Ashton Old Dog

.....Get your fishing license,Pack your favorite Scotch or Bourbon...and get away for a couple of days;You deserve a break... This tobacco in my favorite Meerschaum is deep and complex,in my Briar,light tasting..but incredibly Hot(fast or slow puff'g)...I find this Tobacco Very Much a Camelion(Like when i smoke Frog Morton) *NOT for the FAINT of HEART.!. :+}

First off, the aroma coming out of the tin when its first opened is much more to my liking than Celebrated Sovereign. Old Dog is a good English blend with Cyprian Latakia, Xanthia, Black Cavendish and flue-cured Virginia. To me, this is the better of the two English blends in the Ashton series.

That said, its overall reviews are a bit shy of those for Celebrated Sovereign. Of twenty-seven reviewers to date, twenty-four of them are about evenly split between 4-stars, 3-stars, and 2-stars. Only three reviewers give Old Dog a 1-star rating. Average score to date is 2.81 stars.

For about three months I was smoking Peterson's "Sherlock Holmes" blend. When I finely tired of it, I bought a can of Old Dog. I mean, how can you go wrong with a name like that? Does not the name remind you of a faithfull friend, that was happy to see you at the end of a long day? This tobacco was that friend for a while. When you open the tin, you are greated by the scent of Latakia, and an overtone of a mild casing added. The cut was a corse ribbon, which packed into the bowl nicely. Upon first light, I expected to taste the Latakia, but instead, a sweet taste from the casing came through. However, soon after, the Latakia made its way to the top, and stayed there throughout the smoke. Occasionally during the smoke, the Virgina and Orientals came through, and always just in the background, the flavor of the casing was there. I liked it at first, and I stayed with this tobacco for some time. But, as some good friendships end, this one did too, I moved on to full English blends. There comes a time though, when I think about this tobacco, and I feel like I left that faithfull compainion, that "Old Dog" sitting on the step looking at me, as I moved on to new adventures.

Ahh... down to the last bowl of this enjoyable blend. I want so badly to fall in love with Latakia blends, but it seems my palate just doesn't enjoy them the same way it craves aged Virginia flakes. Old Dog however, has really caught my attention. After receiving a sample of McClelland No.1 Balkan bulk blend, I realized that my poor experiences with Dunhill English blends could be a specific brand problem. So I bought three tins of 2000 Old Dog from a local retailer who was happy to get rid of them. (Actually I bought his entire stock of 1999/2000 Ashton tobaccos except for the aromatic blend). Here is my review.

Tin Aroma: Big Latakia with a high note?

Visual: 65% Black crinkled Latakia with the remaining 35% consisting of tan & mahogany ribbon.

Texture: Moist and just a bit sticky to the touch. I tend to prefer my blends on the moist side, so this was not off-putting.

Pack/Pipe: Since 90% of the tobacco I smoke comes in flake form, I'm afraid my packing technique with ribbon cuts leaves something to be desired. I began this tin with gravity feed and just a tiny bit of compression. I did not experience good burn qualities, and had 2 - 4 relights per bowl. (I usually require none or one). By the time I was halfway through the tin, I began packing more firmly, and experienced longer, more consistent smokes. This was smoked in my full Latakia rotation including a '73 Dunhill Redbark pot, Caminetto business squash/prince, Castello Old Antiquari and a few Israeli Alphas and virgins. Liked it in larger/taller bowls better.

Lighting/Burn: One long match to char, one long match to light. Occassionaly I needed a relight within minutes of starting the pipe. Once I began packing more firmly, the burn became consistent.

1st 3rd: By far the best portion of the bowl. Loads of flavor with a nice zingy spiciness and the comforting smokiness of the Latakia. Burns at a medium rate, and never felt hot - even with enthusiastic puffing.

2nd 3rd: More of the same as long as I kept the ember rolling. If I backed off to a slower pace, the smoke became much cooler, but lost flavor.

Final 3rd: Very seldom did I enjoy this portion. It was often ashy and devoid of flavor. Sometimes had difficulty smoking to the bottom of the bowl.

Notes: I have two more tins from 2000 cellared. I will come back to this again in 2 -3 years and see how it behaves. My palate may be much more attuned to Latakia at that time as well. Also, I will leave tin open for two weeks before smoking it next time.

Stogie rating of: Seven Heavenly Hoyo's

Old Dog was a sweet mellow English Blend that I have enjoyed for years. If you can get a relatively recent tin, I think that you will enjoy it as well. It is, however, out of production so check out the Internet and the old stock at your local Pipe Shop.

It is my feeling that any blend with a significant amount of cased tobacco present with otherwise natural tobacco will be best smoked early in its life cycle. Old Dog is a great tobacco when smoked within say six or seven years of its production but the cased Cavendish doesnt age in conjunction with the other natural leaf. This throws the older aged blend out of balance and results in an artificial induced edginess that isnt present in younger tins.

That being said, I have plenty of 04 left in my tobacco cellar and I love it every bit as much as I ever did. The tin from 1995 that I just finished had natural tobacco that had mellowed as expected. However the cased tobacco portion hadnt mellowed in harmony with the others. It could have been a manufacturing issue but McClelland has never had quality control problems in my experience. In fact, they always have done a great job and continue to do so with their other products. If you get a tin manufactured since 2000, you should be fine. Too bad it is out of production as I have always enjoyed this blend and I will miss it.

Wow, distinguished gentleman, that's quite a review! While this tobacco does have elegance and polish, there's something lacking. I don't find it that luscious. As with its cigars, Ashton produces a refined label, but the product doesn't take me to the moon. This is smooth, probably due to the black cavendish, and it definitely isn't characteristically McC. Overall, though, it's a Frog Morton on Geritol. It's not bad, but five of four stars? De gustibus non est disputandum.

Three of five stars

---

December 7, 2005

By coincidence, I'm reviewing this again on that infamous day so declared by FDR. This tin had some time to age. Tried it again and liked it. The latakia is a bit spicier & it's more elegant, then again, I've been smoking a lot of junk lately. I'd like to try another tin, but alas, it's been discontinued, or at least, it is no longer being blended by McClelland. If you find a tin lying around in a close-out bin, give it a whirl.

Three and a half of five stars

Can't add much to tillmanj and KEF except to agree with them and others. Old Dog is one of my favorite English blends as well. I rotate between VA,s & VA/Perique blends with the English/Balkan blends getting airplay whenever I have the chance, and OD is always there. The sweet yet tangy flavors together with the citrusy, smoky and nutty flavors make for a very enjoyable pipe whether relaxing with a good book or writing tobacco reviews :o). Smokes cool and burns well to gray ash. If you like blends of this sort you owe it to yourself to try this one. Works for me.

On opening the tin a strong aroma - sweet cyprian latakia and xanthi oriental - reminds me a bit of Frog Morton OTT. Kind of a mix of pebble and ribbon cut, darker brown with some light ribbon. As with many McClelland's blends, it is a bit moist, and takes some time to dry out. Packs and lights well. On lighting, it is a sweet/sharp cyprian latakia scent with mild sweet casing. As it is smoked down the oriental flavors grow stronger and temper the latakia, but the casing flavor, which I like, stays pretty constant. I don't know cavendish tobaccos well enough to say what role they play here. Tends to burn a bit wet, with slight bite if smoked quickly. The room scent is not overwhelming. I don't smoke this often, but when I do I find myself saying how much I enjoy it. 8 of 10. - Kelly

From the tin notes, you would expect this to be a Latakia powerhouse. I beg to differ. While this is deeper than its brother Celebrated Sovereign, it is brighter than Frog Morton. It is possible that it's Latakia content is as great as FM, but there is a lively, zesty Virginia component present that makes this quite different. (Mind you, I like FM, but it is darker, and a bit more sweet/aromatic).

To be honest, I don't love Latakia. And I don't smoke this very often. But every time that I pull this out of the drawer, especially when I'm heading out for a snowy dog-walk, I am charmed by this blend. As with all Ashtons, this features a stellar Virginia backbone - McClelland Virginias, but deeper than usually found in Mc blends. While my taste buds are usually deadened by Latakia halfway through a bowl, this blend never does. This is one of five Latakia blends that I will always keep on hand (along with GLP Renaissance, Dunhill EMP, Mc 2020 and Clan Shaw Mountain).