Cascadia Pipe Co. Trail Head

The deeply fermented burley provides plenty of nuts, earth, wood, and a light sugar and molasses as the lead component. The matured Virginias offer plenty of tart and tangy citrus, grass, bead, sugar, some earth, wood, tangy stewed dark fruit, vegetation, floralness, and a couple of pinches of spice. They are supporting players. The dark fired Kentucky produces earth, wood, vegetation, some spice, floralness, and nuts. It’s a step above being a condiment. The sourness usually associated with DFK is mostly covered by the fruity apricot and berries toppings that moderately sublimate the tobaccos. They also synergistically meld with all the intrinsic aspects of the varietals to create a deeply rich, very consistent fermented fruity, nutty, mildly sugary, spicy and floral, creamy, mostly smooth flavor that extends to the pleasantly lingering after taste. The strength is a notch past the medium threshold. The taste is close to the center of medium to full. The nic-hit is medium. There’s no chance of bite or harshness, and barely has any rough notes. The plug is moderately dense, and is easy to cut. It may require some dry time, though I did not do that as I prefer, for review purposes, to smoke blends as they are fresh out of a tin. Burns clean, cool, and slow. Leaves little moisture in the bowl, and requires a fair number of relights. Has a very pleasant room note. Despite having a little potency, it can be an all day smoke for the veteran, and repeatable for the less experienced. Four stars.

-JimInks

Summary: a loose plug of basic Burleys sweetened by red Virginia with a light cherry and caramel topping.

You could always go get some "Erinmore Flake," if you wanted the experience of a Virginia flake strengthened by Burley, but instead you wanted to spend another four bucks to get the latest and greatest, so you go this. The plug is not as tight as the European plugs, so more resembles the hasty "kakes" that industry wants to push on us because they are cheap to make, and cuts in jagged slices. Upon first light, it reveals the roasted almonds and barley Burley flavor, but a jarring intrusion of the cherry and other berry flavoring adulterates this; a small amount of dark fired Kentucky Burley gives it some texture, like a little dark roast in your hotel coffee, at which point the sweetness of the Virginas takes over. This reminds me of those honey roasted cereals from the 1980s which seemed really good until you realized that they were just as sugar-laden as the stuff with the bright marshmallows, and you still felt a bit sick after eating it then got hungry an hour later. In the same way, this blend uses the sweet Virginias to stand in for the flavor of a fermented Burley, which has more of a malted and cedar-like dimension to it. This is not a bad blend, but it is not a good one, either, especially not at the Rolls-Royce prices they want for it.

Smoking now:

So I went on a camping trip and decided, hey I know just what tobacco to bring. It fits the camping vibe. I bought this when it was on sale for $6 at P&C. How bad can it be Jim here gave it 4 stars.

Popping the tin gives off an aroma of apricots. Like actual dried apricots. Delightful. Notes of hay, fermentation, wood, and very tart citrus. It’s wonderful. Smells almost aromatic but it’s not don’t worry. Pulling back the ruffled paper and removing the paper disk I was met with…. a plug. Not a cake… but an actual plug. Not the tightest plug but most certainly a plug worthy to be cut with a knife. Which I most certainly did as I was camping. God damn I felt like a man.

Tobacco is moist, almost sticky, no dry time I just packed it. It smoked just fine the way it was.

First puffs are lots of tart citrus tang. I suspect the apricot topping helps with it. The burley’s are very prominent. I can dislike burley tobacco as it bites me however this did not. The sweet grassy lemony tangy fermented hay Virginias are neck and neck with the woody earthy nutty burley tobaccos. This is not at all an aromatic sweet or flavored sort of tobacco. I didn’t get that at all. The topping is noticeable but its flavor is seamless with the tobacco and is not obnoxious. The toppings compliments this well adding some tart citrus fruit and retarding the harshness. Lots of fermentation here. Decent body, it’s rather full and stout at times. As the bowl progresses I maybe get some DFK but not in a smoky way. Rather a dark sweetness like HH ODF has. This tobacco gets sweeter as the bowl progresses. It’s rather rich and complex. Definitely not an all day smoke. This burned cool and slow and on a hike this stayed lite well, smoked slow, and did not get harsh towards the bottom.. I’m a nicotine light weight and this was strong by my standards.

I was really surprised by this. It was mighty fine. Even at the full price if you get it on sale I wouldn’t hesitate to buy it.

Non smoker I was with said that this was very mild and non offensive. Did not detect any fruit aroma.

Cascadia Pipe Co. - Trail Head.

I've smoked only this blend today, after a day smoking it I'm not a fan.

The plug is dense, like 3P's. It requires a sharp knife for preparation. It smells sprightly and fruity, isn't too moist once sliced; I slice mine coarse, for a longer, cool smoke.

My initial thought was 'oh dear'. After a day that's still my feeling. On the positive side the tobaccos aren't bad. The Burley is plenty rugged, 'coarse' and nutty, with a succulence emanating from the Virginia. There's a slight Kentucky smokiness, and the tobaccos work well with each other. Unfortunately the added flavour ruins the smoke. It tastes like Juicy Fruit chewing gum. There's too sweet a citrus flavour, a tropical/pineapple note, it's very sticky and cloying. On the plus-side it burns cool and slow, generating plenty of smoke.

Nicotine: quite strong. Room-note: too much.

Trail Head? Nasty stuff. Not recommended:

One star.

I purchased a new tin of Cascadia's Trailhead plug tobacco from pipesandcigars.com. The tin note is beautiful: hay, fermented fruit, earth, brown sugar, and sourdough. The plug is dense and has a dark brown color with lighter striations throughout. It cuts apart nicely into flake and rubs out with a little more effort than usual. The fermented Virginias provide a sweet grass, citrus, cedar, and stone fruit component, while the aged burley offers brown sugar, honey, earth, and toasted nuts. The dark fired Kentucky burley has a deeply smokey undercurrent with peppercorn, allspice, and floral notes entwined. The fruit topping enhances the matured tobaccos and adds a substantial, deep complexity that is as nuanced as it is robust. Nicotine strength falls between medium and strong with a full and balanced taste. The plug burns very slow and cool and has no bite. The room note is rich and wonderful and very complex as well. A plug tobacco to model other plug tobaccos. Extremely addictive and highly recommended.

I agree with other reviewers that this blend is somewhat reminiscent of Erinmore Flake, albeit an immensely toned down version of that venerable blend. It has a familiar fruity chewing gum flavour imparted by its topping that remains in the foreground of the smoke throughout. This flavour is not overwhelming, and is closer in strength to the taste one has in one's mouth after emptying it of the aforementioned gum.

The flavour from the leaf itself is there, but just barely. In fact, I am quite disappointed that a plug should have such a mildness to it. There are notes of grass and hay from the virginia, along with some citrus (though this could also be from the topping). There are notes of roasted nuts, as well as a slight and not unpleasant bitterness from the burley. But these notes are so muted, leading one to puff away with increasing frequency, save that one should forget that anything is being smoked at all. Thankfully fast puffing does not yield the cigarette-like acridity that other Virginia/Burley blends are prone to in such circumstances, though one almost wishes it would, as this would provide reassurance that there is indeed tobacco in one's bowl. The one outcome that may result from fast puffing is a nicotine rush, or even headache. While Trail Head is minimal in flavour, it is surprisingly high in nicotine. It will not overpower the veteran smoker, or someone - like myself - with a chronic vitamin N deficiency. But those who prefer conventional Danish or American aromatics, or who do not but are nevertheless sensitive to nicotine, should probably avoid this blend.

This leads to the question of who exactly this blend is for. Burley smokers and plug enthusiasts will likely find Trail Head very bland, while those who favour milder tobaccos may find it far too potent. It is a smoke for someone looking for a nicotine fix which does not sully one's palate or one's clothes, in which case it must be asked, "why not just chew Nicorette?"

I give Trail Head two stars, as I reserve the lowest rating for truly terrible blends, which this is not. It burns well, once properly prepared; the flavours, subdued as they may be, are not at all unpleasant; and it is a genuine plug, as opposed to what so often passes for such these days. But, nevertheless, I would have a hard time recommending it, especially given its relatively high price.

I purchased this tobacco simply because it was a plug and I wanted to try it. This is a mild but tasty tobacco, it smokes cool and smooth with no rough edges. Try it, you won’t be disappointed.

This is a very good VaBur blend that’s reminiscent of University Flake. Not goi g to go into flavor notes since there’s already those types of reviews. All I’ll say is it’s a great blend and one of my favorites. Not a huge fan of Burleys but this blend I would smoke everyday! Definitely get a dried apricot smell from the tin note. Very good blend! Campsite and trailhead are the two best from Cascadia vertical limit comes in third.

I normally smoke VA or VA/Per flakes and still prefer them to this blend. This is a rather dense, moist plug that takes some prep work for good packing. I needed numerous relights using my fold and pack technique. Smokes clean and cool without bite or condensation with a medium nic hit. The taste from the DFK was too woodsy for me.

Tin note of mild campfire, spices, and stewed fruit. The reddish-brown tobacco plug is very dense. A sharp knife is needed to cut thin flakes. Rubs out with a little effort. Moisture content is on the dry side. Burns slow with few relights. The strength is medium to strong and nic is medium. Flavoring is mild to medium with notes of apricots or some kind of stone fruit and a sweetener. Both get a little milder and move to the background as the smoke progresses. Taste is medium to full and mostly consistent, with notes of very woody, spices, toasted bread, orange peel, mildly sweet, floral, mildly spicy, fermented vegetation, molasses, lemon grass, mildly bitter, a tangy dark fruit background note, and a peppery retro. Burley is barely beating the Flavoring for the lead and Virginia is supporting. Room note is pleasant, and aftertaste is good.