Comoy's of London Cornish Mixture

Kolhase and Kopp present us with another apparently beautifully made tobacco in the form of Comoy?s Cornish Mixture. The tin is luxurious in appearance with lots of nice gold embossed print. And being a fan of things from the western side of Britain it seemed somehow appropriate to try a ?Cornish? tobacco.

The weed itself is a visually appealing homogeneity of light brown ribbon cut, and the aroma from the tin is spicy, like clove ? really delicious smelling. Moisture content was good, and the mixture packs nicely.

Initial light sends up a rather thin stream of hot smoke, but the flavor, sidestream, and room note are really exquisite. One will wait for the smoke to cool. Perhaps on relight after the charring? no. The burn is hot, the smoke, thin and unsatisfying and more puffing won?t improve the density, but will of course increase the heat. Still, the aroma is wonderful. By mid bowl I found myself thinking cool thoughts, imagining the icy wind coming off the Celtic Sea, sweeping across the jagged dark coastline of Cornwall? but it didn?t help. I tell you the person who develops a viable pipeman?s tongue condom will be well remunerated!

The last half of the bowl yields up, for me, a pounding headache. The aroma has turned to that of bitter, cheap, sour burley and the hellish furnace that the pipe has become makes smoking a miserable chore. The only thing that induces me to finish the remaining flavorless soot is the pitiful compulsion to burn out the sop that has accumulated, which mission finally accomplished, the headache subsides in about an hour.

In a stoic attempt to render a just review of this tobacco I played this scenario through the majority of the tin. The result was consistently the same. My fantasy of a pleasant, cozy, subtly aromatic smoke on perhaps, a rainy day in a Cornish pub perched on a craggy shore remains unrealized. Much of pipe smoking is often wrapped up in one?s psychological state? too bad perceptions are so often impinged upon by such harsh realities. Mediocre tobacco covered with a spooky topping. Don the tongue condom and proceed with caution.