Low Country Pipe & Cigar Santee

I had high hopes for Santee when I added it to an order a few months back. On paper, it seemed a perfect choice—a light aromatic (which I like) that evolved as a result of the collaborative efforts of one of my favorite blenders and one of my favorite online sources for pipes and tobacco. I'd already tried “Black,” another of their collaborative efforts, and a tobacco I think of as a small masterpiece of the blender's art. How could I go wrong with Santee?

It's entirely possible that I'm just getting old and my tongue is turning to leather, but I find Santee more than a little shy on flavor. In the tin, Santee is a mix of medium brown and light brown leaf, golden yellow Virginia, and about 5-10% black Cavendish—probably that nice unsweetened stuff C & D likes to use. The aroma in the tin is very pleasant. Sometimes it reminds me of a well-spiced apple sauce, while other times, I'm transported to the state fair and surrounded by caramel apples. But the tin aroma, pleasant as it is, never seems to linger in the pipe for me beyond the charring light.

The cut? I believe the polite term is “rough.” But I prefer to call it “half-assed.” Prep time is nothing compared to a rope but I do find that I invariably have to pull apart great chunks of leaf and tear them down a bit before loading. Moisture levels are fine and I found that after the first few smokes, I was able to load straight from the tin with no additional drying required.

The smoke itself is also pleasant—dry, moderately smokey. The only thing that was missing was any sort of compelling flavor. Despite the fact that this is advertised as a “Virginia-based” aromatic, I find it smokes more like a rather plain Burley—Carter Hall in a pretty tin. There is as little Virginia sweetness as there is aromatic intensity and as the bowl progresses, familiar Burley themes tend to arrive on the scene: faintly nutty flavors, increasing astringency, and the creeping flavor of bitterness. With every bowl, I kept thinking things might change, but the tin is now empty and it's not likely that I'll give this one another chance.

The Virginias provide plenty of tangy sweet citrus, bread, sugar, some grass, floralness, a little darker fruit, earth and wood along with a hint of acidity and a pinch of spice. The black cavendish is a minor player, but I got hints of vanilla here and there. The fruitiness (aside from the apple) seems to come more from a topping than from the tobacco, but I'm not sure of the ratio. The apple topping is mildly present. The strength is a step past the center of mild to medium. The nic-hit is in that center. The taste is a notch stronger than the strength level. Will not bite or get harsh. Has a few small rough notes. Burns cool, clean and a tad fast with a very consistent fruity, sweet flavor that extends to the short lived, pleasant after taste. Leaves little dampness in the bowl, and requires few relights. The room note is very pleasant. An all day smoke. Three stars.

-JimInks

I've been a confirmed English/Balkan smoker for over 40 years now and have added straight Virginias to my palate in the past decade. I have always gotten negative response to my English/balkan blends so have wanted to add a more group acceptable aroma blend which has a true tobacco taste and smoking properties similar to my English/balkan blends. I think I have found it with this blend made for smokingpipes.com's B&M store under the brand Low Country. It is wrongly labeled a Flake but is really more of a loose shag comprised of mostly bright Virginias and a good amount of what I percieve to be darker Virginias as well. It loads and packs well and needs just a char light and one relight to get it going. It has a very nice apple/spice scent along with the fine aroma of the Virginias in the tin. I've found that it's moisture content is perfect to just fill your pipe straight from the tin with no need to "dry" out. This apple aroma translates to a nice background taste along with the natural sweetness of the Virginias all the way thru the bowl. It also does the DGTs well with the aroma and light flavor still there when re-lit. This is not a strong, in your face sort of tobacco, rather something which is consistantly flavored and smokes nicely thru the whole bowl. It burns completly thru with a nice grey ash and NO wet goopy dottle at the bottom when it's finished. For an all tobacco tasting "aromatic" this has become my go-to blend and I will be ordering much more of it.

I was not impressed when I first tried this blend. I put the tin away and a month later picked it back up. I'm not sure if a month did the trick or I was having a bad day when I tried the first time. I now appreciate this blend. The freshness of the apple flavouring is a delight and makes the blend bright and lively. The virginias are creamy and round. I've been smoking this on the way to work in the morning and it is really growing on me. Finally an apple blend that is spot on!

I was mislead by the cut description above in that what I had in my tin was not a flake that I typically smoke but rather a coarse cut of medium & light brown, yellow and black tobaccos. With that, it burned much faster than my usual smokes even though the tin mositure content was ideal. However, there was no bite and a cool, dry smoke was enjoyed. The apple aroma from the tin faintly carried thru to the smoke but was not overpowering as with some other aromatics. I'll stick with non- aromatics but this was a interesting change of pace.

This was my first experience with Low Country. I really enjoyed this tobacco. It had a nice very mild apple flavor that allowed the tobacco flavor to come through. I don't usually smoke aromatics but picked this up looking for a more socially "acceptable" smoke. I kept getting compliments on the room note from the non-smokers in the room. This tobacco has found it's way into my rotation for some time to come.

I'm not normally a huge aromatic fan, but this is a superior example of the style from Low Country Tobacco. Better even than most of C&D's virginia-based aromatics, it features lots of tobacco taste and a delicious apple flavoring that leaves all other apple-themed tobaccos I've tried in the dust. Based on the tin description, I was expecting a mild sipping tobacco that would be tolerable in the summer heat, and this blend delivers what it promises. It burns well and has little bite, although you should keep in mind this is a Virginia blend and treat it with some respect.

Quality-wise, this is on equal footing with Autumn Evening and should appeal to the same crowd. Think of it as Autumn Evening "lite" -- not as heavy but just as enjoyable.

This easily earns a 3-star rating, but I can imagine upgrading later.

I'm one of those guys who likes the idea of smoking an aromatic. I smoke burley, Virginia (with and without perique), English, and even the occasional Balkan. It would be nice to have an aromatic to turn to on occasion, something to smoke around others, but still feel like I'm smoking tobacco. I keep trying aromatics thinking I'll find one that tastes like it smells, won't burn my tongue, or leave my pipe wet with propylene glycol. Up until now I've been out of luck.

Santee is composed of bright leaves, some broken brown flakes, and black cavendish. My tin has been open on my desk for a month or so. My buddy Bill Withers, that many of you know, left it behind after one of our Saturday morning smokes. I smoked a bowl that morning and found it unremarkable. Since, I've had maybe 6 or 7 bowls. It's at a perfect smoking moisture now, and I remember it being pretty good when I first tried it. The flavor is a little fruity, as the tin claims, but still tastes like good Virginia tobacco. The burn is excellent, clean and dry all the way to the bottom of the bowl. I get absolutely no tongue bite at all.

I think I like it. It doesn't burn my tongue, leaves my pipe clean and dry, but I just don't know if it tastes very much like an aromatic. The flavoring is very subtle. This morning on my way to work I thought I tasted more aromatic flavor, but now it tastes pretty much like a typical light Virginia. Craig and Sykes did a good job with this one. I need more time to decide if I've found an aromatic that I can smoke on a regular basis. I want to like it. I really do.

I was really looking forward to smoking this blend to welcome in the spring. A fresh apple topping on a sweet mild Virginia/Cavendish blend? Sounds like heaven! After smoking half this tin to make sure I give it a fair shake, I have to report that this blend is rather disappointing. Now, I love Low Country's blends. Edisto is one of my top 10 tobaccos, so don't let this review put you off from trying their other blends... but this one is not what you expect by reading the tin description. This tastes more like a burley blend, with almost a cigarette flavour to the tobaccos. I was expecting more sweetness from the cavendish. What is even stranger is that despite the pungent flavour it is very mild in the Vitamin N. The apple note does appear throughout the bowl even towards the bottom. It's a wonderful tart green apple note and it does somewhat redeem this blend when it's discernible, however I find it often overpowered by the flavours of the tobacco. This might appeal to a niche of pipe smokers, but this was a curve ball for me. 2/4 — decent smoke but I wouldn't buy it again.

The tobacco was received very dry. Burned evenly with no relights. It will bite if pushed. Not sure I would really consider this an apple blend. The apple casing is barely noticeable and weakens as the bowl burns. It is probably best to think of it as a Virginia blend by taste. The room note has a mild apple quality as does the pouch note. That being said, the Virginia was good quality, very grassy and I did not detect the Black Cavendish. The sales pitch says, "perfect accompaniment to a mint julep on a sultry summer night." We have sultry nights, but in Kansas we drink our whiskey straight, not in mint juleps, so maybe I am missing something. Mild enough to be an all day smoke