Peterson Founder's Choice

Nice Aromatic from Peterson. Lits and burns easily, no tongue bite, so far natural taste of aromatic tobacco. Recommended to try for all aromatic tobacco lovers.

First of all, I'm not a big aromatic fan but love them on occasion for a change of pace. Peterson Founder's Choice is truly an admirable aromatic. Upon opening the tin, one will get a whiff of the most pleasing bouquet & banquet of flavors that you can imagine. It is by far the strongest & most alluring aroma of any aromatic I've ever smelled. It will make you salivate & maybe entice you to reach for a spoon or a shot glass rather than a pipe. This is about a quarter inch cube cut presentation of black, brown & light brown tobaccos. Oriental, Burley & Virginias flavored with Rum Vanilla & Mango.

Thus far, I've only sampled two bowls. This is not a goopy, heavily cased aromatic but is heavily topped with the combination of flavors. The cubes rub out easily and I haven't tried any other method. I dried a bowlful amount out on a sheet of plastic coated pasteboard to an almost crispy state & loaded up my GBD Virgin Apple. Drying it out didn't seem to diminish the smoke aroma & the flavor on the palate was delightful as well as the room note which further enhanced the smoking enjoyment. It also provides a little more Vitamin N than most aromatics.

I'll have to admit however, after the charring light, it did bite a little after a good burning rate commenced, so, I set my pipe down for a little while & let it cool back down. After the next light the mixture tamed down considerably. I sipped on it until about the halfway mark, enjoying the awesome flavor. Then the flavor started improving even more as the tobacco blend started the melding process & conjoined with the topping. At that point, the overall flavor seemed to improve. I sipped on this and toward the very end, the topping flavor diminished enough to leave mainly the taste of a regular tobacco blend.

I was actually surprised by this feature as it was something I wasn't expecting. I was expecting harshness & blandness to increase toward the finish but that never happened. It was just the opposite as the tobacco flavor came into play toward the end. The condensation was very minimal & left a dry gray dottle in the bowl upon completion. This is one of my favorite aromatics with Erik Stokkebye Family Reserve being my top choice... it's drier & ready to smoke right out of the bag. However, the toppings are different but both are delightful but FWIW, ES Family Reserve was less harsh and had absolutely no bite & burned perfectly clean & dry. About 3-3.3 stars for PFC

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The cut in cube, is curious, I have tried rubbing and without rubbing and the result is the same. The humidity apparently seems correct but in various pipes has produced seals and forced me to different ignited. The smoke starts with all the flavors of black cavendish, vanilla and mango plus hidden moisture. I did not know how to taste the rum. The added flavors diminish while smoking, demonstrating the background of the Orientals and the burley. Creamy smoke, does not bite the tongue even when we smoke heavily against tamponade. It's very good. Very natural flavors and tobacco quality.

Note: The blend of 60% of Peterson - 1865 Mixture + 40% of Peterson - Founder's Choice looks something like Perfection by Samuel Gawith.

Tin note of vanilla, sugar and mango. Tobacco is large cubes of brown, light brown and a little black. Moisture content is great. Burns slow with a few relights. The strength is medium and nic is mild. Flavoring is mild to medium, with notes of Mango, Rum, Vanilla. Flavors were up front in the initial lighting, but soon after died down to background notes. Vanilla stayed around the longest. Taste is medium and mostly consistent, with notes of vanilla, spiced rum, mango, brown sugar, orange peel, molasses, mildly herbal, bread, nutty, dry, wood, mildly savory, spicy, floral, hay, sweet grass, earth, acidic, a semi-sweet ripe dark fruit background note, and a peppery retro. Burley is leading with Virginia, Cavendish, Flavoring and Oriental/Turkish supporting. Room note is pleasant, and aftertaste is good.

The tobacco is an exact replica of Peterson Saint Patrick's Day 2015.

The tobacco was a little dried out, so I put it out to moisten for a couple of days. I must say that this tobacco has a pretty rare cut: Orientals, Virginia and Burley are dried, pressed and diced with about 8mm sides, then topped off with cavendish. Exactly the same cut is found in tobacco produced by W.O. Larsen's Belle Epoque. Moreover, these blends even have similar flavor composition, which gave reason to malicious tongues to say that the "Belle Epoque" is also a clone of blends from Peterson. I have tried this blend as well and I can definitely say that it is different - stiffer, more "chemically" or something like that. Anyway, unlike the Peterson mixes, it burns my tongue and feels more sour. But enough about Belle Epoque. Back to Founder's Choice/St. Patrick's Day.

As the tobacco became more moist, I opened the can and inhaled the smell. It had vanilla, plus mango, a little bit of something exotic, and rum. There was substantially more vanilla than fruit, and the rum was barely noticeable. As for the tobacco, its own smell was well hidden under this sauce. Only a faint nutty note and the tiniest bit of bread were found, but that's about it.

Each cube of this mixture has to be kneaded to get individual leaves, then stuffed into a tube with them. The leaves are thin, so I already knew (and remembered from experience) that the tobacco smokes hot enough. I took a large pipe without denying myself the pleasure, although I had to work hard to fill it.

The flavor in the beginning is a sweet tang of Cavendish, some Virginia bread and quite bright nuttiness. All tobacco notes are well masked by a dose of fruity sauce, in which, there may seem a slight artificiality. Also, there is some roughness in the flavor in the beginning, but the tobacco does not bite. As you smoke, the tobacco becomes softer, leaving a distinct nutty note, a subtle spiciness from the oriental and the sweetness of the cavendish (together similar to a hint of cinnamon). As I said, the tobacco smokes quite hot, which rules out tight puffs or shallow pipes. So fill up your largest, well-smoked, pipe and be patient - the tobacco is light, and you're definitely not in danger of a nicotine hit. Towards the end of the pipe from the concentrated sweetness there is a slight note of prunes in it.

The tobacco burns into a fine loose ash of a light gray color, leaving a little moisture in the pipe. Nevertheless, I do not recommend filters - they will nail the taste of the blend. In addition, the filter provokes you to inhale more tightly and you can burn the pipe.

The smoke is light, sweet and very pleasant smelling. It dissipates easily.

Bottom line: this is a really pretty good dessert tobacco that calls for unhurried. It can be enjoyed for hours if you have a large enough pipe. It's a shame that it's on sale less and less often.

First of all, I'm not a heavy hitter when it comes to aromatics but love them on occasion for a change of pace. Peterson's Founder's Choice is truly an admirable aromatic. Upon opening the tin, one will get a waft of the most pleasing bouquet & banquet of flavors that you can imagine. It is "one" of the most alluring aromas of any aromatic I've ever whiffed. It will make you salivate & maybe entice you to reach for a spoon or a shot glass rather than a pipe. This is about a quarter inch cube cut presentation of black, brown & light brown tobaccos... Oriental, Burley & Virginias flavored with Rum, Vanilla & Mango.

Thus far, I've only sampled two bowls. This is not a goopy, heavily cased aromatic but is heavily topped with a combination of flavors. The cubes rub out easily and I haven't tried any other method. I dried a bowlful amount in a ceramic dish to an almost crispy state & loaded up a GBD Virgin Apple. Drying it out didn't seem to diminish the aroma & the flavor on my palate was delightful and the room note further enhanced the smoking enjoyment. It also provides a little more Vitamin N than most aromatics.

I'll have to admit however, after the charring light, it did bite a little. So, I set my pipe down for a little while & let it cool down. After the next light the mixture was tamed considerably. I sipped on it until about the halfway mark, enjoying the taste. Then the flavor started improving even more as the tobacco blend started the melding process & conjoined with the topping. At that point, the overall flavor seemed to improve.

I sipped on this and toward the very end the topping flavor diminished enough to leave mainly the taste of a regular tobacco blend. I was actually surprised by this feature as it was something I wasn't expecting. I was expecting harshness & blandness to increase toward the finish but that never happened. It was just the opposite as the quality tobacco flavor came into play toward the end. The condensation was very minimal & left a dry gray dottle in the bowl upon completion.

This is "one" of my favorite aromatics with Erik Stokkebye's Family Reserve & Bagpiper's Dream being my top choices. Based solely on the qualities of an aromatic... about 3.5 stars for PFC

First of all, I'm not a big aromatic fan but love them on occasion for a change of pace. Peterson Founder's Choice is truly an enjoyable aromatic. Upon opening the tin, one will get a whiff of the most pleasing bouquet & banquet of flavors that you can imagine. It is by far the strongest & most alluring aroma of any aromatic I've ever smelled. It will make you salivate & maybe entice you to reach for a spoon or a shot glass rather than a pipe. This is about a quarter inch cube cut presentation of black, brown & light brown tobaccos. Oriental, Burley & Virginias flavored with Rum Vanilla & Mango.

Thus far, I've only sampled two bowls. This is not a goopy, heavily cased aromatic but is heavily topped with a combination of flavors. The cubes rub out easily and I haven't tried any other method. I dried a bowlful amount out on a sheet of plastic coated pasteboard to an almost crispy state & loaded up my GBD Virgin Apple. Drying it out didn't seem to diminish the smoke aroma & the flavor on the palate was delightful as well as the room note which further enhanced the smoking experience. It also provides a little more Vitamin N than most aromatics.

I'll have to admit however, after the charring light, it did bite a little after a good burning rate commenced, using the DGT method, I set my pipe down for a little while & let it cool back down. After the next light the mixture tamed down considerably. I sipped on it until about the halfway mark, enjoying the awesome flavor. Then the flavor started improving even more as the tobacco blend started the melding process & conjoined with the topping. At that point, the overall flavor seemed to improve. I sipped on this and toward the very end, the topping flavor diminished enough to leave mainly the taste of a regular tobacco blend.

I was actually surprised by this feature as it was something I wasn't expecting. I was expecting harshness & blandness to increase toward the finish but that never happened. It was just the opposite as the tobacco flavor came into play toward the end. The condensation was very minimal & left a dry gray dottle in the bowl upon completion. This is one of my favorite aromatics with Erik Stokkebye Family Reserve being my top choice & Bagpiper's Dream coming in 2nd place. ESFR is drier & ready to smoke right out of the bag. However, the toppings are different but both are delightful & FWIW, ES Family Reserve was less harsh and had absolutely no bite via using the DGT method as mentioned above. This method will work most all the time to tame a blend & take the bite & harshness away. It burned perfectly clean & dry. About 3-3.5 stars for PFC...