W.O. Larsen Selected Blend No. 80 Mahogany Mixture

W.O. Larsen-No.80 Light Aromatic. I fail to see how anyone couldn't fall in love with the tin note from this. It smells honey sweet, slightly nutty, a little chocolaty, there's a touch of aniseed, a delicate coffee note and it's incredibly rich. It's slightly moist but I think that might stem from how tightly it seems to have been packed into the tin. By looking at the mix it would seem that the Black Cavendish only makes up the minority of the blend, there are only a few black specks, in fact on the top of the blend there are only 11 visible to the eye!

It lights easily and the flavour of the smoke is intense. I get a very complex taste. Starting with the added flavours I get a pleasing honey type of sweetness which seems to be the most discernible. It also gives a gentle nut quality but this is a lot more subtle. There is a creamy addition which works great alongside these tastes as well.

The tobacco tastes are a little hidden by the toppings. Yes, I can identify a slight grassy flavour and maybe some nuttiness but is that the Burley or has it been added?! I think the tobaccos main purpose with No.80 is to give body not flavour.

I don't find I get much nicotine from No.80, mild to medium at a push.

Another area where I get a little/if any is tongue bite. There isn't one occurrence throughout the bowl.

I don't normally smoke aromatics, I'm more of a Va-Per/Straight Virginia guy but I find his adorable, a perfect smoke to unwind with. For his reason I have to give this full marks. HIGHLY recommended

When it comes to danish aromatics, this is a benchmark! Smooth , aromatic and also a tobaccoflavour. I am very surprised in a good way. Sweet and creamy and no goop at all. Highly recomended for aros and va/per as a change of pace

This a blend that one must like aromatics to enjoy it and Danish style tobaccos as well. I do and I find this to be a pleasant smoke. I found a tobacco shop that had a bunch of these collecting dust and judging by the price on them compared to now, they have been there awhile. I could not resisit buying one to try and all I can say is I am going back to buy the rest of them. This is a rich, creamy, smoke with a chocolate like casing,but not cloying at all. The tin is packed very tight and the wide ribbon cut tobacco is a deep brown to dark brown. The tine note is like smelling a can of Hersheys syrup and the moisture content, at least in mine was perfect. Upon lighting, it is a little mild but as it smokes down it gets richer and the aroma is fantastic. The taste of chocolate is there but the dominant taste is the Virginia sweetness with a touch of burley in the background for body. It smokes slow and does not bite at all. It smokes without relites and down to a dark gray ash and just a little dottle. No gummy moisture at the bottom of the pipe and very little darkening when passing a pipe cleaner through after a smoke. This is a very nice tobacco, not my favorite but quite nice and I do recommend a try.

Number 80 was a very pleasant surprise! Upon opening I was bombarded with the toasty aroma of coconut cream pie, or maybe macaroons! The tin moisture is perfect from the get-go, and the feel of the leaf is soft, and natural. The topping applied to this baccy is very transparent and not sticky or slimy. The VA in this is a mild and pleasant leaf with a natural toasty sweetness that comes across with ZERO bite. The small amount of black toasted cavendish is not obtrusive or overwhelming like so many blends can be. It will begin to assert itself around the middle of the bowl only to be gently pushed out of the way by a smooth nutty burley. The burley doesn't get bitter unless you REALLY puff on it like a locomotive. All in all this is darn good tobacco that I will be sure to try and get more of. Certainly worth the extra cost that is applied to tinned 'baccy.

Another, good blend from Larsen. The tin aroma say's typical Larsen, but it ends there. It is sweet and does have a nice aroma, but it can bite if puffed to fast. On the tin, it say's a delight when smoked in a medium size pipe, I found that to be true. I like this blend, but not as much as blend 50. Try it, just puff slow.

UPDATE!! The more I smoke this wonderful blend, the more I like it. It has become my favorite blend. I have smoked this in the past, and liked it, but something has happened here, it must be the age. This Tobacco is getting hard to find, but well worth the search. Sad to see Larsens blend's leave.

Selected Blend No 80 is a mid-range tobacco. It has a very peculiar flavour that is not overwhelming, and yet lingers on long after you've finished a bowl. It is not exactly sweet, and in fact it leaves a note of roasted nuts in the palate. Upon opening the tin, there is a sweet smell, rather flowery or honey-like, but nothing to put you off, even if you are not into aromatics. The tobacco is ribbon cut, though not very thin, and visually it is very attractive: bright yellows, reddish browns and some jet-black strands, which correspond to Virginias, aged Burleys and toasted (really toasted) Black Cavendish.

I underline this last component (probably Virginia as well) because it has nothing to do with the ?velvety? steamed cased, syrupy black Cavendish used in other blends (e.g, Captain Black white or blue labels). On the contrary, the tobacco is quite dry, and it burns beautifully.

After lighting, the tobacco tastes smokey and it does not reflect the tin aroma. One is, in fact, smoking tobacco. It is not a complex flavour, but it is savoury, with a peculiar zest. I find it a nice tobacco to smoke on a Sunday morning, with that after-breakfast-coffee.

When putting the pipe to rest and relighting later, the flavour is still there, perhaps more condensed, and it lingers in your palate. IMO I find it a great tobacco to change your pace when, for example, straight Virginias become a little dull or too much Latakia-Orientals make you heady (musicwise, its like switching to Geminiani after too much Mahler or Vaughn Williams )

As almost every Larsen blend I've tried (though not all of them are to my liking), this one is made with top quality tobacco. I honestly believe its worth a try.

This tobacco was a bit of a surprise for me, as with most "aromatic" tobaccos I was expecting the usual goopy vanilla or cherry cased-cavendish weed. Larson's No.80 is a honey brown ribbon cut tobacco with a coconut aroma. Upon lighting I was greeted with a pleasant, easy burning, sweet and honest tobacco flavor that I grew to like more with every bowl. I've smoked many tins since the first and every one has been consistent in terms of flavour and presentation. There's something special about this rather simple tobacco that keeps me coming back for more and it's without a doubt one of my favourite aromatic tobaccos.

Tends to dry out very fast, therefore it burns fast, and sipping (of which this tobacco would benefit for sure) is almost impossible. This makes the blend a little bit flat. Not really bad, just so-so.

A nice tobacco, easy to smoke. A good start for new pipe smokers

I found a tin of this at Iwan Ries's discontinued discount bin. I can see why it's discontinued. It's a refined enough tin, seducing me to try it. I like the chubby chair with the man smoking in it. That's about all there is to like. Tin aroma is initially sweet & overpowering, but it settles as the tin remains open a few minutes. Tobacco is dry but presentation elegant. I have a feeling that this factory is the same one packing Dunhill blends. It's pressed tightly into the tin & offers a dazzling array of speckled autumnal colors. This is where the pleasure ends. Taste & aroma are flat, hot, insipid & offer no dimension of flavors. This is a thicker cut cigarette tobacco with a casing; like smoking hot wind with a noxious after taste. A friend of mine often comments how he loves Danish pipes but hates their tobacco, loves English tobacco but hates their pipes. I don't know if I would go that far, but Larsen is some of the worst junk I've ever tried. Not worth any discounted price or even free.

One of five stars