Iwan Ries King's Oriental

I bought a pound of this in 2005 and didn't like it. Stashed it away in a tightly sealed jar thinking it may improve with some age. It hasn't. If anything it's worse than when fresh. Cloves? Yes, and other godawful stuff that doesn't belong in pipe tobacco. I would recommend this crap only to those who wish to quit smoking. It's a Chicago version of Mixture#79 and brought to you from one of the oldest, most respected shops in the country. What are they thinking?

This is perhaps the finest aromatic you will ever try. But for those of you who hate aromatics, please don't be put off. Try at least an ounce of this heavenly tobacco & spoil yourself. This is a crossover blend, straddling the very finest aromatic qualities with a perfect mixture of orientals for tangy flavor. If you're expecting the typical sweet, perfumed Three Star quality for which Iwan Ries is famous, you will not find it here. Unlike their other blends, good as they are, with that characteristic IRC licorice casing, King's is light with citrus & just the right balance of piquancy. As hard as you may smoke this (and I love it so much, I could practically devour it), you won't get tongue bite, no matter how furiously you puff. This reminds me very much of the Wilke Gotham Court, with its aroma of berries & light cordial top dressing. It also has hints of Pipemaker's Choice & Nut Brown Burley by that same great blender. I used to believe that Wilke's Bohemian was the finest of all aromatic crossover blends, but as good as those blends are, you will get tongue bite; never the case here. Even if aromatics aren't your thing, it would be hard to loathe King's. It's teasing, nutty, smooth, creamy, intriguing, and develops beautifully in the bowl. It also lights easily & behaves nicely all the way down. In a word, this is a delicious tobacco! Congratulations to the venerable Iwan Ries for putting out one of the finest blends you can enjoy regularly. Try some soon!

Five of five stars

---

update aug 2006

How do you go from a five-star blend to a one-star? Very simple: why, you throw the baby out with the bath water. I have a feeling that the former knowledgable Rex of Iwan Ries was tweaking this blend to make it sensational. Whomever is blending this now is skimping on everything except heat and muck. I'm really getting tired of blenders changing their recipes. C & D has been doing a lot of that lately. Pipe smoking is such a rarified and specialized pastime. Why and for whom are they changing blends? Are they trying to appeal to popular tastes? I seriously doubt it. Forget about this one. One less tobacco in my rotation.

One of five stars

In my on-going journey in pipe smoking, I bought this to experience Oriental's, not as an ornamental tobacco, but rather as the principle player. Please understand that I have a nose that will make a blood hound blush. My sense of taste is equally acute. So, to me, I was given the impression that I was smoking the leaves, twigs and bark from a clove tree. This stuff actually made me feel a bit sick. Of course it may have been the visual that played through my mind: sucking a clove festooned and fatty congealed ham through my Peterson....

Fortunately I bought only a small sampler so it won't cause that much congestion in our neighboring landfill. Perhaps it will be effective for rodent control out there....

I'd much rather keep my Oriental's in smaller pinches, tucked away in the nether regions of my British blends. This almost threw me off pipe smoking!

Sorry, but this one just isn't for me.