Clan Shaw Camp Fire

Chopped burley with a smidge of Virginia and Latakia resulting in a cool, mild, dry, and ultimately quite boring smoke. There's a slight Latakia flavor with a bit of caramel floating on top, but mostly this seems quite bland. It turns bitter if you smoke too quickly, and you probably will in the effort to get this to taste like something. On the plus side, it smokes to a dry ash and won't muck up your pipe, and it's inexpensive. But, then again, so are grass clippings...

From the label: Burleys, Golden & Toasted Cavendish, Latakia

Pouch aroma: The tobacco emits a sweet, candy-like aroma, hinting that the Burleys in this blend will be the main component. The aroma is enticing.

Appearance: Various colors of brown tobaccos with a smattering of black and golden hues evident. Some medium-cut leaves are here, but the predominant cut is a cube or flake cut.

Initial flavor: The first match brings a blast of rich, sweet smoke, true in flavor to the aroma of the pouch. The Burleys are evident in the musty sweetness, and the Cavendish tobaccos also are making themselves known. The Latakia is not much in evidence, except perhaps for a faint wood-smoke aroma that plays here and there on the olfactory.

Mid bowl: This is not a very complicated tobacco so far. A very smooth and full burn continues to be a sweet and cool mixture of Burleys and Cavendish. The Latakia has come into play more providing a smoky bottom note. Exhaling through the nose intensifies the sweet nature of this cool smoke, but doesn?t bring the Latakia any closer to the top.

Final: The burning tobacco has developed more fully into the smoky-tasting treat promised by its name. The Latakia smokiness is more evident here in the final third, and it plays very well against the sweetness of the Burleys and Cavendish tobaccos. A relight in the final third brings a rich blast of Latakia flavor, but it quickly settles down and continues to be a very well behaved component of the smoke. As with many tobaccos, the final third of the bowl is quite a treat, though it has never developed a great deal of complexity. It burns completely to the bowl?s bottom, leaving a dark gray ash.

Summary: As with many new blends, I had to smoke three or four bowls of Camp Fire before I could decide whether or not I like it. I do. The tobacco provides great clouds of smoke and not much attention to get to the bottom of the bowl. The burn is steady and cool, and it would take work to make this blend bite. The flavor is nice and full and the room aroma is very pleasant. This would be a good all-day smoke for the English lover, and the Aromatic smoker would probably enjoy it very much. If you like Frog Morton, you?ll probably like Camp Fire. And, as with all of the Clan Shaw blends, the price is very attractive.

Mild, burns cool, no bite, and I receive many compliments outside at work regarding the fine aroma.