Seattle Pipe Club Potlatch

The nutty, earthy, woody, lightly molasses sweet burley takes a small lead with able support from the other ingredients. The floral, dry, herbal, vegetative, spicy, woody, earthy, lightly sweet and lightly more sour Turkish and Orientals are an ever present condiment that play above that threshold due to their richness. The smoky, woody, earthy, musty sweet Cyprian Latakia is a secondary player at best. Tangy, vinegary ripe dark fruit, wood, sugar, bread, and earth from the red Virginia duels with the Latakia for attention. The aspects of the tart and tangy citrusy, grassy, sugary, lightly floral bright Virginia lightly whispers to the taste buds along with a touch of floral and sugar. The mostly plummy, raisiny, earthy, woody Acadian perique offers a pinch of spice far in the background. The brown sugar from the unsweetened black cavendish adds a smoothing sweetness. The strength level is medium, while the taste is a step past that mark. The nic-hit is just past the center of mild to medium. It won’t bite or get harsh, but does have an occasional hint of a rough edge. Burns cool and clean at a reasonable pace with a deep, though at times, lightly inconsistent flavor due to the complex interplay of the burley, Turkish and Orientals. It easily burns to ash, and doesn’t require many relights. It leaves virtually no moisture in the bowl. It has a pleasantly lingering, sweet campfire after taste, and stronger room note. It’s not quite an all day smoke, but it’s certainly repeatable, and veteran smokers may consider this to be a constant companion during their waking hours.

-JimInks

I finally cracked open one of my tins of Potlatch recently. Since it is a new blend I wanted to let it sit awhile, but after six months I just couldn't help myself and decided to find out what was inside. Man, was I ever overwhelmed (in a wonderful way) by the variety. Sweet Virginia, spicy Orientals, Latakia and Burley notes all came through without one overpowering the other. I know there is Perique in this blend but I never really felt its presence. Joe Lankford somehow added that leaf to compliment without racing to the front. One of the finest blends of this type that I have smoked in a very long time. Boy, its going to be hard to let the rest of the tins just sit and age.

Pipestud

I was surprised at how delectable this english is. This is definitely an extraordinary fusion or hybrid blend. I am usually a Balkan smoker (Plum Pudding for 8 years!) because the complexities from the orientals & Latakia make a smoke that changes and stays interesting thru the bowl. Potlatch is similarly complex. Curiously, Potlatch seems like it has more latakia than it actually does. The burley is a very high grade leaf that supports the latakia and enhances it in a way that I had not tasted before. To keep things spiced there is a balanced mix of perique and turkish. Potlatch also has a solid base of black cavendish which rounds out the other 6 leaf ingredients. This is a tobacco that just gets better down the bowl. A lot of tobaccos start out good but fail to finish. Potlatch has great character and is different than any blend I have smoked. I was surprised that I loved it as much as I did! I highly recommend Joe Lankford's latest creation.

Full disclosure: I am a member of the Seattle Pipe Club.

How many "WOW" moments do we get when we try new blends? I've had a few: "Maltese Falcon", Frog Morton's Cellar", "Penman's Choice (simply one of the best aromatics out there)", and "Blue Balkan". Now along comes Seattle Pipe Club's "Potlatch". WOW! A blend of seven tobaccos that manage to blend and marry wonderfully. Opening the tin, I was met with odors of leather, wood, and a slight hint of chocolate. The chocolate is not a casing, but is there none-the-less (at least to my nose). The blend is easy to light and stays lit with no problems. It should be noted that I hate talking about "room note." What I find pleasant, others may say stinks (my wife for instance, "Smoking the stinky stuff again"". Like a fine cigar, I like the strong scent of a high-grade pipe tobacco. "Potlatch" has quickly become a "go-to" blend for me. I smoke it any time of the day. This is another blend that like the Club's "Plum Pudding) is going to be hard to keep in stock. I will be buying more tins and stocking up 🙂 You should, too. I should add that when I see Perique in a tobacco, I usually avoid it (reeks havoc with my stomach). That said, the use of Perique in "Potlatch" is not overdone and adds just a hint of flavor. Well done, Seattle Pipe Club!

Mottled light brown to black ribbon with chunks of black floating around, which appears to be the Cavendish. Moderately deep earthy tobacco smell in the tin with a hint of perhaps light chocolate. Cheap cardboard tin, so I'd recommend jarring this if you're going to stock up. The inside of mine was already coming apart. McClellands, C&D/GLP tins, folks! At least if you're going to age your tobaccos. These cheap Sutliff-style ones are junk.

I noticed a review of Plum Pudding recently that wondered why there was no burley in that mix because it had everything else. The writer was, I believe, going for some sort of humor but I found it interesting because this blend appears to be a ribbon version of Plum Pudding with burley added. And therein lies the difference. I think this could have been another ho-hum blend but the burley elevates it mightily. Excellent burley! Tastes like it may have been sourced from Steven Books, as it has that same old-timey nutty-sweet flavor and the scent of old... ahem... Books! Whereas I found Plum Pudding to be rather "meh", this blend really showed off the wonderful marriage of a lot of components. Often, such a foray results in a cloudy, uneven mixture but this one worked well. The latakia was condimental on top a base of Virginia and that sweet burley. The orientals and perique were in the background, particularly the perique, but both played their parts masterfully. The Cavendish provided a sweet body to the smoke and I wonder if the sweetness of the burley was due to those two components jelling together. I couldn't decide to rate this as a high 3 or low 4 but finally opted for the latter. Not a regular rotation maker but this is one is testament to Joe Lankford, the blender, while the others of his I tried were just ok. If you enjoy that old time Steve Books burley flavor and a nicely concocted stew of "underneath" flavors, this is one you should try. I found it very well done and a pleasure to smoke. A bit of nic for you Vitamin N advocates, too!

Potlatch, another great creation out of the mind of Joe Langford, greets the nose with indication from just the scent alone that this is going to be a complex blend! The dominate scent for me, is mainly of Turkish, lightly added Latakia and a bit of sour. It’s hard to say what category this blend falls into, but I would call it an English blend. In the pipe, the flavors are complex to say the least. One moment, I taste the Turkish, then, a moment later, there is the nuttiness from the Burley as that takes over a bit. The Latakia provides a fair amount of smokiness, but is in a supporting role. I honestly don’t get much from the Virginias other than a little grassy taste. There is a little spice from the Perique and I can’t say how much Perique there is in the blend, but there is enough to know that it’s going to be a player. Add to all of that, just enough Cavendish to offer a little underlying sweetness. Toward the end of the bowl, the strength ticks up to just above medium in this creamy smoke. I don’t detect any added flavoring, rather just the Cavendish dimension. If there is something added, it is added ever so lightly. I would mainly call this a Burley, Turkish and Perique blend. But the Latakia and Cavendish add the extra dimensions that bring the blend to a whole new level. I have reached the place where, even when I think a blend is a four star blend, that I seldom find something new that I want to add to the daily rotation. I think Potlatch breaks that barrier for me. My only quibble with Potlatch is with the packaging. I am not sure that this type of a “tin” will hold up to long term, multi-year aging as it is a mixture of plastic, foil, and tin. I’m not saying that it won’t, I simply don’t know.

Well, all the Seattle Pipe Club blends are of high quality. And Potlach is a very much appreciated English right now. But if there is such a thing as too complex, then this might be it. Or, it could just be an idiosyncratic thing on my part but I really didn;t love this. I expected to but I didn;t. I would bet I could blind taste this and tell it was a recently developed blend. I say that because it has a certain over ambitious quality to it. For me, subjective here, there is too much Perique. And somehow there is so much going on that I cant focus on any one thing. I get a jumble of taste. To me the greatest blends...the old balkan sobranie (im old enough to remember that), or the old original Smyrna by john cotton, or some of original Dunhill blends, you get complexity but you also get a signature taste. A tobacco blenders vision if you will. Here i dont. But again, very good quality and while Im not giving it four stars it certainly could be deserving of it if your taste runs in this direction.

This is a fine tobacco blend! The mixture is spot on without any one tobacco being too dominant and yet it interestingly intertwines like a fine orchestra. The flavors pull through from beginning to end without disappointment. The fusion of 7 different tobaccos is like someone found the DNA code of the perfect tobacco specimen. This tobacco has something for everyone and won't leave you disappointed. It will quickly weave into my regular rotation. Just when you think you might be getting it figured out, a truly good blend like this comes along and let's you know there's more to be explored. And, while you're exploring, you just upgraded your ride.

I was worried that Potlatch may be over-blended, meaning all the different leaves meld into a bland symphony.

Pleasantly no, this is a jazz sextet and when you pay attention you can focus on a single type of leaf. It packs and burns well tastes great, the Burley is high quality nutty and sligtly rich, often I find Burley lacking age with shallow fermentation resulting in alkalinity; pH tongue bite.

The Latakia is in the background like an apt rhythm section, keeping the groove all the way through.

All in all a very pleasant blend not too demanding, Uncle Nic does not crash the party and make a boor of himself. Almost a cruise-control blend: pack, light and enjoy, a nice sojourn from my robust English and Oriental regimen.

Seattle Pipe Club - Potlatch.

I've wanted to smoke this for ages!

The tin contains a coarse cut mixture, not just a simple ribbon, and includes about every shade of tobacco! The moisture's a winner, so on we go:

Complex, this describes the taste. I get zero added flavours, it's natural tobacco all the way. The Latakia leads for the initial part, until about a quarter of the way in. After this point the flavour develops a fuller taste: the Oriental/Turkish, Burley, and Perique become equal in volume to the Latakia. I struggle to notice much Virginia and black Cavendish; I think they find it hard to compete with the strength of flavour from the others. The mechanics from Potlatch can't be faulted, but if a bowl's puffed too forcefully it can bite. Although, as tongue-bite affects everyone differently, it may not bite you!

I like the room-note, and the nicotine from it feels quite strong.

Seattle Pipe Club - Potlatch? Highly recommended.

Four stars.