Ashton Celebrated Sovereign

This is an English blend for people who don't like English blends. What I mean is that Celebrated Sovereign presents itself as a fine Virginia blend with a nice Oriental presence that just happens to have a light added component of Latakia. The heart of this blend is sweet McClelland Virginias and Carolinas. If you air-smoke this blend (a/k/a allow air to enter your mouth around the stem on the draw), the Latakia is purely a background condiment, and the complexity of the VA/Carolina interaction is marvelous. The "dryness" (as in a dry wine, not mouth-drying)of the Dubec leaf offers a nice counterpoint, as is a feel that I could best describe as "tea" - a tasty, slight bitterness. I really can't taste the Cavendish, though I suspect it was added to cool the smoke.

If your favorite blend is Nightcap, this will certainly disappoint you. But if you are looking for a great example of a well-balanced English blend, CS is worth your time and money. I find very few English blends that I would consider "complex", but this pulls it off, while simultanously being an easy smoke. Again, I would heartily recommend "air smoking" this, keeping it just above a smoulder.

I have been smoking several blends that are referred to as "Old American Blends" which is what I mostly smoke. I found one tin of this at half price and even though I do not favor English blends could not pass up this giveaway.

It did smell a lil like McClellend upon opening the tin (that ketchup Virginia flake scent) and that brought a smile to my face. It looked darkish with "pebbles" of Virginia flake strands of cavendish? and other dark tobacco.

The actual smoking was like inhaling silk. I admit this was a very high quality of tobacco, and out did what I have been smoking by a good distance. If all things were equal I would smoke more of this but asdly it does cost quite a bit more so I will reserve for when I can fully enjoy all the wonders of this blend.

I know that Ashton tobaccos are actually McClelland made, however, If I had to choose a family of tobaccos to smoke exclusivley, it would definitely be McClelland, and I could be happy with just the Ashton blends. That said, here is my unbiased 😉 opinion of my lastest tin, Celebrated Sovereign. The tin I smoked was 4 years old, and was coincidently the first Syrian latakia belnd I think I have tried.

Tin Aroma: Smoky/Sweet and even a little cloying.

Visual: Lots of finely chopped black with some longer, thinner reddish brown strands and finally a smattering of larger golden/green clumps.

Texture: Although it was probably a bit moist on opening, it rattled in the tin, and in the hand it had a pebble like feel. Almost as if it had been frosted lightly.

Pack/Pipe: Due to the texture noted above, this tobacco seemed to resist conforming to the shape of the bowl, and I tended to use a strong hand when packing it, which gave me the best results. I don't know if I could pick a pipe that this performed best in. It was a very consistent tobacco, and seemed to me to be unaffected by the bowl variations of a number of different pipes.

Lighting/Burn: This was one of the more difficult tobaccos to perform a charring light to. It just did not want to fold into that flour like white-grey ash that lets you know the second match will send you to the bottom of the bowl. This blend often took three matches to get rolling well, and many times two or even three matches to finish the bowl. (Odd for me, I usually have no or one relight per bowl to finish).

1st 3rd: Tangy, smoky and sweet. This is a great "bright" english blend. As mentioned above, the tobacco does not seem to burn fully, and at first just turns into little black crunchy granules instead of gray or white ash. This made judging the proper time and firmness of tamping a bit difficult, which in turn probably caused the additional relights.

2nd 3rd: A bit of the brightness rolls off here, and I am left with a smoky sweetness, and little to no heat. The burn was usually a bit more consistent here.

Final 3rd: More of the same smokiness, and still fairly sweet. My tongue was usually shot by this time. I don't mean tongue burn, it is just that this tobacco left my tongue with the same feeling you got as a kid when you ate too much candy. (Like it has a coating on it). I imagine it is either the Syrian Latakia, or some type of leaf treatment.

Notes: Although my review was not an ovation, I was pleased with this blend, and have four more tins with quite a bit if age on them saved for the future. If you like McClelland VA's, and you are interested in trying Syrian Latakia, I highly recommend that you give this one a try.

Stogie rating of: Seven Heavenly Hoyos

I have now smoked nearly half a tin of this blend and have enjoyed every bowl equally. The aroma upon opening the tin is very unusual, in my opinion. It has a very sweet smell to it that tends to mellow out after being open for a week or so. The tobacco is lighter in color than most english blend that I tend to smoke regularly, with the occasional piece of broken flake. The taste resembles Frog Morton slightly but to me is a not quite as rich as the Frog (probably due to the lack of the strange casing which compliments the Frog so nicely). This tobacco is a tad more bity than many english tobaccos and does tickle my tongue quite a bit. It has the qualities of an excellent smoke; smokes cool, dry, and all the way to the bottom with minimal relights (generally only one if any) I find the room aroma to be very comforting and pleasant, though non smokers tend to feel the opposite. I highly recommend this tobacco, I feel it is an excellent smoke. However, I tend to prefer my english tobaccos a bit more stout than this one, and while I will enjoy finishing the rest of my tin, I probably will not buy more.

UPDATE: I have raised my recommendation slightly on this one. The tin has been finished and I found myself enjoying each bowl more than the last. This will probably not be a regular smoke for me, however, I will definitly be purchasing more to enjoy down the road. Recommended.

This is a very good English type mixture, but there is nothing to distinquish it from any number of other English mixtures. Packs and burns well. Among the Ashton blends, I preferred Old Dog to this.

Mark Webber was kind enough to send me a couple of cans of Ashton Celebrated Sovereign and I smoked a couple of bowls. Here: my take

Appearance: 50g tin, parchment style paper with black design augmented with gold leaf. Very nice packaging. Tin Aroma is that of Latakia, Virginia, and a small amount of Black Cavandish. Seems to be a cross between Frog Morton and Dunhill 965, aroma wise, closer to the Frog in appearance. Packs well, a little more evidence of P.G. than I'm used to in an English tobacco (frog, the exception). Test Drive: Fire hits weed releasing a cross over fragrance and taste similar to, but more "English" than the frog. It has more complexity to my mind than it's McClelland rival. The Latakia is either more pronounced, or less hidden than Frog. The room note is fairly pleasant, for a Latakia blend, the overall body of the smoke is thicker and a "tad" more bitey than most. Overall: 7 out of 10 Bear Claws I would recommend this smoke to anyone who likes McClelland's Frog Morton, but was looking for a cross over that put less emphasis on the Cavandish Flavoring. In my mind the bench mark for cross over is Frog Morton on the Town, and it remains.

Bear Graves

My first "good" tobacco. I had previously only smoked drug-store tobaccos or Tinder Box (Lane) blends, so this was something of an epiphany for me. I went through three tins of it in a month, smoking little else once I had opened a tin of it.

This is a dark-looking English blend that contains quite a bit of latakia: medium-brown flecks mixed with blackish brown at less than 50%. Also found in the mixture is the occasional piece of broken flake. I have never smoked the original version of this blend before McClelland began manufacturing it, so I can't compare this mixture to its former self.

The tin aroma upon first opening it was sort of moldy and sickly, but after a week or so of sitting open, it mellowed a great deal and took on an almost date-like, nutty aroma.

The blend is quite varied in color, with a good deal of dark latakia showing. There is also a significant amount of lighter turkish in addition to the red virginia (which is not all fully rubbed out. The can aroma is VERY smoky, obviously the Syrian latakia making it's presence known. For me, it needed to be a bit drier for cool, dry smoking. When lit, the flavor is complex and well balanced. The latakia is slightly dominant, (spicier than I'm used to from Cyprian), but does not overpower the other ingredients. Burns cool when puffed at a fairly slow rate, stays lit well, ands leaves a clean white fluffy ash. One of my favorites.

Funny thing, I actually tried this tobacco after I tried FMAP -- I would actually classify this as FMAP-lite, good but still lighter. I'll put back a tin or two for the future.

Also, I was able to try this for the first time from a good friend and I working a trade of some opened and aged tins -- Gary, thanks again!