Ashton Type 2

I was sent all of the Ashton "Type" blends by a friend in England that I swap tobacco with. This was several years ago and according to my own log notes, this was absolutely delicious. The blend tasted a little like fully matured Lemon Virginia peeking through the heavier tasting Latakia from time to time. Never rough and smooth as silk. I loved it!

Pipestud

A sweetend english. The citrus/orange flavor enhances rather than conceals the tobacco. Is a bit on the strong side and does bite if you over do it! If you relish it, it will treat you nice.

A hard to define/high quality tobacco. It has a mild citric flavoring and a small dose of latakia that turns it into a non-aromatic-nor-english blend. I even find it difficult to choose the right pipe for this blend, and usually end up smoking it in a meer or corn.

While it probably won't quite satisfy neither the aromatic nor the latakia smoker, I find it the perfect smoke when I need to socialize and I'm not in the mood for aromatics. I always keep a tin for those occasions, and that only makes it worth the 3 stars.

Update: I left a tin unsealed and went back to it after two months. The tobacco was quite dry, so I tossed a pouch moistener disc and after two days I filled a medium bowl. It was a completely different baccy. The topping has almost vanished and turned into a slightly aromatic Scotish mixture, even less flavored than freshly opened Presbyterian. I'm tempted to upgrade to four stars now, but I'll wait to finish this tin. Greatly improved.

Another slight disappointment from the Ashton line... This tobacco is sold only in Europe, but you US friends aren't missing anything. It is a light english mixture with a delicate orange flavoring which is more detectable in tin aroma (and not much, anyway) than in taste. While packing and smoking qualities are fine (maybe a hint of wetness more than I like to find, and a larger cut than usual), the taste is too bland for my taste. Think of something like Celebrated Sovereign, but without its smokier overtones and sweeter. I smoked a tin in two weeks, and it was even pleasant at times, but I haven't found it memorable. I doubt I will smoke it again, but if you live in Europe and want to try a lighter EM with hints of sweetness and of orange aroma there are not many alternatives.

So far, every one of the Ashton numbered blends that I have smoked have turned out great. This one is probably the best of the lot. The tin aroma is that of an aromatic - I guess it comes from the orange flavor. The taste is very mild; you hardly notice the aromatic topping, or the Latakia, which makes it one blend that is perfect for large pipes or for smoking all day long. I'm smoking it in a large, barely broken in Sasieni, and it's smoking great from the first light.

Izzy da Moyl gives it 9 circumcised schlongs out of 10; the 1 missing shlong is for a slightly annoying sweet taste (Virginias? Cavendish?) that da Moyl doesn't like because he doesn't want to smoke his yiddishe mama's carrot tzimmes in his pipe :).

I just hope there is some more of this in town; I bought my nearest dealer's last tin. Just one caveat - the tin I bought is marked "Made in England" rather than "Made in EC" as is the case with newer Ashton 1-6 production (now manufactured by Kohlhase and Kopp). I don't know what the K and K Ashton 2 tastes like; I'll try to find some and report back.