Seattle Pipe Club Mississippi River

It is claimed that Joe Lankford had a dream about the recipe for this mixture. It's hard for me to say what twilight genius visited his mind at that hour, because I have very mixed feelings about Mississippi River. But let's cut to the chase. The tin did not have a date stamp on it, however, I'm pretty sure it was produced around September 2021. So the tobacco in it was fresh. By the way, the tin was as big as in the case of Plum Pudding, when you open it, you get the impression that tobacco was obviously unfilled - you could have put 100 grams in it.

The appearance: tobacco, finely chopped and pressed into a "crumbly cake" of almost monochrome dark chocolate color. The tobacco is easy to peel, and chopped into neat bars of about 10 grams each.

Flavour: sour barley wort straight from the oak barrel, spiced with smokiness and tar, quite bright black pepper, some cooked plums, a bit of withered hay. Sour note clearly dominates, only intensifying if you let the tobacco rest, and almost overlapping the latakia, not to mention the rest of the notes - orientals, say, I could not detect.

Taste: The initial fruity sweetness of the tobacco is quickly and excessively overpowered by the spice of pepper mixed with the sour taste of stout. A smoky latakia note covers the main picture, but the tobacco flavor clearly lacks the volume to call the overall bouquet an English blend. Closer to the middle of the pipe, the acidity goes away a bit, and the taste of the blend begins to resemble a white dry wine drunk around a campfire. The tobacco smokes quite hot due to its fine cut and thin leaf, burning out into a light gray fine ash and leaving almost no moisture. The strength of the blend can be called close to medium, in very large pipes a nicotine hit is possible. The tobacco has a citrusy, sour-sweet aftertaste.

The tobacco smoke has a light smoky flavor with a sourness. It is not heavy and perhaps not uncomfortable.

Bottom line: I smoked almost the entire 2 oz tin within two weeks, trying the blend in half a dozen different pipes. Perhaps the most honest thing to say is that I didn't understand the author's intent. Perhaps Joe was hungover and decided to recreate from memory the taste and flavour of what he had been so drunk on the day before. Perhaps the flavour and taste of the mixture was related to the steamboat parties on the Mississippi. I never solved this puzzle. One thing I could say for sure was that the mixture was definitely not for me.

This is a really good tasting tobacco, but it has some flaws. I don’t think it’s what most people would expect from an English. The Latakia, and Orientals are background players. Its more of a Virginia blend with some condiments. I found it difficult to keep lit. No matter how much I dried, or packed it, every 7, to 8 minutes, without fail, it would go out. I’ve had several tins over an 8 year span, and they all acted the same way. Maybe it’s me, I don’t know. I’m going to give it 2 stars as It tastes good, but Its hard to recommend a tobacco that’s consistently fighting with me, so it’s somewhat recommended.

SPC blends all seem to have a reputation of excellency, especially Mississippi River, and it certainly lives up to it. The sweet Virginas stay in the forefront with a sweetness throughout the blend, with the assistance of the raisin-like sweetness from the perique. The orientals deliver a wonderful spiciness that doesnt fade while the latakia stays in the background but gives a steady smoky taste.

For a Balkan/English blend, this blend actually delivers a pleasant room note, which even the wife noticed.

Update: 05/20- Though still a quality blend, I have just grown away from the extra-vinegary note of most SPC blends. This one is not exception. Nor do I have much enjoyment of krumble kake blends, as they seem to be more trouble to prep, typically needing drying out. So despite some great flavors and notes, my rating has dropped. 6/10

I consider this more of a red Virginia vapor . Sweet dark fermented fruit mostly with spice and some bbq sauce notes . The orientals and latakia fade in and out nicely . I labeled the jar after opening Mississippi River Red Virginia. I like this in a medium sized bowl like I do all Red Virginias . Someone else said they didn’t like this in a wide pot and i agree . Very tasty and deserves 4 stars ! Seattle Pipe club blends are really growing to my liking . A 2 oz tin adds value to price !! Man does this get creamy in the last third of the bowl !

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,..,,,,,.........Update 01/05/20 sometimes this blend is so tasteless that all i get is some red Virginia sweetness barely and that’s it ! I smoke it from the same pipe too !! Other times it is great , too inconsistent for me . I have read some other reviews that seem to agree and I don’t think it is just me . Downgrading it to 2 stars .

I really tried to like this one. I’ve tried the older version of it by accident, I had a 2010 8oz tin of what I thought was Plum Pudding (that’s what the label said) and I decided to open it for a special occasion but I was sorely disappointed when I discovered there was an error when they were labeling the tobacco’s, I’ve been holding on to MR not PP all these years! I will say that P&C gave me great customer service and sent me out a replacement tin rather quickly. I decided to judge this one on its own merits and not compare it to PP. This blend had been fermenting for 9 years by the time I opened it and it smelled lovely in the tin. Very dark, almost black, oily chunks of tobacco at perfect smoking moisture for my tastes. The VA’s smelled very similar to that of what one expects of a McClelland VA, just mouth watering. But when I put the tobacco to flame it was just so light in flavor and nicotine I had trouble teasing out much of any flavor. I decided that maybe it just mellowed too much over the years so I bought a new tin to compare it with. The new tin was packaged much more elegantly than the old stuff as they were layed out in perfect crumble cakes. The blend was much lighter in color and didn’t have that McClelland tang that I smelled in the older tin. Same thing, this stuff is just way too light for my palate, I was hard pressed to tease any subtleties from the leaf. Most definitely a high quality blend just too soft for my taste buds. I would recommend this to smokers that enjoy very mild blends or beginners, you could puff away all day on this stuff with no fear of tongue bite. I still have a tin of the Special Reserve, I just hope it has a bit more flavor than this regular version. I give it two stars for quality.

Grinding chunks of tobacco apart with your fingers has the feel crumbling clay into dirt, there is something primal to packing krumble kake which I enjoy. Mississippi River has a nice earthy scent as well, with some bright pops of the oriental, adding to the imagination of smoking that which came from the ground.

What burned, was a no nonsense beefy smoke that brought on images of field laborers spitting plug juices in the hot sun. It took some relights, which may of been attributed to overpacking on my part, but each time I was reminded of the burliness of the smoke. I rarely find myself in the mood for this kind of experience, so for me it was something of a miss, though I can't deny it is made of quality bits.

This was the second krumble kake I've smoked, and it ranked a distant second to Bengal Slices. Chances are, I'm too frail of an aromatic smoker to be the target audience, but I can see the appeal for those wanting to feel the nicotine kick in the nuts.

Got the label with Mark Twain on the front. Newer batch I reckon?

Either this is a disappointment or I'm an irredeemable 'Lat-Head'.

Well made. Needs drying. But I suspect I got the batch that has jumped the shark. To be determined.

This turned out to be a much nicer blend than was my initial impression. With two weeks of breathing and a lot of drying, the blend turned out to be a somewhat mild, all day blend, very much in the style of a Peter Stokkebye or Sutliff bulk Balkan product . None of the components overpower, however, I do feel that my tin (not date stamped) requires about a year of additional aging . It's not overly complex ,but then again, it's not boring.

The Krumble Kake pressing, breaks apart with only a touch. This reveals a short shag cut that WILL be easy to over pack, especially from a new tin that has not had 24 hours to dry. DON'T try to smoke this damp, as it will "steam clean" your tongue !

Will I buy again ? Probably not, as the aging and drying time is more than I want to invest on a middle of the road blend ( 2 1/2 stars).

When i am in the mood for a tobacco with a mild but smoky taste,i either reach out for this or the Frog Morton. I usually end up loading with the FM. I find it complex but wished it was monochromatic since the first third is just wonderful. Would probably be out of my rotation after i'm done with my stash.