Lane Limited Medal of Valor

I've never smoked Medal of Honor so I can't make a comparison, but I'm gonna guess that this isn't supposed to be a match. First off, MOH had Mahalla and Dubec for the Oriental component and MOV has " hints of Oriental ". Secondly, as far as I know, MOH had no Burley or Perique. I suppose this should be judged on it's own merits, which is all I can do anyway, and in that regard it's a decent smoke. I smoked it in three different types of pipe and as usual got three different results.

Cob (MM Diplomat Apple) - The Burley had too strong of an influence and that seemed to unbalance the blend. I don't think the blender intended for it to be tasted this way. It wasn't bad, just smoked like an American English that was just a bit off.

Clay (Markus Fohr #4) - Smoked more like a traditional English, albeit, one with a good bit of Perique. The Burley was hardly noticed. A nice smoky, sweet, spicy, woody smoke. Not bad at all.

Briar (Jobey Pot) - Smokes like a nicely balanced American English. This is probably what the blender had in mind. The Burley is noted, but behaves itself allowing all the other components to have their say.

I like it in both the clay and the briar. It's like having two blends in one. Either way you go with it it's a three star blend. Not spectacular, but pretty solid.

Mild to medium in body. Medium in flavor. Burns very nicely. This was the bulk version.

The Cyprian latakia is richly smoky, woody sweet, and is a main component. The Virginias offer a little earth and a touch of grass along with a slight fruit and citrus as the base for the other components to strut their stuff. In a support role is the nutty, lightly earthy and molasses sweet burley which underscores most every puff without showing any force. The Oriental and perique are minor additions. The Oriental has a woody, dry character that provides a little complexity, and is noticeable most of the time. The perique is raisiny with a little spice, though you don’t always taste it. The nic-hit is closer to mild than it is to medium. Won’t bite unless you put a live piranha fish in the bowl. Burns at a moderate pace, cool, clean and smooth with a mildly creamy, fairly consistent flavor. Requires few relights, and leaves virtually no moisture in the pipe. The strength leans more toward medium than mild, and the taste borders the medium threshold. Has enough complexity to hold your interest, and could be an all day smoke with little trouble.

-JimInks

Lane Ltd - Medal of Valour.

I received this as a freebie with an order from Smoking Pipes.com. This is my first blend from Lane Ltd, so it's a new experience!

Note: as this was free with an order it was supplied in bulk form as opposed to a tin.

The smell from the pouch? Completely non-startling, it's like every other English/Balkan out there. The colour of the blend's prominently medium brown, with a smaller amount of black flecks across it. As this was from bulk, it's not had any of the water sealed inside.

At first, I'd say the Latakia's in the lead: smoky, woody, and rich, but after the initial puffs it calms down somewhat and makes room for the others. The Burley's tasty: it's not too headstrong, but gives the smoke a robust touch. The Virginia offers a base-note to the smoke: what it lacks in dazzling flavour, it makes up for by being a constant and stable taste. The longer I smoke this, the more I think I can identify the Perique. Don't expect to get a big blast of spice, I'm talking more of a figgy/dark fruitiness; and it's very subtle.

The room-note's pleasant, and the nicotine's about medium.

Even though I miss the 'big Lat' taste' once it's calmed down, I still enjoy the flavour I get. I wouldn't call it the best English I've had, but it's not the worst by a million miles.

Recommended.

I'm going to keep this one fairly short.

Better than Crown Achievement in my view. The tin moisture is just right, packs well, and burns great.

Orientals are there in supporting role and you do have to seek them out a bit, although in a good way. I find this blend is more of a sipper than a puffer, not too demanding and the Latakia is noticeable but not huge.

Overall a competent blend, but nothing special. I'll finish the tin and move on.

I finally decided to give Medal of Valor a try less than a year ago. Just for fun, I pulled out a Mason Jar full of old Medal of Honor that I keep with other jarred tobacco that I don't smoke much off and smoked a bowl of it first. I waited an hour and then tried a bowl of Medal of Valor. It is a nice blend, but the only similarity I could find between the two was the tin top label. Medal of Valor has a less smoky Latakia presentation and the Virginia added less bottom. The Orientals whispered but the Perique shouted. A very nice English style smoke with some spiciness you will not find in Medal of Honor.

I was given about 2 oz. Of Medal of Valor by my tobacconist as a tester because I was having a hard time with the stronger latakia blends (I thought they tasted like soap) but I loved the vape blends (Bayou Morning- Bayou Night), so he asked me to try this out thinking that I would like it and he was right. Not only did I like it but the complexity of it got me hooked immediately. After a few days of smoking it I thought I would go back and try the stronger latakia blends again and I quickly new that I had arrived. Not only did they not taste like soap to me anymore, they were awesome, Smokey and all around good. Medal of Valor is cool, spicy, Smokey with mild hints of sweetness. About halfway through I always get a nuttiness that I love and am left relaxed and fullfilled. I am new to pipes and have allot more blends and mixtures to try and compare but for now it is one of my top 5 daily smokes.

Medal of Valor is my afternoon coffee blend. Not to strong. A little woody and a lot of nutty ness. Packs very well and if left to breath for an hour or so lights better than if packed out of the tin. This is not a heavy latakia blend. It is more a very mild flavor and medium bodied blend that smells more like a British blend than tastes like one. I tend to really like latakia and my palate tends to run on the strong side. So for me this was light. My barbershop group likes this blend as well. Room note is average. I like the nutty flavor. It works very well with dark beer and scotch as well.

There is a lot going on in this blend. The first thing to hit is the Latakia, with the thick, syrupy Burley coming through strongly. Behind those two main players, the Virginias are grassy and earthy. The Perique is clearly there, peppery and vinegary. The Orientals are less noticeable, but may contribute some dry woodiness in the background.

The problem is that all these ingredients don't go together all that well. There is some disharmony, especially between the strong, smoky Latakia and the more subtle, acidic Perique, while the Burley is just too sugary and strong and not well integrated into the mix.

It is very hard making a harmonious blend from so many and so diverse tobaccos, and I don't think Lane has succeeded in doing that with Medal of Valor. The ingredients may be of high quality, but I don't think the recipe is. Some may find this blend interesting and maybe even challenging, I find it somewhat chaotic.

I received this yesterday from P&C and I am presently smoking my third bowl of this very fine tobacco blend. This tobacco packed and lit easily straight from the fresh tin requiring no relights after the initial burn. The flavor upon lighting I found to be a very pleasant surprise. The smoke contains a smokey fruity sweetness with a subtle spicy accent. It didn't bite and left a pleasant taste on the palette upon completion. I like some Latakia every once and awhile and while this blend is lighter in this component than some others I have tasted this blend has enough to satisfy my taste for it. I highly recommend this blend as an anytime or all day smoke.

I want to state up front that I agree with reviewers Pipestud and Gentleman Zombie that this blend is not Medal of Honor. Medal of Valor has both Perique and Burley in it's formula and this makes it spicier than the MOH I smoked in the past. I remember older versions of MOH as being a ruddy brown in tin color with darker flecks while MOV presents a much more standard and expected tan to dark flecks variation. The tin aroma of MOV was stronger than I expected from my experiences with MOH and much spicier. However, upon lighting and smoking I found MOV to be, basically, a borderline mild/medium English blend with all of it's components working in relative harmony. My remembrance of MOH is that of an Oriental-forward borderline mild/medium English blend. Medal of Honor remained consistent over the decades I smoked it, in an off and on manner, but changed in the last several years of it's lifespan to, ironically, something much more akin to the present Medal of Valor. I actually felt more positive about the later variation of MOH and feel the current MOV looks like it in the tin and smokes more like it. As for my smoking of it, my test smoke broke down like this: top third - not bad but a little spicy on the tongue, middle third - as is the case with so many pipe blends, this third was the most enjoyable and developed into a rich marrying of all components and the bottom third - also like so many blends, was the least part of the smoke and fell from richness to toned-down to rather blah. I score this blend as: top third 3 stars, middle third 4 stars and bottom third 2 stars with an average of 3 stars - recommended.