House of Windsor Barking Dog

I'll do a review on this one and follow up with some thoughts about this tobacco.

Pipe: Brookfield quarter-bent

Weather: Muggy

Modifications: Denicool crystals in bottom third of bowl, 9mm filters replaced as needed

Packaging: You can see the picture at the top; that's on the box. Inside is a foil pouch with a printed brownscale (various shades of brown) and white plaid outside decoration.

Initial Impressions: This is comprised of cubes of burley, with what seems to be some Latakia (by the pouch smell) and maybe a bit of Virginia. The color is brown, with flecks of gold and some ribbons of darker brown tobacco. The pouch smell is the heavenly and true spicy smell of tobacco mixed with latakia. I was unable to determine whether the latakia was Cyprian or not.

Unlit Taste: Spicy, with tobacco

Lighting: The cubes pack well, despite their size. You can always rub them out if you want a finer size. The tobacco was at the right moisture level right out of the box and it took a charring light and two good tamps to get it going. An occasional relight was needed, but it totalled 2 relights over the entire bowl.

Smoking (First Third): A wonderful nutty taste and a simple sweetness hits the mouth as great clouds of creamy, pleasant smoke wafts around the room. This smokes cool and a medium puffing speed is good to keep it going. Only a slight hint of spicyness if present. The tobacco has a light and fresh quality to the smoke.

Smoking (Second Third): The flavors really started to mature at this point, with the nuttiness giving way to a spicer and sweeter smoke. I'd recommend slowing down the puff speed to let that little bit of Virgina (it seems like Va, anyways) infuse the tobacco with a nice, mellow sweetness. A solid smoke all the way to the end.

Smoking (Bottom Third): As an interesting note, the Denicool crystals at the very bottom of the pipe were not dark brown, as is usually the case. I'm taking this to mean that a lower level of moisture and nicotine are standard with this tobacco. The room note remained pleasant, with bystanders complimenting me on a fine choice in smoking tobacco.

Aftereffects: A nice aftertaste is present, but this can be eliminated well with a brushing and some Biotene and about 30 minutes of waiting. The room note wasn't stale at all and had a nice quality to it.

Overall Recommendation: This is a GREAT tobacco that I am adding into my rotation as an all-day smoke. It's light enough and gentle enough to be at home in any pipe and it'd be great for building cake in a new pipe. This is a winner for Windsor and I'm planning on getting a large tin of this to ensure that I have some on hand at all times. Like it was said before, this isn't so complex, but it doesn't need to be complex. It's a simple, yet fine thing to experience!

Notes: This is a tobacco of wood-paneled station wagons, summer fishing with Dad and lazy summers in the hammock. This tobacco feels like Americana and it's not just the packaging! This is what the noxious Mixture no. 79, Half and Half and other common mixtures want to grow into. This is not only a hearkening back to a simpler time, but the smell unlocks particular memories of Grandad and fishing trips and crabapple tossing for me. If you compare it to a heavier blend, like McClelland's "British Woods" or a GL Pease English, this seems light and airy. To me, a full english is like a T-Bone steak; full and satisfying, but more than one is too much. Barking Dog is more like half a sub sandwich; satisfying and pleasant to get into, but never so much as to make you regret eating it. Thumbs up from me.

I was suprised by this one. I am slowly working my way through the HOW blends and have been pleased with the others. I wasn't sure if I was going to like how they used the latakia, in the can it looks and smells noticable in that regard. I like good latakia, but in smaller quantities than some of the brethern. So this one sat for months in the backround until one day I loaded up a briar, put the ashtray nearby in case I had to abort the mission, and lit up.

I needn't have worried! I'm a burley lover and IMO the burley in this blend is superb. The very light topping and the latakia intermingle to produce what is a mellow-sweet smoke that does, indeed, awaken the olfactory memories of what pipe smokers of the past left in their wake. Smokes cool and dry. I too noticed the astringent quality that wasn't unpleasant but noticeable nonetheless. The room note is quite pleasant. When smoked slowly it has a sedative effect and time not only stops, but goes backwards to the 1950's.

I tried this one out thinking I wasn't going to like it. Now I enjoy it so much that its in my regular rotation, with Revelation and Country Doctor. I would recommend this to those who enjoy burley mixes.

I have developed a real love for burley blends and this has to be one of the best out there. This is a great summertime blend for the english lover. big chunks of cubed burley with a lite taste of latakia in the background I'll never get tired of this one. This one and H.O.W. Revelation will both hold a special place in my heart.

I just finished a tin of Barking Dog, having bought a tin after hearing generally good reviews on the re-released House of Windsor tobaccos. The tobacco is uniformly prepared cube cut burley and latakia. The tobacco at first seemed a little damp and hard to light, which was easily remedied by leaving the cap off for a day. Upon lighting, the initial flavor is of mild latakia, by no means overwhelming, a pleasant, smokey flavor. The flavor soon settles into a mild but "earthy" honest tobacco flavor, with a gentle sweetness in the background. Hard puffing does not produce any tongue bite. The second half of the bowl continues to be mellow and wholesome, but the flavors are a little more focused and developed. I get hints of Squadron Leader, but not as rich and rounded as SQ. I find the second half of a bowl of Barking Dog to offer a subtle complexity that I would not have expected from this tobacco. IMO this may not be the best tobacco you will smoke during your day, but it is is a good, trustworthy tobacco.

What can I say that already hasn't been said in the previous reviews? For being a so-called drug store blend, it's very good. The amount of Latikia is just right to make it a great American version of one of those expensive over-sea English blends. To be honest, I'm not partial to strong English blends, but this is mild enough for my taste, and so far I've not received any complaints from the family about the room aroma. So I know I've got a winner here. I would certainly recommend this. And when available around in my neighborhood, I would smoke it regularly.

I discovered this blend after seeing the ad for and article on House of Windsor in P&T. I was intrigued by the retro packaging and the ad that features the antique photo of two hunters sitting by the road with their pipes and dogs. I couldn't resist that photo. Hey, I'm a sucker for good marketing. I thouroughly enjoyed this blend. After smoking many high-end blends over the years, I didn't have high excpectations for this stuff in a box. I smoke a lot of English blends and this was a nice variation. There is a little sweetness to it and it's light enough to smoke in the morning or all day. The room note is agreeable to those who usually flee from Latakia. I will definitley keep this one around with my collection of lighter Latakia blends.