GQ Tobaccos Breakfast Blend

The tangy Turkish Izmir is a prominent component with its spicy, earthy, herbal, floral, vegetative, woody, and sourness, but a little less so than the Classic Balkan Izmir blend. The dark fired Virginias provide mild tangy citrus, light spice, a little grass, wood, a touch of earth and a few drops of honey as supporting players. The dark fired Kentucky offers nuts, wood, earth, herbs, vegetation, and a little spicy sweet and sourness as a secondary star. Has no dull or harsh spots, and won't bite. Has a few very light rough edges. Well balanced, you get every flavor nuance in every puff all the way to finish. Strong enough to deserve your complete attention without overwhelming your senses. Richly flavorful, mildly spicy, creamy sweet and savory which translates the pleasantly lingering after taste. Burns slow as the tobacco is a little moist. The strength, taste and nic-hit levels are medium, which might be a bit more than some people would want for breakfast, but it's strikes me as being pick-me-up start to the day if you wish. It won’t bite even if you puff like a locomotive, but I recommend a slow cadence just the same. Doesn't need many relights, and leaves virtually no moisture in the bowl. It’s not quite an all day smoke, but it is repeatable.

-JimInks

Light to dark fluffy ribbons, again a wee bit too wet to fire up right out of the pouch, although this one dried faster than the Nottingham Noir. Again the musty, kind of "old book" smell. Very enticing.

This was mellower than the Nott Noir but once again, I don't get the "creamy" that the blender states. In fact, I found this very dry to the taste with a restrained boldness of flavor and rather earthy - nothing close to creamy. There was a nice roundness to it, however, and I found it needed neither latakia nor perique to achieve its broad scope of flavor. This was less sour in the oriental but essentially the same profile in that regard as the Nott. But I did not get anything approaching the G&H flavor profile. Again, the Virginias were not sweet but neither were they grassy or hay-like. They were rather on the robust side, and my experience with this was like with a stew with few added ingredients. Just the basics. And it worked masterfully. But once again, this blend didn't make me want to whip out my charge card and stock up. It was very good - excellent, in fact - and it's one to try for someone that just wants to figure out how Izmir interacts without extra condiments. That flavor is way up front but not intrusive. In fact, I probably wouldn't smoke this at breakfast! A bit too eye-popping... which may be the point! A bit of a "nic-me-up" to this one, and flavor in spades. Well worth a sample.

GQ Tobaccos - Breakfast Blend.

What a good moisture amount! Impressive as sometimes loosely weighed blends can be either too dry or too damp but this one is great! The smell is not especially extraordinary, an aroma of the tobaccos yet not that overpowering. I notice how it states that this mixture is ribbon and broken flake although my batch is mainly ribbon with a much lesser amount of broken flake, maybe about 15%.

Breakfast Blend lights quite well, a fairly moderate time with my lighter sets it up but it does require the odd extra touch to even the burn, albeit, very sporadically and only at the beginning or if left unattended for too long. The different tobaccos all come through well in this, quite a fair split. I get the basic Virginia hay flavour with a piquancy and sour note of the Orientals without any taste being that headstrong. The smoke itself is of a decent heat, only becoming warm if it is over strained. Tongue Bite isn't at all apparent with Breakfast Blend, it would suit faster puffers. The nicotine quantity is dead in the middle, if inhaled it will placate your "N" needs! A good smoke but for me it becomes a little boring after half a bowl, by no means iniquitous, just literally a touch mundane. That said though, it would make a good breakfast tobacco, good nic' strength, not too flashy tasting, no tongue bite and a steady burn.

3 stars.

This is based on about an ounce smoked over the course of two days. Breakfast blend offers somewhat of a natural herbal scent that I liken to curry although there is no added flavoring that I can detect. The very thin cut makes packing an ease. As already mentioned by others, the Izmir offers quite a bit of the flavor. There is very little sweetness offered by the Virginia’s and it is more of a “woody,” earthy smoke. Breakfast Blend offers more complexity than I would normally associate with a morning blend and could easily be smoked all day by those that prefer a lighter English blend. I especially enjoy the second half of each bowl as the flavors grow with each genital puff. It’s smooth and burns nice and dry. BB is a step above mild in strength and fully medium if puffed quickly. Breakfast Blend is enjoyable smoke indeed.

I acquired this blend from a gentleman in England in a trade. Now and then I like to try something different from a brand I have not tried. This is an interesting blend that I enjoyed smoking. First off, I found it to be way too moist to smoke right off. I took ten days with it open to the air in my house to get it dry enough to smoke. It has a creamy, spicy somewhat sweet tin aroma and once dried it loads very easy into the pipe. It is a rough ribbon cut running from light brown to dark brown. Once lit it burns nice and slow with no bite, it is very creamy and spicy, with a sweetness from the Virginias and a spiciness from the other tobaccos. It burns down rather well all the way to the bottom of the pipe leaving very little if any residue. The room note is pleasant, a touch of sweet spiciness in it. It is well blended as the different levels of flavors come out at different levels as it burns down making it a very interesting blend. It is delicious with coffee or tea in the morning so it is very aptly named. I am almost giving this blend a four as it is simply delicious. However it is so moist and I suspect it has chemicals added to help retain the moistness that I am instead going to give it a solid five. But well worth trying.

I was gifted a sample of this from a fellow Brother Of The Leaf.

He really is a master of his craft. This is a complex blend without being over bearing. The pouch note was just perfect for immediate packing. Burns down to a nice white ash every time with no goopy residue. Smokes reasonably cool and like they said, very slow.

The flavors that this tobacco emits when smoked can range from spicy-creamy-sour-smokey and sweet. The Kentucky really comes though and gives a decent kick in the back of the throat. I will get a little subjective here and say that I would like a little more Va tang to work with the Turkish (and I believe that Glynn will customize blends for customers) but this is a wonderful blend.

I found that smoking this in a cob can help round off some of the sharpness from the Kentucky and Turkish and add the little sweetness that I was looking for.

Would highly recommend someone who wants to try something without Latakia but doesn't want a straight VA or Aro.

Another lovely tobacco from GQ Tobaccos. Fresh tasting, spicy and warm. Aromatic in note and rich in overall taste. There is a more floral feel to this as well and a piquancy that is very pleasing. Rich and creamy smoke again, very pleasant sweetness and that edge to it from the Perique. A satisfying and full-flavoured tobacco that can be enjoyed all day but which I reserved, not for breakfast, but for late evening. I did not find this overwhelmingly strong, and that is not a bad thing. I actually like strong tobaccos anyway and I must have a good tolerance to the nicotine levels. It is a balanced, comfortable smoke, very pleasing in taste and aroma and well worth trying.

Medium cut, mixed browns in colour. Medium strength, smoky, hint of honey, smooth, slightly spicy. An excellent smoke at any time of day, not just beakfast.

This is a fine blend. Far higher in nicotine than I am used to, but the slight tummy discomfort is due to my low tolerance rather than a fault in the blend, I think. I enjoy the shift in pace away from the usual latakia that I normally choose.

Spicy and sour, it is a dry smoke that holds a strange interest. Bought as my first foray into the Blend It Yourself releases that GQ have recently put on the market, I would recommend this. Oriental forward and with a pleasant room note, I am told.

I am an inveterate hard puffer, but the heat never becomes too much and needs no relights. A new experience for me, really, and to be savoured with sips it seems, for the best experience. Small bowls!

Breakfast Blend is an attractive mixture of brown and buff colored ribbon and flake cut tobaccos. A 10 or 25g sample comes in a well rolled plastic bag, but if ordered in quantities of 50g or 100g it arrives in resealable laminated (gas impervious) pouches at a moisture level of around 20 %. While it is smokeable at this level, it does profit from airing and offers much more at moisture levels below 16 %. It tastes best to me at around 13 %, at which point it can easily be smoked to the end of the bowl without re-lighting.

The smoke? Excellent: amazingly tasty at first light, developing espresso-like tannins that build until about mid-bowl before modulating into a well integrated toastiness. BB has a wealth of flavors, which include forest floor earthiness, a subtle sweetness reminiscent of fresh peat bricks, a slightly sour pungency, and, in the final third, (whoa!) a head turning floweriness. This blend burns beautifully, has a great depth of flavor without heaviness, and leaves the mouth feeling surprisingly clean and invigorated. It smells great in the room, which even my wife enjoys!

The nicotine level is on the high side of medium.

All in all: an accomplishment, a wonderful and distinctive blend, delicious, very satisfying, and as interesting as you want it to be. In two words: great stuff!

Highly recommended.

P.S. Have been smoking a bowl or two daily and am ordering more to store. Can’t wait to see what this is like after a couple of years! Grateful kudos to Glynn Quelch!