Peretti Thanksgiving Day

I only have a small list of aromatics that I smoke on as a change of pace and this seasonal blend from Peretti's is one of them. I find that Peretti's really does burley well. Unlike many others, Peretti's burley has a really nice nutty flavor. It's lightly cased and not goopy. It comes in a soft 4oz. brick and packs with ease. I recommend buying a couple each fall. It really seems to go well with the season.

It comes in a 4 ounce square which crumbles readily and loads easily. Burns at a moderate rate, stays cool and never bites. The flavors are there but never overwhelm. This is high quality leaf expertly crafted at its finest. Nobody does Burley better. Peretti is tobacco for the gods!

I have been a customer of LJ Peretti's since I was 17 years old in 1967. I favored blend 102 and 100 for several years. This Thanksgiving blend which I just tried this year has a hint of 102. I can taste it and smell it. I had trouble smoking this blend with some of my pipes but when I tried it in two of my pot pipes and my Savinelli Bing it smoked very well with a nice white ash to the bottom of the bowl. For me it may take some getting used to but overall it's a nice smoking tobacco. That's my two cents. Happy smoking to all and a happy New Year as well.

UPDATE: Thanksgiving Day 2020 is the date of my review from the same 2018 brick I wrote the original review. This is a blend I want to like, I cannot say I am a huge fan, but by opinion has changed slightly and I do have a basic observation to add. The floral topping is just not my thing, however this has mellowed in terms of intensity of the flavor and the rum seems to have evened out the floral additive or the flowers just weakened with some time. The Virginia's have matured and provided some additional sweetness and earthiness. I do not detect any noticeable change in the Burley's. The mellowing of the topping and the maturing of the Virginia's have me adding a star. The other reason that this gets an extra star is that Peretti is truly a steward of tradition and master blending house. Aromatics as a rule do not stand up to aging and in my experience either fade to hot air or could stay the same through a nuclear blast, not this one. This one behaves like top quality tobacco, it ages well and develops character. Maybe not a favorite, but I will smoke this every Thanksgiving from here on out, I may even buy this years (although can anything good come out of 2020?) so I have enough to last into the future.

Apparently a long standing Peretti tradition, the production of an old world aromatic from the great Burley and VA tobacco's Peretti is so expert at blending. This is top shelf leaf that comes in a lightly pressed crumble cake. The pouch note is all topping and casing: mildly soapy, floral and reminds me of an old women's closet. The flavor of this tobacco is heavily influenced by the aromatic topping and casing, the Burley is toasty and nutty and the signature chocolate flavors are the lead. The Virginia's are there but difficult to tease out on my palate. I get some sweetness and grassy flavors and a hint of citrus that I attribute to the VA's. The flavoring is hard to nail down. It is ever present and I would describe it as follows: soapy from start to finish, floral and perfume like. I also get the signature peppermint that seems to be topped in all Peretti blends. There is an aftertaste of molasses and spice (cloves?). I also see and pick up deer tongue in this blend (some may say it is just rough leaf bit I beg to differ). I think that is where the soapy flavor comes from and I think the other flavors mask the vanilla that is normally attributed to this natural aromatic. I have smoked 10+ bowls of this in 3 pipe types and I have yet to make this one click with me. I will say I really like the room note, but I only can enjoy that when I leave the room and come back after a few minutes. DISCLAIMER: I don't enjoy too many aromatics and when I do it is infrequent that I smoke the ones I like. This is not a gloopy, overly sweet mess. It is definitely old world aromatic and I can see what people would enjoy. I am going to sit on this one for a bit and see what happens, but I am not optimistic that this will ever appeal to my flavor profile.

Thanksgiving Day, is a unique tobacco from the famous Boston tobacconist, L.J. Peretti. Upon opening the bag, I am greeted by a somewhat moist krumble cake of cube & ribbon cut tobaccos in various shades of brown. I smelled the scent of raisins and a slight "Lakeland" floral scent. I smoked 4 bowls of this in a Corn Cob to get a "real" feel for the blend.

Like many other reviewers I could taste the earthy woodsy flavor of the Burley paired with the sweetness of the Va. You can taste the flavor of high quality tobacco leaf gently flavored by a mix of various fruits.

At varying points in the bowl(s) I could taste soapy floral flavors, a subtle taste of various fruits. Hints of spice including clove, nutmeg, allspice and even a gentle cocoa flavor. While this is not something that I would want to smoke all day every day this is a blend that gets you in the mood for the holiday season and well worth trying.

Burley,Virginias and orientals with some kind of flavoring sometimes it tastes like anise other times it taste like cocoa, very high quality tobacco, lights easily, smokes great, the nicotine its a little on the strong side which I find great specially after dinner, it can be somewhat monochromatic not that theres anything wrong with that, If you're a burley smoker definetly this will make your list of must buys.

so would I buy it again...yes!

This is a curious blend offered by Peretti's during the holiday season. I say “curious” because despite the implied suggestion in the name that it is somehow limited or special, I find it to be very reminiscent of several other Peretti's Burleys. In some ways, that's a good thing. All of the Burley and Burley-based tobaccos I've had from the shop are of impeccable quality. I'm just not entirely sure how this qualifies as a “Thanksgiving Day.” I mean…where's the sage, the cranberry, the candied yam, the turkey?

Thanksgiving Day arrives as a lightly pressed 4 oz block in a bag with an orange wrapper. It breaks apart very easily into a rough and cube cut tobacco. It packs, lights, and burns very easily (much more easily than the straight cube cuts from the shop) and produces generous quantities of smoke. The flavor profile is both familiar and subtle. The Burley here starts off a little woody, but then settles down to more familiar nuttiness. The Burley flavor is supported by a light sweetness—molasses or Golden Syrup, perhaps, and maybe some 5100-ish Virginia Cavendish—and a faint herbal vanilla quality in the background. I wouldn't be surprised if there is a little deer tongue in the mix.

I find it to be a very subtle and relaxing tobacco, which is perhaps more the intention behind the name than recollection of a bloated belly and a bottle of Beaujolais. Or perhaps it is designed to recall Thanksgiving bloat and supply a little nicotine to cure the post-meal constipation and a little sweet-smelling smoke to mask the turkey gas.

Lovers of OTC Burleys like Kentucky Club (especially the Continental Blend) or Carter Hall will find something instantly recognizable in a blend like this. The tobacco quality is higher here, I think, but the gentle quality of the Burley-dominated smoke, the relatively high nicotine content, and the simple but enjoyable tastes all recall to me the pleasures of American OTCs.

Revisited 'Thanksgiving Day' by LJ Peretti Company this morning and I am happy to say that I have changed my opinion of this Burley blend. What I initially thought was dull and tasteless has, three months later, become a delight to smoke. This time I tasted the distinct nuttiness of the high-quality burley and the floral perfume of the anise. The cinnamon was hardly noticeable accept in the aftertaste. This time I set aside the briar and packed it into a cob which allowed the background sweetness of the supporting Virginia to shine. I recommend setting aside the coffee and the Latakia for a few hours before smoking it to really taste the wonderful subtleties of this blend. So happy I decided to give this one another go!

Happy Thanksgiving Day - 2021 Pipe Smokers.

I broke out my jar of 2020 Thanksgiving Day from Peretti to enjoy today. I had a bowl last year when new and wasn't overly impressed, but put it in a jar and thought.. I'll see what a year does.

Well.. the year has made a world of difference. The tobaccos now seem to come through more with a hint of rum and fruit on top in a very light aromatic treat. The quality of the tobacco is obvious and I'd love to know what the 7 tobaccos in there are.