J. F. Germain & Son Plum Cake Mixture

Wow! This blend is sublime. I know it divides opinion, but the best blends often do. Upon opening the tin you are greeted with a predominantly yellow shag (or at least very fine ribbon) with black flecks, which has been pressed into a block. The smell from the tin is wonderfully rich, deep, fruitiness. The tobacco benefits from 15-30 mins drying time to really make it sing.

Plum Cake Mixture lights easily and rewards when packed correctly. It needs to be sipped or it could potentially bite. The casing, though sweet and fruity, is clearly derived from natural flavourings and I detect no chemicals whatsoever. Additionally there is a proper spiciness to the smoke which tickles the back of the nose on exhaling, similar to that of Perique. Lovely.

Alongside the quality Virginia and "plum" flavours is a touch of anise and an almost powdery element. Someone mentioned that this blend transports them to Victorian England and I can see why. This is what we imagine the world used to taste like.

The nicotine level is low, but this is not a weak smoke. To someone who usually favours strong blends, I still find myself satisfied by this blend.It is a delight. It does exactly what it says on the tin.

Don't be swayed by negative reviews. If you think this blend may appeal to you, grab a tin and find out for yourself.

Of my most recent TAD purchase, I am finding Germain's Plum Cake a very nice smoke. I asked for advice before pulling the trigger from fellow pipers on what to buy and even took some of it. I also broke my self-imposed limits on TAD purchases, and my wife was totally fine with it.

Seriously, I have the greatest wife. Hang on, I'm gonna go kiss her. . . . . . Ok, I'm back.

Plum Cake is a delicate ribbon cut of mostly lighter colored tobaccos. Tin note is delightfully fruity with a darker hint of wine. Delicious smelling, like a high-end dessert. The smoking differs from the tin note quite a bit. It is rich and dark with hints of fruit popping in and out, certainly more tobacco forward than the tin note suggests it will be. It's a surprisingly complex and subtle smoke. Floral, fruity--dark, dried fruit, noticeable Virgina sweetness, an intriguing spiciness, which with the dark fruit, suggests perique. Very intriguing.

The Germain website says the mixture is four Virginas blended with cavendish and a "specially prepared black tobacco". Hmmm.

Nicotine-wise, it's on the medium to mild side (YMMV). It is weaker than Grousemoor, which also came in my shipment, but stronger than most American-style burleys, which I've also been smoking quite a bit of.

A civilized, fascinating, and well-done pipe tobacco, it certainly goes on my ORDER SOME MORE WHNE I RUN OUT list.

I'm working my way through a few Germain's tobaccos at the moment, this being the second. After the first, I was hoping for something good, so let's see.

The tin aroma is mild and fruity, not that strong to be honest though, I do like to have a good waft when I first open the packet. After very easy packing and lighting, I found the smoke a little disappointing, there is hint of fruit in there, not sure if it could be described as plum, and a half decent tobacco flavour but it can get rough at a moments notice for no apparent reason and back again. The roomnote follows a similar fashion.

In summary, a reasonable smoke that doesn't really do what it says on the tin with a hint of multiple personality disorder to boot.

Update 12th July 2013

Strange that I can't remember that I'd reviewed this one already, mustn't have been smoking it properly. Anyway, having bought a tin on a recent visit to my local shop, its now time to correct my mistake.

There's a small honey farm on the English side of the border with Scotland, it sits just up the road from the world's oldest suspension bridge still to carry road traffic. It produces, in my humble opinion, the nicest honey going. The tin aroma from this stuff reminds me of that very honey, not quite what I expected from a tobacco with Plum Cake written on the tin but none the less encouraging. The fine shag, again I find myself with a Germain's offering described as broken flake yet so finely cut, is relatively easy to pull apart and packs so nicely. The lighting is so easy, once again our friends from Jersey get the moisture levels just perfect. The first taste from this is a mild whiff of plum. The first couple of smokes of this did get a bit rough and that yucky boot polish taste from the black cavendish (or cavendish like pressed virginia if the description is to be believed) came through and wasn't particularly pleasant. However, I did read Smokey Sam's review above and decided to take my subsequent smokes a lot more slowly, probably the best decision I ever made. The taste flows from one of a brief sampling of plum to that oh so fine honey described above and stays like that to the bottom of the bowl. And it takes a good while to smoke too, even on a small bowlful. This is a tactic I've that I've begun to adopt with all my tobaccos and works well with all of them, though all the Germain's offerings I have seem to benefit the most.

In summary then, an excellent smoke if taken slowly, and worth every single extra second it takes to smoke as a result. It's like that beautiful, sophisticated girl at the bar or the gym, go in all macho and she'll bite your head off, go in and all honey tongued and she'll reward with so much sweetness you'll wonder why you never tried that tactic before. But then I'm happily single, so what do I know?

Bought a tin on a whim.

Smoked the first bowl... Ordered 4 more.

Former Somm and currently still in the wine Bussiness, so when I read about a tobacco that had been cured/marinated with wine I was both intrigued and skeptical all at once.

The smell in the tin is fantastic and took me back... In my younger years I consulted for a slew of restaurants and in building their cellars I'd always break a bottle of red on the floor to "baptize" it- but more importantly to make it smell like a wine cellar.

There's a certain dank grapey-plumminess mixed that sour tang of fermentation that is so very personal that smelling it ina tobacco sent me reeling.

Deeper olfactory examination of the fine and fluffy shag begins to reveal bitter-spice elements (someone before said Italian bitters which is spot on).

On the palate (sip this!!!) it fills your palette with that same wineniness found in the tin and the back-end unfurls with a panoply of dark sweet bitters and tobacco flavor proving the skill, ultimately, that went into creating such a daring (but balanced and delicious) blend.

I like it.

It's a grown-ass-man's aromatic.

Properly, it is a scented tobacco that the Brits seem to pull of brilliantly.

Everyone should try this- but everyone shouldn't expect to like.

J. F. Germain - Plum Cake.

A pleasant looking shag with a couple of larger pieces. The unlit note's fruity, and because this was supplied bulk the moisture's good.

The smoke's pleasant, to me. A natural fruitiness comes from the Virginia and is enhanced by the added plum flavour. This extra flavouring refrains from becoming too sweet, or gloopy. It burns well and gives a bite free smoke.

Nicotine: mild to medium. Room-note: pleasant.

Germaine's Plum Cake? Very good. Four stars:

Highly recommended.

I guess I am the black sheep here, because this the bomb for me. I am normally not into aromatics, I wouldn't touch'em with a poker, but i found this one so unique and special that I would not count it as an "aromatic".

The cut is shag and the tin aroma is indeed very special. As always I will try to compare with foods: Aniseed, overly ripe oranges, dank store-room (yes I know, it is not food, and somehow or other it is meant positively) and Tawny Port. A strange mix indeed, but when lit, it produces the sweetest buttery smoke one could imagine.

The leaf is of outstanding quality and I sense some insignificant amount of orientals in it. It burns well, packs enough nic. to make me happy and does not bite at all. Normally I like some hot Earl Grey with my pipes, but somehow this does not work at all, because the fragrant aromas of both would mix in a negative way. Instead try some rich red Port wine with it, and sit back and dream away: This will tickle your tastebuds and lead your thoughts far away from the grey and dull everyday life.

The best (non-) aromatic I have ever tried, and I will explore the whole Germain line from now on.

***** Jakob Kiilerich, Denmark *****

Wow! This blend is sublime. I know it divides opinion, but the best blends often do. Upon opening the tin you are greeted with a predominantly yellow shag (or at least very fine ribbon) with black flecks, which has been pressed into a block. The smell from the tin is wonderfully rich, deep, fruitiness. The tobacco benefits from 15-30 mins drying time to really make it sing.

Plum Cake Mixture lights easily and rewards when packed correctly. It needs to be sipped or it could potentially bite. The casing, though sweet and fruity, is clearly derived from natural flavourings and I detect no chemicals whatsoever. Additionally there is a proper spiciness to the smoke which tickles the back of the nose on exhaling, similar to that of Perique. Lovely.

Alongside the quality Virginia and "plum" flavours is a touch of anise and an almost powdery element. Someone mentioned that this blend transports them to Victorian England and I can see why. This is what we imagine the world used to taste like.

The nicotine level is low, but this is not a weak smoke. To someone who usually favours strong blends, I still find myself satisfied by this blend.

It is a delight. It does exactly what it says on the tin.

Don't be swayed by negative reviews. If you think this blend may appeal to you, grab a tin and find out for yourself.

Ordering this was purely serendipitous...When ordering holiday tobaccos from Smokingpipes, one of my choices was out of stock...In a mad scramble to replace the o.o.s. tobacco I defaulted to Germain simply because I like and trust their blends...Lo and behold Plum Cake...Well, Plum Cake, plum pudding...Close enough...One of the most tasty aromatics I've encountered...Perfect balance of prime tobaccos and plum flavoring...Thank-you Smokingpipes for being o.o.s. with C&D's Christmas offering...Plum Cake is not something I can afford on a daily basis but I will reorder a few tins for special occasions like changing my socks and underwear, or taking the dog for her daily walks...Perfect strength, perfect taste...Burns clean to a white ash and the room note couldn't be better...What more could you ask for in an aromatic!?!

I purchased an old tin at the local smoke shop after I saw the owner pack it into one of her own pipes. She is by no means a blender per se but she has handmade her own pipes for over 4 decades and she rarely smokes in public (something about her german upbringing), so when I see her lighting up an exquisite pencil shanked squat tomato I was all questions. She did not go into great details like the other reviews here, but simply mentioned this was one of her all time favorite tobaccos. The next day I bought the last tin in the store - at least 5 years old but probably older. Tonight I cracked it open and was very intrigued by the tin aroma. The paper folds were stained brown and were very wet with very small crystals present. Someone who has the patience and experience for cellaring may know how significant that is, it is not in my nature but have been told by others that this phenomenon is an excellent sign. It smelled unique for a Va and was far more moist than most. I should clarify that I personally don't belong into any one category of taste classification or genre, aromatic, semi-aromatic, english, balkan, american, va/per, neo-pseudo-exotic-cavendish-whatsit-whatever. I like tobaccos from all genres and as a rule - don't enjoy the taste or odor of latakia, period (those of you who believe this to be heresy as the enjoyment of this particular tobacco is all too often equated with the upper eschalon of leaf conniseurs can go jump in a lake - with your shoe leather tasting tobacco).

The cut is extraordinary and very delicate. I did not let the tobacco air out at all. No drying whatsoever before carefully packing up an excellent smoking, small dublin and starting the lighting process. It burned much better than expected but the flavor was...odd. Not bad, just different and very subtle. While smoking I checked out the reviews here and when I read the reference to the taste of white wine it all clicked. This is what I imagine smoking the inside of a nice german sweet wine barrel would taste like. As the bowl is now at the finish it has a bit more body, probably due to a slightly increased cadence once my pallete sorted out the taste. No bite and a wonderful smoke. This is why I enjoy good VAs so much, it is subtle and will blossom into wonderful variations to the puffer who refuses to rush and allow the tobacco to stay just on the verge of going out.

Initially I thought the I was smoking quickly because at the first post-lighting tamp half the bowl had been consumed. Then it occured to me that perhaps I packed a little looser with less tobacco due to its high moisture. But as I...hold on a sec...yep, she's done...finish and check the clock it appears this was an hour and 45 minute smoke. It just seemed to go by fast due to the transcendant nature of the tobacco.

If you can ease up and slow down - this is a masterpiece. Outstanding and in a class by itself. I can't wait to taste some after a little drying.