Seattle Pipe Club Mississippi River Special Reserve

Thanks to a very talented pipe maker, whom sent me a sample of this fine tobacco along with one of his great pipes.

This tobacco is similar in many ways to M.R. regular, but it actually doesn't have the 'issue' i discovered with the 'lightness' of flavor. The flavor seems more prominent. The sweetness is more bold, the oriental spice/herbal flavors are more intricate and pronounced, and the smooth smokey and incense like flavors of the latakia are stronger as well. Quite a nice blend and definitely is a 'step-up' from Mississippi River, though that is is a great tobacco in it's own right.

The few pieces of cake that I received were extremely easy to crumble into fine shag tobacco and looked mostly brown with flecks of dark gold and black mixed in. The smell, as another reviewer has mentioned, reminds me of a McClelland VA blend. The smell is sweet & sour with a bit of earth, pungent, and some sweet fruit flavors.

This tobacco is so easy to prepare and load. Easy to light and stays lit with light but firm tamping.

It tastes like a typically sweet red VA blend, bready, a bit sour, dark chocolate tones, dark fruit, and woodsy. The smoke also has hints of the normal incense spice from the orientals, but just lightly, and just a tiny touch of campfire from the latakia. The perique is very mild, but discernible in the dark fruit tones.

Seattle Pipe Club - Mississippi River Special Reserve.

I'm in love!

Unlike it's counterpart, Mississippi River regular, Special Reserve doesn't arrive as a partially broken kake, but as one plug of tobacco. It's almost a dichotomy of a plug and kake: a firm plug that can be rubbed by hand. Once it had been rubbed out I saw it has perfect hydration; for me, I like a blend to be a little bit moist.

The moment I took my first puff I thought it a special smoke. I still feel the same now! A Lat-Bomb this is not. A lustrous, smooth, refined, smoke it is. Accompanying the smoky Latakia are the Orientals and Virginia, both amalgamating together to form a rustical, woody, almost rural flavour. The Perique's present, but more fruity than spicy, and not as heavily included as the others. Mechanically we have a winner here: fairly slow, burns without a hitch, gives a cool smoke, all delivered without a bite.

Nicotine: suits me, just below medium. Room-note: quite nice.

Mississippi River Special Reserve? I've no hesitation in giving this four stars:

Highly recommended.

I was happy to be the recipient of a good sample of this and was able to smoke it concurrently with the regular Mississippi River as I had an open tin in rotation at the time.

The first thing I thought of when tasting MRSR is that it seemed to be richer than MR. It is funny that the tin description says just that. MR is a great tasting blend in its own right, but the Special Reserve is better.

When I smoke either of the blends I feel the magic is really in the Virginia base. It is sweet and "citrusy" The Lat, Or and Per is condimental and all are also detectable. The oriental may be a little stronger then the other two. I am not sure whether the proportions of any of those condiments changed with the special reserve or if the change is limited to the Virginia, but the taste is deeper and earthier yet still sweet. It would not surprise me if the perique is kicked up a notch or two and the Oriental down some in the special reserve. At least that is how it strikes my palate.

MR is nearly a four star blend (I am still working my way through my first tin of this one), so it goes without saying this is a four star blend to my taster.

Coconut, toffee, sweet Virginia, nutty, and slight camp fire. Best after out of the jar for a few weeks and ful lo y dried out.... at least for me. After some age, and dry time, could be a replacement for penzance dare I say. When I first opened the tin, I didnt like it as much. I'm now smoking it after about 5 months of the tin being open and it has changed.

I resisted the allure of SPC for a long time. I had a sample of some regular Plum Pudding early in my pipe smoking life and was underwhelmed, severely. That, plus the relatively hefty price tag and what felt like, to me, overhyping and marketing, made me wait years before giving whole tins a shot.

Well, I'm sorry I waited so long. This review is based on a brand new tin of freshly restocked provenance, so I can't imagine it's had too much longer in the tin than how SPC (Sutliff) ships it. A subtle, but important, note imo. There are too many blends on the market that are "great, in 3 to 5 years". This is great upon receipt. Nothing tastes young or edgy to me. Nothing tastes like it needs time to marry.

If you're looking for heavy lat, or frankly even to really notice it's there at all, you won't be impressed with this blend. It smokes like a slightly smokier and earthier VaOrPer. The lat is barely discernible to me and I am *heavily* into straight VAs and VaPers, so would be rather sensitive to the dark leaf.

Others have hit the high points of the tasting notes, but I'll make a few observations. It is very heavy on the VA and Orientals. Perique is clearly present if you go digging at all. Lat, I've commented on. *However*, as others have said the beauty of this blend is in its balance. When properly dried (just about crispy) and smoked ultra slowly with the breath method it presents with a tremendously subtle melange of nuanced flavors which work in harmony.

If you smoke it without drying right out of the tin, there is a fairly strong vinegar note. Dried it is still present, but very distant. I imagine, based on my past experience with blends which use vinegar, that this will dissipate with time in the jar and the normal "decanting" process of opening and closing said jar. Alternatively, I've found vinegar heavy blends tend to subsume the acidity into the tobacco with 6m to 1y in mylar.

I have a feeling this will age truly magnificently based on the fresh product and its base components. Those of you looking for an ultra light lat (don't read that as this being a "light" blend, it's not) blend with massive flavor potential, I would pony up the cash for a tin of this extremely high quality tobacco. And yes, the brownie form looks and smells good enough to eat. It's also the closest I've seen to a US production blend come to a EU plug. It is a very solid mass which, if it used whole leaf instead of ribbon/cut, would be EU plug dense. Impressive all the way around.

Highly Recommended.

Lovely sweet bready red virginias are the main thing I taste, reminds me just a bit of good aged 5100. Plummy fruitiness and sour tang come in from the perique and orientals. The latakia is barely perceptible, perhaps adding a chocolatey smokiness in the finish. The plug is very attractive and easy to work with. A very high quality blend!

This blend is pure genius. How best to describe it? Imagine taking Mixture 965 add in some quality sweet Va leaf then stove it with a McClellan-like red vinegar sauce. A plug of Cavendish (yes, Cavendish - stoving in this manner produces Cavendish) that combines the best of Mixture 965 & the legendary McClellan taste in one easy to smoke plug of baccys. Mellow, smooth, creamy, and flavorsome. A definite 4 Star blend; however, the price tag is a shade high. At $35, I probably will not purchase another tin. A once in a lifetime "must try" blend. Update: The more I smoke this blend, the more enthralled I become with it. The uniqueness and quality of this blend definitely make it worth the price and definitely one to cellar. Laissez Les Bon Temps Roulette

Tin note of sharp vinegary, mildly sweet fruit and spices. Tobacco is a 1-inch wide Krumble Kake of dark brown and brown with a little back and tan. Moisture content is ok, most pipe smokers will want to dry this out a bit. Kakes break apart and rub out easily. Burns slow with a few extra relights. The strength is medium and nic is mild. No flavoring detected. Taste is medium and very consistent, with notes of tart citrus, floral, spices, musty herbal vegetation, wood, orange peel, mildly smoky, tangy sweet dark fruit, sugared raisin, savory, dry earth, sweet bread, spicy, a semi-sweet lemon grassy background note, and a very peppery retro. Virginia is leading with Latakia, Oriental/Turkish and Perique supporting. Room note is tolerable, and aftertaste is great.

This blend comes in a plug. I cut off strips and rubbed them out.

It has a very strong aroma of citrus, vinegar...sort of like strong jar of kalamata olives mixed with dried fruit. It's distinct.

It needs some dry time after rubbing out. When I smoked it after cutting it I found it smoked wet. Leave it for a time and this takes some practice to getting it how YOU like it.

When you first light it, MRSP has a very citrusy/slightly vinegary taste much like its aroma. As you smoke it, the blend starts to release its various components.

It has a great profile of Virginias, Latakia, some hints or notes of Perique.

It takes some practice to smoke. Like many blends I'm trying for the first time I need to try to adapt to its unique character and flavour profile.

When you learn how to properly smoke this: slowly, at the right consistency you get a hugely satifying smoke.

It's an English blend so the Latakia is smooth, leathery, smoky but not overpowering.

All the components are very well proportioned. It's a luxury smoke and very satisfying.