I’m going to get a new tin and see how it compares, then I’ll either update this review or I won’t. Four stars isn’t near good enough to rate this, but four stars is as high as you’ll let me go.

Does best for me in a wider bowled pipe. This stuff really hits its stride mid bowl, everything kinda melds into a rounded creamy and smoky experience. It stays in that zone til the end if your puffing is careful and consistent.

This blend is very clean and refreshing and balanced. Most Latakia containing blends leave a coating in the mouth. This does not. My Latakia fave has been C&D'S Star of the East flake. It has an earthiness to it, this blend does not. Likewise, Dunhill Nightcap has this smoky charred wood punch, Artisans blend lacks these edges. It is more rich and smooth. I absolutely love the lingering aroma this leaves on the hands, clothes, and nostrils.

The tin states "for the experienced smoker". I disagree and would recommend to anyone looking to try Latakia as it is a very reliable and predictable smoke

The Latakia gives this blend a nice velvety textured and thick smokiness to background which is for the first half of the bowl is the predominant taste. In the foreground the Virginia and Perique take precedence giving the second half of the bowl in particular a slight spiciness almost peppery and a very subtle sweetness from the Virginia's in this blend.

I would highly recommend this to pipe smokers of also ranges of experience as i do not believe in a "beginners" tobacco and i think this is tasty enough for the experienced smoker yet subtle enough for someone starting off and maybe wanting to try their first "English" blend it is similar to Dunhill Night Ca but also has some many differences.

If you get a chance to buy it, Get out your wallet

Adam.

The Latakia itself is very shy in the flavor department and works in spades. It is a bitter smoke for the most part that turns harsh for a few puffs then comes back to bitter with the too infrequent Latakia creamy like taste (a topping maybe). It smokes cool to a white ash and no gurgle.

While in Nightcap all the ingredients could be savored, in Artisan's blend you get a charcoal like flavor that could be interesting if it wasn't for the tendency of this mixture to turn bitter to a point that it becomes unpleasant with harshness.

I tried this tobacco with three different pipes, all Latakia mixture dedicated, believing that it was the pipes that were faulty. To no avail, the smoking experience remained disappointingly the same.

50g arrives in a good quality, round tin, which appears to be fully airtight, with ghastly UK health warning sticker easily and immediately removed.

The tobacco is dark and appealing, in ribbons, not dry nor wet, and is IMHO perfect smoking straight out of the tin. Tin note is rich and intoxicating, spicy, and - though I confess I do not have the most sensitive pallet in the world - gave me licorice and pine nuts and, as with all quality mixtures, the sense that I would have to live with this one to find those scents that lurked beneath the first impression.

I loaded my first bowl into a medium/large Hardcastle Special Deluxe #4 Rhodesian, which seemed right, and I tend to reserve for English blends. The false light gave me plenty of rich smoke and flavour, and I probably could have got away with a single match. However I tamped down fairly hard and re-lit. The tobacco burns readily and evenly, but incredibly coolly. I tend to puff away a little over-excitedly when first trying a new tobacco, and the bowl never heated beyond warm to the hand. Amazing! The tastes were full on, giving me bitter sweet, more licorice, though it is quite subtle, (which I particularly enjoyed,) spices, delicate pinewood and sweet leather, reminding me at times of the smell of a good stout as it is raised to the lips. I tend to inhale through the nose as I go, and smelled pine again. Decent hit of nicotine without detracting from the experience which I find strong tobaccos can. I was expecting cigar tones in the second half, (which I don't like much,) but gladly none came. The flavours and scents remained unusually consistent, never deteriorating, though a more tuned nose than my poor old thing would, I am sure, detect some development. This fact however is a plus for this blend. I quite frequently find myself preferring the first half of a bowl to the second, and regularly finding unburned tobacco in the bottom when I clean my pipes. Without even thinking about it, I reached the bottom of the bowl. I found the blend burned a little wet, but not annoyingly so, and nothing a quick prod with a cleaner couldn't fix.

Two reasons this blend does not get 4 stars - I personally prefer sweeter tobaccos. And, for me (and my family,) the room note is of leather and wood and not much else. 3.5 is about right... If only we had a rating system out of 10. However, I get the feeling I will be fitting this blend into my regular rotation. Perfect any time smoke, as long as it's not at the dinner table! Recommended.

The Syrian Lat has that special smell that is unmistakeable. When smoked, it is smooth and stimulating on the senses, but will sure put a hurtin' on the palate if smoked too hard or too often. It has enough Lady N punch to demand respect and gentle sipping. Very satisfying! For those who enjoy rich, complex blends...here you go.

After some reflection I have reconfirmed my position that pipe blends are very much influenced by their environments and quality of the company kept while puffing. Fishing alone on a toasty spring day would NOT be recommended for such a dynamic ditty. Artisan's Blend wants your time to itself without distractions, like a needy girlfriend. It has the potential to be a lifelong acquaintance and is therefore recommended for all serious connoisseurs of pipe tobacco.

The cut is crazy long strands of tobacco and it was the most moist of any tinned brand I have yet purchased. The paper insert was soaked. It dried out nice and burned surprisingly dry. It is unique amongst english blends with the inclusion of perique.

With so many blends yet to try, I will likely not jump out and buy more immediately, but with so few options outside the internet being as convenient as this one B & M I will likely buy more at some point in the future. So recommended, but not quite four stars.

Updated october 15th 2011

This is an awesome english blend.... It evolved from the last time imreviewed it, maybe due to some oxygenation... Full rich delicious taste of latakia and orientals with virginias.

This is a rich and sophisticated blend that is perfect for a relaxed, unhurried smoke.

Updated 11/10/11- Tastes change, I find that the Cognac topping is more than I want to handle. The Latakia is lighter than I like and there IS a bitterness in the background of this smoke. I don't want to be overly negitive as this is still a quality smoke. I have found that I personally find this better as I get to the half way point in the tin where the blend has had time to breath, dry and reduce some of the topping.I find this an easy smoke, it burns easy both inside and out. I do find the first half of the pipe more flavorful then the second half, that becomes muttled. I will keep it in my monthly rotation

Updated 8/16/12 Wow I don't know "what I was smoking" when I made the above reviews ?????? I just opened a a fresh tin that is one year old and I get no topping, just strong Latakia and little else. It's not sweet from the Virginias, it is hard to find the Orientals. It's a smooth Latakia blast with a nice easy burning cut. This tobacco has it's place but I like more interest, some will find this 4 stars but I'm kicking this down to where I won't buy again. Just my own thing.

Ashton and Kohlhase & Kopp nailed this blend. The Syrian is a delight, the Virginia I suspect are high grade African (which I like), the Oriental formulation, perfection. I would not change or adjust a single thing in it.

Heady stuff. I am posting a short review because describing it here has made me want to load some up right now and head into my "wife-designated smoking area" and enjoy some as a nightcap.

Good show. A solid 4 Stars

Didn't get any of NC's powerful blasts of nicotine. All I got was warm coal-like sooty air passing into my mouth.

Latakia dominant to a degree, no perique present that I could detect. I gave up on trying to detect the other ingredients.

Still it's a nice posh tin, and alludes to us marketing suckers to part with more cash for yet another unnecessary purchase to add to the 35lbs we already have stashed away in the attic or celler.

Artisans is not my bag really, Nightcap is a nicotine bomb, and is a far richer blend if you ask me. (But I hear NC isn't available in good old Blighty, its origin of birth I hasten to anyone know why?)

However, I do hear it's available in America for about £7 for a 50gm. Nightcap 50gm tins will cost us Brits about £11 by the time it NEVER gets here.....

Still each to their own, give this Ashton's mixture stuff a go, it may just be right up your lungs will this blend.

I rate it at about a.....Meh!

Which = 2 stars