Esoterica Tobacciana - King Charles pipe tobacco reviews

Review

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Reviewed By:	Date:	Strength:	Flavoring:	Taste:	Room Note:	Recommendation:
Showing reviews 1 through 12 of 12 reviews of this tobacco
BriarPatch	04/17/2009	Mild to Medium	None detected	Mild	Tolerable
Preface: I have been smoking Dunhill Standard Mixture Medium (SMM) for near-on 30 years, believing that it has no equal anywhere on earth. But it is gone now, and so I begin a quest for my Holy Grail: A substitute to replace the standard on which all English tobaccos are based: King Charles is not SMM. But it's good in a different way. Pipestud said of SMM: "If you want a smokey flavor lingering in your mouth for hours after you finish a bowl, grab a tin of this stuff." Which is very accurate, and it is a taste in my mouth that I dearly love. But because of this, 3 times a day (after every meal, just like brushing...), (4 times with the rare Happy Hour celebration) is all my mouth can handle. But every once in a blue moon a situation will arise in life (usually stressful) where one has a sudden urge for a smoke (outside of meal times) as a calming & contemplative agent. But the thought of an in-between bowl of SMM always seemed a little overwhelming. So for a great many years I often dreamed of a clean crisp tobacco (but still interesting) to use on these rare occasions (probably with high nicotine content?). Well, King Charles might be the answer. It is not in the least bit overwhelming. In fact, I couldn't even tell you why I like it. But I do. I find it delightful. Not boring, nor complex, not strong, nor mild. I suppose one could say it is a supremely unpretentious tobacco. And a good one. Perfectly moist, and burns quite well.
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thedstnguishdgntlmn	02/17/2009	Medium	None detected	Medium	Pleasant
I find this to be a true classic among English Mixtures. The interplay between Orientals and Virginias is Wonderful. The expert use of Latakia makes this a wonderful and rewarding smoking experience. It is light, flavorful and leaves you wanting even more. Good as an all day English smoke. Try it.
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Pipestud	02/10/2009	Mild to Medium	None detected	Mild to Medium	Pleasant
King Charles Mixture has been around for many years... I imagine it is a favorite (judging from the excellent reviews here from those who choose to actually "review" blends), of those who give it three or more stars due to the quality of the Virginia, the delicate application of top-shelf Latakia and the complexity of the smoking experience. I found that King Charles worked better after considerable drying out (I dry out most of my tobaccos anyway), and will burn evenly all the way to the bottom of the bowl. It is also very cool and did not appear very strong. If light to medium strength latakia blends with evident Virginia leaf please you, then you may want to give this old classsic a try.
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SopwithCamel	07/03/2007	Medium	None detected	Mild to Medium	Tolerable
If mild to medium English blends ring your bell, then this is a very fine one. The Virginias used are superb, the other leaf lends a condimental spice and character. Well worth a sample, and it may become a favorite.
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ABSSiegel	07/03/2007	Medium	None detected	Medium	Pleasant to Tolerable
I smoked this for the first time two summers ago and the tin lasted until recently. It was an enjoyable English blend, but didn't warrant entrance to my regular rotation (that's why the tin lasted so long). There are better English blends available. I guess I was sucked in by the artwork on the tin (and I've enjoyed Penzance from the same brand, Esoterica Tobacciana) in a small tobacco shop in upstate NY on a beautiful summer day. Oh, I wasn't unhappy with my purchase; I've smoked better. Try it for yourselves. YOU might really like it.
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oldmanpipe	11/17/2006	Medium	None detected	Mild to Medium	Tolerable
Anyone who likes their English blends blended in England will be, at a minimum, unoffended by King Charles. It possesses a character not replicated in "English" blends from any other country. There are, however, more eloquent and more enjoyable statements to be smoked. There is nothing objectionable in this mixture, but, alas, there is nothing redeeming either. It is merely an acceptable smoke. The Virginias, indeed all components, are top-grade, well-aged, and processed properly. They just, IMHO, are not worth the price when there are many of other "light" English blends that offer more bang for the buck...Like Piccadilly from GL Pease. Two out of four stars.
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tonyg	08/09/2006	Medium	None detected	Medium	Very Pleasant
I'm afraid I have to agree with Beer on this one. Clearly, this is a well made quality tobacco that will appeal to some. Foe me, I find nothing to warrant future purchases.
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Beer	09/17/2004	Medium	None detected	Mild to Medium	Tolerable to Strong
I know this blend has its fans, but I am not among them... In the tin it was quite moist (as often are Germain's products), and it had a smell which reminded of Dunhill Standard Mixture Mild but weaker, less pungent. The taste is dull, grey, terribly unexciting, too. It burns very regular and with little flavor development: the Latakia doesn't make its presence very evident, and all the flavors are "drowned". Try it, by all means, as some of my friends were more than happy to snatch the remaining tins at the local tobacconist and enjoyed them, but I have much better stuff to smoke... 2011 Update: After several years, I decided to give it another try. This time, it was not as moist as the previous two tins I had smoked some years ago: actually, it was almost perfect in humidity level for smoking right away. My impressions about the smoking experience are overall better, too: this time it has more taste and body, though I still feel that it's quite an unimpressive mixture. The Virginias have good quality, and it's not a wimpy smoke: especially in large bowls, their sweetness s comes out in the second half. Latakia still is very subdued, and alas I think it's a monochromatic (though pleasant) smoke. Once in a while, in some pipes, it seems to shine, but it's not so frequent. I think that Samuel Gawith has a much better (more complex, more pleasant, more fascinating) product than this one in the same style (EM light): Skiff Mixture. While King Charles is not bad, with Skiff Mixture around I have not many reasons to buy it again.
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Daniel Morlan	08/08/2004	Mild to Medium	None detected	Medium to Full	Pleasant to Tolerable
Well, I'm going to give this same review to the one offered by Germain and Son, as they are the same tobacco: I opened the tin, and was greeted with what I can best describe as an earthy, almost plastic-like smell that had me wondering about this before I lit it. It took a little work to get it lit, I think some drying might help this a little bit. Maybe 30 minutes on the dashboard or so. Once she lit, I was very impressed. The smoke was actually fairly sweet, and while you could definitely taste the Latakia, it really doesn't take center stage, it shares it with the others. There's something that I don't quite recognize in this blend, and it's not BAD by any means, but it's nothing that I can compare anything else to. I don't want to say something that could possibly turn someone off, but clove-banana tastes, with a hint of sweetness, and that smooth latakia flavor combine to make a pleasant, consistent from beginning-to-end smoke. I'm quite happy that I bought this tin, and look forward to adding it to my regular rotation. My honest opinion: You gotta try it if you like English blends. It may or may not be your thing, but if it's a heavy latakia taste you're looking for, you won't quite find it here. This brand is quite subdued compared to Balkan types. It has more latakia flavor in it than Cornell & Diehl's Yale Mixture, and that little something else that gives it a bit of exotic flavor. I wish I were more in-tune with my palate, and knowledge of orientals to know exactly what kind of tastes they impart. I give it an 8 out of 10. A VERY high score. Cheers! Daniel
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Recovery7	02/25/2004	Mild to Medium	None detected	Medium to Full	Pleasant
Tin aroma is one of the more intriguing that I have encountered as of late. Rich and full but not overpowering. It was easy to pick out the Virginias and Orientals. The tobacco was in a firm cake, not hard pressed, more of a Krumble Kake. It rubbed out with ease into a mixed cut ribbon. I loaded this into a Larsen Zulu, a pipe I'd used only twice due to some lighting difficulties. The tobacco was a bit damp, but easily overcome and lit very easily (perhaps my priors were user error). The aroma was warm and not the typical "English" smell. Weather was rather dreary and this provided ample reason to contemplate the tobacco. The Virginias showed their brightness and sweetness, the Orientals their spice. The Latakia kept things cool and provided a wonderful smoky background. I've been smoking "English" style tobaccos for over a year now. I'd characterize this as a mild English. The Latakia is noticeable, but doesn't dominate the blend. The Virginias provide a level of sweetness and the interplay of the Orientals is expertly done.
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Jon Tillman	01/04/2002	Medium	None detected	Medium to Full	Tolerable
Tin Aroma: There is the mustiness of Latakia, the zest of Orientals and the pungency of bright leaf Virginia in the pouch aroma. The interplay of these three elements is wide and varied, with this blend sometimes smelling musty like a proper english blend, sometimes smelling warm and sweet, like a good virginia blend. Physical Characteristics: A short ribbon cut comprised mostly of lighter colored pieces, this blend came out of the tin in a very smokable condition, and improved only slightly with exposure to the drying effects of ambient air. Packs easily, owing to the shortness of the cut, and holds together very well during smoking, leaving a dark grey ash that is almost sandy in texture. Notes: The sample tin I smoked had been aged for 5 years, which may have colored my perceptions of this blend enormously. I enjoyed this blend immensely in almost all of my briars, though both meerschaums and corncobs seemed to add ( or detract, I cannot say which) something fro mthe flavor that was integral to my enjoyment of it. The taste is full and satisfying, without being overpowering, which is, to me at least, quite an accomplishment, as most blends I have tried fall either to one side of this equation or the other, being too full and powerful to really enjoy a whole bowl, or so flat and mild as to offer very little in the way of body. This blend requires very few relights, even with my meager smoking skills, and burns evenly and smoothly to the bottom of the bowl, leaving only ash and a stray scrap or two of tobacco. Probably the highest accolade I can give this tobacco is that bowls of it always seem to end too soon. Verdict: This is a stellar blend, and rapidly becoming one of my favorites.
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Sceny	04/08/2001	Medium	Extremely Mild	Medium to Full	Tolerable
This is a very good but very different English blend. There is a strange, not unpleasant taste through most of the bowl, one that I have never tasted in a tobacco before. Regardless, it is a very relaxing and satisfying tobacco. The smell in the sample bag is that of an English blend, medium in strength and not apparently flavored. The tobacco is varied in color, black and medium brown and lighter brown, with medium brown the largest component. The cut is unusual: the sample came as a soft "brick", held together but not at all like a pressed flake, with some extra loose tobacco at the bottom. The cut is varied, most of it very long, but some medium length and rigid and some hair-fine; this makes packing properly rather tricky. It does light easily, though, and it burns well, needing the average number of relights. The moisture level is also roughly average. I chose a 1/4 bent Savinelli bulldog for the first bowl of this blend. For the first third, the taste is that of a good English blend: Latakia first, supported by other tobacco flavors. The Latakia is not overwhelming, this being a milder blend than Dunhill 965 or Raven's Wing. Still, it isn't mild, and it is very English, the smell of the smoke reflecting that. The taste is different, though, than I am used to. There is an element of spiciness here, and of sour sweetness (if that makes sense!), that I haven't noticed in English blends before. It doesn't taste like a casing, so it must be from the tobacco itself. It is especially noticeable when blown out through the nose. In the second third, the strange taste is still present, and there is a bit of bite as well. The basic tobacco taste hasn't changed much, though, with Latakia still clearly noticeable over the lesser tobacco flavors. The flavor overall is not very dark, but fairly full and complex, and even the weird taste isn't unpleasant, just different. In the last part of the bowl, the unusual taste has diminished somewhat, mingling more closely with the English flavor. It has settled into a very relaxing, pleasant smoke that is full and complex, but not overly dark. The minor tongue bite has ceased, and there are no problems with moisture in the bowl. Overall, this is a very good blend. I would not put it at the level of GLP Renaissance, but in the realm of medium-to-strong English blends, this is certainly worth noting. It is a very relaxing, unusual smoke, and I plan to buy one or more tins of this in the future.
Showing reviews 1 through 12 of 12 reviews of this tobacco