Drucquer & Sons Inns of Court

The very nutty, deep molasses sweet, toasty, earthy brown burleys have a hint of cocoa, and takes a little lead over the other components. The red and more obvious bright Virginias offer a bit of tart and tangy citrus, a little tangy dark fruit and earth, and light grass, wood and bread notes in a support role. The white burley sports a very mild dry, earthy, woody sharp spice hit in the background. The smoky, woody, earthy incense-like sweet Cyprian Latakia is slightly more than a condiment, while the spice, raisin and plum aspects of the perique are condimental. A pinch of black cavendish provides a little brown sugar. The nic-hit is a step beyond the mild level. The strength and taste are just past the center of the mild to medium threshold. No chance of bite, and has no weak or harsh spots. Burns at a moderate pace, cool and clean with a fairly smoothly sweet, lightly savory, very consistent flavor all the way to the finish. Provides lots of smoke, requires few relights, and leaves little dampness in the bowl as it easily burns to ash. Has a sweetly pleasant, lightly lingering after taste and room note. A fairly easy going all day sweet American English smoke. Three and a half stars out of four.

-JimInks

The first time I walked into Drucquer & Sons University Ave. shop in the early eighty's this was one of the first blends recommended to me, and smoked it regularly. After finishing five bowls, I have to say that this is better than the original. The taste is about what I remember, semi sweet, rich but mild all day smoke that leaves a pleasant after taste on your palate wanting more, but it seems like a more refined and complete blend. The old version had a tendency to smoke a little hot and bite if not careful, this does not. Greg thanks for bringing back an old friend, you did good.

Nutty, Complex. Hint of Latakia, smooth tasting, and absolute joy to smoke. So what's not to like? Tastes just like I remembered it. Glad to see this back in production. Highly recommended!

I got a 100 g tin of this in a trade with someone who found it too heavy in vitamin N. The cut is a narrow ribbon and it is an assortment of browns and tans. There are a few bits of black leaf. The hydration was just about perfect for me, and I smoked it as delivered.

I think the easiest way to describe the flavor is by comparison to Big-n-Burley. it is sweeter and there is a Virginia presence. The perique is a little spicier. The latakia is just a hair more forward. The flavor is slightly less full, but it is consistent and very good.

It took a match and smoked without drama.

I have no reservations in recommending this. I have liked everything I have tried blended by GLP, and this is a great smoke.

According to the TR blurb, Drucquer & Sons’ Inns of Court is a blend with some history. It’s also a VA/Bur/Per blend, something that no one does better than GL Pease, not that this one is his, specifically, but it certainly bears his imprimatur. These facts having raised my expectations, popping the tin was anti-climactic, short ribbons ranging from gold to light and mid red-brown, with darker brown and a smattering of black bits offering very muted sourdough, silage and faint meadow grasses toned down by a smidgen of Latakia. I first tried this in a #6 billiard that I wound up running 2 bowls through before the IOC smoked true. It worked fine in all my larger Burley pipes after running them in. A snugged load lasts a while in these pipes. The dominant tobacco is Burley, woody, nutty, and bitter, made smoky and sourer by the scant-but-pervasive Latakia. The VAs are grassy, bready, sweet, and savory, and they are well-melded with the savory, sour, mildly spicy Perique. The black Cavendish smooths and adds to the smoke, bringing a trace of vanilla and more sweet and sour. The lot provides a very tasty, relaxing smoke. There’s plenty of smoke, and it’s consistent, top to bottom. Strength is medium the way I smoke it, with the nicotine trailing. Tastes are between medium and full. I love the way it smells, but according to my wife, I stink after smoking it (outdoors!), so I have to rate the room note as tolerable to strong. Aftertaste is a lengthy trailing off of the best of the smoke that gets sweeter and more bready, nutty, and grassy to the end.

Who knows why my mind wanders so freely when I smoke this, but it’s something I value. This is, indeed, an Old School blend, best suited to experienced Burleyphiles, though any adventurous piper might give it a go. 4 stars.

Inns of Courts starts out as a sweet Virginia with a hint of latakia, more on the citrusy side than earthy and with an almost herbal quality provided by the orientals. As the bowl progresses the constituent tobacco's develop and give rise to plummy spice and tang with increasing body and wood overtones. It finishes with the nutty burleys taking the lead and chocolatey spice with hickory accents.

Drucquer’s Inns of Court is an appropriate name for this blend. The Inns of Court in London are about as “old school” and conservative as it gets. Not only did many buildings survive the Great Fire of 1666, and the blitz of World War II, but it’s inhabitants are London’s lawyers, a very waist coat and button-down-suit crowd. Drucquer’s Inns of Court is an old school blend that took me back to my days working as a tobacconist in Kansas City with Carl Ehwa, founder of McClelland Tobacco with his wife Maria.

Before Carl left Diebel’s, where I managed one of Fred’s stores, Carl created a number of Fred’s blends. He was also working out his first blends for his future company, McClelland Tobacco. Carl loved Virginia leaf in all of its forms. In his book Pipes & Tobacco, one of the first of its kind outside of Alfred Dunhill’s books, he devotes 17 pages to Virginia leaf, only 13 pages to Burley. Carl appreciated Burley, especially White Burley, but had disdain for the heavy casings, glycerin, and flavorings applied to Burley because the leaf absorbs it well. As we all know, it leaves a soggy gunk in the bottom of one’s pipe - Americans have always been addicted to sugar! He felt that pipe smokers, especially those used to drug store blends, would smoke high quality Virginia based blends if more were available to the public. Drucquer’s knew this, which Greg Pease learned when he went to work there. However, you had to live or visit B&M stores in larger cities to have access to high quality Virginia based blends.

I ordered Inns of Court, in part because the description on the back of the label notes that this was the blend used by Admiral Byrd’s crew during their Antarctic expeditions. That caught my eye because I deployed to Antarctica and the South Pole with the Air Force in 2005 and among my “Awards & Decorations” (Ribbon Rack) proudly wear the Admiral Byrd Medal for being in Antarctica. I enjoy immersing myself in history and what fun to smoke something they used and most of the early explorers were ardent pipe smokers. However, I have never found out what brands Scott’s and Shackleton’s men smoked. I know I am digressing from my review of Inns of Court, and I don’t want to turn this into an “atta boy” (bragging) column, but I never figured out how they smoked their pipes in the extreme cold; I never had much luck at the SP where the temperature was 75 degrees below Fahrenheit on a “good” day. Most days with a light wind it would be 100+ degrees wind chill and my hunch is they were mostly limited to smoking in their huts, tents, ships - something, thank God, I didn’t have to endure.

I will not soon forget when Carl sent me a sample of a Virginia blend, a flake, he was working on; I think it became McClelland’s #10. I smoked it at the shop and after several bowls picked up the phone and called him at Diebel’s warehouse/factory where he worked. I asked him if this was a pure Virginia blend, because I was tasting Oriental leaf in the blend. I have no idea if Inns of Court contains Yenidje, Xanthi, Drama or other types of Oriental leaf. I just know its there along with Red Virginia, some Bright, Burley, Latakia and Perique. As Carl wrote in Pipes & Tobacco, For years manufactures have been using…Oriental tobaccos to increase the mystique of their mixtures. Inns of Court smokes dry - call it astringent - with the slight sweetness of the Virginia and Oriental leaf combined with the earthiness of Burley and woody overtones of Latakia. The Perique is very subtle, as is the Latakia while smoked. However, the prominent aroma in the tin and on the nose is Latakia and a very subtle smell of Virginia/Burley/Oriental leaf. I cannot detect any flavoring or top spray on this mostly ribbon cut with smaller cuts of condiment tobaccos. Inns of Court is an old style, mild, American/English blend and as I noted already very traditional. There is no bite. The room note might note be as pleasing as an aromatic, but I could care less. It is very smooth. I don’t inhale, so no nothing of “nicotine hit”. When I fired a bowl for the first time I could only think “wow, wonderful, I don’t want this to end”! And as the Orientals (not the Latakia) kicked in it was, for me, an OMG moment. I have missed this style of tobacco for a long time, being a smoker of mostly Va/Per and some Burley Flakes.

If I had any complaint about Drucquer’s Inns of Court, it’s the label, not the content, but the cheapness of the paper, ink and printing. Carl was an artist, not just of tobacco blends, but also his labels. The colors and embossing was more grand then anything on the market. We all remember the annual editions, in their own paper bag sealed with wax. Carl was at Diebel’s when he often talked about packaging. When I was a young boy I can recall walking past Diebel’s on the Plaza and staring at the tobacco tins on the shelves. I am sure after one of my visits they had to clean the nose prints off the glass. The mystique and attraction of the labels left me wanting to know more. Thank you Greg Pease for bringing back a classic mixture.

This has a very nice sweet grassy hay like smell out of the tin. There is a lot of play to this one, it smokes smooth at times and then a little spice kicks in. This blend is called American vice English or Virginia. Not really sure what this means exactly, but I have read some reviews referring this as a mild English. For me the Latakia is hardly noticeable and this blend seems to be predominant Virginia. A really nice natural tasting tobacco and I am tempted to buy a few more tins and let them age a little bit. The one I bought was produced in August of this year. One reason I purchased this was the reference to Admiral Byrd’s team smoking this blend. Of course, I realize this is a recreation and not the original but the previous reviews seem to bear that it is pretty close and I enjoy the history aspect of this blend.

I was immediately struck by the cut of Inns of Court tobacco. It is a very thinly cut ribbon, almost a shag. The colors are mostly gold and brown with small specks of black cavendish, perique and latakia throughout. It packs and burns easily and evenly to a white ash. I am in love with the flavors. I find a little bit of white pepper on the outside of my tongue in the early stage that wakes up my senses and then I'm looking for and finding those little gems of black scattered throughout the tobacco as I puff leisurely through the bowl. By midway the white pepper is gone and a general smoothness takes over. Mr. Pease really nailed it with this re-creation. It feels and tastes classic in a very American way. Highly recommended.

Inns of Court, Drucquer & Sons, Ltd. 4 stars

Exceptional English blend, recently discovered by this long time pipe smoker. One tries many blends in the ongoing adventure of seeking something that stands out – this was a very pleasant discovery. Highly recommended.

Black cavindish, Burley, Latakia, Perique and Virginia. High quality tobaccos blended perfectly,

Tin note is slightly sweet Virginia with hints of Latakia and Perique. Soft ribbon cut, almost a shag. Perfect moisture in tin.

Lots of soft thick smoke, no bite, easy to light, burns steady, no relights needed. Virginias are slightly sweet, Latakia and Perique provide nice hits in this complex blend but predominate flavor is Virginia and Burley.

Complex blend. Rich flavor with medium strenth, nic is medium plus but not overwhelming.

Thick smoke leaves a pleasing coating in mouth, allowing the complex to linger a while after a smoke. Very agreeable.

This blend is part of a 7 different mixtures reissue by G.L Pease. One note, tins are sold only in 100 and 200 gram tins. Thanks to G.L. Pease for bringing back this historical blend. A must try for the seasoned smoker.

Smoked in Erik Nording Zulu