Newminster No. 403 Superior Round Slices

I really enjoy the idea of coins/medallions for tobacco, they are a nice change from the standard ribbon cuts. Initial tin note of this was nice. I found subtle hints of hay and very faint aroma of dried fruit. The coins are at a perfect humidity for immediate smoke. I find that of all my other coin tobaccos, this one is fine folded and stuffed rather than rubbing out. it takes some effort to stay lit but once tamped a couple times lightly provides a nice mellow smoke. I picked up on the bit of spice and found that slow easy sipping makes for a really enjoyable smoke. This tobacco also seems to like a smaller bowled pipe.

I'm confident that with age this will mature into a beautiful smoke.

This Dark Fired Tobacco goes to the top of my list as far as this thing goes. When I got my sample and reading some of the Reviews I was kind of prepared Not to like it. Well. Surprise! This cool smoking blend is delicious with its herbaceous smoky flavor. The coins are fun and easy to pack.

Recently I have been smoking more blends with Dark Fired Tobacco - some of my Favorites are HH Old Dark Fired Flake, D&R Ryeback and now this one.

Newminster has done a great job at providing folks with fine tobacco at a great price. Superior Round Slices are no exception. They are flavorful little coins! They are thinly sliced, making them easy to rub out and pack. My order was a bit too dry, so I threw a pouch button in the jar overnight and it brought them up to the right moisture level. After rubbing out a few of the coins and packing them in a Peterson 999, I charred it. The sweetness of the VA's was there. Boom. No time wasted. After the flame catches on, you'll get that dark, heavy flavor from the Kentucky with a nuttiness that really rounds out the entire experience. I am aging some right now to see how much better it gets with time. For right now, they're a damn fine smoke that is simply hard to beat for the price.

While I enjoy the Kentucky spice and strength, this is too monochromatic for me. Tongue-bite comes on fairly quickly and there are faint undertones of sweetness. It doesn't change much unless you count the exacerbating swampiness.

Images evoked include the skeleton of a slow loris on the lakeshore, his empty optic sockets staring blankly into the soul of an half-discarded, eyeless fishing-worm.

I bought a pound bag of this about as soon as it hit the market. The price WAS great, and from the start I thought that if it wasn't stunning by itself, it would mix in well with my own blend of Vaper/Cavendish. It was a bit strong and not dimensional enough alone, but boy, did it ever spice up my blend! I was through nearly half of it when I realized it wasn't what I thought it was- a vaper. No perique! I could swear that when I bought it- perique and black cavendish were listed as ingredients, along with VA., of course. But nope, it's this Dark Fired Kentucky instead of the perique & Cavendish... I'm convinced I didn't buy that listing of ingredients when I purchased my bag. The marketers must have initially sent out an incorrect listing. Ultimately though, it didn't matter that much to me, as mixed in 50-50 with my blend I'd hit pay dirt. But here's my problem- the stuff has gone up in price about 1/3 as much as it was originally. As I was saying, it was a great deal, but that price raise just blew it for me. I can't reconcile the new spendiness. It's just not worth the price when I might just as easily find something else that works as a component, because I don't often smoke it on its own.

Grassy but pleasant, uncomplex. A bit harsh if smoked too fast. Mine was a bit too dry.

Tin note : sweet notes, spicy and peppery notes from the kentucky. I also get some hints of dried fruits such as raisins and figs.

Cut : This is a coin cut blend with streams of brown looking tobacco which is the virginia surrounding the dark circle which is kentucky. The tricky part lies in rubbbing out the coins as the middle dart part can be quite course, unlike the outer part which easily rubs into a shag cut.

Hence, The texture wont be smooth overall.

Mechanics : Even though it does not rub out uniformly, it still does not prove much of a challenge to get it ready. Stays lit relatively well till through the middle of the bowl. Requires more relights towards the end. Requires a couple of charring lights.

Flavour : I do detect a little sweetness from the virginia. Sometimes, I get hints of a fizzy cola. I also do get notes of smoked meat and prawns. alot of smoky bbq notes coming from this blend. This blend reminds me a little of Hal O the Wynd.
Stout but yet somehow balanced.

Will I buy this again : yes, If i somehow run out of Hal O the Wynd and i cant get it, I will just get a pound of this instead.

3.5 stars

Smoked fresh it was harsh, bitey, and spicy. It bit me worse than anything before or since, after letting it age a few months it mellowed out a lot and reminds me of Dark Twist from MacBaren... kind of. It has a sweet barbeque note from the DFK, which works with the red/matured virginias to create a wonderfull mouthfeel and the perfect nicotine content for me.

Some people, including myself, describe some blends as "high quality leaf but just not a flavor I enjoy". This is exactly opposite of that, I love the flavor but the hard stems are unique to this blend. Even with some age it still bites me worse than anything and I have to attribute that to the quality of the blend and the noticeable lack of de-stemming.

Maybe time will get rid of that, but the savings are not worth the pain. Get some Dark twist instead. I think every tobacco is worth sampling, even if it only makes you appreciate others more. Or teaches you just how bad tongue bite can actually be.

I do not think this is a bad tasting blend. It has sweetness from the bright VA and some vaguely floral character. The pouch aroma is mild, lacking any of the DFK smokiness that I would expect. It is untopped, but I suspect some maple casing. I was super annoyed with this blend for the following reasons.

First, I posit that the coins are quite visually deceiving. I would expect much more DFK based on appearance alone. When carefully unraveled, the coins yield long interconnected slices of bright and red ribbon with small rough veins intact. Next is a birdseye haven of dark leaf. There is very little actual leaf, here though, mostly stems.

So, about the birdseye… There sure is a lot of it. It’s basically stem and mid rib that would normally be cleaned up during processing. Seeing that I’m not a 19th century sailor, I have no soft for or connection to birdseye. Being a modern consumer, I simply see this as an effort to weigh the bag down with stems and schwag, you dig? The stem carbonizes as opposed to a normal burn and doesn’t add much to the flavor as it is just xylem and cellulose. If you bought a bag of…herbs, and found that half the bag was seeds and stems, you might be a bit disappointed.

Which brings me to me next point… the burn. These coins burn about as well as asbestos. I was constantly relighting even after some last ditch measures : drying to a crisp, rubbing out to a fine shag, picking the seemingly fireproof birdseye and stem material out. This blend burns hot when I could get it going for any length of time. It also burns paradoxically wet as I was quite diligent in drying appropriately.

I don’t mind preparing flakes and plugs. This is a two star blend before accounting for how much tedious effort went into preparing it into something semi smokable. When the mind numbing task of “cleaning it” like a bad bag of weed back in the day is considered to get it to smokability, this is squarely one star. I really did try to get this blend to sing. Clearly I am in the minority here. I just don’t see why anybody would pay a premium on getting a product with less actual leaf.

I also felt the blend to be a bit thin. I don’t need nicotine as part of the experience, but these little coins left me wholly unsatisfied and wanting in every imaginable way.