Seattle Pipe Club Mississippi River

The fact that his tobacco has prompted Me to write My first review ought to say something. I am not going to attempt to delve into the many subtle nuances of this blend, as many much more qualified individuals than Me already have. What I do want to say is, now that I have nearly smoked a tin of it, that Mississippi River just may be smack dab in the middle of My wheelhouse. I favor VaPer blends much of the year (leaning a bit heavier on Burly and Latakia the colder it gets), but the role that the Latakia plays in this blend seems to never be too much or too little for my taste. That is to say it serves as an excellent supporting role to the Virginias no matter if it is 9am in July with coffee or 9pm in November with an Imperial Stout. I have only enjoyed a few dozen tobaccos in My pipe life thus far, but how this offering from Seattle a Pipe Club never ceases to match just what I am after tells Me that it is a very well balanced and masterful blend. Lastly, I love how it crumbles and packs. Makes for a delightful prep and a low maintenance smoke. Cheers.

I have ordered this tobacco several times. When I bought it in bulk it was almost a fully rubbed out kake, the 2oz tin was small pieces of kake, and the 8oz tin had two large beautiful chunks of kake. I much prefer the fully intact kake, if only for aesthetic reasons. This has become one of my favorite tobaccos. The Virginia is prominent, then perique, followed by the slightest hint of latakia. It burns cool and dry, which is always a plus. The room note does not linger which makes it one of my wife's favorites as well. An easy going all day smoke that an experienced smoker can appreciate and could serve as a good transition smokle for an OTC tobacco smoker to higher quality blends.

Looks great smells great taste way to mild and gunk's my pipes up and never I repeat never dries out on the self in an open tin for over a year don't know what they case this stuff with but I think its what they use in most McClelland English blends because I have this problem with them too

It deserves to be stated from the onset that this is in no way an English blend (just because something has latakia does not make it English). Worse, labeling this an English does this blend a disservice as it in fact reflects a quintessentially “American” style of tobacco popular throughout the twentieth century. Go back and look at the ingredient list for something like Holiday Mixture, or Dr. Bradley (which I would argue is the one of several better iterations of this flavor profile). It was very common for VA and Burley forward blends to include latakia, orientals, and cavendish for very subtle effects that do not take away from the relatively mild, all-day-smoke characteristics of this style. The only real differences between this and those older blends are (1) they were generally cased to varying degrees, while this avoids any additional top casing, and (2) the crumble cake format, which of course is not itself original to this blend but seems to have become trendy again recently.

The tobacco itself is a loose crumble cake that when properly dried smokes cool and offers a sweet, mild VA dominant flavor that becomes somewhat richer as you move down the bowl. I never really get any pronounced latakia or oriental flavors from this and the VA’s always remain at the forefront. Why two stars? First, it is not original in any possible sense and really represents a rebranding and packaging of something that has been available for decades from other houses. There is certainly a lot of overlap from one house to another, but to try to market this as some unique brainchild of a master blender is just not very sincere, so I ding it for that. Second, once rubbed out the tobacco is more of a uniform cube cut, and this can make it very easy to pack too tightly as it tends to lay flat on top of itself as you load the bowl and can also clog it at the bottom. Not a big deal but a little variation in cut would avoid this issue.

In my estimation setting aside Smoker’s Haven’s venerable Krumble Kake, Hermit tobacco, not SPC, deserves the credit for refocusing on crumble cake long before SPC even existed, and those blends are still available and more unique. Honor Blend, for example, lacks the latakia that this claims to have but has a similar VAPER flavor profile in crumble cake format and has been around for roughly two decades. It has more nic than MS river but also offers a more complex and rich flavor profile even without the latakia. Iwan Reis also still offers several blends, like Dr. Bradley and Old Colonial, that have been made for them and sold by them for more than 50 years, that explore this American style of blending that uses VA and Burley with gentle use of condiment leaf to round things out. It should be noted that to my knowledge these blend are, and have been for a long time if not always, been made for IR by Sutliff, which makes MS River as well. Dr. Bradley, for example, has a very similar ingredient list as this, but has a little sweeter casing (but not a top flavor like true aromatics) and less nicotine. It is a true all-day smoke and in peak form is more complex and tastier than MS River (although neither are in any way truly complex). It is not a crumble cake but I prefer its more shag style cut for maintaining a consistent draw.

Ms River is a nice smoke and can be enjoyed. It is not, however, a premium smoke or groundbreaking as it is marketed (you simply cannot compare the tobacco quality in this blend to something from Germaine or S. Gawith, for example - how many other Sutliff blends do you argue are equal in quality to the best tobacco coming from England or Europe?). If you love it smoke it for what it is, but explore the early and mid-century blends still offered by Iwan Reis and the fantastic crumble cakes from Hermit if you want to take this enjoyment further.

I'm a big fan of Mississippi River. I absolutely love that tangy taste from the Virginias. You also get that hint of spice throughout the bowl. It's a great smoke.

Although not a bad tobacco, I'd consider this a crossover for those coming from the Aro world looking to explore the world of English/Baltic blends. It's cased with something, though it may just be the humectant of which there is obviously a sizable measure. As has been stated, it just doesn't want to dry out. This however,is not a problem as it does stay lit quite well. The problem stems from the fact that it maintains that moist nature throughout the smoke which at least in my case, is a deal breaker since your concentration is always on the cloying moisture content so commonly experienced with Aro's, rather than the nature of the blend itself. Thus it's burdened having the smoking qualities of an aromatic with a taste of the flavors associated with true English/Balkans, Vapers and Straight Virginia's. The flavors never really marry and leaves the smoke rather one dimensional. It sadly and simply never really develops any real body.

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As I previously said, this may be a great way to introduce the Aro smoker to the joys of purer tobacco's as the moisture content will ease them into smoking pure tobacco by having many of an Aro's smoking characteristics. But, if your a veteran of the true Balkan types of weed, I think you'll find the qualities and nuances you'd expect from that type of blend to simply not be found here. 2 stars for an excellent bridge into the English/Balkan world.

I completely rewrote my review for this blend. I reviewed it 5 years ago and gave it pretty high marks. But having revisited it I would like to revise it

First off this is a crossover blend. With all of the pleasant tin notes and room smells of an aromatic, but still managing to have a little bit of flavor. But I only mean a little bit. The latakia is noticeable but quite minor. Other than that there isn't much real tobacco flavor. It does seem rich, or at least it makes a lot of smoke. Above all it is very user friendly. Like many of Seattle pipe clubs blends, handling it is easy. It's consistency almost seems artificial. Light and springy like the stuff you put in Easter baskets underneath the chocolate. This stuff came in a can as a cake, but barely. It seems to me they just pressed it together at the last minute and made the loosest type of cake for novelty. The stuff is also overpriced, crazy overpriced. But it does have its purpose. It's an excellent beginners blend. Nearly impossible to burn your tongue with. Plenty of topping and casing to lure a person who has not yet fall in love with tobacco in more pure forms. It smells a little ketchupy out of the can. Also it has a slightly savory, maybe even salty flavor. In a good way. I could probably enjoy this while smoking it around a lot of people. It is excellent for blowing smoke rings. And I don't think it's possible to burn yourself with it. All in all I think blends like this do have their place. Like Burma road, or East farthing, this tobacco serves as an aromatic that might possibly transition someone into more mature blends. I bought one can of this long ago, just because everyone was talking about it. But now I think I've moved a little beyond this type of blend. I like something a little more authentic now.

But make no mistake. This is not an English blend. So don't pat yourself on the back if you like this stuff. This ain't English.

Absolutely awful. Tastes like perfume and very chemically.

Not something I can recommend.

I bought both the 2 oz tins and the 8 oz tins from every time it was produced in the past year and I always got the same results regardless of the pipe used.

0 out of 5 stars for me.

This is quickly becoming my go-to blend. Very creamy and rich, without an overwhelming flavor. Everything melds together perfectly for an enjoyable blend. Though there is a hefty amount of Latakia, it is just enough to give it the right amount of depth and creamyness. I cannot say enough good things about this blend. It is a Kake, so I usually break some out and let it sit for an hour or so before loading a bowl. In fact, I may go do that right now...