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Red Virginia, matured Virginia, and stoved Virginia are delicately spiced with just the right amount of perique to create a rich and complex blend whose character evolves and emerges throughout the bowl.
Favorite Of 6 Users
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Reviewed By | Date | Rating | Strength | Flavoring | Taste | Room Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| JimInks (3047) |   |
Mild to Medium | Extremely Mild | Medium | Pleasant to Tolerable |
This is a review of the original version of Park Square that was comprised of McClelland tobaccos. The red, stoved and matured Virginias are tangy, dark fruit sweet with a mildly fermented sugary stewed fruit from the stoved, along with a bit of earth and wood. The red Virginia is slightly more noticeable than the other Virginias. It does have a little of the McClelland "vinegar" that smokers of that company's products will find familiar. However, in this blend, it's very mild and does not interfere with the flavor. It has enough perique to add a little sweet raisin and fig hits, but very little spice, adding a light complexity. The strength is closer to medium than it is to mild, and the taste level falls just short of medium. The nic-hit is almost in the center of mild to medium. Won't bite or get harsh even when pushed. Burns cool and clean and a little slow with a very consistent flavor from start to finish. Leaves very little moisture in your bowl, but requires some relights. Has a pleasant, slightly lingering after taste. An all day smoke. This production got 3 stars.
Update: 1-31-2019: I have been smoking the recent “McClelland-less” version of this blend. The proportions and properties of the tobaccos are the same, but the effects are different. This is less sweeter, less potent in every respect with only a bare hint of the “vinegar”. The strength and nic-hit are a step or two past the mild mark, while the taste is in the center of mild to medium. No bite, no harsh notes. Burns cool and clean at a moderate pace (unlike the original manufacture) with light inconsistency in flavor. It gets a tad stronger at the half way point. Leaves very little moisture in the bowl, and needs an average number of relights. Has a pleasant, short lived after taste. An all day smoke. Two stars for this watered down production.
-JimInks
20 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By | Date | Rating | Strength | Flavoring | Taste | Room Note |
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| Pipestud (1829) | |
Mild | None Detected | Mild to Medium | Very Pleasant |
SteelCowboy hit a home run with his review as far as I'm concerned. This is indeed as naturally sweet a Vaper blend as I've ever smoked. A little too heavy on the Perique and not enough strength to make this one a bellringer for me, but it sure had a nice taste... and, as SteelCowboy said, it is best sipped rather than gulped.
Peretti doesn't release a bad blend. This is another jewel that has made their starting lineup.
10 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By | Date | Rating | Strength | Flavoring | Taste | Room Note |
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| Emeritus Account (30171) | |
Mild | None Detected | Mild | Pleasant |
Mottled ribbons, heavy on the black. Mostly the sweet smell of stoved Virginias in the tin. A little more moist than most Peretti blends come, but I'm not sure if that means anything. I didn't have to dry this out much to get it to work, so it wasn't overly wet.
Odd, but interesting. Odd because this should have tasted sweeter than it did. I wouldn't call red Virginias sweet, or at least that wouldn't be my first descriptor, but stoved Virginias usually are. Perique is usually peppery or laden with dark fruit taste, but the perique here was neither. More spicy, almost briny, in the way that Telegraph Hill is. Overall, I couldn't call this blend sweet. I found it more savory and robust, with a sour tint. Again, kind of like GLP's Telegraph Hill without that blends heady richness and dark bread flavors. This one was thinner of flavor, not just milder like GLP Stratford. This was a perfectly acceptable blend but I got through about 3 oz so far and I just can't find much to say about it. Hard to recommend except as an odd take on the basic VaPer recipe, but still interesting enough that I enjoyed smoking it. I won't buy it again, but it was fine to smoke, and I still have quite a bit left to play around with. Might make a good mixer.
9 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By | Date | Rating | Strength | Flavoring | Taste | Room Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Emeritus Account (30171) | |
Medium | Very Mild | Medium to Full | Very Pleasant |
Honestly one of the best VA/Periques out there. Park Square is wonderfully blended and easy to handle as far as packing. L.J. has been making this blend for years and I was told this particular blend was made personally for Ramsey Macdonald, former prime minister of Britian. It shows.
Park Square is easy to light and stays lit well. It is more on the moist side, but not too moist. It burns rather cool with little to no bite. I agree with previous reviewers that it should be puffed slowly rather than chugged through. The perique is noticeable, but not overpowering and makes for a great evening smoke.
There's a reason L.J. Peretti has been around for ever. They do it right. Park Square is a great example of Peretti's fine quality. Highly recommend it!
9 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By | Date | Rating | Strength | Flavoring | Taste | Room Note |
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| TallPuffO'Burley (633) | |
Mild | None Detected | Medium | Tolerable |
I just finished a sample given to me by my nephew, who ordered several one ounce samples from Peretti. This is the first that I have had the chance to try. The tin note of this was very McClelland "esque" to me. The taste of the blend was heavenly.
My sample got me about four bowls with a fifth huge bowl at the end. It was after the four bowls that I realized a trend. Everytime I had a bowl, I thought, "wow, that was very delightful." Followed by immediate thought of "what can I smoke next?" After the first bowl I had some snuff and went about my business. The other three were followed by nicotine bombs. The problem with this blend is that it just does not have much nicotine. Even with the addition of perique (which is lightly applied), I find it very weak in strength.
Still the flavor is fantastic. I could see this being a favorite of anyone who does not like a lot of nicotine in their blends. I, however, do enjoy nicotine. In any case, I am putting this one at three stars for its taste alone.
7 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By | Date | Rating | Strength | Flavoring | Taste | Room Note |
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| SteelCowboy (685) | |
Mild to Medium | Extremely Mild | Medium | Pleasant to Tolerable |
Every so often I enjoy a nice Vaper as a chage of pace. I tend to like Vapers that are on the sweet side. Park Square hits the mark for me. The pouch aroma is great as are the wonderful Virginia colors. I enjoy sipping this slowly after letting it dry out a bit as it does arrive (in the paint can!) a bit moist. If Vapers that have a sweet tang are your thing, this fine offering from Peretti's shouldn't be missed. I think a couple of years in the cellar will only serve to make this even more outstanding.
7 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By | Date | Rating | Strength | Flavoring | Taste | Room Note |
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| BlackDawg (3) | |
Mild | None Detected | Mild | Pleasant to Tolerable |
Park Square is bounded by Boylston, Arlington, Charles and Stuart Streets. Typically Bostonian, it is neither a park nor a square but a parcel of high-end real estate hard by the Commons and home to the Four Seasons and other swank. If you are sitting beside the wooden Indian at LJ Peretti's century-old shop and trying to understand the non-rhotic accents of the locals, you are staring dead head at "Paak" Square. The venerable tobacconists at Perreti must have prized the blend to bestow that moniker. And they should. Park Square is a colorful blend of Virginias and Perique as others have noted. It is sweet and steady with a creamy, full-mouth feel. The flavors and scents are complementary, producing a well-rounded smoke that can be enjoyed at most times of day and through multiple bowls. But don't miss Peritti's own designation of Park Square as an English Blend. This tobacco has the signature smokiness associated with an English and suggests the inclusion of Latakia or an Oriental varietal. It is not the overwhelming smokiness of a campfire -- more Highland Park than Lagavulin -- but it is unmistakable. While Park Square deserves a wider audience, I would just as soon keep it to myself and a few friends.
Pipe Used: Larsen, Dunhill, T. Nielsen,
Age When Smoked: 8 months
Purchased From: LJ Peretti
5 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By | Date | Rating | Strength | Flavoring | Taste | Room Note |
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| Mongo (10) | |
Mild to Medium | Extremely Mild | Medium | Tolerable |
Park Square, a mixture of many Virginias and Perique, is one of LJ Peretti's house blends. Sold by weight, it's packaged in metal paint cans when purchased 8 or 16 ounces at a time. A yellow paper label is wrapped around each can, with the blend name and the blenders initials hand-written on it.
Park Square arrives at the perfect moisture level. It's a bit drier than many tinned tobaccos, and no drying is necessary before packing and lighting. It packs easily, and in my experience it's best packed with a light hand.
The blend is made up of a number of Virginias, including light, matured, and stoved, plus Perique. The blend is an absolute riot of color, with shades of light yellow, medium chestnut-brown, deep reddish-brown, and black amongst the tobaccos. The ribbons are cut in varying widths. Just looking at the blend makes my mouth water. The blend smells as you would expect given the constituent tobaccos, with no noticeable aroma of anything other than tobacco.
The Virginias are masterfully blended here, providing the entire range of Virginia flavors. The Perique is added with a light hand, helping to balance the blend perfectly. There's a bit of something else here as well, a flavor that I've noted in some other Peretti blends. I don't know if it's a topping, or something left from Peretti's treatment their tobaccos, but it works well in this blend. It lasts just a few minutes, and then it's gone.
Lighting this blend is very easy. The charring light will burn for a while if you want it to. It's never taken more than two lights for me to get a bowl of Park Square going. It requires few relights along the way, especially if packed a bit looser than normal.
The first part of the bowl is all about the Virginias. The Perique is there, but just as a balancing element. The Peretti flavoring is noticeable at first, but it's unobtrusive and quickly dissipates. The tobacco burns well, and requires only the occasional light tamping to keep it going.
As the bowl progresses, the Perique becomes a bit more noticeable. Still, it's primarily a balancing element rather than a primary flavor. The bright sweetness of the light Virginias softens a bit through the middle of the bowl.
The moisture level while smoking is about average, requiring two or three pipe cleaners per bowl when I smoke it.
The flavors deepen a bit toward the bottom, though the change isn't radical. The blend remains well balanced to the end. It's not difficult to smoke this one all of the way down, leaving an extremely fine gray-white ash behind. I find that it's very easy to clean out the tobacco chamber after smoking this tobacco. It doesn't build cake very quickly at all (which is fine by me).
Park Square can bite if you puff hard, but that's true of virtually every blend that contains lighter Virginias. Although it's very nice smoked normally, this blend really rewards very slow smoking snd, especially, breath smoking. There are enough different flavors here to make the blend interesting from start to finish.
I'm a big fan of Virginia/Perique blends. Although I generally lean toward such blends with more Perique, Park Square is one of my favorite blends of this genre. This isn't an everyday blend for me, bit I'd miss it if it was gone. I feel very fortunate that Peretti is still blending tobaccos of this quality.
3 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By | Date | Rating | Strength | Flavoring | Taste | Room Note |
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| BC (21) | |
Mild to Medium | None Detected | Medium | Pleasant to Tolerable |
This is currently my favorite VAPER. It really is outstanding. It is fairly light in color mottled with stoved VAs ( I think ) and dark Perique ribbons. It has perfect moisture out of the bag. The unburnt tobacco smell is a sort of semi sweet chocolate. It packs easily. It smokes both sweet and savory with some earth notes. It doesn't bite. The Perique gets a little stronger toward the botton 1/3 bowl, but it's on the plum/figgy flavor part of the spectrum. Sip slow to get all of the flavor.
Pipe Used: Vesz slight bent
Age When Smoked: Fresh
Purchased From: Peretti's, Boston, MA
2 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By | Date | Rating | Strength | Flavoring | Taste | Room Note |
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| Perique (163) | |
Medium | None Detected | Medium | Pleasant to Tolerable |
Park Square presents as a ribbon of light to dark browns with a gorgeous, pungent, Virginia/Perique nose of stewed fruit. Like all Peretti blends, Park Square arrives at optimal moisture content and ready to smoke.
The charring and true lights bring plum, stewed fruit and a hint of pepper. Park Square takes a match well and is amazingly cool-smoking for a VaPer. There is no bite to this blend, even with the increased cadence of puffing that this depth of flavor may induce. The Perique here is very plummy, with just a small hint of peppery spice, similar to Solani 633. The Virginia is herbal, very mildly citrusy, somewhat earthy, and smooth as silk. Flavors are consistent from the first third to the final sip. Park Square burns remarkably cool, and very dry for a Virginia blend. A VaPer smooth enough to be an all-day blend, yet dedicated VaPer smokers will be just as impressed. This is a plummy side blend that would be an excellent introduction to VaPers. But Solani owns this space, hence three stars.
Smooth, cool and dry-smoking with plenty of flavor and no harsh spots. Very impressive blending from a custom house I would otherwise associate with world-class Oriental and burley blends.
Similar Blends: Solani - 633: Virginia Flake with Perique.
2 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By | Date | Rating | Strength | Flavoring | Taste | Room Note |
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| Phonomet (44) | |
Mild | Medium | Mild to Medium | Pleasant to Tolerable |
I'm working my way through a big Peretti order most of which are superb. I was less impressed with this Vaper offering. The VAs are nice and mellow. The Perique is not overpowering. But there is a mildly annoying casing reminiscent of magnolia blossoms beginning each bowl. Thankfully it dissipates into a very nice sour note (I'm not getting the sweetness others speak of). At best this is a savory/sour light bodied Vaper. All quality leaf, but the strange casing makes it only somewhat recommended.
Age When Smoked: New
2 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By | Date | Rating | Strength | Flavoring | Taste | Room Note |
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| Pagercat (40) | |
Mild to Medium | None Detected | Medium | Pleasant to Tolerable |
Intro: I have smoked many VA/Perique blends and have enjoyed almost all of them, yet none have ever stood out like Peretti's "Park Square". It has established itself as my main blend of this genre. Loved by many respectable pipemen, Park Square is a diamond in a mountain of rubies.
Appearance: Dark red, brown and black ribbon/loose-cut leaf. Pretty even ratio of all three.
Pouch smell: Cloves, pepper and fruity wine.
Smoking quality: Park Square burns cool, dry and leaves the pipe clean. It can bite if pushed hard which is only to be expected given the nature of this blend. When treated properly, relights are a minimum.
Taste: Upon the initial puff, one tastes the sweetness of the Virginias. Soon, the spiciness of the Perique kicks in and it all comes together in a well-balanced flavor of subtle sweet with a dash of peppery spice. It is best when smoked slow and savored. The fullness gradually grows throughout the bowl but never becomes overpowering. Eventually, it goes out and will not relight. Turn the pipe over and see the soft white fluffy ash fall out of the bowl and into your ashtray. You will feel sad at first that the smoke is finished, but there is always more. You will want more.
2 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By | Date | Rating | Strength | Flavoring | Taste | Room Note |
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| WorkingClassChap (197) | |
Medium | None Detected | Medium | Pleasant to Tolerable |
Smoking now:
Sample bag smells mostly sweet woody slightly tart and some hay. Ready rubber moisture was perfect.
This is one of those woody earth vaper blends. A tiny bit of tart, some hay, lots of wood, earth, some dark fruit, and a fair amount of pepper and spice . Tingles the nose in the retrohale. I suspect there’s a healthy dose of vitamin P in here as I taste the dark fruit, spice, and pepper. Some bready notes as I continued the bowl. Not a sweet vaper blend. The blend does develop nicely with more of the bowl you smoke. Light mouth feel, pepper after taste, didn’t bite, smoked well. Probably repeatable if you’re a veteran Virginia perique smoker. Nic hit was a medium.
Outside of my wheelhouse when it comes to vaper blends but I’d you like perique a lot I would give it a try. 2 stars for me but if you like perique I would definitely recommend.
1 person found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By | Date | Rating | Strength | Flavoring | Taste | Room Note |
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| Blocka33 (6) | |
Mild | Extremely Mild | Medium | Tolerable |
There are VaPers in the citrus/bright category and there are VaPers in the stewed fruit/bready category. This offering from Peretti is neither!
Park Square is an earthy organic mixture which casts the perique to the sidelines as a condiment. The interplay of the red...matured...and stoved virginias are the main event. It's not a bad thing!
The sweetness I cannot detect. It is more an earthy sourness reminiscent of telegraph hill..... which is much better than it sounds.
The mixture comes in a Kaleidescope of fluffy wide ribbon flakes that pack and light well. It behaves as it should in the bowl when given the respect virginias need.
I'll class it as an all day VaPer.....lovely to smoke without blowing me away.
Pipe Used: Various
Age When Smoked: 6mths
1 person found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By | Date | Rating | Strength | Flavoring | Taste | Room Note |
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| ROBERT (19) | |
Medium | None Detected | Medium | Tolerable |
has great balance everything seems to come together with this blend smoke it slow and enjoy it. I will be ageing some to see how it turns out
Pipe Used: poker
Age When Smoked: new
1 person found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By | Date | Rating | Strength | Flavoring | Taste | Room Note |
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| Emeritus Account (30171) | |
Mild | Mild | Medium | Tolerable |
This is an OK Virginia Blend its have a very nice flavor and its Consistent. But nothing to rave about. It can be a bit bitey if not carefull. But there is better Virginias on the market with the same price point.
1 person found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By | Date | Rating | Strength | Flavoring | Taste | Room Note |
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| Emeritus Account (30171) | |
Medium | Extremely Mild | Medium to Full | Very Pleasant |
Oh! This is some really good baccy. I generally do not like VaPer mixtures at all, but this is excellent. It is so masterfully blended it comes off as almost an aromatic. If you can imagine Deep Hollow meeting Haddo's Delight and combining the 2, you get a very good idea what this is all about. It is simply silky smooth, rich, and sumptuous. This is for all VaPer lovers and those who think they do not like VaPer mixtures. Please, if you try 1 new tobacco this year make it PARK SQUARE. 4 of 4 stars!
1 person found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By | Date | Rating | Strength | Flavoring | Taste | Room Note |
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| Slow Triathlete (62) | |
Mild to Medium | None Detected | Mild to Medium | Pleasant to Tolerable |
This is one of the house blends put together by the Perreti company at their store in Boston. Here is the description of the blend on their website:
Red Virginia, Matured Virginia and Stoved Virginia are delicately spiced with just the right amount of Perique to create a rich and complex blend whose character evolves and emerges throughout the bowl.
Boy was I surprised by the appearance and texture of this blend. It is listed on tobaccoreviews as a ?broken flake? but the sample that I got would be classified more as a ribbon cut. The only word that I can think of to describe it is fluffy. It is very fluffy and springy and at first appearance appears to be really damp. Boy was I wrong. This blend seems to defy the moisture rules that I have come to learn. Packing it was extremely easy and it pushed down into the bowl without any pressure having to be exerted on it.
The light was also easy. I had to wait for it to go out after the false light because it wanted to keep going!! Once this was lit it was off to the races!! I now see why this is one of everyone?s favorites. And again I am surprised at the quality and taste of a ?house blend?. This is sold in bulk and like AJ?s VaPer and Anniversary Kake the taste and behavior of this blend outshines many of the more expensive tinned blends. The taste and burn stayed pretty consistent throughout the whole bowl. Doesn?t smoke hot and there is very little dottle when you get to the bottom.
I would classify this one as a mild to medium blend that could be smoked all day long if you wanted to. It has about a medium amount of Perique in it. Not the most I?ve smoked in a blend but certainly not the least either. It is also very smooth when you smoke it. The different tastes play off of each other but never outshine each other. I think that they mixed the individual components of this blend perfectly
1 person found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By | Date | Rating | Strength | Flavoring | Taste | Room Note |
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| A. Morley (97) | |
Mild to Medium | None Detected | Mild to Medium | Pleasant |
I never thought of myself as a Perique addict, but Park Square did make me reconsider given that I found myself always wishing that there was more of that component in this otherwise fine blend. That historic tobacconist did a very fine job with the three Virginias, presenting a very broad flavor range that can be had from the leaf. They were sweet yet subdued and never overwhelming. There was Perique, yes, and I had been given to believe that it was a prominent feature of the mixture. It really seemed like it was just along for the ride, though, as it never exerted a strong enough influence on the taste. With every smoke from the one pound tin I ordered, I imagined that if that Perique dosage were just increased, I would be taken on a strange but joyous ride. The complex though quiet Virginias already there could have made this happen, I think, but old L. J. decided to play it safe this time.
Park Square should provide interesting opportunity for experimentation through augmentation with a tin of pure Perique, should I ever find the need to order either again.
1 person found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By | Date | Rating | Strength | Flavoring | Taste | Room Note |
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| Emeritus Account (30171) | |
Medium | Extremely Mild | Medium | Pleasant to Tolerable |
As a novice and someone who prefers English/Balkan blends, the VA/Per category is one I have not delved into much. I got a sample of this along with several others, and on first try I set it aside as one I did not much like.
Now, four months later, I have retried it and have to say I'm impressed. Probably one of the main problems for me at first was my inexperience and failure to smoke slowly enough to enjoy this type of blend. Now I'm a bit better, and I had three bowls of this today and enjoyed them immensely. The tin note is lovely, dried fruits and wine dominating, and the smoke, when cool and sipped, is flavorful, rich, and smooth. I still get a bit of bite and heat in the bowl, but again my bad not the tobacco (based on my understanding of the qualities of this type of tobacco).
Love it......
Nobody has rated this review yet.
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Reviewed By | Date | Rating | Strength | Flavoring | Taste | Room Note |
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| Emeritus Account (30171) | |
Medium | None Detected | Very Full | Tolerable |
This blend came highly recommended to me so I purchased four oz. to see if it really matched the reports. I'm happy to say that it does. PS has a nice wine-like scent in the pouch that makes one look forward to smoking it. It lights easily and stays lit with a minimum of relights.
The taste is excellent, the slightly sweet tang of the three VAs balanced perfectly by the Perique in the blend. It's very rare for a tobacco to be this perfectly proportioned and shows just how skilled a blender Robert Peretti is, surely he is one of the world's finest. The only blemish on this fine tobacco is that prices have risen quite a bit. To be fair, this is an industry-wide trend, but at $45/lb. PS is an expensive tobacco.
Scores for PS: 18 out of 20 for taste; 9 out of 10 for burn; 7 out of 10 for value. 34 points makes Park Square a solid ** tobacco and another in a long line of winners for L.J. Peretti.
Nobody has rated this review yet.
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Reviewed By | Date | Rating | Strength | Flavoring | Taste | Room Note |
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| Emeritus Account (30171) | |
Medium | Mild | Medium to Full | Tolerable |
This is not a clone of some other Virginia/Perique blend, it is different. Unique. The combination of tobaccos provide for a smooth, pleasant sweetness that seems to be augmented by just a touch of whatever it is they add to their burleys with. The Perique is added judiciously - there is no danger of it overwhelming the blend.
Overall you get a very smooth, sweet, slightly tangy smoke with a twist here and there. No bite, easy burn, good price, highly recommended.
Nobody has rated this review yet.
600 Perdue Ave
Richmond, VA 23224