Dan Tobacco Ascanian No. 1 Riverside Blend

The mildly floral Zambian Virginias provide a little tangy dark fruit, some wood, a fair amount of tart and tangy citrus, mild sugar, bread, bold earthiness, light spice and acidity, plus some vegetation and grass as the main components. The rather spicy, woody, herbal, earthy, mildly sour, moderately floral, zesty Orientals are strong supporting players by effect and not by percentage. At times they are nearly the equal of the Virginia early on before receding into a competitive second place. The raisiny, spicy, figgy, plumy, earthy, woody perique is an important condiment. As the tobaccos are matured for three months in a press, they also sport a slight fermentative note. The strength and taste levels are medium, while the nic-hit is a step past the center of mild to medium. Won’t bite or get harsh, but has a touch of a rough edge here and there. Burns cool and clean at reasonable pace with a mostly consistent, mildly sweet, spicy, fairly savory flavor from start to finish. Leaves little dampness in the bowl, and requires an average number of relights. The short lived, pleasant after taste and room notes linger a mite. Can be an all day smoke for the veteran and a repeatable one for the less experienced. Three and a half stars.

-JimInks

When smoking a VaPer I am looking for balance . I want both tobaccos to display their characteristics and , in doing so , improve each other . This is the case with Ascanian #1 . The ribbon cut is lovely , the moisture level perfect and the tin note is pure stewed prunes and raisons . It burns very cool and smooth and is best smoked slowly , as are most virginia blends . This is a complex mixture with both the virginia and the perique taking command at times . When they meld together , which is the ideal result when smoking a VaPar , it is sublime . Although this is a Dan tobacco it is only available in Europe which makes it difficult to obtain . The best things , we have learned , are sometimes the most difficult to obtain .

Every year I order a number of tobaccos from Danpipe and can't wait to try them all. Kriswill aside, I'm never disappointed. But this tobacco is better than anything I've had before. Even to my still inexperienced tongue this is pure delight!

The tin presents broken flakes that I place in my hand than twist the pipe down onto it, thus filling it very lightly.

It stays alight without much effort and needs little tamping. It doesn't burn hot or cause any tongue burn.

I'd rate it medium to strong. It's smoky and spicy and earthy, citrus or raisin, depending on the accompanying drink - the after taste has something of strong coffee, the smoke vaguely reminds of burnt peat. By all means a full-bodied tobacco, rich and consistent all the way through.

The nicotine is noticeable.

My wife tells me that the room note is pleasant (but she likes to smoke cigars, so for what it's worth...)

Highly recommendable. Wherever I start with this, it's one pipe after another.

I can't detect any flavour.

Good Virginia with Perique's flavor in the background unnoticed, not strong. Sweet taste from the beginning.Maintains correctly the fire on without difficulty. The snuff is correct, just open and smoking

The first time I smoked this tobacco it was perfect. One of the best pipes I have enjoyed in this short life as a pipe smoker. I don't know why the successive times I smoked it, they were just fantastic. In the cold aroma, the ferment smell that the perique gives off, softened by the Virginias and Orientals, the latter providing a floral aroma stands out above all. Before finishing the first canister, as soon as I could I stocked up on a second and third canister waiting in the hold to be enjoyed after I have tried many other vapers. Absolutely recommended.

2021/01/24: I have smoked a tin of this tobacco again to confirm my first idea of it. Add to the review that the humidity level is low, pulling on the dry side, so the tobacco burns very well, packing it directly from the tin. The fruity perique is a condiment and the predominance during the smoke is from the virginia and the oriental, tasty and spicy. I confirm that it is a very rich and high quality tobacco.

Sweet, tangy, overall flavour profile on the stronger side. Rather forgiving when smoked hot. A tad too sweet, would love this with "less fig/stonefruit. It did profit from sitting a little over a year in a jar and letting it air out for about 20-40min before loading and firing away. totally worth a try.

A bright, airy, smooth and easy blend. A nice soft and pliable broken flake that packs and burns extremely well, and that adapts to puffing pace. Yes, it's quite a light blend, with fragrant hay-like character plus a moderate touch of Perique sourness. Not particularly sweet, not fat, not an ultra-fruity blend: as I said, light and easy, but not lacking complexity at all... just a little bit of oomph.

A blend I wanted to try for some time, finally bought a 250g bag from Estervals.
Presents as a pretty broken flake, deep golden to light chestnut hues.
I think it smokes and tastes best when it is well dried. Drying it out also seems to reduce the bite potential.

The perique doesn't add much to the overall flavor pallet. It does add a notch of nicotine that is well appreciated.

The bright Virginias meld with the Turkish leaf and play off one another to deliver pleasant, mild, sweet notes that make for a very easy smoke.
Don't get much hay/grass here - more in the floral end of the spectrum. Refined sugar flavors give way to deeper notes of honeydew and pear.
It's a pleasant choice in the morning with coffee or in the evening as a nightcap. Versatile and tasty - it's an easygoing smoke. What it lacks on complexity it makes up for in affability.
3.25/4.

The Ascanian No. 1 Riverside Blend, formally sold as the "No. 1 Soft & Unique"... The description from the Dan Pipe website reads as follows:

"Ascanian No. 1 Riverside Blend - 5% Perique

The basic mixture of sweet-aromatic Virginia grades from Zambia and Mysore (India) is rounded off by adding selected oriental vineyards and a 5% pinch of rich Louisiana Perique, then compressed under high pressure for two days in the press and then in Screw presses stored at optimum maturity for an additional three months to maintain pressure. This is followed by the cut into slices, which are finally cut up ready for smoking and packaged in cans as “Ready Rubbed”. Look forward to a tasty, sweet-spicy, gentle smoking pleasure."

Since it's an aromatic VaPer, it does smoke a tad bit hot, but not as hot as some regular aromatics do; best to smoke it slow and sip, therefore, can cause mild tongue bite.

It does demand more than the usual relights, something I have found to be the case in the other few Dan tobaccos too, like London Blend 1000, Veermaster and Limerick too.

Flavoursome with past centre strength

The jar note is a slightly pungent, tangy, citrus, orange juice, sour, hay and a little honey. Moisture is fine with some broken flakes some ribbons. Lights effortlessly.

The flavor is a grassy, hay, slightly floral taste that reminds me of field in summer. There’s a little honey sweetness, some sour, and fruit undertones. Orange maybe? There is some pepper spice that tingles the tongue and nose on the retrohale. Will get more vegetative and earthy as the bowl reaches the bottom. The nic hit is at least a medium if not last it for me but the mouth feel is mild to medium. I enjoy the edition of Turkish tobacco to a vaper. The floral and sour elements are nice. Been going though a jar of this and the more I smoke it the more I like it. Works best for me in a corn cob pipe. Burns to ash. Reminds me of summer.