Seattle Pipe Club Plum Pudding

This is another blend that truly opened the door for me to English blends(or kicked it down, rather). When I first smoked this blend I didn’t know what to make of it, being only a few months into the pipe smoking pastime, but in retrospect I can definitely say that in the back of my mind I was experiencing complexity in a pipe tobacco for the first time.

Now, I’ve heard others express that this is a blend that hasn’t had a track record of being consistent in its production, varying slightly in flavor from batch to batch. Personally, I can say that I would agree, although I’ve never had a tin of Plum Pudding that I didn’t fully enjoy. So, let’s get on with it…

The tin note is a slightly musty, earthy latakia smell. The broken flake does take some work to break up, but don’t pulverize it(as others here have already written). Minimal drying time, and gravity packing, lightly tamping as you fill it, works best. I typically smoke this blend in a wide bowl. The charring light immediately gives me the latakia up front, smoky sweetness, and a somewhat(very slight) salty nature to it that becomes more noticeable as you go. It builds into a robust blend with lots of creamy, full flavored smoke; an earthy smokiness, sweet leather, incense(slightly floral in the first version I purchased last year), and, somehow, salty. I don’t detect any perique until the last quarter of the bowl, where it’s more of an earthy smoke with an almost imperceptible bit of spice.

This blend is good from beginning to end and is, without a doubt, one of my favorites. I absolutely love this blend. This falls into an English/Balkan category, for me, and some have compared it to MacBaren’s HH Latakia Flake(a blend that many enjoy, but I can’t just seem to find anything extraordinary in it). If you like Larry’s Blend(another favorite), this one is right up your alley.

Cheers!

It rains a lot in Seattle, maybe I need gloomier weather for this stuff. It makes my cellar smell like gym socks even when sealed in canning jars. Also, why no burley? There's every other kind of leaf in here.

Not bad. Flavor is quite consistent. Very strong and strange plastic smell from the mid bowl. Not as gunky as Mississippi River brings to the bowl. Though looks like heavily cased, there is no improper aromatic smell. I always disagree to put any perique into an English blend. It makes the flavor younger. And i always agree that a great amount of Oriental brings English more matured, old, and lathery flavor. In this case, Oriental is either hardly tasted or disturbed by Perique. Strange thing to put Perique into English. Overall I think the recipe makes the blend younger, a little bit too young. Although the sugar casing (i guess) makes the blend mellow and sweet, it tastes just not matured and deep enough. It is not going to compete with Penzance in anyway, and definitely not as good as Margate or Pembroke. Two key issues: recipe and aging. There is nothing to complain spending 62 dollars to buy 16oz of tobacco tasted nicer than 965, but I hate the blend wasting me so much time to buy it. I checked online for almost 30 days to see it available. It does not deserve this. Artisan blend is even better. I am an old school English smoker? Maybe.

This "krumble kake" comes in densely pressed pieces that sometimes are quite hard to break up. Rather than try to rub it out, I break it into small chunks and fill the bowl by gravity, topping off with finer, well-rubbed ribbons. Think of it more like a very dense flake in terms of how it behaves. Good for a breezy day.

The Latakia is the dominant flavor. The Orientals provide a floral scent. If I focus, I can taste the Perique. It has a flavor profile that reminds me of Penzance, not that it tastes like Penzance, just a close cousin or sibling. There is no sweetness at all. This is strictly a savory and smoky blend with a floral bouquet from the Orientals.

Not as much nicotine as the Mississippi River blend by SPC.

The big negative is that it burns very hot. That could just be the casing. Puff very slowly or you will have a scalded tongue!

Recommended only for Latakia-loving English blend smokers.

A dissapointment for me after all the glowing reviews. To me the flavor was monochromatic and it just slightly disagreed with my sinuses and throat. Certainly an adequate krumble kake, but not on my must have list.

The world does not need another Plum Pudding review. I was ready for this to be overrated. But honestly it's like nothing I've ever tasted before, and just left me wanting more. So much going on, but in a perfectly balanced way that just works. Maybe someday I'll get bored of it. As for now it's my go-to when I want a special, complex tobacco.

Tin note is musty smoky tobacco. The presentation is nice.

Dont get me wrong this is a good well made blend. But I just cant blow it the way others do. Its a solid English with the latakia being very well complemented by the orientals.

This one does not behave well in my pipe. I have tried various drying and preparations. Regardless of what I do it inevitably requires alot of relights.

For the price, i just dont get the accolades for this one. There are scores of other blends that are as good or better for FAR less money.

To each his own tho, just not my thing.

Will not rebuy.

Not my cup of tea. I was not a fan of this one at all. I originally bought this because of the good reviews, so I figured I would give it a try. Once, I cracked the tin open, I had my reserve about the smell of it. Wasn't a fan at that time but thought it might taste different and maybe give a good room note, nope. All around just was not a fan, couldn't even make it through the whole bowl.

There are few things I hate more than contributing to bandwagons. I finally caved to the pressure and decided to pick this up. I thought, surely there isn’t a tobacco on earth that could possibly live up to the amount of hype and praise that Plum Pudding has received. After all, it is JUST tobacco, right? ...

So I cracked’r open to see what all the fuss was about. I was greeted by gorgeous thick slabs of pressed tobacco that smelled like a wonderfully peppery campfire. Ok, I thought, a Latakia forward with a generous amount of perique. If I tried, I could make out the woodsy orientals hiding in the background. Ok, so we have a beautiful and great smelling English, but about the taste?

I crumbled up some of the flake and put that and some loose leaf in my pipe. I usually put some ribbon on the bottom and the crumble, then I sprinkle some more loose thin bits of ribbon around and on top of the crumble to give it some support while burning and for proper airflow. I lit’r up and was prepared to see for myself if this was as good as people say.

And it...wasn’t? The tobacco burned hot, the perique was overwhelmingly distracting and all I could taste was pepper. Geez, was this it? That can’t be right. Then I remembered, in my excitement to try it I didn’t dry the blamed tobacco out. *facepalm* So I set some aside to dry in a coffee filter and decided to wait. Normally, I would have canned the tobacco in a ball jar but I decided this didn’t need it since it came pretty moist.

This seemed to be the right call. On my second attempt with the dry leaf, it went better this time. I was getting a ton of flavor and smoke without the bite from before. I still found the perique to be a bit too dominant for my taste but this time I at least could finish the bowl. I was concerned that the nicotine might be too much for me due to the strength of the perique, but I find it to be surprisingly middling - which is a good thing for me as I don’t smoke for the nicotine.

I normally smoke a pretty eclectic rotation that goes all over the place from OTCs to bulk to fancy tins. I’m not to picky and good tobacco is good tobacco. I might smoke Maltese Falcon and Sir Walter Raleigh in the same day. It’s all based on mood, whims, peeves and that kind of assholery. But I kept coming back to Plum Pudding. Something about the blend kept demanding my attention. There was something here I liked, but I could put my finger on what it was.

As the tobacco decanted in the closed tin, I smoked it throughout the week. I wasn’t interested in smoking anything else. The strong perique really grew on me and I began to not just tolerate it, but love it. I think decanting really mellowed the perique out just a tad, but I’m not sure. I typically am not the biggest fan of the stuff, but here I was loving it. The flavor was full and the smoke was cool. It burned slow so I got to really sit back and enjoy every bowl. It was a meaty, strong and full smoke but the nicotine never set me on me arse, and I consider myself a lightweight. This was definitely an English, and I guess technically it is a Balkan, but there was just something so quintessentially American about Plum Pudding. Sure it’s an English, but I’ve never had an English like this before. It’s kind of in a league of its own. Bold and unique, without being overpowering. There’s also a really pleasant salt/vinegar note that occasionally touches the tongue (not the nose tongue here but your actual tongue). I assume this might be the “something extra” referred to on the old tins, but I’m not sure. It could just be a product of the oils being so finely pressed. Either way, I find it really enjoyable. Also the flavor has a tendency to drift in and out, so one minute you’ll lull into a relaxing smoke, fidgeting what’s in your pipe, and then a minute or two later the flavor will come on strong again, bringing itself to the forefront of your attention. It even has a slight rough edge that isn’t unpleasant. I wish I could describe this blend in all my usual vocabulary of campfire, shoe leather, peppery, earthy, woodsy, grassy, etc.. and while all that is here - that doesn’t seem like the right way to describe it.

I guess the best way to describe it is that it’s just damn good tobacco, some of the best I’ve ever had. For once, the herd was right on the money. This is as close to perfection as I’ve ever smoked. I can’t think of a tobacco that’s been this enjoyable. I’ve only had it for about a week and I’m getting pretty low. My next order of this might be the first 8oz tin in my collection.

If you haven’t, do you and your pipe a favor and pick this up. This could easily be your “nirvana” smoke. Thanks for reading and happy piping.