Peter Stokkebye Aromatic Dutch Slices (No.308)

I am on my first bowl of this, and I may come back to revise things if it grows on me or I get weary of it quickly.

This is a solid, pleasant, unassuming smoke. It does not require a lot of attention, and it delivers a basic tobacco flavor with just a whiff of a sweet topping. This is the style of Dutch cavendish you could buy in grocery stores in the 70's, and the processing has done a great job of melding the Virginia and burley flavors. I would not describe this as an aromatic, and I doubt most people would. It has been a very good smoke and has not shown any tendencies to burn hot.

Edit: 4/3/14 I have a couple of bowls left out of the 8 oz I bought. I have another pound speeding its way to me through the US mail. I mostly smoked it and Golden Extra at the office for the last couple of months. They both work well in this mode. This is a solid 3+ and a very good all-day smoke. I have enjoyed this and have no reservations recommending it.

The burley is very nutty sweet with a hint of cocoa, and some earth, and mostly leads the other tobaccos. The gold cavendish is a little honey-ish as a supporting player. The Virginia has citrus, grass and hay, and is more obvious than the cavendish. There's a slight topping that reminds me of butterscotch/nougat. Being made in the Dutch-style (though it's ready rub slices and not slices), it has a spicy undertone that will bite if you smoke beyond a moderate pace, and also cause it to give a few cigarette notes. Even at my recommended cadence, I get a little tongue tingle, so I certainly recommend you sip it. Has a mild nic-hit, and a consistent flavor. Burns a little fast with few relights, and very little moisture in the bowl. Has a decent after taste. Not quite an all day smoke. I give it three stars for the nice taste, two for the bite potential, so my final rating is two and a half stars.

-JimInks

Beautifully presented as a nice broken flake, similar to, but smaller than Mac Baren Virginia No 1. Pure tobacco smell from the one ounce sample bag. Good moisture content and easy to load and light. A solid tobacco presence of mostly Burley and remained so throughout the smoke without moisture or dottle. A slight chocolate presence wafted in and out; mostly noticed with the pre-light draw. This reminds me of Troost Special Cavendish of old (not the new stuff - nowhere near it!). I smoked Amphora Brown over 35 years ago and also note similarities. The nicotine presence is pretty heady with this one, so easy puffing is advised. A slight tingle to the tongue while smoking but no bite or palate scorching to speak of at all! I enjoy the taste of pure tobacco with my favorites being Irish Flake, Burley Slice, and Aged Burley Flake. Aromatic Dutch Slices is in that same league for me all around. A very good representation of the best tradition that Dutch Cavendish blends have offered in the past. A solid recommendation and good for rotation smoking.

This was part of my recent sampler purchase and I have now tried all four of the samples. My first choice has been luxury twist flake but this one is number 2. I am an old Troost Special user from the early 70s. When I recently became reaquainted with my pipes, I bought a pouch of Troost and was disappointed. Others have indicated that it is not the same blend and that might be true but this one really reminded me of the Troost I recall.

It was evenly medium in strength and had a very basic tobacco taste without any noticeale flavoring. I give it a good review and may be back for some more.

Calling this "slices" makes the title a misnomer, and I do not know what exactly makes something an aromatic (yes I do- casings, syrups; sweeteners!) but this doesn't seem like something that would please the typical aro smoker. It's more like an aromatic for people who don't like aromatics.

That said, it's a nice tobacco. I bought it because I read about it somewhere and thought it might be good to blend with- maybe someone recommended it for that. It's fine on its own and just a little sweet. I used it with another component to create a spin-off from the last iteration of my personal blend which I've been smoking for a couple of years now.

Unlike one reviewer or two, I did not find this monochromatic or anything like roll-your-own cig tobacco. but then again I have little experience with that other than to play with roll-your-own while doing demos from my smokeshop days. The texture is not even close, but maybe the taste is.

I didn't get much of a nicotine presence either, but I seem the odd man out there as well.

Smokes well and easily with very little dottle- could be an all-day smoke for someone. This is however monochromatic to the eye- no flecks of different color, so it doesn't "appear" to be a blend with multiple components. Hence some of the reviews might be what they are for this reason.

But don't be fooled, this is decent stuff!

I really like this blend, but the name is not so good. lol First off, it is not very aromatic and it is not presented in slices. But all of this does not take away from the fact that it is a very pleasant smoke.

I bought this as a one ounce sampler and it is very much with the tradition of several other European aros such as Skandinavik Full aroma cavindish and Sail Yellow. Very Virginia forward IMO. It is definitely not sweet in a syrupy way as the others I have mentioned, but rather a natural tasting tobacco with perhaps a little sugar added to amplify the component leaf. The Cavendish and the burley impart just the right amount of nuttiness to compliment the hay and citrus like Virginia.

This one likely won't knock your socks off, but it is a good smoke that may be a little bitey to the fast puffer. I like it better than the two previous blends I mentioned.

I got this in bulk and it arrived to me already rubbed out as well. In fact, the tobacco in the pouch looks and smells like RYO cigarette tobacco. It is a medium brown in color and comes at a great moisture content so I felt no need to dry. It loads in the pipe quite easily, and lights up on the first try and stays lit extremely well. My first impression is that it is a very mild VA with a slight chocolate top note again very simliar to cigarette tobacco. I find it very light and smooth, almost too much so. It has a slightly sweet taste, does not bite in any way, and burned almost all the way down before relight. As it burns down, it picks up flavor and smokes rather pleasant but is very one dimensional. It keeps the same flavor and aroma all the way through. The aroma is very VA sweet with a little bit of a aromatic chocolate note. Not bad but not exceptional in any way. It smokes cool no matter how hard one puffs on it, I could not make it burn hot and I tried. it produces a fair amount of smoke. To sum this one up, it is a nice mild smoke but nothing I would buy again. If one likes the taste of cigarettes, it might be just the ticket, but there are so many better than this one. It does have a nice amount of nicotine and will satisfy in that regard.

Despite the name "slices" this came as more of a thoroughly rubbed out flake. It has some flavoring incorporated but not gooped up or wet like American aromatics usually are. A good strong tobacco with a quality Virginia dominating the taste. The aromatic component is typical of Dutch-style aromatics. A mild flavoring. More smell than taste. No floral or soapy taste that I could detect. Can't speak to the Room note as I smoke outdoors. I would imagine the non-smokers would object as it is a fairly strong tobacco. It arrived with the proper moisture content, lights quickly and burns cleanly. No gurgle detected. I don't recall any tongue-bite but "proceed with caution" is good advice. (10/19/2004)

Update: After some recent bowls, this is a really strong basic tobacco. No Aromatic flavoring in the usual sense, but stinky like good, strong, natural tobacco. If you don't mind strong flavors and lots of "punch" give this one a try. Or if you want to stink-up the neighborhood and your clothing, give it a try. (12/04/05)

Peter Stokkebye - PS-308 Aroma Dutch Slices

Star Rating = 4

Rating Scores - 10 is the Best and 0 is the Worst

Pouch Note = 9

Room Note = 9

Flavor = 10

Bite = 9

Burn = 9

After Taste = 9

Raw Score = 55

Rated Percentage = 92%

Comment = Very Smooth, Very Mild, Mellow, Nice Room Note, nice all day smoke

The good thing about this is the nicotine level was good. Everything else, no so good. I thought it had a sort of cigar after taste. It burned hot. And it gave me tongue bite.