W.O. Larsen Signature Vintage Mixture

I'm partial to a fruity aromatic but restrict myself to having just one open at once, usually a 100g tin of a fruity mixture (stored in an air-tight jar of course) will last me 6 months or so. With Larsen's Signature, however, it's been well over a year, I've just finished and man was it arduous, I just couldn't bring myself to smoke it. The fruit flavour tastes particularly artificial, the tobaccos used are flat and the only true tobacco flavour that comes through is a musty black cavendish. Burns hot and can burn your tongue. Room note is good for none-smokers but not the best fruit aroma I've smelled from a briar. Overall I find this fruity aromatic very overpriced and not the treat I was hoping for. There are far classier fruity aromatics out there that you can get for less money, the Kohlhase & Kopp attempts (Peterson's 2013 Limited Edition and K&K's 2014 Limited Edition) are 10x better than this. 1 star is only used with something truly disgusting, and although it's an expensive disappointment it isn't unsmokeable, so it's 2 stars from me.

Extraordinary. As mentioned elsewhere, beautiful packaging, lovely tin note and comparable experience in the bowl. No relight required, and virtually no dottle.

Yes, it is expensive, but that should never be a barrier to smoking pleasure - I had to search the world (literally) to obtain Borkum Riff Admiral's Flake Vanilla (finding it in South Africa) and routinely order from HU in Germany.

Smoking a pipe is sharing in the great adventures of past explorers, so belly up to the bar lads, and track this down.

4 stars (and a solid thumbs up from my bride, which always helps the cause)

This blend is a relatively heavily flavored Danish aromatic. It is an excellent exemplar of the genre and where I turn when I want this type of blend. It does not bite when smoked slowly and to me has an intriguing cherry vanilla taste tinged with a fruity cordial. Nice to have on hand.

I really don't get how so many tobaccos can be reviewed favorably when I often get a completely opposite experience. Perhaps some of the manufacturers 'plant' good reviews in order to prompt sales.

I bought a 100g tin of this Larsen Signature based on good reviews. What a disappointment. The packaging is impressive, leading to the impression of a quality product. On opening the tin one is greeted by a flowery smell of dried oranges and rose petals - rather like an air freshener or a pot pourri. No tobacco smell. Not what I expected.

I filled a pipe and on first light was given a smell and taste just like a toilet air freshener, probably rose flavor. The tobacco was very difficult to keep alight and the entire smoke was a struggle. After half a bowl of air freshener some light tobacco tastes start to emerge - very mild and light, accompanied by bite and a very hot pipe. The bowl of my Big Ben became too hot to touch.

I don't know why this is called 'Signature Vintage Mixture'. Flowery Pot Pourri with Tongue Bite would be a more accurate name. I certainly won't be buying any more of this concoction.

Edit: a week or so has gone by. I'd left the tin open to see if this stuff would dry out. After a week it's a little drier but still has an overpowering smell of fruit candy and rose petals. Tried to smoke a pipeful but gave up halfway through then threw away the rest of the tin in disgust. No tobacco taste or smell, just a mouthful of sweet candy like boiled fruit sweets together with flower petals. This isn't pipe tobacco - it's just a tin of smelly pot pourri - sweet, flowery room freshener.

This is the blend that my son and my wife loves it. A very pleasant room notes and lot of people like it. The taste of virginia with vanilla and cherry flavor is very delightful. If you want smoke without bother other people nears you i very recommend this blend.

Certain aromatics I just don't have the right body chemistry for and unfortunately this happens to be one of them.

The tin note has a very pleasant light fruit aroma, reminiscent of preserved peaches or pears. The tobacco spills forth from the sealed gold foil pouch in perfect condition for smoking. The moisture content is that perfect slightly moist state that passes the pinch test with flying colors and ignites with ease carrying forth with an easy slow burn with very few relights.

Larsen Signature has a wonderful room note and a desirable tartness but it also has a parching effect on my palate. The flavor is very mild almost vapid, lacking the sweetness on the tongue that comes through for me with other high quality Danish aromatics.

The worst part, Larsen Signature is a flame thrower. Charring light forward this mixture is tongue bite city and I have officially given up trying to smoke it. Very few blends have bitten me this bad. A quality product, built with good tobacco but a total body chemistry mismatch for me. Ouch!

Secondo il mio naso all'apertura questa latta sprigiona un delizioso profumo di albicocche disidratate, ma ancora succose, con note di fico e una leggera, ma ben riconoscibile, fragranza di lime. Oltre a questa nota generale, dopo qualche "zaffata" il persistente odore di questa miscela si fa più omogeneo e, secondo la mia personale percezione, rilascia una fragranza di caramello e si sposta pi verso il fico secco ed il dattero.

Il caricamento è facile grazie al trinciato "ready rubbed" molto omogeneo e l'accensione è rapida: fumo questa miscela in un fornello di media grandezza, in una rhodesian curva di 1/4.

Il gusto tende al dolce. Posso percepire il virginia ed il black cavendish, anche se il loro gusto viene coperto parzialmente dagli aromi aggiunti che in bocca tendono molto più verso gli agrumi che non alle albicocche disidratate. Tendenzialmente dolce, con punti di acidità - che personalmente gradisco - noto immediatamente che il Signature "morde" e scalda il fornello già dalle prime tirate: eppure io fumo realmente piano...A 3/4 di carica noto umidità e gorgoglii (a questo punto nemmeno troppo) sospetti, così che decido di rallentare ulteriormente il tiraggio anche per tranquillizzare la mia lingua che ormai è irritata.

La fumata prosegue, e con un paio di riaccensioni arriva fino in fondo. La cenere è finissima e chiara, sembrerebbe quasi incenso se non ci fossero residui d'umidità nel fornello. Cenere d'incenso bagnato, via...Nella stanza resta e persiste un aroma meraviglioso.

Conclusione: Se tanti fumatori di aromatici cantano le odi di questo tabacco, qualche ragione c'è e non la voglio mettere in dubbio qui. Si tratta di un tabacco con un aroma ed un gusto molto piacevoli e siamo quasi tutti d'accordo. Quello che penso a riguardo è che se avete lingue di cuoio e vi piacciono gli aromatici alla scandinava, dovete provare questa miscela, altrimenti e nel caso abbiate la lingua sensibile come il sottoscritto, tenetevene alla larga.

According to my nose opening this tin gives off a delicious aroma of dried - but still juicy - apricots with hints of fig and a slight, but very recognizable scent of lime. In addition to this general note, after some whiffs the lingering smell of this mixture is more homogeneous and, in my personal perception, releases a scent of caramel and moves more towards the dried fig and date.

Loading is easy thanks to the fine ready rubbed ignition is very fast and effective: I smoke this mixture in a medium size bowl, in a 1/4 bent rhodesian i like specially.

The taste is sweet. I can feel the virginia and black cavendish, even if their taste is partially covered by added flavors and now in the mouth there's much more citrus than dried apricots. Through the sweetness, and its with points of acidity - which I personally like - I can immediately feel that the Signature "bites" and heats the bowl since the very first pouff, and I smoke really slowly ... At the 3/4 of the bowl, the smoke begins to gurgle like a turkey, but I was suspecting it, so I decide to slow down mi pouffing even more, also to reassure my tongue which is completely sore by now. The smoke continues, and with a couple of fire-up comes to its bottom. The ash is very fine and clear, it would seem almost incense if there were no residual moisture in the bowl. Wet ashes of incense as I can see ... In the room there is a wonderful and persistent aroma.

conclusion:

If so many smokers sing the odes of this aromatic tobacco, there has to be some reason and I don't want to question about it here. This tobacco's aroma and a very pleasant taste are great, and we all agree about it.

What I think about is if ??you like scandinavian/danish aromatics, and as far as you've got a leather tongue: you must try this blend, otherwise, if you have even the most little sensation that you will get bad tongue bite from this: yes you will, so stay away from this blend.

Cheers

If Plato had been an aromatic smoker, he would probably have smoked this. Signature may be the quintessential mild aromatic. Classy tin, the tobacco is a pleasure to look at, it smells delicious between your fingers, the room note is fantastic and you feel like a gentleman while smoking it.

Some aromatics are flat and tasteless; others are sickeningly sweet. I'd say Signature falls somewhere in the middle. Two words best describe this blend: "delicate" and "complex". Like other reviewers, I too find it quite hard to figure out all the different taste layers. I get hints of coffee, raspberry, apricot and corn flakes making their appearance in a mild blend of Virginia and Burley.

It burns well. No bite, except if you puff too hard, which does occasionally happen in an attempt to extract just a bit more strength from this very mild blend.

The room note is delicious - somewhat sweet but far from cloying. Also, it does not cling to a room for long. A polite tobacco for special occasions.

Oh, yeah! Now this is what I call a high quality tobacco. How can I describe a masterpiece in tobacco making? Just that it is full of aromas, so it doesn't have a particular flavor and the fact that it smells gorgeous. I can really say that this is my favorite tobacco and I don't know if there will be anything better than this.