Theodorus Niemeyer Flying Dutchman

Flying Dutchman is a wonderful tobacco unlike any other. I have a pleasure in smoking it unmatched by my enjoyment of any other tobacco ? and (on separate occasions), I do also love the heavier latakia blends, each for themselves as well as other types of blend ? but for me Flying Dutchman is special. ?In the day? you?d walk into a drugstore (or in my case into the Navy Exchange), and FD was the best tobacco in the place ? generally, it was the only tinned tobacco there. You?d open the tin and in the eye of the white accordion paper was a clear piece of cellophane which, when you pulled it out, stuck to the moist and VERY firmly packed tobacco underneath. No other tinned tobacco I've ever smoked has been as firmly packed at it was in a tin. You?d have to pluck the finely cut cavendish out with your fingers, bit by bit, and then fill you pipe in stringy pinches. Filling a pipe with FD in it?s proper condition was not like loading any other tobacco I?ve smoked. The object was (in this not unlike other tobaccos, but different in the details because of it?s moist and finely stringy nature), unlike the same process with other tobaccos.

After a 20 year haitus I returned to the pipe. I?d smoked Flying Dutchman ,almost exclusively, twenty years before. One of the reasons I stopped smoking was due to my inability to get Flying Dutchman in a tin. FD in a pouch was generally dry (maybe not so across the water?), and was unsmokable. I never bought the cans in those days for the same reason. Adding a slice of apple or a humidifying tab did not FULLY restore the tobacco to it?s original condition. I don?t know when the 50g tin was finally dropped, so I can?t say it started that far back ? probably they gradually phased it out with the tin and pouch both available for a time;, but definitely, the pouch-packed tobacco now received is too dry to smoke comfortably (for me).

Almost any aromatic tobacco, after all is generally smoked more moist than non-aromatic tobaccos, but Flying Dutchman must be smoked more moist than most aromatic tobaccos and the pouch does not keep the tobacco at the proper smoking moisture. It can be moisturized and smoked, of course (I now put two moisturizing coins in the pouch as soon as I open it, and I replace them three or four times, trying the tobacco out each time until it?s right ? once it starts to stick to your fingers, it?s about right).

Now when you tamp Flying Dutchman (and you probably will have to tamp, and quite possibly relight it to make it to the bottom of the bowl), just very gently lower the tamp to the bottom of the fluffy ash ? no further; because you don?t want to pack the bottom tobacco at all beyond the way you?ve (hopefully) properly packed it in the first place. The object is not to end up with a damp and unburnable mass at the bottom. With practice this can be avoided, but often you may (as I do), have to empty your pipe furtively so as not to embrass yourself before non-aromatic (or perhaps more specifically, non Flying Dutchman) smokers who do not have this problem, at least not to this degree. So, when your ashtray fills wil dottles of Duchman, know that you?re not alone. It comes with the territory.

Peter Stokeby?s ?Natural? is similar to Flying Dutchman in some respects, not with regard to the peculiarities just mentioned, but with regard to it's general background flavor; but Duchman has a subtlety of its own that is evidently missed by many. Good as it is in its own right, PS?s Natural is missing the distinctive flavor I?ve always enjoyed in Flying Dutchman. But some of that flavor is gone due to packaging ? that, it seems to me is simply an objective fact. It was always lost by drying out and it still is. For that reason, I call on the brotherhood of the briar to email Theodorus Niemeyer at [email protected] and make the case for bringing back the tin, once and for all! Packed as it was of old it, richly deserved four stars ? in my opinion, this is simply due to the loss of oils that come of the drying-out process. Even taking all this into account, I?d like to give a solid three stars to Flying Dutchman even as it is now.

Although this has been a staple for several years now I have to be honest; it can bite. It makes up for that in its wonderful aromatic aroma when I open a pouch, and the taste as I begin lighting. It helps if it is packed more firmly than other blends as it seems to keep it from buring too hot. The room aroma is the best part, after I have finished smoking I often go outside for a few minutes then come back so I can smell the spicy, (almost peppery) scent.

Its not for everyone I admit, but if you are looking for something different then this it the one.

Now, this one is one of my all time favourites. I smoked this the first time when I was 9 years old (no, I am not kidding). Since then it became my usual pipe tobacco, which my dad and I enjoyed often in front of the fireplace or near the beach. I remember that until the early 90s it was sold in a round tin, like most quality tobaccos. Then they started putting it in pouches and the price started growing. Notice I am talking about European markets here. Now, 10 years ago the tobacco was moist, cut in thin ribbons and very aromatic. The room note was very pleasant and was appreciated by many non smokers when they entered my study back in Europe.

When I moved to the US I had the luck of finding it again, 4 years ago. It was sold in a pouch. When I opened it the smell was the same, but not at all inhebriating, like I remembered it being. When I pulled it out and started loading my pipe I was really surprised. This tobacco smelled the same, looked the same, but felt completely different. The moisture was (and is) gone, thus instead of the pleasant and slow burning bowl I expected, I got my tongue badly burned. I tried buying it again in other shops, thinking it was just a bad batch, but so far all the pouches I found contained this very dry version of Flying Dutchman. This tobacco certainly contains oriental mixtures you can smell it as soon as you light up. In Italy and France it is one of the most prized tobaccos sold in specialty shops.

But the oriental notes are very difficult to perceive if the tobacco is smoked faster than a little draw per minute (in the dry version). Plus the bowl lasts very little time. I don't know why this tobacco evolved to this new dry version, but when I visit Europe again I'll make sure to try the batches sold there and see if it is as dry as the one sold here in the US. Meanwhile I'll add the moisture artificially (half of an apple in a ziploc bag with the tobacco, or just a spray of filtered water).

My dad smoked pipes and the occasional cigar. Inevitably I fell in love with tobacco. But I am particular about just about everything. I hated conventional cigaret smoke - still do. I do love the smell of pipe tobacco. I do not care for the taste of essentially all of them. That said, in 1974 my friend Pat was smoking a roll-your-own. I related the above to him following with, " But yours I like." He offered me one and I declined. Several weeks later we had the same conversation but shorter with the same result. A few weeks after that I accepted the offer. It was a Flying Dutchman hand rolled in Abadie Rolling papers out of a Rizla Cadet rolling machine. I was done right there. At that time a blend of 18 tobaccos, according to the label on the large can. Shortly thereafter my best buddy's sister showed me how to roll by hand. Within two years I was using un-gummed Club papers. I tried smoking a pipe for years but that pretty much requires a sedentary situation, I still have them and drag them out every once in a while. As reported by others, Dutchman can get quite hot and sharp. Around 1979 the small tin changed to include blue printing on the bottom of the tin and a reduction of the number of blended tobaccos to 14. By 1984 the blend was reduced to 12 and I had to accept defeat as no 'new old stock' could be found in Portland. In the 1990s I attempted several times to re-create my lost love - disappointment. In 2010 I found the 50% Captain Black ( White paper label, Black medallion and Gold trim ) 40% Capt. Black ( Gold paper label, Black medallion ) & 10% Capt. Black ( Red paper label w/ black medallion ) made a fine substitute if one mixes in a steel bowl and cuts it down a bit with good stout scissors. There is a good deal more tar in this combination and so I cut off about 1 1/2 inches of garden variety printer paper and fashion a mouthpiece/filter which is rolled into the end. This prevents yellowing teeth and fingers. Sadly, it does nothing to prevent 'meteor strikes' on all of my clothing. I still use only Modiano Club papers with out gum. Folks who dislike smokers still remark that mine smell good.

Great tobacco but not for beginners and aromatic fans. Very good tobacco for the lovers of dutch style blends.