Iwan Ries King's Oriental

(2.42)
Dark, aromatic cavendish with Virginias and Orientals for a perfect well-balanced flavor and aroma. A classic aromatic.

Details

Brand Iwan Ries
Blended By  
Manufactured By  
Blend Type Aromatic
Contents Black Cavendish, Oriental/Turkish, Virginia
Flavoring Other / Misc
Cut Shag
Packaging Bulk
Country United States
Production No longer in production

Profile

Strength
Mild to Medium
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Extremely Mild -> Overwhelming
Flavoring
Medium
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
None Detected -> Extra Strong
Room Note
Pleasant
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Unnoticeable -> Overwhelming
Taste
Mild to Medium
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Extremely Mild (Flat) -> Overwhelming

Average Rating

2.42 / 4
2

5

1

4

Reviews

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Displaying 1 - 10 of 12 Reviews
Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Jan 31, 2010 Mild to Medium Medium Mild to Medium Pleasant
I have been smoking this blend for years. I quit smoking my pipe for a couple years, and had a big can of this stowed away. I've been back at it for a while, and it's better than ever. This is a very flavorful Oriental, Iwan Ries calls a crossover blend. I'm not a sophisticated smoker, I know what I like. This stuff is an all day smoke, but it can get a little sweet after a while, and then I tend toward a more English style... something like their Dr. Bradley, a true crossover. It's awesome in the morning with my coffee.

I read here that the formula changed when Rex left Iwan Ries. I went there yesterday to check on this. They buy this is bulk from another large, name brand blender, and it's been the same formula for years. To my knowledge, Rex had nothing to do with blending this, at least that is what I was told.

Anyway, the new can I bought yesterday smokes as nicely as the 4 year old can I had, so I have no complaints. This is a tasty aromatic called a crossover oriental. Nice.
3 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Apr 02, 2011 Mild Medium Medium Very Pleasant
I agree with the last review,this is an aromatic for sure. But one of good quality leaf with a nice sweetness and easy on the tongue burns evenly and cool. And yes I would say cloves are the flavoring but don't let that scare you away! I generally smoke latakia's, virginia's and virg/perq blends and like the change of pace myself. It's good to be King!
2 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Apr 17, 2010 Mild to Medium Medium Medium Pleasant
I like Iwan Ries tobaccos in general; most of them are good, "no-nonsense" tobaks in the old-school style. They really *are* like something your grandfather would have smoked. King's Oriental is, IMHO, one of their better ones...but be warned: this is not a crossover blend; it's an aromatic. Having said that, on the plus side, I find it smokes nice and dry, with no gurgle. It's not at all sweet, but the flavor is spicy and *reminds* one of something sweet, which is the chief reason why I like it. I WILL say that the predominate "spice" flavor I pick up from this one is that of cloves with a hint of licorice in the nose. Now, I happen to like both of these flavors very much, but if you don't, I daresay you won't care for this tobacco. The one drawback of the flavor on this one is that some may find it a bit "one-dimensional," as the flavor is not very complex. It's very straightforward. But it's one of those tobaccos that when I want the unique flavor it has, nothing else will do. You really *can* taste the orientals in this one, which, along with the mellow cavendish, predominate. The room note is very nice, and unmistakably "pipey." If you walk into a room with this, women will flock and ask what it is that you are smoking...which, depending upon the room, is not necessarily a bad thing. I am smoking a bowl of King's Oriental now as I write this, in a big old thick-walled estate Italian briar calabash wannabe, which is the pipe I have dedicated to it. I would recommend trying this in a cob first, and then if you like it, dedicate a thick-walled briar to it (as it will scent a brair rather quickly), or else smoke it in a meer. It does very well in a beautiful old Amboseli blasted meer author that I love.

This is a good one from Iwan Ries. If you like real aromatics that aren't goopy or sickly-sweet, give this one a try. You'll enjoy it. Three and a half of four stars.
2 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Aug 07, 2006 Mild to Medium Very Strong Mild to Medium Very Pleasant
I AM WRITING A NEW REVIEW ON THIS. ANOTHER TOBACCO CASUALTY!THIS WAS ONCE A WONDERFUL BLEND. NOW IT IS A MEDIOCRE FULL AROMATIC AT BEST. LOTS OF CLOVES AND LICORICE,BUT NOT MUCH ELSE. SKIP IT.
2 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Feb 20, 2009 Mild Medium Mild Pleasant
I bought a pound of this in 2005 and didn't like it. Stashed it away in a tightly sealed jar thinking it may improve with some age. It hasn't. If anything it's worse than when fresh. Cloves? Yes, and other godawful stuff that doesn't belong in pipe tobacco. I would recommend this crap only to those who wish to quit smoking. It's a Chicago version of Mixture#79 and brought to you from one of the oldest, most respected shops in the country. What are they thinking?
1 person found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Dec 21, 2008 Mild Mild to Medium Mild Pleasant
Here I am home for Xmas and going through a stash of tins and pouches I abandoned a while back. One of them is a "Perma-Moist Pouch" of Iwan Ries' King's Oriental. The pouch is probably about 4 years old--not old enough, apparently--and I suspect that it must be the much maligned new recipe which seems to have upset so many. Oh well. (I have to say, though, that those silver pouches IRC uses are pretty amazing for maintaining moisture levels.)

I remember a once-upon-a-time fondness I had for this blend and smoking it now, I find it enjoyable and downright Xmas-y with its spiced plum pudding nose. Why Iwan Ries persists in listing it among their British blends is beyond me, because this little fella is a straight-on bitey aromatic and it's about as British as I am.

It's easy to do worse that KO, but it's also easy to do better.
1 person found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Aug 09, 2006 Mild to Medium Mild Mild to Medium Tolerable
This is perhaps the finest aromatic you will ever try. But for those of you who hate aromatics, please don't be put off. Try at least an ounce of this heavenly tobacco & spoil yourself. This is a crossover blend, straddling the very finest aromatic qualities with a perfect mixture of orientals for tangy flavor. If you're expecting the typical sweet, perfumed Three Star quality for which Iwan Ries is famous, you will not find it here. Unlike their other blends, good as they are, with that characteristic IRC licorice casing, King's is light with citrus & just the right balance of piquancy. As hard as you may smoke this (and I love it so much, I could practically devour it), you won't get tongue bite, no matter how furiously you puff. This reminds me very much of the Wilke Gotham Court, with its aroma of berries & light cordial top dressing. It also has hints of Pipemaker's Choice & Nut Brown Burley by that same great blender. I used to believe that Wilke's Bohemian was the finest of all aromatic crossover blends, but as good as those blends are, you will get tongue bite; never the case here. Even if aromatics aren't your thing, it would be hard to loathe King's. It's teasing, nutty, smooth, creamy, intriguing, and develops beautifully in the bowl. It also lights easily & behaves nicely all the way down. In a word, this is a delicious tobacco! Congratulations to the venerable Iwan Ries for putting out one of the finest blends you can enjoy regularly. Try some soon!

Five of five stars
update aug 2006

How do you go from a five-star blend to a one-star? Very simple: why, you throw the baby out with the bath water. I have a feeling that the former knowledgable Rex of Iwan Ries was tweaking this blend to make it sensational. Whomever is blending this now is skimping on everything except heat and muck. I'm really getting tired of blenders changing their recipes. C & D has been doing a lot of that lately. Pipe smoking is such a rarified and specialized pastime. Why and for whom are they changing blends? Are they trying to appeal to popular tastes? I seriously doubt it. Forget about this one. One less tobacco in my rotation.

One of five stars
1 person found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Feb 13, 2006 Mild to Medium Medium to Strong Overwhelming Tolerable to Strong
In my on-going journey in pipe smoking, I bought this to experience Oriental's, not as an ornamental tobacco, but rather as the principle player. Please understand that I have a nose that will make a blood hound blush. My sense of taste is equally acute. So, to me, I was given the impression that I was smoking the leaves, twigs and bark from a clove tree. This stuff actually made me feel a bit sick. Of course it may have been the visual that played through my mind: sucking a clove festooned and fatty congealed ham through my Peterson....

Fortunately I bought only a small sampler so it won't cause that much congestion in our neighboring landfill. Perhaps it will be effective for rodent control out there....

I'd much rather keep my Oriental's in smaller pinches, tucked away in the nether regions of my British blends. This almost threw me off pipe smoking!

Sorry, but this one just isn't for me.
1 person found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Jan 10, 2020 Mild to Medium Mild to Medium Medium Pleasant
One of my favorites from Iwan Ries - Blended by McClelland so you can't get it anymore. The balanced amount of clove flavoring made this blend a one-of-a-kind blend.

Disclaimer: Please read my profile if it would help to better put my review into context.

Overall Experience: Nice pouch aroma, easy to pack, lights easy, few relights, taste remains consistent throughout the smoke and pretty much matches the pouch aroma, very little bite, no gurgling and no residual moisture in the bowl, nice after taste that lingers for just the right amount of time.

I really like the spicy flare/touch of this blend from what I suspect is clove and maybe a hint of licorice.

I will really miss this blend. I'm upset I can't get this blend anymore.

I know McClelland is no more and due to the changes in tobacco harvesting, the premium tobacco that was produced for McClelland will more than likely never be available again - I still wish that at least the blending notes and recipes would be sold to someone that would try to at least make a best effort to match as close as possible.
Pipe Used: Wessex Bristol Smooth Acorn
PurchasedFrom: Iwan Ries
Age When Smoked: 6 months
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Apr 04, 2016 Medium Medium to Strong Medium to Full Tolerable
As someone who prefers an aromatic, I was happy to give this one a try. Out of the pouch you are hit with an array of scents from the oriental inside. Honestly, it is kind of a bit much. Reminded me of Christmas potpourri.

The smoke itself maintains these strong flavors, though it is mercifully a bit more muted than the first impression. It may be my imagination, but I sorta felt an added tongue bite from what my brain was telling me to be too many additives.

Kudos to Iwan Ries for making their pouches a full 2oz (the standard seeming to be 1.5oz - 1.75oz), so it is a great deal for the price. I didn't like the pouch size however, the opening is very narrow and hard to pack a pipe from it.

Even though the review may sound negative, this was a smoke I enjoyed and have purchased a few times. Worth trying if you like a lot of spices in your bowl.
PurchasedFrom: Iwan Reis
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