Ashton Artisan's Blend
(3.53)
This full bodied English mixture is carefully crafted for the experienced pipe smoker. Virginia and Turkish tobaccos harmonize with Latakia and a touch of perique to create a taste that is resoundingly rich, spicy and satisfying.
Notes: The tin description and website pipesandcigars.com and smokingpipes.com show that Artisan's Blend has Virginia, Turkish tobaccos, Syrian Latakia and a touch of perique.
But according to the Kohlhase & Kopp website, the main ingredient of this spicy mixture is Syrian Latakia, which was rounded off with small amounts of Virginia, fire-cured Kentucky, black cavendish, and perique.
Currently, this blend only contains Cyprian Latakia, as the stock of Syrian Latakia ran out.
Details
| Brand | Ashton |
| Blended By | |
| Manufactured By | Kohlhase & Kopp |
| Blend Type | English |
| Contents | Black Cavendish, Latakia, Oriental/Turkish, Perique, Virginia |
| Flavoring | |
| Cut | Ribbon |
| Packaging | 50 grams tin |
| Country | Germany |
| Production | Currently available |
Profile
Strength
Medium
Extremely Mild -> Overwhelming
Flavoring
None Detected
None Detected -> Extra Strong
Room Note
Tolerable
Unnoticeable -> Overwhelming
Taste
Full
Extremely Mild (Flat) -> Overwhelming
Average Rating
|
3.53 / 4
|
Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 Reviews
| Reviewed By | Date | Rating | Strength | Flavoring | Taste | Room Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan 14, 2018 | Mild to Medium | Extremely Mild | Very Mild | Tolerable |
Two words: BORING ZZZ
Artisan's Blend is your archetypal 'hipster blend': takes great things, mixes it all up together, ruins the uniqueness and distinctiveness of each, resulting in a forgettable and hollow product. Tobacco blends aren't like cooking stuffing for Thanksgiving, you can't just "add good things and hope for the best", there has to be some efficiency and preciseness to making a great tobacco blend. This doesn't have it.
Artisan's Blend is a mild, unremarkable English blend that lacks the complexity of other similar blends, resulting in an unexceptional, mediocre smoke. On paper Artisan’s Blend looks like a winner, containing 5 high-quality tobaccos, but neither tobacco really stands out: the spiciness of the Perique and Turkish aren’t very noticeable, the Syrian Latakia lacks flavor and tastes diluted, and the Virginia’s go undetected throughout. In my opinion, the Black Cavendish makes the blend overly-mellow and limits the taste the rest of the 4 tobaccos. This would be a much better blend if the Cavendish was left out entirely.
The main problem is that nothing really stands out about this blend; there is nothing exceptional or truly satisfying from start to finish, and lacks any real depth or complexity. It might be a balanced blend, but in the sense that you hardly taste anything and is ‘balanced’ in its utter tastelessness. Honestly, it felt like I was just smoking hot air, with some lawnmower grass tossed in and a drop of Tabasco sauce added for 'flavor'. That's what it tastes like.
Go for Presbyterian or Irish Oak if you want something more flavorful and enjoyable to smoke (and less Hipster sounding as well). Even the Latakia in Presbyterian is superior to the Latakia found in Artisan’s, and Presbyterian doesn’t actually have any. I had high hopes for this, but was a resounding disappointment, hence why I am being so hard on this blend.
Artisan's Blend is your archetypal 'hipster blend': takes great things, mixes it all up together, ruins the uniqueness and distinctiveness of each, resulting in a forgettable and hollow product. Tobacco blends aren't like cooking stuffing for Thanksgiving, you can't just "add good things and hope for the best", there has to be some efficiency and preciseness to making a great tobacco blend. This doesn't have it.
Artisan's Blend is a mild, unremarkable English blend that lacks the complexity of other similar blends, resulting in an unexceptional, mediocre smoke. On paper Artisan’s Blend looks like a winner, containing 5 high-quality tobaccos, but neither tobacco really stands out: the spiciness of the Perique and Turkish aren’t very noticeable, the Syrian Latakia lacks flavor and tastes diluted, and the Virginia’s go undetected throughout. In my opinion, the Black Cavendish makes the blend overly-mellow and limits the taste the rest of the 4 tobaccos. This would be a much better blend if the Cavendish was left out entirely.
The main problem is that nothing really stands out about this blend; there is nothing exceptional or truly satisfying from start to finish, and lacks any real depth or complexity. It might be a balanced blend, but in the sense that you hardly taste anything and is ‘balanced’ in its utter tastelessness. Honestly, it felt like I was just smoking hot air, with some lawnmower grass tossed in and a drop of Tabasco sauce added for 'flavor'. That's what it tastes like.
Go for Presbyterian or Irish Oak if you want something more flavorful and enjoyable to smoke (and less Hipster sounding as well). Even the Latakia in Presbyterian is superior to the Latakia found in Artisan’s, and Presbyterian doesn’t actually have any. I had high hopes for this, but was a resounding disappointment, hence why I am being so hard on this blend.
| Reviewed By | Date | Rating | Strength | Flavoring | Taste | Room Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 12, 2017 | Very Mild | Medium | Extremely Mild (Flat) | Unnoticeable |
When you throw every imaginable kind of tobacco into an "artisanal" blend, you get something very similar to a dish seasoned with all thinkable spices: salt, sugar, pepper, vinegar, cloves and mustard all at once. All this mixed together would taste like dishwasher slop, which is exactly the case here.
None of the particular tobaccos blended into this mixture is flavourful or plentiful enough to give the blend any distinct flavour. That's why it tastes flat and muddy.
To worsen this, Artisan's Blend is generously soaked in that evil "mystery casing" which ruins many other German-made pipe tobaccos.
Waste of money. And waste of the rare Syrian Latakia, a species already extinct in the wild, that will never re-emerge.
I really fail to comprehend how so many people can love it. I honestly and unbiasedly tried to come to like it (I must to, as I coughed up twice as much for this tin than for any other in my collection) and still never succeeded. A kitchensink mess, that's it.
None of the particular tobaccos blended into this mixture is flavourful or plentiful enough to give the blend any distinct flavour. That's why it tastes flat and muddy.
To worsen this, Artisan's Blend is generously soaked in that evil "mystery casing" which ruins many other German-made pipe tobaccos.
Waste of money. And waste of the rare Syrian Latakia, a species already extinct in the wild, that will never re-emerge.
I really fail to comprehend how so many people can love it. I honestly and unbiasedly tried to come to like it (I must to, as I coughed up twice as much for this tin than for any other in my collection) and still never succeeded. A kitchensink mess, that's it.
Age When Smoked:
1
| Reviewed By | Date | Rating | Strength | Flavoring | Taste | Room Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dec 18, 2018 | Medium | Mild | Overwhelming | Extra Strong |
My favorite tobacco is Dunhill 965, with its smoky maple sugar cased cavendish, great room note and lasting incense like aftertaste. My least favorite tobacco other than Samuel Gawith's 1792 flake, oddly enough, is also a Dunhill product, Nightcap, which has an aftertaste so foul that it is a mystery that anyone can stand it.
Well, I liked nightcap up until I stop smoking it, when that putrid rotten wood aftertaste kicks in, and this ashton blend, having been compared to nightcap, caught my attention. Alas, there is also an aftertase present in this blend, but it takes a different nature as nasty tar.
Other than Balkan Sobraine, I don't care much for Syrian Latakia, and actually prefer London Mixture over "the balkan" as it uses Cyprian latakia instead which is more in agreement with my tastes.
It was this blend that taught me the horrors of Syrian Latakia, and I don't plan on ever smoking it again. But hey, don't let me deter you if your body chemistry goes hand in hand with these tastes. It is pleasant enough while lit, but no matter how I have dried it, moistened it, or smoked it, or what pipe it was smoked in, the same nasty result occured.
Blackhouse has these same tobacco types in it, and is a really tasty blend, so it must be something mixing from the latakia used into the perique or vice versa that just does not agree with me.
Well, I liked nightcap up until I stop smoking it, when that putrid rotten wood aftertaste kicks in, and this ashton blend, having been compared to nightcap, caught my attention. Alas, there is also an aftertase present in this blend, but it takes a different nature as nasty tar.
Other than Balkan Sobraine, I don't care much for Syrian Latakia, and actually prefer London Mixture over "the balkan" as it uses Cyprian latakia instead which is more in agreement with my tastes.
It was this blend that taught me the horrors of Syrian Latakia, and I don't plan on ever smoking it again. But hey, don't let me deter you if your body chemistry goes hand in hand with these tastes. It is pleasant enough while lit, but no matter how I have dried it, moistened it, or smoked it, or what pipe it was smoked in, the same nasty result occured.
Blackhouse has these same tobacco types in it, and is a really tasty blend, so it must be something mixing from the latakia used into the perique or vice versa that just does not agree with me.
| Reviewed By | Date | Rating | Strength | Flavoring | Taste | Room Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 12, 2020 | Medium | Mild | Full | Tolerable |
Overpowering latakia taste with a sickly sweetness that I can't put my finger on. Unbalanced, contrary to what the tin note suggests. If you like lat bombs, go for this. Otherwise, stay clear.
PurchasedFrom:
SmokingPipes
| Reviewed By | Date | Rating | Strength | Flavoring | Taste | Room Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
| Mar 08, 2007 | Medium to Strong | None Detected | Medium to Full | Strong |
Hello All-
Here goes with my first review. Please pardon my neopphyte-isms.
Aston's Artisan's Blend is a heavy latakia based English. Straight out of the tin, the moisture content is a bit too moist for my liking. I left the lid off of the tin for about a week before this review. It still isn't changing my life. It's pretty one dimensional overall. I love full English blends at night and smoke mostly straight Virginas through the day. I'll occaionally dabble in VA/ Perique blends for daytime smoking as well. This just isn't my cup of tea. For my money, I'll take Penzance, Odyssey, Nightcap, 965, Rattray's Red, or even Balkin Saseni over this one any day. I cannot honestly reccommend this effort at over $12.00 USD for a 50g tin. It's a pass for me. I won't buy this one again.
Here goes with my first review. Please pardon my neopphyte-isms.
Aston's Artisan's Blend is a heavy latakia based English. Straight out of the tin, the moisture content is a bit too moist for my liking. I left the lid off of the tin for about a week before this review. It still isn't changing my life. It's pretty one dimensional overall. I love full English blends at night and smoke mostly straight Virginas through the day. I'll occaionally dabble in VA/ Perique blends for daytime smoking as well. This just isn't my cup of tea. For my money, I'll take Penzance, Odyssey, Nightcap, 965, Rattray's Red, or even Balkin Saseni over this one any day. I cannot honestly reccommend this effort at over $12.00 USD for a 50g tin. It's a pass for me. I won't buy this one again.
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