl.

Upon first light, the savory, spicy Latakia comes through immediately and is complimented nicely by the sweet, breakfasty vanilla/maple topping. It lights easily.

Underneath the two main players is the Burley, which emerges as a nutty, earthy, sorghum and keeps the blend grounded.

The Virginia is a quiet citrus and hay in the back of your throat. Very faint, but there nonetheless.

The blend smokes beautifully. I don't know what kind of Black Magic The Country Squire is doing down there in Mississippi, but their English Aromatics are second to none. I've smoked many a crossover blend, and often there is something out of place or a bizarre bitterness that sets it back. That doesn't happen here. This blend stands toe to with Hunting Creek, which I only recently discovered. I'm not even sure which I prefer but I like having a variety in my cellar.

This tobacco burns beautifully from beginning to end with no relights and only slight moisture in the bowl (which I'm sure could be mitigated with some drying time).

It ends on a high note. A perfect cool dawn smoke that leaves a pleasant taste in your mouth and a nice room note.

Another winner from the masterminds at The Country Squire. A must for English Aromatic smokers and worth a try from anyone with an open mind. 5/5 Stars.

I tried this blend because I wanted to explore the world of hybrid English blends. That is, blends that contain (but may not feature) Latakia but also have a topping or casing. This one does not disappoint! It’s smooth and almost creamy, not overly sweet. The Latakia is in the background but adds a nice complexity. It actually brightens up noticeably on the retrohale for me, and I really love that component. It smokes very consistently with even flavor throughout the first 3/4 of the bowl. It changes a bit after relighting, a bit more savory but it retains the bright retrohale. The moisture is just right, no drying required. It’s also mild enough to be an all day smoke, as if any of us has time for that. It’s a bit sweeter than their Shepherds pie and not quite as sweet as hunting creek. My dad is a novice aromatic smoker and he really likes it.

When I first opened the bag and began transferring to Mason Jars, I took a big Whiff. The aroma is HUGE and delicious on the savory side with hints of sweet and complexity. The rich peaty smoky Cyprian Latakia is quite prevalent but in no way overpowering. I thought “Oooh, this is going to be good!” along with the anticipation that this tobacco was going to demand a bit of respect and proper cadence or it was going to bite back. Boy was I wrong! The rich creamy smoke was very well behaved and each puff left you wanting more. There isn’t much of a Nic-hit for an English and I detect a booze topping of some sort. A full bowl in a Castello (G) dublin lasted 1 1/2 hours with only 3 re-lights.

What a wonderful tobacco! This will definitely be on my inner circle of regular rotation tobaccos. Thanks J.D. et.al!!

A wonderful blend. The Latakia is prominent but does not overpower the molasses of the burley. There’s a Virginia tang playing a supporting roll. The aromatic compliments these well, with vanilla and something hard to place - rum, maybe? The sweetness in Country Squire aros has a certain signature creaminess and it’s present here. What’s most striking is how well balanced these flavors are. Like good Kansas City BBQ, sweet and smoky compliment each other well.

From the jar this is a bit moist, but burns well and doesn’t bite.

Country Squire's decades of blending experience is palpable in all of their blends. Honestly, you could randomly draw a CS blend out of a hat and always pick a tasty winner. Which is basically what I did with this one. No reviews or recommendations; I just picked and clicked, haha. This winner is a mellow, all-day tobacco with a smoky, savory, subtly-sweet, and delicious complexity. NW Trek reveals its delightful notes in a slightly different order every time I smoke a bowl, so it's never boring and always tasty. Reminds me a little of JFH’s Shortcut to Mushrooms. IMHO, NW Trek is a perfect English Aromatic; one I could live with forever.

An incredibly smooth & tasty blend and perfect for those who want to dabble in Latakia for the first time. Great cold weather tobacco made of obvious high quality leaf components. Some of these Squire blends are amongst my favorites and this is one of them. A rather unheralded blend and if you haven’t tried some yet, you’re missing out.

Another great hybrid Latakia blend from the Squire. The Latakia shows up right away but takes a bit of a background role to the vanilla-maple. Burns fine if given some dry time. Flavor is consistent and smooth. Smoking in a pipe that sees a lot of Latakia adds to the depth of flavor. A perfect fall morning smoke.

To give you a hint from where my below impressions are coming from; I favor aromatic blends (vanilla being my favorite), although I am finding I enjoy English/Scottish blends more frequently, which I could not stand when I first started smoking a pipe. I have been trying more of the English/Aromatic combo blends, which I have found being more and more of that I am reaching for for my everyday smoke

Opening the bag I smelled the Latakia in the background, I smelled sweet but unable to exactly pick out the vanilla or maple this blend described as the flavoring.

The flavor I tasted was the Latakia, but it was not overwhelming but to prominent note. The vanilla was lightly in the background, but I was unable to pick out the maple. I thought I caught hints of chocolate mixed in. The Burley was noticeable, but was missing the Virginia. The flavors marry nicely and this is a mild English/Aromatic blend I will be happy to smoke. The room note was pleasant to tolerable, although I expected a better room note from my experience with the other Country Squire aromatic blends.

It arrived semi-dry, so no drying time was needed. Was able to light this without issue and hardly any relights. I did not have any tounge-bite with this blend.