Iwan Ries - King's Oriental pipe tobacco reviews

Review

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Reviewed By:	Date:	Strength:	Flavoring:	Taste:	Room Note:	Recommendation:
Showing reviews 1 through 11 of 11 reviews of this tobacco
Peppino	04/02/2011	Mild	Medium	Medium	Very Pleasant
I agree with the last review,this is an aromatic for sure. But one of good quality leaf with a nice sweetness and easy on the tongue burns evenly and cool. And yes I would say cloves are the flavoring but don't let that scare you away! I generally smoke latakia's, virginia's and virg/perq blends and like the change of pace myself. It's good to be King!
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SirGawain	04/17/2010	Mild to Medium	Medium	Medium	Pleasant
I like Iwan Ries tobaccos in general; most of them are good, "no-nonsense" tobaks in the old-school style. They really are like something your grandfather would have smoked. King's Oriental is, IMHO, one of their better ones...but be warned: this is not a crossover blend; it's an aromatic. Having said that, on the plus side, I find it smokes nice and dry, with no gurgle. It's not at all sweet, but the flavor is spicy and reminds one of something sweet, which is the chief reason why I like it. I WILL say that the predominate "spice" flavor I pick up from this one is that of cloves with a hint of licorice in the nose. Now, I happen to like both of these flavors very much, but if you don't, I daresay you won't care for this tobacco. The one drawback of the flavor on this one is that some may find it a bit "one-dimensional," as the flavor is not very complex. It's very straightforward. But it's one of those tobaccos that when I want the unique flavor it has, nothing else will do. You really can taste the orientals in this one, which, along with the mellow cavendish, predominate. The room note is very nice, and unmistakably "pipey." If you walk into a room with this, women will flock and ask what it is that you are smoking...which, depending upon the room, is not necessarily a bad thing. I am smoking a bowl of King's Oriental now as I write this, in a big old thick-walled estate Italian briar calabash wannabe, which is the pipe I have dedicated to it. I would recommend trying this in a cob first, and then if you like it, dedicate a thick-walled briar to it (as it will scent a brair rather quickly), or else smoke it in a meer. It does very well in a beautiful old Amboseli blasted meer author that I love. This is a good one from Iwan Ries. If you like real aromatics that aren't goopy or sickly-sweet, give this one a try. You'll enjoy it. Three and a half of four stars.
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phillpsych	01/31/2010	Mild to Medium	Medium	Mild to Medium	Pleasant
I have been smoking this blend for years. I quit smoking my pipe for a couple years, and had a big can of this stowed away. I've been back at it for a while, and it's better than ever. This is a very flavorful Oriental, Iwan Ries calls a crossover blend. I'm not a sophisticated smoker, I know what I like. This stuff is an all day smoke, but it can get a little sweet after a while, and then I tend toward a more English style... something like their Dr. Bradley, a true crossover. It's awesome in the morning with my coffee. I read here that the formula changed when Rex left Iwan Ries. I went there yesterday to check on this. They buy this is bulk from another large, name brand blender, and it's been the same formula for years. To my knowledge, Rex had nothing to do with blending this, at least that is what I was told. Anyway, the new can I bought yesterday smokes as nicely as the 4 year old can I had, so I have no complaints. This is a tasty aromatic called a crossover oriental. Nice.
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damtender	02/20/2009	Mild	Medium	Mild	Pleasant
I bought a pound of this in 2005 and didn't like it. Stashed it away in a tightly sealed jar thinking it may improve with some age. It hasn't. If anything it's worse than when fresh. Cloves? Yes, and other godawful stuff that doesn't belong in pipe tobacco. I would recommend this crap only to those who wish to quit smoking. It's a Chicago version of Mixture#79 and brought to you from one of the oldest, most respected shops in the country. What are they thinking?
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beaupipe	12/21/2008	Mild	Mild to Medium	Mild	Pleasant
Here I am home for Xmas and going through a stash of tins and pouches I abandoned a while back. One of them is a "Perma-Moist Pouch" of Iwan Ries' King's Oriental. The pouch is probably about 4 years old--not old enough, apparently--and I suspect that it must be the much maligned new recipe which seems to have upset so many. Oh well. (I have to say, though, that those silver pouches IRC uses are pretty amazing for maintaining moisture levels.) I remember a once-upon-a-time fondness I had for this blend and smoking it now, I find it enjoyable and downright Xmas-y with its spiced plum pudding nose. Why Iwan Ries persists in listing it among their British blends is beyond me, because this little fella is a straight-on bitey aromatic and it's about as British as I am. It's easy to do worse that KO, but it's also easy to do better.
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emmbee	08/09/2006	Mild to Medium	Mild	Mild to Medium	Tolerable
This is perhaps the finest aromatic you will ever try. But for those of you who hate aromatics, please don't be put off. Try at least an ounce of this heavenly tobacco & spoil yourself. This is a crossover blend, straddling the very finest aromatic qualities with a perfect mixture of orientals for tangy flavor. If you're expecting the typical sweet, perfumed Three Star quality for which Iwan Ries is famous, you will not find it here. Unlike their other blends, good as they are, with that characteristic IRC licorice casing, King's is light with citrus & just the right balance of piquancy. As hard as you may smoke this (and I love it so much, I could practically devour it), you won't get tongue bite, no matter how furiously you puff. This reminds me very much of the Wilke Gotham Court, with its aroma of berries & light cordial top dressing. It also has hints of Pipemaker's Choice & Nut Brown Burley by that same great blender. I used to believe that Wilke's Bohemian was the finest of all aromatic crossover blends, but as good as those blends are, you will get tongue bite; never the case here. Even if aromatics aren't your thing, it would be hard to loathe King's. It's teasing, nutty, smooth, creamy, intriguing, and develops beautifully in the bowl. It also lights easily & behaves nicely all the way down. In a word, this is a delicious tobacco! Congratulations to the venerable Iwan Ries for putting out one of the finest blends you can enjoy regularly. Try some soon! Five of five stars -------------------------------- update aug 2006 How do you go from a five-star blend to a one-star? Very simple: why, you throw the baby out with the bath water. I have a feeling that the former knowledgable Rex of Iwan Ries was tweaking this blend to make it sensational. Whomever is blending this now is skimping on everything except heat and muck. I'm really getting tired of blenders changing their recipes. C & D has been doing a lot of that lately. Pipe smoking is such a rarified and specialized pastime. Why and for whom are they changing blends? Are they trying to appeal to popular tastes? I seriously doubt it. Forget about this one. One less tobacco in my rotation. One of five stars
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thedstnguishdgntlmn	08/07/2006	Mild to Medium	Very Strong	Mild to Medium	Very Pleasant
I AM WRITING A NEW REVIEW ON THIS. ANOTHER TOBACCO CASUALTY!THIS WAS ONCE A WONDERFUL BLEND. NOW IT IS A MEDIOCRE FULL AROMATIC AT BEST. LOTS OF CLOVES AND LICORICE,BUT NOT MUCH ELSE. SKIP IT.
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mremail1964	05/12/2006	Mild to Medium	Mild to Medium	Mild to Medium	Pleasant to Tolerable
I read earlier reviews of this blend and being a semi-aromatic smoker I was interested in trying some. A very fine gentlemen from ASP (Jon) had purchased some did not like it, offered it up for free and I accepted. Now for my review... Kings Oriental is an aromatic that accrding to Iwan Ries is a "Smoky, dark Cavendish, sweet Virginias and a nice amount of Oriental for spice". It is a nice flavorable smoke but will bite your tongue hard if you don't let it dry out a little before packing. The clove is a different take on caseing from the typical cherry and such and I believe it is a blend to be enjoyed at the end of the day with a nice Pinot Noir. I would smoke it in a straight stem as opposed to a bent as it tends to gurgle in a bent design. Pick up and ounce or 2 and try some for yourself.
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wordmerchant	02/13/2006	Mild to Medium	Medium to Strong	Overwhelming	Tolerable to Strong
In my on-going journey in pipe smoking, I bought this to experience Oriental's, not as an ornamental tobacco, but rather as the principle player. Please understand that I have a nose that will make a blood hound blush. My sense of taste is equally acute. So, to me, I was given the impression that I was smoking the leaves, twigs and bark from a clove tree. This stuff actually made me feel a bit sick. Of course it may have been the visual that played through my mind: sucking a clove festooned and fatty congealed ham through my Peterson.... Fortunately I bought only a small sampler so it won't cause that much congestion in our neighboring landfill. Perhaps it will be effective for rodent control out there.... I'd much rather keep my Oriental's in smaller pinches, tucked away in the nether regions of my British blends. This almost threw me off pipe smoking! Sorry, but this one just isn't for me.
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Taste Buds	10/21/2005	Mild	Medium	Mild to Medium	Pleasant
The two reviewers before me piqued my interest in trying this blend. I ordered half a pound from Iwan Ries which arrived in a plastic screw top canister inside of which is a sealed plastic bag. The tobacco arrives very moist and needs some airing before smoking. I'm told that this blend is made by McClelland for Iwan Ries and a few other select retailers. I'm also told the flavorings used are Spanish Licorice and Cloves. The cloves are evident on opening the tin but the licorice is more difficult to distinguish. It is a sweet blend, but a dry sweet because of the flavorings used. It burns cool, with no bite, to the bottom of the bowl, with a pleasant aftertaste. This is wonderful stuff even if you don't usually smoke aromatics. The virginia and orientals are evident and very tasty, not being drowned out by the aromatic black cavendish. I would hesitate to call this a crossover blend. To me it's just a wonderful aromatic mixture of class and quality. Update: I'm lowering my rating of this blend from 4 to 2. I've tired of the taste and find it impossible to dry out. The burning qualities make it difficult to smoke.
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VRTraveller	08/26/2005	Mild to Medium	Mild to Medium	Mild to Medium	Very Pleasant
As other reviewers have indicated, King's Oriental is an amazing aromatic blend. I smoke only aromatics, and this is a master blend in my book. It is exceptional in every respect. Highly recommended!
Showing reviews 1 through 11 of 11 reviews of this tobacco