Peter Heinrichs No. 30

The potent spice, earth, wood, plums and raisin/fig aspects of the perique elevate it to the lead spot. The grassy, hay-like, bready, lightly floral, tart and tangy citrusy, lightly acidic, very spicy Virginia is a secondary player. The smokey, woody, earthy, lightly wine-like, dry Syrian Latakia is a supporting component, but at times, it is a little more than that, especially by the half way point. I also sense a slight soda note. The strength, nic-hit and taste levels are medium. Has a few rough edges. Don't puff it too fast or it may get a little warm and tingly on your tongue. Burns clean at a moderate pace with an inconsistent, sweet, spicy, campfire flavor. Leaves virtually no moisture in the bowl, and requires few relights. Has a pleasantly lingering after taste, and stronger, tolerable room note. Not quite an all day smoke.

Update 7-23-2020: In the 2001-2004 period when I originally smoked this blend, the Syrian was a little more prominent than it is in the 2017 version I am currently smoking. Here, in 2020, the formula has been changed again. The tin description now states that it has black cavendish and burley (with a delicate walnut flavor), and of course, Cyprian Latakia has replaced the Syrian. Perique is no longer a component. Compensating for it is a potently spicy dark burley, which also offers earth, wood, a light floral note, and nuts. The spice content gives it the lead in this new mixture. Also, there’s a lighter burley that provides nuts, earth, wood, and a touch of molasses. It’s just above being a condiment. The grassy, hay-like, bready, lightly floral, tart and tangy citrusy, lightly acidic, very spicy Virginia is a secondary player. The smokey, woody, earthy, lightly musty, sweet Cyprian Latakia is a supporting component, but at times, it is more than that, especially by the half way point. The unsweetened black cavendish is not very noticeable as it helps tame some of the rough edges. The strength is a couple of rungs below the medium threshold. The nic-hit is just below the strength aspect in terms of effect. The taste is just short of the medium level. Has a few rough edges. Won’t bite or get harsh, and burns cooler, and less tingly than the older manufactures. Burns clean at a moderate pace with an inconsistent, sweet, mildly spicy, nutty, campfire flavor. Leaves virtually no moisture in the bowl, and requires few relights. Has a pleasant short lived after taste, and stronger room note. Can be an all day smoke. The strength, flavoring, taste, room note and rating marks are for the current version.

-JimInks

Again, I'm not really a English smoker and only like English blends with very little (syrian) Latakia in it. So again take this review with a grain of salt, as I'm not to versed on English blends with Latakia. But on my last visit at Peter Heinrichs I've felt like grabbing a sample of this. Curly Cut...Perique...just very little syrian(!) Latakia...what could go wrong?

Well...nothing! This blend is quite a pleasant surprise to me and I enjoy it a lot. Sticking my nose into the sample baggie, I perceive a lot of Latakia, which first scared me, but the fear was for no reason after I smoked it. Woodsy, dry and smoky notes from the Latakia, underscored with little sourness from the Perique. A tad of sweetness in the back.

The Curly Cuts are intriguing, mostly brown with some black speckles in them. Brown- and bright brown to yellow leaf dominates the apperance of this tobacco, and only very little black speckles are in it.

First light reveals that this blend contains a little more Latakia than I'm used to, but not too much that it would turn me off, like "full grown" English blends with high Latakia amount would. The Latakia instantly offers a creamy, almost buttery smoky, woodsy, sour and dry aroma and gives body to the blend. The Perique is barely detectable and only sports a slight (pleasant) sourness that's in the back underscoring the Latakia very well along with minor fruity notes of figs. Virginias are more prominent and offer citrusy-sweetness, and a bit of grassiness. It almost feels like there are Oriental leafs in it, but I guess that's the interplay of Latakia and Perique creating a dry, sour and woodsy aroma. It has decent (also slightly peppery) spice to it, which makes it a nice treat after a good meal!

Pleasantly mellow, with the Latakia taking more of a backseat as the bowl progresses. I'd describe this blend as "mild English" and a nice entree-level blend for pipe smokers who want to dig into English/Latakia blends. Pretty similar to Motzeks "Old Curly Mixture" - not only because both contain Curly Coins in it.

I actually enjoyed this blend a lot and by times I'll pick up a tin of it I guess! Confused by the rather low ratings, I'll give this a 3.5/4 stars rating to support this lovely (both in taste and appearance/craftsmanship) blend and say: "Hey...this is a delicious smoke! Go try it if you can!"

I love PH Dark Strong and Curly block w ith a burning desire! So was surprised I didn't like this AT ALL 😔

Opening the tin you see a lovely mix of small coins (20-30%) light brown in color and mix of similar ribbons. Dark strands there, but not a whole lot. Smell is decent grass/hay notes w some verlight earthy Choco burley. Latikia was almost not noticed by smell alone. Nor was the walnut topping.

For the most part this baccy looked pretty enjoyable, but it didn't excitee at first sight like DS and CB did. So I was shocked and awed when it burnt the ever loving shit outta me every time I smoked it, except for one time. Im no noob here. Been at it for a decade. I tried everything I could to fix this problem. I changer the moisture content, packed it at least 4 or 5 diff ways. Tried every pipe I had. even smoked only coins, and only ribbon. Only thing that ever burnt me this bad is Velvet an otc American stile burley. It burnt me soo horribly that I couldn't smoke a pipe for a week. The one time it worked semi well was when I did the air pocket method. Make a tight plug (way tighter than you'd ever pack a bowl)fill the top portion of your pipe ONLY. leave an air pocket at the bottoms. I don't know why this works but it stays lit pretty well for being so tight and it has the added benefit of not filtering through all that extra tobacco, so the flavor doesn't get filtered. That's the theory any way. I could taste the walnut a bit now and the lat was definitely there but it really just a condiment like msg is. But every thing aside it's really an all right baccy but since I can't enjoy it w o flash backs of it's terrible bite, I'm giving it 1.7 stars would be an easy e but burley does not agree w my mouth p.h any more. I used to LOVE it, not sure what happened. So take this review w a grain.

This blend may not be at the top of my list of blends to smoke, yet it is still worthy. The spicy treatment of the Virginia dominates the the experience and requires a slow smoke to avoid bite. Still, this is a multi-dimensional blend with soft contributions by the Perique and Syrian leaf. I found the addition of a small amount of Dubeck to be beneficial in moderating the sharp character of the bright Virginia and bringing out it's rich expression reminicient of a more Red Virginia taste. A stronger Syrian presence would be more rewarding... The full flavor develops as the bowl is smoked in a slow climax. The more I smoke it, the better I like it. Subtle nuances in this blend take patience to notice. Is it a great blend? No, but it's good.

Meerschaum Man Smoking a CAO Dunhill Man Pasha

Tin note of grass, mild barbeque and spices. Tobacco is a mix of 50% ribbon and 50% coins. Ribbons are black and dark brown, coins are light brown, brown and a little dark brown. Moisture content is ok, few pipe smokers will want to hydrate it a bit. Burns slow with a few relights. The strength is medium and nic is mild to medium. Flavoring is very mild, with notes of Walnut, which was absent in the beginning and barely noticeable in the background in the late stages. Taste is medium to full and mostly consistent, with notes of tart citrus, herbal floral, wood, musty vegetation, leather, spicy, fermented sour, toasty, buttery nuts, orange zest, spices, semi-sweet dark dried fruit, an incense like lemon grass background note, and a peppery retro. Virginias are leading with Cavendish, Burley, Latakia and Flavoring supporting. Room note is tolerable, and aftertaste is great.

Presentation: Unabashedly simple. Something about it draws me to it. And of course it comes in the "paint can" like tin.

Cut: Comes as a thick ribbon cut with some small coins in there as well. Objectively, I'd say this a touch drier than just right, although it IS just right for me.

Tin note: I'm not the best with my nose, but I detect a musty, fruity, sweetness.

Tasting notes: Slight sweetness (both grassy and fruit on varying puffs) and a moderate woody note on the draw followed by a good amount of spice on the finish. Some puffs I get just a light smoky note. This blend is more mellow as a whole, but also more spicy than No. 39. It might just be me, but this blend might bite you a bit.

Mechanics: Although the blend was not moist, it did not stay lit as easy as I expected it to. Be sure to rub out the coins to help it burn better. Sip this blend! Or else your tongue might pay the price...

Extra Remarks: I tend to like full flavor blends more than more mellow blends. Although this did not quite meet my preference, it is a solid blend. 3 stars.

Well-blended Virginia with a hint of Latakia. Did not notice the Perique. As the advertisement states, the Latakia will not overwhelm you and stays well in the background. Burns mild and clean. Not a bad blend, not a great one either, considering what I paid for it, will probably not try it again as I do not think it worth the price. However, I do like it better than MacBaren?s Virginia Latkia blend as at least the Orientals are noticeable.