Paul Olsen No. 3005

My Own Blend 3005 has a lot of Latakia in it and also a good solid base of unflavored Black Cavendish. So the flavor presentation is very strong for a Danish blender. Unusually smoky and each puff delivers a big locomotive mouthful of blue smoke. The Virginia is there, but thinly, and not really worth talking about. It did its job. But again, its the Latakia in this one that will either take your breath away or, at least turn it a smoky blue.

Because of my good friend “ilias4”, whom I thank a lot, I am for good in the process of testing Paul Olsen Mixtures. I liked this mixture. Of course, as most of Olsen's tobacco it doesn't cause any tongue bite what so ever. Maybe it is the intense flavor of the Virginia in contrast with my favorite Latakia. The presence of Cavendish is noticeable. It offers me something different but without moving away from the Latakia region. It has a beautiful room scent and medium nicotine strength. It is not the mixture that I will eagerly seek to find, but it wouldn't be bad to always have a tin in my cellar. If and when someone visits Denmark I will ask for one more tin. But I will not quarrel with him if he doesn't bring me back one.

Woe to me, but I actually like this blend.

Sure, it burns a little hot but I've never gotten any tongue bite from it... My tongue might be wearing body armor or something, but reading the reviews here make me wonder if we are smoking the same blend...

Anyway. Not hysterically recommended, but very OK. ...very OK indeed!

Bought 2 tins of this on sale a year or so ago and have been trying to like it ever since. I've yet to find a pipe that it does well in. Maybe the blender wasn't watching when he added the latakia in this batch, but that is what comes out overwhelmingly both in flavor and room note. Now, I like latakia, but in this blend it totally overwhelms the base Virginias. It seems as though all they contribute is bite. And Cavendish? If they say so.... The Va. and Cavendish appear to be string cut and the latakia is in chunks. Maybe if they reversed this...?

I like most of ther Olsen blends and after a friend gave me a sample of 3005 I'm glad this was not the first blend I had tried. 3005 looks good and smells good in the tin, but in the pipe it is HOT, HOT, HOT and will bite. When they say SPICED with Cavendish they mean it.

The blend of Danish light aromatic and latakia is great in theory, but 3005 is such an incredible tongue-biter that it's impossible to enjoy. The MacBaren curse is a 98 lb. weakling compared to the hurt that this blend will put on you.

A ribbon cut cavendish/English blend. Not as sweet or as strong as some of Samuel Gawith's cavendish/English blends. Ideal initial moisture. Takes to the flame quickly and has a complete burn. The flavor is toasty, smoky, with just the slightest amount of added sweetness from the cavendish. A well balanced blend. All in all, this is a decent mild, English mixture.