Kohlhase, Kopp und Co. KG Winter Edition 2015

The grassy, tart and tangy citrusy bright Virginia is a little more obvious than the mildly tangy, ripe dark fruity, earthy, woody darker Virginia. The sugar from the black cavendish has some depth without being forceful. The sweet, lightly tart cherry is the lead topping. The almond is not quite a secondary player. The licorice is a condiment. The mint varies in its affect: always there to underscore the experience and here and there, it momentarily rises above the almond. There’s a continual light floral essence that sports a distracting sour alcohol note at times. The tobaccos are sublimated to a fair extent by the variety of flavorings. The taste is a step closer to medium than it is to mild. The nic-hit is mild. Won’t bite or get harsh. The tobacco is a little moist, and may need a slight dry time. Burns cool and a tad slow with a fairly consistent flavor. Leaves a little moisture in the bowl, and requires some relights. The lightly lingering after taste is almost as sour as it is sweet. Has a very pleasant room note. Can be an all day smoke for the veteran smoker. Two and a half stars.

-JimInks

Ver easy to smoke. Do not need frequent relights and gives ate pleasant room note. To be sure to have all flavors in the mouth, smoke it gently. Not a highflyer but a good and pleasant Christmas blend.

Here we have a mild one. A high qualitiy mixture as expected by Kohlhase & Kopp. Just needs a little airing and is perfectly smokable with not much relighting needed. A tobacco that needs not much atention and causes no tongue bite at all so maybe quite suitable for beginners. The tin note is very typical for many christmass mixtures, lot of cavendish as expected. The first time i smoked this one i was a little disappointed since i expected more but when you get used to this one the different aromas shine through more and more. A very mild and decent blend with a nice sweet note. You should take some time while smoking and it will develop on you!

This is the first time I’ve tried anything from Kohlhase & Kopp. I’m a big fan of Christmas/holiday blends in general, so I was eager to try something new. The tin is rather nice (those who collect tins will probably like this one), though it probably won’t suffice as a long term storage option since it’s not a tightly sealed tin and the tobacco inside is stored in a cellophane baggie ala the Peterson Christmas blends. The tin note was a very strong licorice/cherry aroma with a slight hint of almond and even slighter hint of mint – the wifey said it reminded her of maraschino cherries. I guess that’s the Christmas association since maraschino cherries are used in fruitcake maybe? It reminded me more of a cherry cough syrup than fruitcake, that’s for sure – but not like some of the sickly sweet cherry flavored tobacco you can find. It was definitely an aroma I’ve not smelled in a pipe tobacco before, so I was eager to see how it smoked.

The loose/ribbon cut tobacco was definitely on the moist side, so I let it air out for about 30 mins before prepping the pipe (I used a large IMP Meerschaum apple for this first smoke). The tobacco packed easily enough, but it took some lighting before it actually started smoking, even after the drying. It had trouble staying lit the entire pipe – it could be that the tobacco needed to air out for an even longer period of time… but 30 mins should have been plenty. When it was burning, the smoke was very pleasant and it didn’t burn hot at all. I didn’t notice any tongue bite while I was smoking – which I thought was a bit odd considering how difficult it was to keep the tobacco lit. The room note was a very pleasant almond/cherry aroma and it was wifey approved. It’s definitely not a heavy room note, unlike some of the other aromatics I’ve smoked. Definitely pleasant.

I was a little disappointed in this one since I was expecting another great holiday blend. It wasn’t terrible (I’ve definitely had far worse tobacco), but it wasn’t mind-blowing at all. Maybe it will get better with time, but for the most part it left me uninspired. The other 2015 holiday offerings I’ve tried so far (C&D Golden Days of Yore, McClelland Holiday Spirit 2015, and McClelland Christmas Cheer 2015) are all much better. In all fairness, though, this Kohlhase & Kopp blend is nothing at all like those other holiday blends… so at least it’s unique. I’ll probably put some of this tin in small jar for smoking this year and will put the rest in a larger jar for cellaring. Maybe it will be a much better smoke next season.