Mac Baren Scaferlati Caporal Rouge

My slw bought me a bunch of Maigret novels, in which I have been delving lately. Caporal being the tobacco the great detective smokes, this is the reason why I bought some Caporal yesterday.

Actually, it is one of the first types of tobacco I smoked, in my late highschool/early college years. I used to smoke it as gauloises cigarettes, pipe tobacco and even gauloises ryo tobacco (some of which smoked in my pipe). So lighting up some yesterday bore no real surprises, just a new perspective of a finer palatte which has been tasting numerous blends ever since college.

As described by the esteemed Eulenburg of course Caporal is a rough blend. Harsh and bitter and STRONG. Today, I would compare it to st Bruno ready rubbed or Semois, although these are somewhat finer and more aromatic blends. And perhaps not as strong (except perhaps Florina vieux semois). So why would one even think of lighting up that stuff, when there are so many better tasting and more refined blends? - Except for being a Maigret fan anyway 😉

For one, no matter how harsh it is, even how hot it burns, it goes easy on the tonge. No bite. Maybe...if you'd smoke it realy fast - no: impossible, you'd probably faint before it'd bite you :-). The sidestream smoke actually smels nice, it reminds me of how pipes, smoked by old men, used to smell when I was a kid. Robust, woody, smoky. A smell of the past.. The taste itself is not that strong, in that you could smoke it all day (you'd need to be able to handle the nicotine, of course). And in fact, the old chaps used to smoke this all day. Those were different times - pipe smokers didn't allways have one or two hours to leisurely savour their pipes with imported tobacco in an expensive big freehand. Rather there used to be a need for a quick and preferably cheap (or at least economical) nicotine fix. And Caporal does just that: a half an hour smoke is just as satisfieing as one or two hours of nightcap. Ok , it's not as good, but since it does not contain latakia, it passes the "wife test" without problems. This must be worth something! 😉

You know what? I really enjoyed this caporal yesterday, and I'm going to return to it tonight, and I even think it is going to stay in my rotation (for some time anyway)

SCAFERLATI CAPORAL ROUGE – Few words to describe some things about the typical dark tobacco used in France, known as dark French tobacco. The name is Scaferlati or Gris and there are six basic types, all very similar one to each other. There are 5 Scaferlati Caporal (gray, blue, green, red, Export) and in the same family there is also Saint-Claude. All these blends are on the market and are representative of the typical french taste (tabac brun = dark brown tobaccos. It is Paraguay tobacco, a type of cigar leaf). They are all natural tobaccos, without flavoring. About the composition they all mainly have Paraguay tobacco, typical of "dark brown" french tobaccos and some Virginia. Very difficult to perceive the differences if you don’t smoke them every day. Caporal Export and Saint-Claude are more refined and delicate (the second is very appreciated), while the other Caporal (red, blue, green and gray) are coarser and purer.

The red one is an indigenous tobacco more than a mixture. It is natural, pure and it is composed mainly of Paraguay tobacco with a little bit of Virginia. It is well known and it is the most common. Pay attention: this is not Burley, this is not Kentucky, this is not Habana, this is not Brazilian leaf neither Java nor Sumatra. This is Paraguay Tobacco and the only way to try Paraguay in a pipe is buying this typical French tobacco. Again, this is the only way to taste this unique tobacco. That said this tobacco is rather monotonous and one- dimensional. 100% natural, with a typical cigar taste and aroma but without any nuance. Regular, for pure tobacco lovers and for cigar leaf lovers. In my personal rating system (from 1 to 10) my score is 6 and two and a half stars.

It would appear that the tobacco content of this offering has been altered at various times over the years. I used to smoke the slightly more refined Scaferlati Superieur, which purported to contain between 50-60% of home grown French tobaccos (all regions from the Dordogne to the Nord), with the remainder being made up of relatively small amounts of Burley, as well as dark tobaccos from Algeria, Brazil, Turkey, and what is referred to as "The Levant", an area of the Eastern Mediterranean which roughly comprises Syria, Lebanon, Israel, and Jordan. There was always a "gris" area which referred to non-specific tobaccos which made up about 6% of the "melange" or mixture.

I'll get back to the main topic, and I have smoked gris at various times in France, as well as the other mainstream French pipe tobaccos. All of these "Caporal" themed varieties can leave a bitter taste in the mouth if too much moisture from the mouthpiece seeps into the bowl. To those of us who prefer pipes with bent stems this can be problematic. The classic French smoking pipe in the older days was a straight stemmed briar.

To get the best out of these tobaccos it is best to tease out and even break the long strands of shag somewhat before smoking. In France I used to be able to buy small rubber tobacco pouches with a twist top. Every tobacconist sold them and it was ideal for keeping the teased shag in before smoking. The trick is to pack tight, smoke slow and dry, and you'll get the best flavour. Re-lights are not always successful, as the very fine ash tends to fall through the tobacco into the bottom of the bowl when smoking. Many a time I have re-lit and thought I had taken a mouthful of ash from an ashtray!!

An acquired taste if ever there was one, and I haven't seen many pipes smoked in France in recent years. It would appear that most modern French pipe smokers tend to favour the more expensive English type mixtures.

This tobacco resembles Kentucky, with milder taste and the same or a bit stronger nicotine punch. The problem with this is a horrid tongue bite.

Not bad for a nicotine kick now and then, as long as it's smoked slowly to avoid tongue bite.