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.

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!

WO Larsen Signature is ostensibly the same blend as the earlier iteration listed in the TR archive, WO Larsen Signature Vintage Mixture, but the box shapes and the nomenclatures are not the same. I emailed an inquiry about this to Scandinavian Tobacco Group via their website, but they’ve not gotten back to me. So, I’ve listed this potentially-different tobacco under the original header, pending correction, apropos, from STG. WOLS comes in a sealed gold Mylar bag (not re-sealable…) inside a nice, dark blue metal box that has rounded square corners, as opposed to the coved corners of the older box depicted at TR. Short, chunky ribbons and bits range from golden tan to light red-brown, to medium-dark brown. There was a burst of scent that I did not care for when I opened the bag, since it had the dreaded “air freshener” quality to it, but that abated with some rest, and it was barely noticeable after some air time. I prefer it dried some, to soften the topping. It handles, loads, lights and burns down with no problems. Primary scent is “strawberry”, which I put in quotes because I’m not 100% convinced by it, and the caramel and vanilla are pretty well melded with the strawberry. The VA is meadow grassy, and the Burley is mild, toasted cashews and flowers. The Cav thickens the smoke and adds more sugar to the VA, also a slight sour note. Scant bitterness from the Burley may well go unnoticed by many. Strength is mild, along with the nicotine and the tastes. Room note is pleasant. Aftertaste is more tobacco than the smoke, at least in terms of proportions, relative to the topping.

Though I reckon there will be plenty of light aro smokers that will give WOLS 3 or 4 stars, my rating “system” makes it a 2 star blend. Specifically, it’s a quality blend, all right, and I can well understand that others will dig it, but it’s too mild for me to fully appreciate it in the first place, and I’m still not loving the strawberry.

I must start out by saying that this blend is delicious! The flavoring is nice and balanced with a wonderful aroma. However, every time I've smoked this blend it has resulted in serious tongue bite. I've tried different pipes and altering my puffing cadence, neither of which worked. I recommend this blend to those of you that have a tougher mouth than me.

Update: After four days of airing the tobacco has improved substantially. Much less strawberry and I get a few whiffs of that wonderful room note that other reviewers have mentioned. I still get some strawberry aroma stuck to my tongue, but I think there is hope. Increasing the recommendation to two stars. ---- Original review: Upon opening the foil pouch (inside the nice tin), the dominant flavour is synthetic strawberry. Quite strong and not very nice. My first pipe was also dominated by the synthetic strawberry and that flavour even stuck to my tongue. I was quite disappointed but noticed that several reviewers said that the tobacco improves with airing/drying. Even after only an hour of airing, I notice the strawberry receding somewhat and other aromas emerging. Straight out of a new tin it is pretty awful, but I will revisit this review in the near future.

I do like other aromatics like W.O. Larsens Fresh and Elegant, (although purchased in lose weight so it was already aired) so it is not that I have a particular bias.

When you open this tin, you feel like being in paradise. Like smelling fruits and honey. This one is of very high quality Virginia, nicely packed, but... It's much too expensive and very mild for my interests. I tried to combine it with Brebbia Romanza but the result was awful. If you have any suggestion, you should tell me.

Tin note is very promising sweet citrus floral scent . Fine ribbon cut. lots of colors in the tobacco. moisture content was prefect. This is defiantly a floral blend of tobacco. The toppings/casings well overpower the tobacco in this blend. If you are looking for fragrant blend this is the one for you. Reminds me of really nice potpourri. Very mild tobacco almost no nic hit to speak of. I would consider this a full aromatic blend but not sweet whatsoever. Full disclosure not my personal taste, but I know there are many floral blends available and this is defiantly full floral in taste. If that's what you are looking for this is it .

Smells beter then you smoke it. Not bad, but nothing special. I was surprised from the high points recommendation. Typical Danish aromatic. Probably not buy it again, but different pipers, different tastes.

Although this blend is too light and mild to get me excited, I can still appreciate the diverse aromas of the burning tobacco and vanilla casing which mesh perfectly and are truly sublime. Unfortunately, the taste includes a slight sourness/bitterness/spiciness that doesn't meld with the significant vanilla casing, and it lingers on the tongue. I will have to try this again in a balsam-filtered pipe.