GQ Tobaccos Nottingham Lace : Noir

(3.58)
Noir is the second tobacco in our Nottingham Lace series, a selection of perique tobacco. A smoky and smooth blend with a distinct perique twang to it, this tobacco is very deep and rich. The use of a English style black cavendish base, give this blend a creamy core with a woody and slightly smoky taste. A small amount of Turkish Izmir and various gold leaf Virginias add a little sweetness and keeps the tobacco burning freely. The addition of perique (10%) adds some spice and stewed fruit elements to the already complex flavours.

Details

Brand GQ Tobaccos
Blended By Glynn Quelch
Manufactured By Glynn Quelch
Blend Type Virginia/Perique
Contents Black Cavendish, Oriental/Turkish, Perique, Virginia
Flavoring
Cut Mixture
Packaging Bulk
Country United Kingdom
Production No longer in production

Profile

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

Average Rating

3.58 / 4
9

2

0

1

Reviews

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Displaying 1 - 10 of 12 Reviews
Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Oct 06, 2014 Medium to Strong None Detected Medium to Full Tolerable
The Virginia is grassy and a little citrusy, acting mainly as a base for the other components to shine. The black cavendish is brown sugar sweet without a trace of vanilla or bite and is used to add some smoothness to the experience. The Turkish Izmir is a team player as a second star, providing an obvious smokey, woodsy slightly sour flavor. The perique is raisiny, plum and peppery, more of the latter than the former in a support role. There are dried fruit notes that seem to come from the way the tobaccos are processed as well as from the perique. Some ingredients are more noticeable than others at different times, creating a nice complexity. Rich in flavor with a fair amount of strength, it’s creamy and smooth and burns well, cool and even with no dottle or harsh spots, and few relights. The nic-hit is not quite medium. Has a pleasant after taste. Not quite an all day smoke, but one that you will think about coming back to later in the day.

-JimInks
6 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
May 25, 2014 Medium None Detected Medium Very Pleasant
A stunning example of glynns blending prowess. A dark tobacco with an earthy musty aroma with packs and lights easily. The perique is easily detectable and although the tobacco burns freely it never makes the bowl hot or bite the tongue. I deliciously dark rich complex smoking pleasure that never overpowers. A solid four stars from me
6 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Jul 08, 2016 Medium to Strong Extremely Mild Medium to Full Pleasant to Tolerable
Got a pouch of this beauty in a trade with StevieB. Thanks bro.

This is very nicely balanced and well rounded. The Black Cav is very lightly sweetened and has little flavor, but provides a noticeable smoothing. The Virginias are mildly grassy and very mildly sweet. The two together provide just enough sweetness to make this work. The Perique is mildly figgy and has a fair amount of spice. The Turkish adds a mild sour note and a very mild creaminess. There is an underlying earthiness to this whose source is hard to pinpoint. I think it's a combo of the Perique and Virginias. Altogether, it's a delicious smoke. Normally I would want a little more sweetness, but the little bit that's here works well in this blend.

Body is medium to strong. Taste is medium to full. Burns very well. No appreciable difference between cob and briar.
Pipe Used: Ropp tomato, MM dwarf, MM little devil cutty
PurchasedFrom: acquired in trade (Thanks Steve)
Age When Smoked: fresh
3 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Apr 29, 2016 Medium to Strong None Detected Medium to Full Pleasant to Tolerable
Nottingham Lace Noir is another one of those blends from Glynn Quelch that offers a lot of Perique done in a masterful way. While I enjoyed the Rouge version, it wasn’t in my wheelhouse as a regular smoke. Noir, to me is a lot more complex and more to my liking. The Perique leads in pouch scent with a little bit of fig, but in the pipe, the Perique offers a lot more pepper rather than fig/plum. The Virginia’s are more of the African variety to my taste, but that’s a guess. They is more grass than sweet although there is a small amount of sweetness from them. I don’t get quite the amount of sweetness (sadly) that others have described. The Izmir provides an undercurrent that is noticeable, but minor in role flavor-wise, but to me, the Izmir is what smooths out this blend. In looking at the components, I found it difficult to see them working together, yet they do come together well which is a tribute to Mr. Quelch’s blending skill. I could easily see this as an after dinner smoke for Lat lovers looking to take a break from Latakia without giving up body and flavor. Noir really produces billows of smoke too. It’s a “meaty” blend with ample strength to satisfy full body smokers!
3 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
May 10, 2015 Medium None Detected Medium Pleasant
GQ Tobaccos - Nottingham Lace: Noir.

What a superb smoke! This is a PERFECTLY rounded blend, well perfect for me at least! The smell from the pouch is the ultimate insight into the smoke that is coming up. A full, pure and no nonsense tobacco journey. I find the moisture great, I don't have to dry it any but can fill and smoke straight from opening it.

The flavour of the smoke is a fairly deep/complex one. Although there's Perique in it it's not a Perique powerhouse. I get a subtle spicy edge from the Perique but it leaves miles of room for the other flavours to come through. I taste a superb grass like quality from the Virginia, it's not too prominent however it's easy to notice. Of all the flavours I find the Cavendish to be the lightest. If I hadn't read it contains Cavendish there's a good chance I wouldn't have noticed it! The temperature of the smoke is good, even when I really draw hard it doesn't become hot. Tongue bite? There isn't any occurrence of this all the way through. On to nicotine now. It contains what I would describe as the absolute medium amount! It would satiate N lovers yet wouldn't upset taste only smokers! The room note is quite a busy one, all the tobaccos gain recognition well but it doesn't create plumes and plumes of smoke in the room.

When I tried Nottingham Lace Rouge I new imminently it was a four star blend and the same applies to Nottingham Lace Noir. Four stars!
Pipe Used: Savinelli Roma
PurchasedFrom: G.Q Tobaccos
Age When Smoked: New
3 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Jul 03, 2014 Medium to Strong Mild Full Very Pleasant
This is yet another delightful blend from GQ. Darker, richer and more pungent than the Rouge, it gives a high level of rich, spicy taste and great aroma. The tang is sharp and pronounced and it has a good strength of character. The Perique comes across loud and clear. Wonderful aroma from the pouch and moisture and consistency to die for. Lovely, sweetness blending with the spice and pepper to make smoking this a true pleasure.
Pipe Used: Peterson, Askwith, Northern Briars
PurchasedFrom: Direct from GQ
Age When Smoked: New from retailer
3 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
May 02, 2016 Medium Extremely Mild Medium to Full Pleasant to Tolerable
Dark brown to black with a musty sour baggie aroma (25 gram bag) that was deep and rich with a soil-like undercurrent. Nice fluffy ribbons that were a bit too wet to smoke right out of the bag and this did not dry that easily, leading me to believe there's a preservative of some kind. I picked up 6 of these GQ blends to sample all the while being fearful I'd find something I couldn't live without and that would cost a small fortune to bring to the states! So let's see....

Lights easily and gives off nice clouds of smoke while retaining a thick, robust mouthfeel. The Virginias were very noticeable right out of the gate, as this started off tasting like a non-scented Lakeland blend, perhaps like the Virginia equivalent to Kendal Kentucky. The chances are very good that both blenders source from the same place, or at least the same strains. This flavor lasted throughout the bowl but eventually was superseded by the orientals. Said orientals were musky and full, with a very pleasant sour tang. I never got "creamy" from this as the blender states, but it was smoother than I thought it might be, so perhaps that's what he means by creamy. The perique was noticeable and got more peppery down the bowl but I also tasted the darker fruits, which may be the result of the Cavendish or, of course, the perique... but the main flavor I got from the perique was pepper - not too much or too little, just enough to provide some complexity and spice. I wouldn't call this hugely complex but it wasn't simple, either... sort of complex without brashness. I loved the overall flavor and the fact that it tasted rich rather than strong, but not so full that it required a meal preceding it. Overall a very nice blend but not a rotation maker, as there are blends more easily acquired in the U.S that are similar and at least as good. Still this is worth a try for someone that likes full flavor or a latakia lover that wants to see what the other components in his favorite blends bring to the party.
2 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Feb 23, 2014 Medium to Strong Mild to Medium Medium to Full Pleasant to Tolerable
Fairly broad cut, browns and black.Smell: leather, dried fruit. Taste: dark, dry, rich, with a hint of liquorice. excellent. I didn't notice the perique, though.
Pipe Used: Various
PurchasedFrom: GQ's website
Age When Smoked: New
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Feb 28, 2016 Medium to Strong None Detected Full Pleasant to Tolerable
Classed as VaPer but clearly so much more.

Now I'm a GQ fan boy in the making as I do enjoy all the tobaccos I have tried to date. This is no exception and the small sample bags are a great way to try the tobacco before you buy a load of something you may not enjoy.

This offering is dark black and brown with some broken flake and a fair addition of lighter colour tobacco through the mix. The moisture content of my sample was excellent and the cut strands uniform and long so as to be breakable without to much sawdust in the end of the bag. The tin note is subtle but very rich and has a mild sweet and figgy aroma. However if you take your time to enjoy the smell the leather and wood notes are also found. which are much more evident upon smoking the stuff.

I loaded a small pipe to start off straight from the bag with no special prep at all. The tobacco took to to the flame with ease and after a couple of lights burned slow and has to be noted as extremely cool. Trying to explain the flavour is not easy with such a complex tobacco, the flavours of each tobacco used marry together so well that the taste throughout most of my pipe was similar each time I sipped at it.

The Cavendish is smooth as cream and gave such a solid spine to the flavour that all the time I was expecting it to fade away, but no it just hangs around and lets the other flavours come and go a little through the smoke. I am a rubbish smoker and keep poor regularity to my puffing. I think that a more steady smoker would find a very consistent taste right through the pipe. The taste is dark like the tobacco with no bitter but slight sour taste. The Virginia is superb and its sweet and grassy nature empowered by the other leaf. The part that I find the magic in is the perique, it is obvious and strong but the peppery twang it is loved for is kept in check throughout. This is something I find with all the perique blends from GQ and what I see as one of the brands trademarks. I am thankful that GQ uses so much of the stuff as I love it and the great taste it gives and even more thankful that the amounts used are above the norm yet not brash or garish. The Nottingham lace noir is an above par blend and a well executed mix, a VaPer with all the bass and some treble to.

If you are a light smoker then take care as the easy smoking nature of this cool weed hides the fact it does contain nicotine to satisfy all but the extreme N junkies. Try this and the rouge and see which you like. For me however I'm torn between them both.
Pipe Used: stanwell bent brandy
PurchasedFrom: g q
Age When Smoked: new
1 person found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Apr 11, 2017 Medium None Detected Medium to Full Pleasant
Nottingham Lace was a rather heady offering with a well scripted presence of Perique for those who really need a good dose of the stuff in their smokes. The Izmer though, was not the Oriental I would have chosen for support. Charcoal like Black Cavendish and semi-sweet Virginia round out the components and all made themselves known during the smoke. If I had to describe this one in a comparative way, I'd say Banker's and Presbyterian would play in the same game.
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