Drucquer & Sons Red Lion

i have been smoking my way through all of the GL Pease Blends and the Drucquer & Sons blends are the last ones on the list. The Red Virginia plays perfectly with the Burley, which add a touch of nutty flavors. The taste of caramel, brown sugar, a hint of spice, and a haunting of of citrus are lightly kissed with a cajun/smoky essence from the Cyrprian Latakia. The spice and pepper from the Perique sets off the flavors wonderfully. The Cavendish binds all of the flavors nicely. The burning quality is excellent. This blend is an all day blend and is complex enough to hold one's interest through many, many bowls. This is a highly recommended blend that will henceforth require a permanent place in my cellar and rotation.

This review is for Red Lion blended by G.L. Pease, produced by Cornell & Diehl. I have not had the original Drucquer blend.

I love the tin design. The smell is kind of salty and woody with some bready sweetness. The moisture level is good to go, but I let it air just a bit before I pack the pipe.

The taste is woody and grassy, and salty, with some leathery notes. There is also a lot of woody tanginess and fermented character. I sometimes get a gingerbread note in there. There is a great, sweet, floral note that comes up and this sort of dark cereal, chocolate, woody taste unfolds. Notes of creamy, sweet bread, cinnamon and maybe clove, leather, smoky cocoa and molasses. The second half of the bowl becomes round and rich in flavor. More cohesive, and more interesting than the first half, and some funky, musty, savory, earthy, fusil flavors appear- burnt rubber, smoked fish, dry vanilla syrup, incense. I also do not think there is Perique in this blend, but there are some fermented fruit notes that tickle the sinuses.

Strength was somewhere around mild to medium, and the taste was medium. Nicotine is medium, not strong. Looking at the components and smelling the tin, it's truly interesting what taste actually comes through in this blend. It tastes like it has Orientals. It reminded me, at points, of a light version of Gaslight. The only disparaging thing I can say is that it seems to burn fast, but that can be a good thing for some.

I would recommend this to people that like blends containing Latakia, and anyone that wants an interesting smoke. I also imagine it will age well. For now, I give it three stars.

**update 10/10/2019**

This is a really interesting blend. It's athletic in delivering and displaying flavors, considering there are no Orientals, coupled with the fact that the tin is so young (something to note with Cornell & Diehl blends). I imagine this will be fantastic as time continues to have a deepening affect on the flavors of the blend. Upgrading to four stars. So far, these Drucquer & Sons blends are some of the best blends I've put in my pipe.

Red lion is the fullest and most satisfying of the five Pease revival Drucquer blends I've smoked so far. I knew from the top of the first bowl that this was going to be good. I knew in the middle of my first bowl that this was a four star blend. By the time I had finished the first bowl, I had elevated Red Lion to five star status. Of all reviews so far, I agree in my viewpoints most closely with that of reviewer LannarkGent 2019-11-27. Like a few other reviewers, I have smoked the original blend; many times. I liked it back in the nineties but am finding it hard to compare to Greg Pease's effort. The reason is-I think the revival blend is better than the original, and, we don't seem to get to say that often enough about modern revival blends. I love this modern version and intend to stash tins away immediately - four stars.

If this were a confectionery treat imagine a hickory smoked salted caramel with peanuts. By the time this melds together thats what I'm tasting. Delicious smokey sweetness from the latakia and virginia. Reds provide earth and subtle tang with perique always there but popping in and out. For me its the cavendish that sets it apart and the lack of other orientals. I imagine virginia is used for the cavendish as it provides that true caramel note and I want to say a little spice. Good body and depth given its mild designation. All in all excellent, burning to a fine white ash.

A medium English blend with a great flavor of earth with a hint of sweetness. Since it the oriental leaf is not in this blend you get a slightly sweeter English style. I have used it to intoduce new pipers to Englsih blends as it is in the medium catagory and can highlight the advantage of Latakia and Perique in a blend.

Tin note of tart plums, sugared Rasins and mildly smoky. Tobacco is a Ribbon cut of orangish tan, brown, dark brown with a little black mixed in. Moisture content is great. Burns moderately with few relights. The strength is medium and nic is mild to medium. No flavoring detected. Taste is medium and very consistent, with notes of tangy sweet fruit, wood, spice, bread, rich earth, floral, savory, leather, dry hay, plums, brown sugar, orange peel/zest, mild vinegary fermented sour, a Rasin and sweet grass background note, and a peppery retro. Virginia is leading with Cavendish and Perique supporting. Latakia and Burley are supporting from the stands. Room note is pleasant to tolerable, and aftertaste is great.