J. F. Germain & Son Royal Jersey Perique Mixture

I like English mustard with my roast beef and wine made from syrah grapes aged in oak. I use spicy cologne on my self and pepper on my sandwiches. I therefore assumed that the perique in this blend would be right up my street. And so it was with no small amount of anticpation that I awaited delivery of what promised to be a real treat of a tobacco.

I broke the seal as soon as the tin was in my hand and drank deeply from a delicious tin aroma of sour fruit, fresh earth and damp hay. I had heard that it was best to let this blend mature before smoking and so I waited about 2 weeks before setting a match to any, but I returned to take deep and satisfying pulls of the tin aroma almost hourly.

I selected a new clay pipe for first tasting, so as to give me a clear picture of what I was sure was to be the smoke of my dreams. Almost trembling with excitement and salivating with a hunger to experience the wonders which lay before me, I pulled a small wad from the tightly packed tin and filled my bowl. It packed well but was still perhaps a tad damp and so, like a practitioner of the tantric arts, I made myself wait until the time was right. After being aired for about an hour the blend, which by now I was abolutely certain was gifted directly to me by my divine and loving creator, had reached optimum humidity. I put the pipe in my mouth and stepped outside to experience the unmitigated beauty of the snow topped English countryside and, finally, I lit my first bowlful of Germain's Royal Jersey Perique Mixture. Ten minutes later I was emptying the pipe before tramping back inside to sit sullenly in my chair for the rest of the night.

If you're still reading this now, firstly, well done, but I imagine you will be wondering "what could possibly have happened to spoil such a promisingly passionate love affair" (or words to that effect). Well, it's not that it was bad tobacco, it's just that all the nuance and character of the tin aroma was absent from the smoke. Replaced by an experience that was undeniably like smoking a cigarette. A very good quality, smooth cigarette but a cigarette, none the less. This was vastly disapointing.

And now you are wandering why, if I was so underwhelmed by it, did I give it a "recommended"? Well,a couple of weeks later I decided to give it another chance. It had hurt me, sure. But that tin aroma would still excite and entice me and I desperately wanted it to be the tobacco I had built it up to be.

I realise, of course, that I have totally lost all sense of perspective in this narrative and that this is just a tobacco, not a lover or mankind's last, best hope for the future.

The second sampling was a great improvement over the first. The cigarette flavour had all but gone, giving way to a crisp dryness and pepper held together with a very light sweetness that never got cloying or wearing. An excellent tobacco. Although possibly not best suited to wintery weather. I look forward to sitting under a tree on a bright spring, hazy summer or colourful early autumn day and contentedly puffing this in a corn cob. If that sounds like your thing then I recommend you give it a go, with the proviso that you open the tin about a month before you smoke any. You'll have fun teasing your senses with the heavenly tin fragrance.

As a slight aside, I have experimented by mixing it with a pinch of Samuel Gawith's Black Cherry and found them to compliment each other very well the latter bringing out some of the sour fruit notes of the perique blend and giving more depth to the sweetness.

Oh wow, this Virginia/perique mixture is so sui generis I find it difficult to describe. This is shag tobacco and it comprises red and dark Virginia leaf. I am surprised by how mellow and creamy it feels in your mouth. I totally adore this king of tobacco, but based on past experiences I'd say they tend to bite the more you progress with your smoke, but this is so soft on the palate I cannot detect any tongue bite at all. I am finding this whole blend very forgiving but complex enough to keep me wondering again and again. You don't have to sip it, but it is better enjoyed that way. Despite its shag cut it displays slow burning properties and does not seem smoke hot in your bowl. I'd like to recommend this tobacco to both the experienced and inexperienced pipe smoker.

Royal Jersey is in my weekly rotation. I have a very large stash of this and honestly I cringe every time I open up a tin. It seems harder to find but I just can not resist. It is an afternoon smoke for me when I am looking for something light. I have read the reviews here and I really do not know we're people get the flavors from. In years of smoking this I have never detected the flavors most people claim. When opened right out of the tin you can smell the Va. Pack strong with two pinch. Light. Tamp. Relight and enjoy for the next hour.

I find this tobacco very different from many of the Perique mixtures with this one "playing off" the Virginia tobacco in a most pleasant way.

While I enjoy Perique in more substantial quantities than most...too much can be "heady" and loose appeal quickly. The quality of the Virginia must also be considered. This tobacco has both high quality tobaccos and is blended nicely.

Taste and aroma throughout the bowl are superior and consistency appears to be well above average.

Enjoyed in a group 5-6 size pipe and could well serve as an all-day smoke...

...a pipe is to be savored...

If you like Perique, you must try this blend. I don't find it to be a VaPer; it is a PerVa. Deep brown/mohagany in colour. A little moist, and a little musty. It is a ready-to-smoke perique blend, with all the goodness that Perique offers. It didn't appear to be a broken flake as much as a rubbed out and ribbon cut mixture. Smokes cool and stays lit well. Tastes and smells like a good perique pipe-weed. If you prefer VaPer's where Va is the keel then this may come up a bit short for you.

Good mouthfeel, good burn, great sensory satisfaction. I really liked this one- progresses very well through the bowl. I could smoke this all the time but my tastes are too diverse to stick with it. I would certainly keep a tin of this in the cellar for the future...

Germain's royal Jersey with perique is a light va/per with a distinctly English character.. Not ultra complex but with just enough to set it apart.. quality virginia of the smoother variety.. has that slightly antique sort of mustiness that is common to many germain products.. the perique is very light.. this isn't necessarily a bad thing.. but it won't give you the oomph you might crave from a perique blend.. its pretty much a shag cut so it burns pretty fast.. the Cavendish seems to help temper the burn.. it oddly smokes pretty cool overall.. it is a subtle and pleasant smoke.. but not a surprising or earth shattering experience.. reminds me just a little of telegraph hill.. but perhaps even more subdued.. I would stock a few to age but availability being what it is makes it darn near impossible.. not a huge loss.. many va/per blends I like just as much.. but this was definitely worth trying.

This is a just fine blend by Germain. It has a better flavor yet is much milder than Dunhill's Elizabethan in my opinion.

A light virginia with a slightly scented cavendish and some perique are in the blend. I see a lot of guessing on the flavor, and lightly wine-like is mine, but it does not smoke like an American or Danish aromatic at all (or "soapy"). Which means it is fairly dry and cool.

It comes in a "block" in the tin (similar to Gold Block), but it is not too tightly pressed so it is easy to pull apart enough strands for a bowl at a time. It is not a flake. I suppose if you will take more than three weeks to smoke a tin you better protect it from drying out too much, but I am just finishing my tin at the three week mark and it still seems fine to me.

The perique is there all right but is not sharpe and does not really assert itself in the flavor much unless you smoke it fast (or maybe outside in a slight breeze or if left too dry). It is definitely in the room aroma. A hint of spice would be a fair statement in a quality cavendish type blend.

It is a cool, all day smoke with a very interesting favor. The perique probably ups the blend from the light category to a light-medium or medium. Very nice; a virtual delicacy of flavor and spice.

A pleasant 'Hay' note greets you when you open the tin of the wonderful air cured bright virginia the moisture straight out of the tin was just about perfect and the ribbon cut packed and smoked perfectly, quality ingredients all round. Flavour for me was again bang on the money with not an overwhelming amount of Perique but enough to give that peppery tingle on the tounge. Room note is again hay like in quality bought about by the Virginia so nothing to complain about there either. Good stuff, but to be honest I still prefer the likes of Mcbarren Rollcake for a VaPer

Left for a couple of months and revisited...and has improved greatly, my advice is let it breathe you will be rewarded

Sour fruit smell in the tin (apples maybe?). Long thin ribbon cut; burns fine however I pack it. I've had the tin open for a month now, and every bowl seems to be a little better than the last. I expected this to be a heavier smoke, but I find it fairly light.