J. F. Germain & Son Plum Cake Mixture
(2.84)
Blended from Virginia tobacco with dark cavendish and extra matured black cavendish. Flavoured with a delicate and barely discernable plum topping whose ingredients are known only to the owners of the company.
Notes: This is a traditional pipe mixture of which 80% is prepared from seven different types of Virginia leaf. The remaining 20% is a specially prepared black tobacco made from Cavendish and Negrohead. A rare air-cured leaf. This is possibly the only British made tobacco containing this particular ingredient. The unique added flavour gives an agreeable taste and pleasant aroma. Origin Channel Islands.
Details
| Brand | J. F. Germain & Son |
| Blended By | J. F. Germain & Son |
| Manufactured By | |
| Blend Type | Virginia Based |
| Contents | Black Cavendish, Virginia |
| Flavoring | Plum |
| Cut | shag |
| Packaging | 50 grams tin, 50 grams pouch |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Production | Currently available |
Profile
Strength
Mild
Extremely Mild -> Overwhelming
Flavoring
Mild to Medium
None Detected -> Extra Strong
Room Note
Pleasant
Unnoticeable -> Overwhelming
Taste
Mild to Medium
Extremely Mild (Flat) -> Overwhelming
Average Rating
|
2.84 / 4
|
Reviews
Please login to post a review.
Displaying 61 - 63 of 63 Reviews
| Reviewed By | Date | Rating | Strength | Flavoring | Taste | Room Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jun 26, 2023 | Mild | Very Mild | Medium | Pleasant |
This is another excellent tobacco from Germain's and I am really surprised at how low of a grade it is here. I guess it's because there are many people who don't like tobacco having a topping (generally, I don't either), but here it's so light that it almost seems natural and the rich flavor of Germain's virginias is still there. On the other hand, the plum topping is one of the few that attracts me.
Some time ago I was surprised to see that this and Medium Flake used to be available in some British shops while Germain's other tobaccos were always out of stock. Since I hadn't tried them yet, I supposed that this availability was due to the fact that they wouldn't be as good as the most famous of the trademark. But both have pleasantly surprised me and I hope that pipe smokers continue to underestimate them and leave some tins in the tobacconists.
Some time ago I was surprised to see that this and Medium Flake used to be available in some British shops while Germain's other tobaccos were always out of stock. Since I hadn't tried them yet, I supposed that this availability was due to the fact that they wouldn't be as good as the most famous of the trademark. But both have pleasantly surprised me and I hope that pipe smokers continue to underestimate them and leave some tins in the tobacconists.
Age When Smoked:
6 years
| Reviewed By | Date | Rating | Strength | Flavoring | Taste | Room Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dec 20, 2021 | Mild | Extremely Mild | Mild to Medium | Pleasant |
This honestly confuses the Dickens out of me because I can’t quite work it out - it keeps changing on me from pipe to pipe and sip to sip and I haven’t quite “got it” yet; perhaps I never will.
Let’s start at the start - tin note. The Virginias are there, by sight and scent, so too is the Cavendish. There is every possible hue of brown in there, from light, almost orange, to dark, almost black. There is certainly a fruitiness going on as well but it’s subtle, almost a fine mist of fruitiness, not overpowering or synthetic like say a Kentucky Black Cherry can be or other American style aromatics; it could well be the tobaccos marrying together or it could be the very slightest hint of a topping. It could be plum, it could be some sort of berry but it is barely there.
Intriguing.
It’s a shag cut, you could roll it up in a cigarette paper and smoke it that way if you wanted to and it burns to an ash so light and fine, I don’t think I’ve come across anything quite like it.
It behaves remarkably well as it burns down, giving off plenty of satisfying smoke for very little effort when it has been lightly tamped down.
All tobacco reviews are subjective so, in the interests of fairness I have smoked this in different pipes, at different times of the day and in different places and the stuff is ethereal.
The first few pulls offer a bread like yeast flavour, or possibly slightly heavier, more like a brewers yeast, but this soon settles down and leaves you with…well, I’m not sure how to describe it. There is the hint of some dark fruit, but only the merest subtlest of hints; if this is an aromatic then it is so by the narrowest of margins. There’s a warmth in there too; not a perique pepper but a fleeting mellow glow on the roof of the mouth that I can’t place and then it’s gone.
On the exhale, with a quick inhale up the nose, I’m getting old newspaper, like the old newspaper you find protecting something in a tea chest in the attic. Another tamp and the fruitiness is back. Some more of the bowl and crispy dry leaves is on offer. Now the flavour of old newspapers (not in a bad way) is there and then it’s gone again.
This is odd stuff; it refuses to be typecast.
A very mellow smoke that burns rather quickly thanks to the shag cut - all too quickly the bowl is done and you are left with more questions than answers.
If it weren’t for the enigmatic nature of this tobacco I could see it being an all dayer and, for some, I could definitely see this as something they would reach for regularly but, for me, it’s a bit like that girlfriend you liked but never quite understood…so the relationship eventually fizzles out but you are left in the certain knowledge that it failed because of you, not her.
If people call this a Lakeland or a “soapy” blend then we have not been smoking the same thing but then I could see how people might say that; it mutates it’s behaviour and flavours depending on the size of pipe it is smoked in. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t mean to say it tastes of almonds in a large bowl and cherries in a small bowl; it’s way too subtle for that. The flavour profile is so nuanced that it takes on other things - time of day, tiredness, the place where it is smoked. It just won’t be tied down.
I have a pipe specifically for my Lakeland’s and I thought smoking Plum Cake in that would bring out the fruity nature but it went the other way, drawing out the woods and the newspaper. I tried it in my Cherry pipe expecting the same result but it brought out the warm glow on the roof of the mouth.
It genuinely is a difficult tobacco to nail down and at no point is it too much of anything - it’s like a song you have listened to a hundred times and on the one hundred and first listen you catch something new going on.
In all, it’s a wonderful “itch” tobacco - when you get that itch, nothing comes even remotely close to it. I’ll always have some on hand but I guarantee I’ll get that itch when I’m nowhere near the jar, on holiday or something, it’s that kind of a tobacco; like that girlfriend you never could understand.
A beginner to the pipe world would love this because of it’s mellowness and the lack of bite but I recommend this to the seasoned smoker who is looking for something different - you try and tame that stallion - I’m trying but I don’t think I’ll understand it it anytime soon.
Let’s start at the start - tin note. The Virginias are there, by sight and scent, so too is the Cavendish. There is every possible hue of brown in there, from light, almost orange, to dark, almost black. There is certainly a fruitiness going on as well but it’s subtle, almost a fine mist of fruitiness, not overpowering or synthetic like say a Kentucky Black Cherry can be or other American style aromatics; it could well be the tobaccos marrying together or it could be the very slightest hint of a topping. It could be plum, it could be some sort of berry but it is barely there.
Intriguing.
It’s a shag cut, you could roll it up in a cigarette paper and smoke it that way if you wanted to and it burns to an ash so light and fine, I don’t think I’ve come across anything quite like it.
It behaves remarkably well as it burns down, giving off plenty of satisfying smoke for very little effort when it has been lightly tamped down.
All tobacco reviews are subjective so, in the interests of fairness I have smoked this in different pipes, at different times of the day and in different places and the stuff is ethereal.
The first few pulls offer a bread like yeast flavour, or possibly slightly heavier, more like a brewers yeast, but this soon settles down and leaves you with…well, I’m not sure how to describe it. There is the hint of some dark fruit, but only the merest subtlest of hints; if this is an aromatic then it is so by the narrowest of margins. There’s a warmth in there too; not a perique pepper but a fleeting mellow glow on the roof of the mouth that I can’t place and then it’s gone.
On the exhale, with a quick inhale up the nose, I’m getting old newspaper, like the old newspaper you find protecting something in a tea chest in the attic. Another tamp and the fruitiness is back. Some more of the bowl and crispy dry leaves is on offer. Now the flavour of old newspapers (not in a bad way) is there and then it’s gone again.
This is odd stuff; it refuses to be typecast.
A very mellow smoke that burns rather quickly thanks to the shag cut - all too quickly the bowl is done and you are left with more questions than answers.
If it weren’t for the enigmatic nature of this tobacco I could see it being an all dayer and, for some, I could definitely see this as something they would reach for regularly but, for me, it’s a bit like that girlfriend you liked but never quite understood…so the relationship eventually fizzles out but you are left in the certain knowledge that it failed because of you, not her.
If people call this a Lakeland or a “soapy” blend then we have not been smoking the same thing but then I could see how people might say that; it mutates it’s behaviour and flavours depending on the size of pipe it is smoked in. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t mean to say it tastes of almonds in a large bowl and cherries in a small bowl; it’s way too subtle for that. The flavour profile is so nuanced that it takes on other things - time of day, tiredness, the place where it is smoked. It just won’t be tied down.
I have a pipe specifically for my Lakeland’s and I thought smoking Plum Cake in that would bring out the fruity nature but it went the other way, drawing out the woods and the newspaper. I tried it in my Cherry pipe expecting the same result but it brought out the warm glow on the roof of the mouth.
It genuinely is a difficult tobacco to nail down and at no point is it too much of anything - it’s like a song you have listened to a hundred times and on the one hundred and first listen you catch something new going on.
In all, it’s a wonderful “itch” tobacco - when you get that itch, nothing comes even remotely close to it. I’ll always have some on hand but I guarantee I’ll get that itch when I’m nowhere near the jar, on holiday or something, it’s that kind of a tobacco; like that girlfriend you never could understand.
A beginner to the pipe world would love this because of it’s mellowness and the lack of bite but I recommend this to the seasoned smoker who is looking for something different - you try and tame that stallion - I’m trying but I don’t think I’ll understand it it anytime soon.
Pipe Used:
Many
PurchasedFrom:
B&M
Age When Smoked:
6 months
| Reviewed By | Date | Rating | Strength | Flavoring | Taste | Room Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
| May 21, 2003 | Very Mild | Mild | Very Mild | Pleasant to Tolerable |
This one just didn't do it for me. What ever the flavor they added did not jell with my body chemistry. It was also way to bland for me. The flavor was not worth the time spent with this one. I have to say it's quality tobacco and burned well, maybe it will do something for you.
target="_blank"
