Dan Tobacco Ascanian No. 2 Sweet & Gentle

Ascanian No. 2 is one of Dan Tobacco’s most premium blends: very complex with a satisfying combination of honey sweetness with a spicy Perique and Oriental combination.

Aside from the Latakia bombs and Aromatics (I’m not a fan of); Dan Tobacco has a lot of quality blends that are overlooked outside of Europe. With 7 prior reviews, all giving this blend 4 stars, with 5 of those users adding it to their favorites; I knew I had to at least try a sample of this.

This blend does not disappoint and lives up to the reviews. It has a very pleasant aroma upon opening the tin and a very nice room note once you light it up. Ascanian is not too sweet, but you will taste a fig-like flavor with a distinct honey aftertaste. This combines nicely with the spicy Perique and the supporting Orientals. It burns well, without any relights if you smoke it diligently.

The Virginia’s are from Zambia and Mysore, with high quality Orientals added in with the 3-month matured Perique. I’m not a Master Blender, so I won’t go on “how I can really taste the Mysore(y) and Zambian goodness”; but I do know when I am smoking quality and this is perhaps the best European VaPer on the market today. Along with Midnight Ride (which I reviewed last time), the Perique takes center stage and Dan Tobacco uses some exceptional Perique and its 3 month maturing process only enhances the overall taste.

If you are located in Europe, definitely pick up a 50g tin and if you really love it, go for the more affordable 250g bulk pack. You won’t regret it.

This tobacco is a hidden, or maybe well kept secret, gem. A lot is said about the classic Vapers like St James from SG but in my opinion this Ascanian no.2 is easily as good, if not better. A well balanced combination of sweetness and spice accomplished with Va, turkish and Perique. It burns well and doesn't need more than a minute or two airing time. It sells at a reasonable price, not cheap but not overly expensive either. A staple blend for my tobacco cupboard.

The mildly floral Zambian Virginias provide a little tangy dark fruit, some wood, a fair amount of tart and tangy citrus, bread, earth, vegetation, mild sugar, light spice, honey and acidity along with some grass as the base of the blend. The spicy potency of the perique and Orientals combine to place the Virginias as an important team mate instead of a leading component. The raisiny, spicy, figgy, plumy, earthy, woody perique tends to lead because of the spice and plum aspects in particular. The rather spicy, woody, herbal, earthy, mildly sour, moderately floral, zesty Orientals offers some support in the third slot. As the tobaccos are matured for three months in a press, they also sport a slight fermentative note. The strength and nic-hit are a step past the medium mark. The taste is in the center of medium to full. Won’t bite or get harsh, but has a few rough edges. You may experience a little tongue tingle from the spice if you puff fast, so I recommend a moderate cadence. Well balanced and nuanced, it burns cool and clean at reasonable rate with a mostly consistent, fruity, very spicy, fairly savory, mildly floral flavor that extends to the lightly lingering pleasant after taste. The room note is a tad stronger. Leaves little dampness in the bowl, and requires an average number of relights. Not an all day smoke, but it is repeatable.

-JimInks

Tin aroma is of dried figs, prunes, raisins and that Perique mushroomy scent. The flakes are rubbed out but need a little more rubbing to pack neatly inside the bowl. Moisture is just fine. The tobacco lights easily and needs only a few relights.

The use of Perique here manages to impart a succulent dried-fruit sweetness to the blend with just a hint of spice and mostly towards the end of the bowl. There is ample sweetness which must be due to Virginias as well which are dark yeasty and earthy. The Orientals I could not sense in the beginning but they make their presence felt as the bowl progresses as nutty sweet spiciness with their tell-tale tang.

So this is a tobacco where flavors develop throughout the bowl. It starts off with the mellow sweetness of dried plums with just a touch of peppery spiciness and as it progresses it becomes drier and spicier with both the piquant Perique spice and the Oriental sweeter type coming to the fore. The latter enhance the scent of the tobacco with their natural aroma.

This is a deeply satisfying smoke. Maybe too good and too complex for an all-day smoke, better for relaxing and contemplative moments.

Being a vaper fan but not having tried many blends, this was a surprise. Yeasty and sweet virginia leafs come as a first taste, while the perique proportion is just enough to please your nostrils as the smoke gets through. The turkish part is not much present in this blend. The actual fact is that the flavor tends to change as the burn advances, in a very pleasant way, leaving nothing but white ashes at the bottom of the bowl. So sweet and gentle it is. A mild earthy and kind of spicy blend.

Previously I was smoking three different blends to get notes that are all contained in this tobacco. This is what I want Tudor Castle to be, and frankly as much as I enjoy Tudor Castle, this tobacco from Dan is much better to my mind.

Dark and tangy fruit notes in abundance from the Va and Perique. A pleasant sourdough twang from the Oriental. Flavorful but never tongue scorching. Rich in Perique, but not the zing-y and pepper-y kind, it just adds fruit and tang to the already fruity and tangy Va. It really is a bit like Tudor Castle on steroids. Perfect moisture level as packed. A beautiful reddish tobacco that falls somewhere between ready rubbed and broken flake.

This is probably my single favorite tobacco. A shame that it is not available in the USA, because as things are this tobacco will remain one of pipe smoking's best kept secrets. I only have a little over 4 pounds of this and I am considering selling off some of my aged FVF to get more. It's that good. Just a lovely blend.

This is a (somewhat) hidden gem to me. Very rich, well balanced and deep in taste. The Orientals play a weighty role to the wonderful aroma I assume!

The tin note is already really attractive. The aroma of a typcial Perique sourness and fruitiness is what hits me first, to be quickly followed by the etheral and herbal notes of the Oriental varietal(s?) in it.

Once it's smoldering in your pipe it kidnaps you to foreign lands. Ascanian No. 2 is etheral, and dominated by the fruity and decently sour Perique, which also sports plum-like aroma and its genuine pepper, which is present all the time, but never overwhelming. The Oriental leaf is easily detectable and contributes the ethereal feeling, while adding a woodsy, slighlty nutty and dry dimensions to the taste. A very decent honey-sweetness is rounding the flavor-profile in the back of this very natural seeming pipe tobacco.

Full-bodied, creamy smoke texture and loads of flavors to detect and dig into. Perfectly balanced, with no sharp edges and never a dull spot to it, this is a top-notch blend within its style of pipe tobacco. One of the best Va/Pers with Oriental leaf in it, and easily as good as blends like Motzeks "Alte Hasen" Plug, or Crue Pierre Henri by Peter Heinrichs. Also somewhat similar to Mac Barens Acadian Perique.

This VaPer tobacco blend is based on matured five year old Zambian Virginia tobacco. It also contains VAs from Mysore, some Oriental leaf and 10% Perique. The tin aroma is very sweet with hay like grassy notes. It has no apparent flavoring or casing. The tobacco is in ready rubbed form with occasional broken flake in it. The moisture level out of the tin is almost perfect, just 10 minutes of drying time needed.

Packs very easy and lights with no problems. Also stays lit very easy. From the very first puffs Perique comes out to play. It has that peppery taste to the smoke. Virginias are very smooth and of high quality. Orientals are almost unnoticeable in the beginning but after the first quarter of the bowl they are more apparent and nicely complements the VAs.

As @the_german mentioned before, this blend really benefits from pipes with larger bowls. Only after I smoked it in my Stanwell No.11 which has large pot shaped bowl, I understood how complex this blend is.

At the end of the bowl the taste is very peppery and strong. The nicotine level is on the medium side. As for the room note - it is rather pleasant. I highly recommend this blend to all the VaPer lovers.

Perfect all day smoke. Bit expensive but hey, you get definitely what you pay for, and there is always the bulk (250gr) pack, where you can save some money. Perfectly balanced and to tell you the truth, if it had a catchier name, or a different mkt approach, it would sell for more. Nice taste, never a dull moment, I found it is better to break a bit more the broken flake pieces, to get an even more unproblematic burn. Good quality tasteful tobacco and at the end you get a clean pipe as an added bonus. I would not ask for more.

Resuming, the perfect all day blend for the non-aromatic pipe smoker. For those who know about cigars, this blend can be compared to a fine dominican Davidoff cigar. Mild but full of taste with an unproblematic burn. This is good stuff. Period.

Ready rubbed ribbon, easy to fill the bowl, easy to light. Tin note is “vapery”, little sweater though: spices and black tea dominant.

Medium moist. Spicy, meaty, sharp and crisp in taste. Medium flavour, nicotine on the lighter side. I’d consider it a good tobacco. It bites the tongue easily especially when dried out a bit, hence I won’t recommend to do so.