The Country Squire Tobacconist Figgy Pudding

Only available around the holidays, Figgy Pudding is a Holiday treat.

It's a ribbon cut that packs well and the notes of fruit and booze mix well with the tobacco to provide a special treat. The roomnote is nice and will get compliments from those around you. It burns well and produces little moisture. Requires normal amount of relights.

As a newer pipe smoker, I am mainly exploring the different blends (I favor aromatic blends, although I am dipping my toes into the non-aromatic blends now) to find what I like.

Christmas blends are my favorite, I want to try them all, so I go into each Christmas blend with great expectations!

This review is for the 2021 season offering... This is the 1st in the Holiday Series for The Country Squire, Cordial Friends (its waiting on moderator approval) being the 2nd.

Opening the bag, what I smelled was chocolate at first, then some of the fruit/liquor smell. The flavor I tasted was again, mostly chocolate right off the bat, with a bit of spice and some liquor. This had a lingering aftertaste of fruit. The room note was very pleasant! I did not have any tounge-bite with this blend.

We want some Figgy Pudding so please bring it right here. A seasonal blend offered from the good folks at The Country Squire Tobacconist. I’ve never have actually eaten figgy pudding but if the subject mixture is any indication of the taste, I need to.

This mix is a very tasty combination of black infused Cavendish, Virginias and assorted Burleys. The casings and flavorings applied present a rich smoking experience that is really quite enjoyable. Primarily course-cut in its structure but there are few dainty ribbons of Virginia that are present.

The pouch note on this blend is big and exquisite. My nose danced in the delightful joy with the perfume of warm, heavy dark chocolate and liquored type essences. You don’t get much of the natural flair of the base tobaccos that are within but that does not detract by any means. Figgy Pudding smells simply yummy.

As with aromatics, I tend to judge based upon the overall package and the trueness of the lasting flavor. I will say Figgy Pudding is representative of the assorted aromatics that I have thus far sampled from The Country Squire. Namely, the flavors lasts until the very last of the bowl; very consistently. Most aromatics, in my opinion, come out of the gate strong and quickly taper off to a state of sheer boredom. Not the products from Country Squire, so I always recommend the mass of aro zealots to give the blends made down in Jackson, MS are fair try.

The overall Figgy Pudding’s character is a wonderfully sweet and lively. The dominant body registered was a chocolaty-vanilla cocoa note with subtle overtones of caramel, marshmallow type sweetness; smore-ish in one respect. There is, most definitely, an undertone of alcohol, bourbon I suspect, that adds a tad bit of spiciness.

Figgy Pudding also offers a nice meld of fruity accents, reminiscent of plums and cherry. Frankly, this blend reminds me of the beloved Christmas cordial candies that I loved as a young boy. Unquestionably the celebration of assorted flavorings ride herd on the essential taste, however, one occasionally finds a nice register of woody-nut Burley and light snip of deep grassy Virginia; red varietal perhaps?

It is a very moist product, therefore, ample drying time must be applied or you will end up with a goopy mess in the bottom of your pipe. With the appropriate level of moisture the tobacco pack nicely in the bowl. The burn was relatively cool for an aromatic. I experienced no bite or the over-burnt nastiness that aromatics tend to have. The smoke produced is lovely and carries a very pleasant fragrant room note; all very likable attributes.

This blend comes around once a year at holiday time. When I purchased this, Country Squire was limited to selling only a couple ounces at a time. Hopefully the ounce that I have remaining will last until next November. Grab yourself an ounce or two to enliven your seasonal bliss. It’s a true treat.

My second go at this one. As for as aromatic blends go, nothing special. Typical pure vanilla extract forward flavored Green River Black Cavendish. It permeates the blend and room note. If smoked carefully, and with attention, one can get a taste almost like spice cake with a vanilla cream cheese frosting. As with many tobacco blends (especially aeros) taste is subjective to blend description. They tell you it's fruit tutty yummy and that's what you'll taste eight times out of ten. I like to have my flat mate pick out random blends without telling me what they are. In a blind taste test things get really interesting. Laissez bon temps roulette

This special seasonal release is another must-try aromatic from the Squire.

Bag note smells like chocolate pudding, or one of those gooey fudge volcanoes that they always try and tempt you with after a meal at the restaurant. The first light always reminds me of German chocolate cake, but once the temperature stabilizes I get a flavor that very much reminds me of Pan de Higo (Spanish Fig Cake) which is made of pressed figs, pitted dates, honey, brandy, and Marcona almonds.

Interestingly (to me anyway) I found a Mason jar with a couple bowl's worth of my Figgy Pudding supply from 2020, so now two years old. As we all know, most aromatics fade with age. . . Comparing the old batch against the fresh batch they started out almost identical, that is to say, the same delicious German chocolate cake giving way to Spanish fig cake. But, by mid-bowl it was obvious that the older batch was losing steam, and I began to notice something that happens when Cavendish begins to lose its flavor: a taste of canned green beans and grassy chlorophyll. This isn't surprising given that the Cavendish process involves steaming a botanical product, thus releasing the chlorophyll trapped in the tobacco leaf. I suppose we don't notice this when all the flavorings are covering that up. This is why I would suggest trying to use Cavendish-dominant blends and full aros like Figgy within a year for maximum enjoyment.

But here's what I'd like to know from any subsequent reviewers: say somebody loves this and their supply runs out by Easter - are there any blends out there that come close to Figgy that are available on a regular basis? I'm wondering about Boswell's Pennsylvania Dutch, which I haven't tried. Thanks.

An American Aromatic with an intoxicating room and bag note. This is one of those tobaccos that lives up to it's following. It's not a delicate, nuanced, sophisticated tobacco. It's one that makes you feel like your in grandma's kitchen. Grandpa making his toxic eggnog, Honey Ham in the oven. I'm a traditional Virginia/Perique fan. Natural tobaccos are my go to. But every so often there is a mood and season that warrants a good sweet tobacco. This is one of those. Burley and Cavendish are prominent team players. And heavy fruits, bakers chocolate, and baking spices are the stars. They will probably keep making this. And they should. Merry Christmas