Erik Stokkebye 4th Generation 1957

Always on the lookout for a good Vanilla aromatic, will 1957 be a good year?

By now I'm sure you have noticed the diminishing size of every grocery store product; a pound of coffee is now 12oz, the 2oz candy bar is much smaller, and now the standard 1.75oz tin is way too large for the paltry 1.4oz of 1957 it houses. For it's diminutive size, the doily-staining tobacco inside does smell quite nice... a raw cooking vanilla with some sour raisin hints. The spongy, thin cut ribbons are clearly topped, but not to the point of chemical warfare. I just personally hate blends with this texture and no hearty bits inside (it becomes cotton wadding to pack).

The lit product had a pleasant taste leaving a sweet sheen in the saliva. Most sweet aromatics I've encountered use Cavendish as a vehicle for delivering the flavor, to the point they are stewed and wet beyond recognition, here the Burley adds a bit more structure and it's typical hay flavor to the mix. Leaves some dittle in the bowl, didn't bite, and was your general mild affair.

In the end, it was the limp cut, and cut in product size that left me a bit limp on this one. For my money stick with Dan's vanilla products.

A pretty nice blend. Light, sweet and smooth. Burns very cool. Sweet Virginia with a hint of nuttiness. The only down side I can find for this blend is the unpleasant aftertaste it leaves. I know its tobacco smoke and in most cases the aftertaste isn't really an important part of the smoking experience but the aftertaste on this one was so strange and unpleasant I had to smoke something else immediately to get rid of it.

Recently I reviewed some tins that lingered on my show tables for a number of years. Here is another one; Eric Stokkebye 4th Generation 1957. I had no trouble selling other 4th Generation blends like 1855, a four star Virginia, and the two Englishes, 1882 and 1966. So, let's open it and find out what is what. Nicely sealed, the tobacco inside is a narrow range of browns and golden browns and is presented as a medium ribbon cut. Although I thought it looked familiar, it was the tin aroma that made me think of Mac Baren blends. Indeed, several reviewers have compared it to Mac Baren 7 Seas Gold; a blend I have not smoked. There was something else in the tin aroma and I was initially confused as to what it was. About a half an hour of airing out proved it to be Vanilla over a pipe blend aroma. The next morning the pipe blend aroma had weakened and the Vanilla was left as the stronger aroma. The Vanilla lasted about halfway through the top third of my test smoke leaving a curiously weak VaBur behind. I never got much more in the flavor department until we crossed over into the bottom third where, finally, some pipe tobacco enjoyment was generated. This is the fingerprint of a weak blend and I agree with reviewer Emeritus Account 2016-01-28 that this blend is very light and unassertive. Using 1957 in micro blending was a neutral experience at best. Not offensive, or anything, I just found it to be a weak and thin smoke - two stars.

An overall pleasant blend. The blend is sweet but the vanilla is not overpowering.

The tin note is very rich and the tobacco is very moist.

It burns well, maybe a little hot, with moisture collecting in the bowl.

Sorry I did not mean to review this one (except a few bowl sample), but I did review the other two 4th Generation naturals. (I smoked many bowls of them.) I guess Erik should have given them names rather than numbers so they can be remembered better.