Erik Stokkebye No.1

The nutty, woody, earthy, lightly cocoa-ish Kentucky burley takes a small lead over the other components at times. It gets fair competition from the floral, mildly dry and spicy, woody, earthy, Orientals, which, at its least, is a supporting player. The spicy, raisiny, plumy Louisiana perique is the third star in the mix by effect, and not by proportion. The grassy, citrusy Virginia ends up being more of a condiment. The honey and floral toppings have a little richness, and they accent/compliment the varietals as much as they tone them down, which they don't do that much. The wooden cedar box is very minor; just enough to notice. The strength and taste levels are medium. The nic-hit is in the center of mild to medium. Won’t bite or get harsh. Burns cool, clean and a slightly slow due to the cut of the tobacco being more of a broken flake. The sweet and lightly savory flavor is complex and fairly consistent from start to finish. Leaves little dampness in the bowl, and needs some relights. Has a pleasant, lightly lingering after taste and room note. An all day smoke if you wish it to be.

-JimInks

I suspect this is all bought up. It should be.

Excellent tobacco - mild and friendly, nothing too weird or spicy, but it's bloody delicious. Sweet, a little woody (obvious notes from the Spanish cedar in the box), reasonably full bodied. Just excellent tasting tobacco with some fun nuances.

Buy it if you can and if this kind of thing seems fun to you.

Digging around, I found a couple boxes of 4th Generation No. 1 at my favorite B&M, and I plumped for a box, on the strength of 4G’s Family Reserve. I smoked some as soon as I got home, and now I will grab the last box, too, if it’s still there the next time I visit that store! In the beautiful little cedar box, under a humidifier packet and gold sealed white paper, is a short stack of perfectly formed, thin, variegated flakes ranging from golden tan to light, reddish brown, to medium brown. One has to remove the flakes from the box to smell past the cedar, and then it smells good enough to eat, like a sweet, light, boutique whole wheat muffin with orange, vanilla, peach, poppy seeds and honey, all of it low and subdued, with a sense of sweet latency about it. For my introduction I rolled up a flake and pushed it into a 6+ billiard that’s made for a filter, but I don’t use a filter, so the draw is very free and easy. 4GN1 lights fine and it smokes like a dream, no matter the pipe, as long as it’s not overshadowed by ghosts of tobaccos past. It will ghost a VA pipe, but it’s worth it, IMO. In a nutshell, this is great tobacco, as good as anything I’ve ever smoked. It’s more of a crossover than an aro, IMO, along the lines of Savinelli’s Brunello Flake, or F&T’s Cut VA Plug. The topping comes up first at the match, along with the muffin version of the tobaccos. It’s floral like an orchid, but softly so, and the tobaccos immediately rise, starting with a very soft and elegant version of KY, only slightly smoky and nutty, then the Turkish and Orientals, with their wood and bakery spices, then the old Perique, fragrant, sour, and almost like dessert wine, then the sweet, grassy, muffin-y VAs. The lot is very well melded, like old, well-cellared DRC wine. To me, it’s not so much mild or strong as it is just right, and I find myself puffing greedily, wanting to snork back all of every puff! The tobaccos rise compared to the toppings over the course of a bowl, changing the balance slightly, but the toppings never fade, and the profile is the same, top to bottom. Strength is medium. Tastes are past medium, but so smooth it seems milder. Room note is actually Pleasant. Aftertaste is a trailing off of the best of the smoke, with the Orientals fading first, as usual, and an extremely mild ghost of the combusted toppings keeps it from perfection.

Perhaps the box and the blurb seem pretentious to some. I know I’d rather save the money, not to mention retaining the possibility for continued fermentation. But, bottom line, the tobacco that’s in the box is epic. 4 Stars, hands down, and I hope they do it again.

This limited run comes in an attractive wooden "humidor," which I think may impart some wood notes to the smoke. Lovely floral/honey topping, that does show itself in the room note and on the palate. The flavor profile is fairly complex and changes slightly through the bowl. Wood, baking spice, nuts, citrus, sweetness, and creaminess. It's easy to light and smokes very well. Would highly recommend this blend, if you can still get your hands on some. I'm looking forward to Erik Stokkebye's next Blend of the Year release.

Interesting presentation and packaging, it comes in a lovely cedar box which is not sealed but comes with a humidity control pack inside. The flakes are not pressed too hard so break apart fairly easily, only 10 min drying time was needed.

Excellent tobacco with a lot going on (too much for me to describe fully but others have covered it well) I personally have smoked nothing like it but woodsy and floral taste comes to mind which is not really what I expected from a burley blend. Wonderful tobacco!