A & C Petersen Caledonian Melange No.499 Original Navy Cut

This is one of the best VA-P blends I've tried. I must admit my tin was well aged and this has done a good service to the blend. It is really round, smooth, with a light fruity background taste that enhances the aroma. This is really how a VP blend should be, without that acrid and pungent taste they have when young. I think I will age some more tins to try.

Tin aroma smells like figs and raisins. The perique provides an excellent depth of spicy flavor. The roll cakes are fabulously uniform, but the REAL action is when you light it...

This stuff is pretty good! It's got its own kind of sweetness. It's not sweet like cased aromatics, though this does seem faintly aromatic, I can't imagine any real casing on here, so I don't think there's any weird "flavorings" added, though I detect a hint of something. It was a bit of a pain to light with a match at first. It took me four matches to get it going, but once I did, she stayed lit the whole time.

This tobacco is a bit wet, so you might want to dry it out just a bit before you pack and smoke it.

Further into the bowl, I must say it's quite an interesting smoke. It *WILL* nip you if you don't smoke it slower than a congressional session! It's meant to be savored slowly, and with attention. At the time of this writing, I'm somewhat of a novice pipesmoker, and I am starting to see the merits to Virginias. They are a unique flavor. I think the subtle sweetness of the Virginia will show itself, but there's this... This almost eucalyptus flavor... I don't know if that's from the perique or the virginia. I'm betting virginia, because the perique doesn't seem to be in such an amount that it should dominate. I'm quite a new piper, but I find this to be good stuff nonetheless. I know I have a good palate, so...

I look forward to trying this again.

====UPDATED====

This has become one of my favorite blends... I weep openly at its lack of availability here in the USA...

[210804] My first foray into Va./Perique Blends. Had just a small sampler on hand for this tasting.

Lights fine, tingles on your tongue. Having grown to like Rattray's Marlin Flake so much over the last months I sense the good Va.s in this.

Is this the Perique experience? Feels like it could be just tongue burn, or then a different kind of spiciness. No time to wonder, as a slight but clearly citrusy feeling opens up. Not much, but a nice undertone (or is it overtone) mingled in in the Va. mixture. Just a hint. It's not at all like the more well known Louisiana condiment, Tabasco (hm, silly me, but that's how I explained it to my wife while visiting the B&M).

Overall, not too strong, but nice enough to keep me sitting on the balcony, in a cooling August evening.

Peppery, slightly so. A neat top note. Need to test this one more. So the next trip to my B&M will include a tin of Blue Caledonian. I kinda like that pepperiness, it could be just my imagination, but it bears a distant likeness to a well-made (Louisiana?) burnt-pepper steak.

Dry, but not astringent like Latakia. This is very much a Va. mix, but with hints of a sparkling, tingling sensation on your tongue. Good stuff, I'd say. Need to go for a second tasting and see how I'll like it then.

Nothing much to say here. This blend is very much similar to Orlik Golden Slices, (couldn't detect any Perique) but without the "Earl Grey"-notes. Same strength, same texture and same burning/packing qualities. I like to smoke this, when I get tired of Golden Slices.. Not bland, but not very interesting either. A plain and friendly everyday Danish VA-flake.

Jakob Kiilerich, Denmark

As a regular Va./Perique smoker, I rotate this blend into the tobaccos I have going about every other month. The appearance and aroma in the tin are as described above. It can be a bit sharpish at the match, but quickly smooths out to a beautiful, typical Va./Perique flavor. Left in the tin, the flake does have tendency to dry out and become brittle even when it is kept in a Ziploc bag. This can make it a bit crumbly for packing but does not present a serious problem nor interfere with the taste of the smoke. It delivers the Perique in a way that closely resembles Luxury Navy Flake but the Va. component is a bit sweeter. Highly recommended to Va./Perique smoker. Paddy

I used to smoke alot of this flake whence I was a poor student, as it was cheap and plentiful. I haven't had any for years, and perchanced upon a tin at my local shop. The flakes are beautiful, velvety looking and very pleasing to the eye and nose. One flake was all I needed for my Stanwell; lighting was quick and tasty. Initial flavor is sweet and zesty, with the perique nibbling at the nose as you exhale. This is a mild tobacco, with a fantastic room note. Honestly, I do not remember enjoying it this much in years past. I am not usually a fan of mild tabak, but this one tastes great and burns very well. Do smoke it slow, as it will nip if pushed. This could be a suitable replacement for smokers looking for a va/perique flake and find 3nuns/escudo too intimidating.

I don't smoke any other VA/Perique blends so I can't say how much of what I'm about to say is common to the genre and how much is unique to this blend. At any rate it's a quality tobacco. The smoke has a sort of spicy tang to it and it leaves a sugary flavour in my mouth. For me this in enjoyed in an afternoon pipe in spring or summertime. A nice change of pace.

This was my first flake experience and it cought me off guard. After a couple of not so good bowls, learning the principles of flake combustion, I found a sweet burning virginia, the right amount of perique a a match for a new briar witch as since been reserved for virgina-perique blends.

I picked up two tins of this at a local cigar shop that really has no pipe business. The owner was more than happy to get rid of them, saying that he had special ordered them for a guy that never picked them up. He told me that they had been on the shelf for about two years. Then he asked me if they would still be good! I told him I would take my chances since he was only charging me $3.00 a tin.

Visual: After popping the tin and immediately burying my nose in it. (Come on, admit it, you all do it too!) I pulled it away to see a stack of beautiful golden flakes slightly disheveled, no doubt from non-pipesmokers shaking the tin. The flakes are thicker than I'm used to seeing from McClelland, Butera and others, however this makes not an ounce of difference to me.

Texture: The flakes were leathery and had seemingly the perfect moisture content, which for me, means just a bit on the dry side yet still pliable without crumbling.

Pack / Pipe: I always rubbed these out fully before trickling the tobacco into a dozen different pipes. Mainly Ashton xx pots and apples, along with an occasional Dunhill redbark and a pair of Nording freehands. I use a very light hand when tamping the unlit tobacco.

Lighting / Burn: I have mentioned in my review of another AC Petersen blend, Escudo, that it has to be the best burning tobacco I have ever experienced. Well, it runs in the family. This tobacco needed one long match to char, one to light, and it was "next stop-bottom of the bowl".

1st 3rd: Unlike any other tobacco I have smoked thus far, this one started with a bottom of the bowl ashy / tarry taste. By the end of the first third, we begin to see the real character of the tobaccos.

2nd 3rd: Now I am getting a wonderful VA/Perique tang, and a bright citrusy taste on the tongue. There is also a bit of sweetness to accompany the smoke taste which has subdued from overpowering at the beginning to a pleasant aftertaste. Tamping is moderately frequent with each layer of ash collapsing onto the top of the burning tobacco uniformly and loosely.

Final 3rd: Same great tang. It is burning fairly hot now, and I usually use 1-2 pipe cleaners to keep the gurgling to a minimum. Smokes all the way to the bottom, and only occasionally gets ashy. Loose grainy gray ash tips out of the pipe.

Notes: I have never really tried layering tobaccos in a bowl. However, if I did, this one would be good second half tobacco. The ashy first 1/3 keeps this from getting a higher rating. I will sit on the other tin for a few more years, and give it another whirl.

Stogie rating of: 7 Heavenly Hoyos