Tabac Manil La Brumeuse

Being from Belgium (near Antwerp) myself, the Semois region has long been one of my favourite holiday locations within our country, be it for a longer period in a chalet with the family of for a daytrip alone on my motorcycle. About 200 km away from home, one find oneself in a totally different landscape than the lowlands I live in. (steep hillsides, cut away during millenia by the river, lots of woods, occasional medows and fields with livestock, medieval castles and monasteries... add to that the other language - French instead of Dutch - and you could think you're in a different country alltogether)

Therefore, the Semois tobacco was not uknown to me. First smoking cigarettes, I regularly bought Semois cigarrillos or Senoritas. Since December 2008 i have become a pipesmoker, but hadn't had the chance of revisiting my favourite part of the country until a month or so ago.

On a day trip, I bought the stuff in a shop in Bouillon, and have been enjoying it. The taste and aroma, to me, is almost floral. It delivers quite a nic-kick, true, but I find it endurable. (I am used to smoking medium blends...) Springy ribbon cut and quite dry, needs packing tightly. Very advisable to "smoke-in" a pipe due to these characteristics. If you want to smoke anything else in the same pipe though, you will need about 5 pipefulls of another tobacco to get rid of The Ghost of the Semois.

More about this fine weed can be found at : www.tabac-semois.com, so here's a chance to brush up on your knowledge of French. (if you leave out the hyphen in the webaddress, you access the other artisanal tobacconist in the same small town, by the name of JP Couvert - I will add it once this package is empty)

This is interesting and unique for sure. As the story goes it's grown, processed, and packaged by one guy. Making this the "heirloom artisanal tomato" of pipe tobacco. As that's not a common thing in pipe tobaccos, this is rather distinctive for that reason alone.

The packaging is simple, a bunch of super dry tobacco stuffed in a gold foil brick with a simple paper label wrapped around it. When opening the brick, the super dry compressed tobacco sorta springs up and greets you with a faint cigar aroma. There's also some earthy, musty aroma present, outdoorsy and similar to what you might expect a foggy European valley to smell like.

Packing is peculiar, this leaf is so dry that you have to pack it way tighter than you normally would. And even still, it burns rather quick. Once packed as tight as the dry leaf allows, it lights very readily as you might imagine. The initial aroma and flavor is predominantly cigar, although a little less robust. That tone stays through the whole somewhat quick smoke. There are earthy, loamy flavors present that you wouldn't normally find in a cigar. About halfway though the bowl, it starts hinting at Turkish Oriental and that trend continues towards the end. Burns down to fine gray ash readily. Fairly full flavor, pleasantly medium nicotine. Strong room note, not exactly crowd or spouse friendly.

All told, I'm glad to have tried this. Distinct character and it's hard to find fault with one guy keeping a unique strain in production. I imagine this is best in a blend rather than smoked straight, although you certainly can smoke it by itself. Sits between a good burley and Turkish in my opinion, with some added earthiness that I wouldn't necessarily expect to find in either.

According to lore, this straight Burley tobacco derives its flavor from the "terroir" or environment of the Ardennes Valley in Belgium where it is grown. Its taste is best described as that of a sweet Burley, as if hybridized with a bright Virginia, that develops internal flavors delicately when packed tightly and sipped slowly.

Upon opening the brick wrapped in gold paper, the smoker is greeted by a scent of almonds and hay, maybe a hint of amaretto, which are not added flavorings but property of the leaf. As the bowl burns, these flavors develop into other harvest flavors, more like a new harvest than late autumn, full of freshness and the unmistakable fineness of a careful curing.

"La Brumeuse" is cut in a scraggly ribbon cut and very dry, a condition which necessitates careful packing. I do not recommend moisturizing it as there is no need. Smoked in its dry state, it generates voluminous naturally sweet smoke with a taste like a cigar refined into a gentle, wholesome flavor. Soft, creamy, lush and abundant smoke pours out of the pipe and the nutty richness of Burley gives way to an infinite dimension of interior flavors.

While some might shy away from blends that are not blends so much as a single ingredient, the high quality Burley here -- like a sweeter, more refined version of Five Brothers or C&D's Cube Cut Burley -- reveals its many tastes like metaphors, described by most as resembling a sun-drenched crop drying in a bar, with notes of hay and a tea-like fragility. This is a perfect all-day smoke with an enchanting flavor and enough nicotine to create a dreamlike state amidst the clouds of fragrant smoke.

Once again I must preface this review with a caveat: I'm an unabashed fan of burley. Typically my tastes run towards a blend of burley and Virginia with something extra. For example C&D Pegasus (burley, Virginia and unflavored black cavendish) and C&D Old Joe Krantz (burley, Virginia and perique). This is a departure from either of those veins but what an interesting departure it is. If La Brumeuse was a cigar it would be a puro. I do know that Tabac Manil does make cigars but I have not had the pleasure of trying one.

With my caveat having been stated I can't recommend this leaf enough, especially to those who are fans of burley. This is a very simple smoke and really runs in taste order like this: earthy (think the smell of mushrooms), vegetal sweetness (like bell peppers), floral, cigar"y" and nutty. There's really no change from the top to the bottom of the bowl but it most certainly is a unique taste that must be tried to be understood. The tobacco itself is quite dry but you get your money's worth in the package because of this. It should also be packed just a bit tighter than normal to slow down the burn and get the most from each bowl. It does burn cool even though it's fast. The nicotine hit is very bearable but at the upper part of medium to full. All in all a wonderful smoke even though it is not complex in the sense of changing taste throughout the bowl but complex in the sense of being unique in taste.

One thing that struck me was the length of time this tobacco has been on the market but not available, in my lifetime at least, to the American market. This has been around since the early 1900's (I think before, but I'm playing it safe on the time frame). This tobacco paired perfectly with my horn stemmed Ropp pipe (courtesy of smokingpipes.com) which is most likely from the early 1900's as well. Images of being stuck in a trench enjoying this pipe were hard to avoid as this may have been the only luxury in the Great War. I suggest you try this tobacco to gain a sense of history and a sense of passion from this great producer in the Ardennes.

It seems like everyone is scared to buck the trend. This stuff was very disappointing. The moniker one dimensional is misleading. This stuff is not enjoyable, period. I will try it again in a cob and I will age half of it in a jar for a year or so, but for something with so much hype attached, I couldn't even find a glimpse of what the other reviewers allude to. To me this tastes like a bad cigar, ashy, dry leaves and dirt. If that's your nirvana, go for it.

I did follow all the advice on the boards and in previous reviews. However, sipping slowly did not ellicit even a hint of smokable enjoyment. This is the first pipe I've refused to finish in a long time.

Very unique taste profile. Hearty and somewhat floral in a unique way. A plain and easy smoke, no thrills, just honest tobacco taste. Must try for lovers of most natural tobaccos.

La Brumeuse is a straight Semoise tobacco, therefore I don't consider it a "blend". Semoise is a bit of an offshoot of Burley, adapted to the particulars of it's growing region. Out of the unique brick packaging, it presents as a very dry tobacco, somewhat compacted and easily broken apart with a medium neutral to warm toned brown appearance. Somewhat of a coarse, thick ribbon cut, there are noticabe sectioned pieces of what appears to be variously sized stem cuts. The mandatory piper's sniff reveals dominant notes of roasted walnut and dry earth, with a backing aroma which I can only describe as a strong black tea. The odd lack of moisture is "stranded in a desert" dry, but this is apparently intentional. By all accounts, this stuff does best with a heavy handed pack; therefore I opted for an assertive 3 step packing of the bowl. This produced a unique and somewhat unsettling crunch with each application of the tamper. If one needs any drying time with this stuff, maybe the way of the pipe is not for you. Charring light, unsurprisingly, goes without any concern and it takes off with significant exuberance. Be prepared to tamp down the rapidly expanding ash layer, it tries to escape the bowl with assertiveness. If someone can't get this started off, "step away from the briar and drop the lighter". On the flavor front, this echoes the pre light aroma, only with it ran through a Marshall half stack amp. The walnut and earthy notes are near equal in intensity, with the black tea lending a slightly less potent astringent quality to both taste and mouthfeel. As these flavors dance upon one's pallate, they never seem to fight for dominance. Altering one's puffing cadence does not reveal any lurking subtleties, but does impact the intensity of the experience. Not surprisingly, this tobacco goes quick, despite the assertive packing of it. The burn is complete, requiring only attention to keeping it well tamped during the bowl and leaving behind a thoroughly burnt tidy pile of salt and pepper toned fine ash and zero moisture. Smoked outdoors, I can't honestly quantify the room note, but I suspect it will not earn any friends among nonsmokers. No cares given on my part; I smoke for my enjoyment, not to smell like a fruit stand or perfume counter. Overall, a rather pleasant experience and unique change of pace from "traditional blends". I'm giving a solid 3 stars. Nothing wrong with this import 'baccy, but I worry that rating it at 4 stars will make it become an everyday blend and doing so would cause it to lose it's uniqueness in my book. I would rather keep a block or two on hand to serve as a change of pace; a means to break the monotony of more traditional pipe blends. Certainly a unique smoke, and for that it's one that I wouldn't suggest as an everyday tobacco. A beauty because of it's straightforward simplicity for those that can appreciate the simple things in life. Dedicated pipe connoisseurs should give this one a test drive and discover the art of simplicity, so wonderfully demonstrated by it.

I bought this due to a sale of buy one get one free and the fact that it looked liked something unusual to try. The smell from the package is like an earthy/grassy and want of a better word barn smell. I do not find it pleasant nor bad. Other than pipe tobacco with burley such as Prince Albert, Carter Hall, etc. I guess this is my first pure burley blend. And yes, this tobacco is dry as a tinder box. I started out with the 'Little Devil' corncob but the bowl just seem too small for this one so I upgraded to the 'General' and it smoked and tasted better. It does burn fast. Since I am trying to review this on the tobacco itself and not the fact that I am not much of a burley smoker fan I will say that it is pretty good and a nice break from the other tobaccos I smoke. The packaging is nice and reminds me of the 50s and 60s.

La Brumeuse - evocative name, no doubt, and for anybody regularly visitng Belgium countryside, like I do in any season (for business), is a rather appropriate one. Packaging and labelling are old style and quite fascinating as well. It's a very natural tobacco, no casing, grown and processed with no adictives. These are its most remarkable qualities. Taste? rather flat, no evolution, no complexity. Cigar-like? maybe, but what cigar? no premium, for sure. And why on heart one would choose to smoke a pipe to get a basic cigar taste? It's very dry, it burns fast even sipping at slow pace, Aftertaste is quite persistent, not unpleasant but reminds me of an old style, strong cigarette. I understand people fascinated by supposed "good old times" flavour, maybe boosted by some youth memories of a grandfather smoking on his rolling chair, under the porch; I also understand the repulsion of many adulterated products which, as a reaction, stimulates a "back to the basics" attitude. This is indeed a genuine product , but it's a smoke style - in all respect -belonging to the past. Tobacco manufacturing has been developing in the meantime , tobacco blending has been maybe far too "creative", present industry is many times much after quantity and marketing instead of quality; but all that said, this is a smoke - at its best - intersting; if you're looking for pleasure, taste, complexity and fun then look elsewhere. On the market there are many hi quality products, and if you 're into naturals and straight tobaccos, the choice is still wide.