Dan Tobacco Holly's Discovery

This is a Latakia lovers blend for sure. So much so that I find it difficult to find the Orientals. As others have pointed out, there is some sweetness to the blend but I am not sure if it actually comes from the Virginia's. It tastes to me like it may be manually added. Unlike other Latakia powerhouses, this blend gets a bit monotone for me. As a result I won't be buying more, but three stars for Latakia lovers.

Bought this after going through the Dan tobacco catalogue which marked this as strong, and it was thus strong, not as strong as the Bayou Morning Flake, but still stronger than Dan’s own Balkan and London Blend no. 1000.

A mellow blend, this, and not as deliciious as the other two aforementioned Dan blends, but certainly spicy. The Virginia in it is liberal, and its sweetness cannot be missed behind that spiciness.

Expect liberal clouds of smoke. Not the greatest room note, but tolerable.

Can bite if smoked carelessly.

After taste is pretty nice, I taste clove in the aftertaste, which lingers around pleasantly in the mouth much after the bowl is finished.

Very well processed flake tobacco. Constant flavour through the bowl. A sweet, smokey and creamy pleasure to your tastebuds. No highs or lows during the smoke.There are no edges or spicy bits. Keeps the taste the whole bowl. I think it is 50% Latakia and 50% bright virginia. Low in vitamin N. The flake is a little too moist for me. I let it dry out for about an hour. Definetly an allday tobacco for the Latakialover.

I ordered a 250 g pouch from this tobacco to have an all day English for when driving to work and back. The notes from the pouch are a good amount of Latakia smokiness, barn notes, a little sweetness and black peppery spice. Very nice I must say.
Now, the bag contains not flakes, but ready rubbed flakes. That’s no problem at all. The moisture is perfect, ready to smoke. Takes the flame easily and needs only minor attention.
Tastewise the smoke is cool, creamy and very meaty. The latakia is leading with smokiness, lots of leather and black pepper. The Virginias are there to smooth out the whole experience and give a little sweetness.
The only negative I can mention is the monotony of the smoke. Yes, it is tasty, but there is so little going on, that you lose attention after a while, even, when doing your stuff, while smoking.

Three stars for this all day English.

My supply of Holly`s Discovery arrived in a quarter-kilo bag. The flakes had unravelled in transit, fit for loading into the pipe staightaway. I thought I was going to find Old Ironsides by another name, but there is a difference. Old Ironsides had a sharpish edge to it, whereas Holly`s Discovery is more rounded,and sweeter. I do not know if the differance is due to age - HD had some years on it while OI was fresh - or there are different ingredients involved. The lady in the shop in Berlin had said that HD was the same as OI. I tried to fit fifty grams of HD into an empty tin of OI, but it was impossible to do so. Eventually an empty tin of Balkan Flake was needed.

Whatever the fact of the matter I rather prefer HD to OI for its better integrated taste and the delicious side-stream smoke. I would conjecture that if the difference is not in the age, it is in the Orientals used.

November-2003.Holly's Discovery Flake. When I opened the pack,the essence of latakia was rather nice & not overly pungeant.The charring light produced a very pleasant flavour with a slight sweetness to it,the taste & flavours are consistant to the bottom of the bowl.The tobacco leave's a greyish white ash & definitely no goop.I enjoy latakia & found this to be a nice change,& would suggest it as a change of pace.Sure,some won't find it to be'top notch'but no complaint's here.

This blend is very similar (if not the same) as CAO's Old Ironsides. It smells like pure latakia in the tin, but is suprisingly mellow and sweet. It may be different than the Old Ironsides in that I found it sweeter, maybe there is less oriental or according to the blurb, none at all? The tobac that I tried was about 5 years old and it matured very well. If you love latakia (which I do), this is a very satisfying smoke. It comes in a loose flake form, packs easily, lights well with only a few relights as you enjoy. As the leaf burns down the bowl, the flavor gets just a wee bit stronger with nutty sweet overtones,no bitterness, no dottle, just grey mottled ash when your journey is over. The nicotine cont. seems low and that is good for wimps like me. No tongue-bite to speak of,all you are left with is a pleasant aftertaste in your mouth and contemplating which pipe you will choose to enjoy another bowl of this blend. Enjoy....