Tabac Manil Le Petit Robin

The smell out the wrap is wonderful. The cut is way beyond "shag", or at least any other that I have seen. It deserves a name of it's own. Perhaps "fuzz" would be appropriate. It comes dry and do to this in combination to the "fuzz'', It burns as quickly as a pyle of 3 yr.old leaves would in Death Valley. As a result, I did get a little tongue-burn, but only because of my quick pace. It was like, it burned so fast, I wanted my money's worth.

The good news ... I thought it tastes good, especially during 1st light and if your lucky enough to have any relights. Room not was floral and very enjoyable. To me, the floral note transfers to the taste, but with the addition of an earthy quality. There is a very slight grassy flavor that stays in the background, and I would love to know the mystery addition to this blend. I'm tempted to fire-up Google Earth and pan in close enough to read any top secret order list that might be labeled on a stack of "in-coming!" 😉

I found the nic-hit to be in the mid-range, probably because my cadence being rapid.

It's unique, with a great history/story/ mystery behind this blend. As a result, I think every piper would choose to experience this.

This is the only blend Manil currently makes, not sure what's in it, but it seems to be just a small percentage of Semois involved. Frankly, I find this rather bland and tasteless, and the only reason I'm doing a review here is because of the cut... this is the only tobacco available in America that matches the Japanese kizami tobacco that you roll into a little ball and smoke in a kiseru... this is about the finest possible cut of tobacco... think of how fiberglass insulation comes, a super fine, hair like consistency. Koiki is the only Japanese produced brand I think is still available for the kisaru, and I've never seen that on the side of the Pacific. So if you ever want to feel like a samurai, having a last Puff while writing your death poem before battle, here's your tobacco! I'm betting there's a fair amount of decent Virginia in this tobacco, but I get mostly just a cigarette kind of taste, and talk about something burning pretty quickly! I happen to have an old kisaru, so it was kind of nice to dig that out and have a tobacco that would work for it... it makes for a very short smoke. I see plenty of good reviews here, and they are certainly valid, as this is a quality tobacco, but compared to the straight Semois... this is kind of meh for me. I just wanted to put my two cents in here because nobody has really mentioned how fine a cut this is, and it is identical to the Japanese type. If anybody knows an American source for Koiki I'd love to hear about it... it would give me a better excuse to pull out the old kiseru...

Package note of mildly sweet, earthy, and mild licorice. Tobacco is brown very fine shag, a little on the dry side but soft, no prep needed. Burns fast with few relights. The strength is medium and nic is medium. No flavoring detected. Taste is medium and very consistent, with complex notes of a moderately spicy cigar, rich dirt, mild sweet nuts, dry wood, very mild cocoa, very bready, floral hay like, mildly tangy-sweet background note, and a peppery retro. Burley is leading with the "secrete leaf" (maybe red Virginias?) supporting. Room note is pleasant to tolerable, and aftertaste is great.

It's this simple: either buy this because you can't/won't tolerate chemical additives (like every thing else on the market has) or grow your own. Nutty, floral and satisfying every time - actually, subsequent smokes without something else in between just get better.

I love fine shag cuts, they do not get enough love in the pipe world. I find that with some kinds of leaf they smoke better, allowing for more smoothness too, and I like blending with them. The taste of Le Petit Robin is very like something between an old school blonde Gauloises and a balkan/turkish blend with plenty of light Virginia leaf in there, maybe even a hint of halfzware smokiness. Mostly, I would say this is like a really nice smooth Virginia blend with a little extra depth, cocoa and breadiness.

A nice clean, pure flavour (nothing added at all from what I can tell) with a touch of sweetness and cream, and the complexity is subtle. Delicately spiced woody, hay, bread and cocoa powder taste with light hints of citrus, raisin, sweet floral notes and cream. The finish is short and dry with a little raisin, wood and charred bitterness, and the room aroma is quite light and pleasant, but you get some draws with a creamier doughy kind of taste that's particularly delicious. I don't find it particularly strong, but around the lower side of medium at most.

If anything, it could benefit a bit more from just a touch of proper quality light and sweet Turkish leaf, which is sadly becoming completely muscled out of existence by the big tobacco companies and their drive to move everyone onto their cheaper-to-manufacture vape liquids and gear, which have bigger profit margins... I luckily have some rare Turkish and Macedonian from D&R left over which I mixed in a little of and it enhances the sweetness and smoothness beautifully. An added hint of light and fragrant Bursa and Yenidje would be ideal.

You can clearly see thick clumps of the darker Semois leaf in the brick, which you are free to blend in more evenly yourself if you prefer. It does indeed come packaged quite dry, but not crumbly or with any dust whatsoever. You are just getting the proper weight for your money (something we should champion). Just carefully jar it up with a little 69%RH humidity pack and after a few days it will be perfectly supple and smoke with a touch less bite. For those curious about tubing/rolling, the inhale is very light and smooth with just a touch of bite, mostly from the Semois.