Newminster No. 403 Superior Round Slices

I'd almost swear this is a MacBaren blend. There's a familiar note of honey that plays well with the tart and tangy citrusy, grassy/hay, woody, earthy, lightly dark fruity and acidic Virginias. The dark fired Kentucky is spicy, dryly sour, barely sweet, earthy, floral, herbal, a little woodsy, and nutty with a bare hint of nutmeg. Reminds me very much of Dark Twist without the earth notes. The coins are just loose enough to stack and smoke without many relights, which I prefer to unraveling. It seemed to have just a little less spice at the finish, but that could just be my getting used to it. The strength and taste levels are medium. The nic-hit is in the center of mild to medium. Not a complex product, and if you're sensitive to spicy bends, you risk getting a little tongue bite if you puff too fast. Burns clean and a little warm at a slightly slow pace with a moderately consistent sweet and spicy, lightly floral flavor that translates to the pleasantly lingering after taste and stronger room note. Leaves little moisture in the bowl, and requires some relights. Not an all day smoke. I expect this will age well.

-JimInks

This has been a very enjoyable smoke. The coins are sliced very thin, and they were easy to rub out. I got a medium strength Virginia flavor, with a pleasant spiciness from the Kentucky. This is a serious value, and on that basis alone it should probably get bumped to a 4. I found this very tasty and not a tobacco with a lot of complexity. You get the slightly sweet and mellow with just enough spice to notice but not overpower. I did not experience bitter as another reviewer did.

Edit: 12/1/14 I am checking reviews and updating. When I finished the 4 oz sample, I ordered a pound of this. I find this a very satisfying smoke, and have discovered I can rub out a couple of coins to mix with a "thin" Balkan/English to provide some body and kick it up a notch.

I have experimented with different ways to prepare this when smoked by itself, and I think I get the best smoke with the coins stacked, rolled up and wadded into the right size for the bowl. This gives a slightly denser pack and a remarkably good smoke.

This is a great blend to have in inventory. Solid 3.5 on the scale.

I love when someone sends me something and I just end up loving it. Such is the case with Newminster Superior Round Slices. I had sent a forum friend some Motzek Strang. Upon trying it, he commented that he thought it to be identical to Newminster. He is a relative new piper and sent me some so I could make my own comparison.

My first thoughts were that the coins were quite similar in appearance. I smoked a bowl of the Newminster and found it to be a little heavier on the burley or dark fired side. Giving more of the nutty sweetness that one would expect from that leaf. The blend is quite sweet and I am not sure if that is the interplay of the Virginia and the burley or if there is a bit of topping put into the center. The Strang also has that sweetness, but a bit more reserved and is accentuated by a good amount of spice from the perique. Where I could taste the spice in both, I found it to be bolder in the Strang.

Overall, I am really splitting hairs as these differences were not that stark. Overall, I would say he was not wrong in that the two are very similar and are both very good. I would still give my preference to the German Motzek Strang, but could easily use this to scratch that same itch.

I gave four stars to Strang and will do the same with this one. It is great, it is available and relatively inexpensive, particularly when compared to Strang.

Summary: Dark Fired Kentucky Burley takes the place of Perique in this traditional curley cut

Many of us love curly cuts for their ease of packing, transport, and burning, plus the little curlicues are just cute. Like the later "Three Nuns," Newminster "Superior Round Slices" makes a traditional va/per with Kentucky Burley in the place of the Perique. This creates a smooth-burning mixture that produces a flavor not unlike oatmeal with brown sugar and a slight zing, but lacks something that the Perique gives a blend, namely that deeply fermented fruit flavor which tames the sweetness of bright Virginias. In addition, the leaf used in this blend is new and is cased with some sugar, which means that the first few puffs will burn quite hot. If you buy this blend and set it aside for a few months or years, it becomes a richer, gentler, and more molasses-and-honey version instead of the peanut-butter-and-jelly of the vapers.

A solid value in a bulk tobacco. I like this blend quite a bit. Comparisons to Mac Baren’s Dark Twist Roll Cake are appropriate, as are comparisons to Stockton for that matter. Actually I find Superior Round Slices to be somewhere in between these two venerable roll cake blends. It’s just as spicy as Stockton, but it lacks Stockton’s earthy flavor profile. It’s slightly sweeter and a bit more rich than Dark Twist Roll Cake, but it’s also more rugged and lacks Dark Twist’s delicate nuances.

Altogether this is a fairly fresh tasting blend that happens to be a bit rough around the edges, especially when puffed too hard. Is it perfectly balanced? No. Is it well matured? No. Still, it's a tasty tobacco with some sweet grassy Virginia flavor and a bit of bass and spice from the dark fired core. I am going to jar up several ounces of it and lose it in my cellar for a couple years. I am positive that a little age will yield some mighty fine results. A perfect investment blend.

I really like this blend. Straightforward and very flavorful. Love the burn qualties and aroma. I smoke my favorite blends on saddlebit half bends and this is one of those on my regular rotation. It will bite when provoked but then again,im a slow puffer,2 coins and I'm off for a good hour or more smoke.

Newminster - No. 403 Superior Round Slices.

The blend has a generic curly cut appearance, think Mac Baren Roll Cake. The colour's a little darker than medium brown, and the moisture's decent. The coins load into the bowl easily; they don't need 'rubbing', I just give them a slight roll between my fingers and stuff them in.

To me, the Kentucky's responsible for the majority of the flavour: smoky, nutty, and rustic. I struggle to get anything from the Virginia: the smoke doesn't have any refreshing grassy or citrusy qualities. Some people note a topping like sweetness, but anything added eludes me; the only extras to me are from the Kentucky's curing process. I also see how bite's an issue for a lot of smokers; not me though, it's amenable in that department!

I find the nicotine a bit above medium, and the room-note non-offensive; I don't love it, and don't hate it.

This is a very solid smoke:

Four stars.

I admire simplicity. Less is often more when it comes to pipe tobacco for me and this blend nails that adage. This blends requires a bit of...temperance to keep it from biting your tongue. I love this blend in a cob and in my briars that are smallish in diameter and depth...a little of this tobacco goes a long way as the pace in which it needs to be smoked creates the length of the experience, not the amount of tobacco. I like to rub out a single coin and lay it in the bottom with a light tamp. Then I take a few coins and slide them in the bowl edgewise. It takes a few small lights and "rough ups" to the top of the stack to get it to take a light....of which there are numerous because I like to get it going, get a nice mouthful of smoke, snork it out of my nose and let it go out...I guess I kind of play with it rather than smoke it lit from top to bottom. I am rewarded with a cool flavorful smoke, the sweetness of the Virginia (and maybe some honey?) and then the counterpart smoky, spicy dark fired burly as well....much more complex in flavor than one would expect considering the sum of its parts. The room note to me is kind of sweet and unapologetically tobacco....perfection for me and a blend I have several pounds of in my cellar that are broken down into pint jars for aging....love this stuff!

Smoking some now as I write. It has good flavor. Reminds me of fishing for trout under rocky outcroppings. How the mind works. Could be an all-dayer. Has more flavor than the cigaretty blends, and more strength than most. Well-rounded. And the wife likes the room note. I'm always looking for a non-aro, some nic kick, and good room note for the wifey, If it smells like a cigarette it's a thumbs down from her. And the aromatics scorch my mouth. Round Slices fit the bill pretty well.

Each slice looks like a Hubbel photograph of a tobacco nougat galaxy with tan and cream stars carried along by swirls of chocolate brown and black earth. The aroma is light, spicy and brisk; it's in your face without being obnoxious but also without any apologies for itself. Dried for 20 minutes and rubbed out into broken slices and shreds. It's a bit deceptive when packed -- you think there's more tobacco down in there than actually is down there. It will also expand when lit, so if you pack it to the very top of your pipe's chamber you should stand by for strands of the tobacco to stand up from your piple like tiny blacksnakes lit on the sidewalk during the Fourth of July.

The taste and aroma are vegetal and lightly astringent. Flavors are primarily pine and hay, with slight hints of black pepper and juniper. Maybe some dark-toasted, yeasty bread toward the end of the bowl, but that's as much *umami* as you'll get. It's a refreshing smoke, sort of a palate-cleaner with enough flavor to let you know you're smoking tobacco but not enough to overwhelm or indulge your senses. It's pretty strong stuff, too, probably due to the Kentucky. I enjoyed it.