Dan Tobacco Holly's Discovery

Highly recommended for Laktania's fan... Outstanding i store a KG from it on my cellar for future 😉 ;-);-) after pirate cake it's my second favorite laktania I advice you to taste it if you like the taste.

The fragrant, musty, incense-like Cyprian Latakia produces a lot of smokiness, earth, wood, and leather along with some sweetness and spice. It is the driving force of this blend. The Virginias provide a lot of tart and tangy citrus, some grass, earth, wood, bread, mild sugar, a little tartly sour lemon, light floralness, spice, tangy ripe dark fruit, and touch of acidity. I suspect that the light creamy sweetness comes from a couple pinches of sweetened black cavendish. The strength and nic-hit are a step past the medium mark. The taste level is a notch past the center of medium to full. No chance of bite or harshness, but it does sport a few small rough notes. Burns cool, clean and a tad slow with a very consistent, deeply rich, sweet and very savory, zesty campfire flavor that extends to the pleasantly lingers after taste. The room note is pungent. Leaves little moisture in the bowl, but requires some relights due to the tobacco being a little moist, and how it’s cut. Not an all day smoke. Four full stars.

-JimInks

I love this tobacco! This smokes cooler than cool and very dry for me. It is a bit monochromatic, I think, but since that constant flavor is delicious it gets four stars in my book! It is sweet and smoky and wonderful!! At first the broken flakes looked like a major pain to me, but they are easy to rub out and get into the pipe. I'm not sure if there are any orientals in here. The tin says "Finest virginias and latakia tobaccos pressed & matured for a cool & dry smoke." This is my desert island tobacco.

Dan Tobaccos may not always be on everyone's lips but they sure do have some knockout blends. When they get it right, they're really right.

Pawing through my tobacconist's shelves I found a "selected Virginia and Latakia" flake. The owner mentioned that it had a decent amount of age having put in a large order for Dan tobacco products about 5 years prior to my purchase.

There's a very strong Latakia scent. I don't know the proportions but I would suspect it's at least a 60-40 ratio for the dark leaf. There are some flecks of lighter leaf in the fake but it's dark. I forgot the word for cigars that have prickly wrappers but the flakes kind of reminded me of that. Not a completely smooth flake like a Gawith, but some grip so to speak. Very easy to break up but I prefer to fold and stuff my flakes. Lighting this stuff is very easy and if you get a decent char it will stay lit for most of the smoke.

The first 1/4 of the bowl yields mostly dry smokey latakia. It's good but nothing to write home about. After a bit the VAs really surge forward and add the most wonderful sweetness I've ever experienced in a Lat Flake. The balance between the dry smokey Latakia and the wet sweet VAs is simply put, craftsmanship at its best. I even get some black cherry vanilla ice cream notes similar to the Star of The East flake. But there is less spice in this smoke. The absence of the tangy orientals makes this a wonderful dichotomy of two very workable flavors.

Despite being a flake this tobacco needs a large bowl to really breathe. 7/8 wide and about 1 1/2 deep bowls are when I've had my best smokes. Pot shapes really let those VAs sing. Where my smaller 3/4 tend to keep those sweet VA notes held back.

If you are a fan of MacBaren's Latakia Flake or Star of the East Flake, you should get some of this immediately.

Holly’s Discovery is an awesome flake and a must try for Latakia lovers. Smokey, rich and deep flavors await you with that discrete natural VA sweetness in the background. At the same time it is unbelievably smooth and mild on your tongue. I taste a pleasant creamy spiciness, lacking that sour note some oriental mixes add. I prefer HD rubbed out and without filter. It burns slowly to bright powdery ash. Thank you Holger Frickert for this flake!

The aftertaste is pleasant and vanishes quickly; the room note does not help you find new friends in your surrounding though.

The rectangular flakes are mostly dark mahogany, chestnut, and the occasional white stem. They are worked by the fingers into a medium ground with relative ease; the fingers dusty with fine Latakia earth. The unburnt aroma is dry and woody, yesterday's bonfire, a cold fireplace.

The Cyprian Latakia is foremost and remains so throughout. There is an attractive uncombusted petrol waft, oil shale and creosote. The Latakia is smooth, velveteen, with a moderate roundness or fullness of body.

The Virginia has an earthen mineral cleanliness, like cold coffee grounds. On the tongue there is an ethereal but consistent sweetness creating the impression that the Virginia (or another unlisted ingredient) was partly stoved or processed in an unsweetened Cavendish style. It's possible that the Latakia may have imparted a slight sweetness to the ensemble as well.

The flake does not bite but may warm considerably if smoked impatiently whereupon the finesse and subtleties are subdued somewhat by the more assertive wood and creosote. Drying a little may help tame the heat, although it's not a prerequisite for a consistent and sustained burn.

This is one of the better Latakia flakes on the market and in this case the Latakia is dominant while the Virginia supplies heft and backbone. In some sense this reminds me of a very slightly sweet Cuban coffee.

This is one of my all time latakia must have tobaccos. If I have lesser than 50 grams in my cellar, I will become crazy...

This tobacco has no alteration at all during smoking a bowl. What's the point? It's a VA with lot of latakia. Nothing more but nothing less. It burns cool and dry and flatters the tongue with the well known taste of dark VAs paired with the dark side of tobacco, smooth latakia. Smoky, a little bit tar and a deep dark sweetness I mean.

The room note is like a burnt-out roof, as I my wife said. But hey, that's the way I like latakia. 🙂

The smoke of aged Holly's Discovery is even more smoother and really, really creamy.

My friend Petros was my Santa this Christmas.He donated me a tin of Holly's Discovery and made me very happy!once you crack the tin latakia smell is wonderfull and strong.coals,leather and smokey notes are coming out,preparing you for a nice smoking experince.though virginias are present in the flakes i detected no smell from them.the flakes are typical of Dan tobacco,the moisture is low,rubs very easy and can be folded into the bolw as well.the lιghting is easy and a few relights are needed.while burning the smoking experience is great with clear and natural flavours.the latakias are dominant and very pleasing.coals,woods ,smokey and leathery notes are subtlimating the virginias wich are in the backround and offer some citrusy and earthy notes.generally the flavours are not complex but pleasing and very natural.from the tin smell i expected a full taste but it was very smooth.the nicotine level is low.burns cool and slow to perfect ash.the room note is typical latakia wich is not something pleasant to others.leaves a very few moisture at the end of the bowl and a clear filter.no chance of tongue bite.generally it is a very nice blend,very smooth and natural.the luck of orientals makes it less complex but i found it very interesting and an ideal blend to start your day.totally recommended.

A small quantity of this tobacco lasts a long time and gives you a good nicotine hit. For me, it's something to smoke after a good dinner, certainly not at the beginning of my pipe smoking day.

It comes dark and moist out of the tin and it's possible to smoke without drying. If you do allow it to dry, you'll find that the Virginia is more pronounced. It doesn't  need much to keep it going either way.

Nutty, bready, earthy, tary and smoky, it's interesting and rewarding. It makes me want to drink whiskey. It's sweet an mellow in taste, soft on the tongue. It gives you a lingering smoky aftertaste and a terrible breath (but a good fragrance in your moustache, if you have one, that makes the experience a lasting one)

Holly's Discovery is a heavy tobacco and definitely not an all day smoke, but I don't think it's intended to be.

Three room note is tolerable if noticeable.

Four stars, hands down.