The Country Squire Tobacconist Parson's Blend

The wife had zero issues with this one. Although it can put out a lot of smoke, it seems to dissipate quickly. And, even though the room note is pleasant it doesn’t linger.

Parson’s Blend has a luxurious, almost entitled look to it. It just looks like a winner.

On the nose, there is a strong essence of cocoa, cinnamon & fruit that compliments the quality tobacco rather than covering it up.

Without hesitation I scooped a bowlful into a new cob directly from the bag. The flavours (including fresh tobacco) are with you the entire smoke and finish with a dry cocoa ash. I should mention I had one relight. That’s unheard of for me!

For newbies to the pipe this is a must! For aro-haters it’s worth a shot. For everyone else, it’s a pleasant smoke that will insert itself into your rotation with aplomb.

Fun Stuff!

My first pipe experience was with Captain Black Original - it wasn't a great experience and I almost gave up trying to enjoy/learn the hobby (nothing against anyone who enjoys it, just not my cup of tea).

Because of the great reviews on this site, I ordered a bag from the Country Squire hoping I would taste the difference in this blend vs the Captain Black.

Boy did I ever...

This stuff is amazing and I could tell right away after the first light that I was in for a treat. Loads of soft smoke, delicious room note, and smooth taste throughout the entire bowl. Zero tongue-bite even for my beginner level knowledge and skill.

While enjoying this blend the other day, a friend came over for a visit. She cannot stand the smell of cigarettes or cigars - they make her gag and feel very nauseated. Her comment walking up to me as I sat on the porch, 'That smells yummy. What is it?'

This is the perfect blend for a beginner and I'm assuming a wonderful experience for everyone else. I'll be ordering more. Highly recommended.

A mild, fruity taste that blends nicely with a nice aroma. Very enjoyable for my wife to be in the presence of as opposed to non-aromatic blends. From her standpoint, it is a pleasurable experience for an evening smoke. From my standpoint, great taste. Not too fruity. Definitely not syrupy. Great blend!

The fruit flavoring in this tobacco is very mild. It is very subtle. It smokes great all the way down. It did not bite either.

If you enjoy lightly sweet mild burley blends, you will love this. The fruit flavor tastes natural and is lightly applied. Very mild and mellow in body, taste, and aroma. That being said, a bit too mild for my taste, even for the morning. Methinks this blend would benefit from some Virginias to kick it up a notch. Also worth noting: the flavor seems to have diminished after a few months in a jar. It lights up nicely and burns really even and cool. A great tobacco, just not for me.

Anyways, thus entering for careful review, Parson’s Blend comes hailing as a perfection of assorted fruits and Burley contrived in the vein of an easeful and welcoming smoking treatise. This well-crafted concoction brings forth an assemblage of mixed Burley leaves interspersed with modest Black Cavendish, while entertaining the smoker with a sweet natured celebration of selective fruit-based coatings. Now, that may be the official billing on record, but truly, I sense there is much more within the cleric’s rectory which I will get to directly.

Configured as a mixed melee of handsome finer ribbon and dainty coarse cut morsels, Parson’s Blend, presents a promising display of opulent chocolate, blanched taupe, variable browns, red, and lighter fawns. Predominantly weighted and heavily clustered by White and Dark Burley strains, one will glean that about ten percent of the mixture is comprised of Cavendish and some other unmentioned leaves, of which I deem to be of the Virginian sort.

In reference to this bulk tobacco’s pouched nose, I guess I could say that the essence does evoke a reasonable facsimile of the flavors that are soon discovered in the smoking. Not necessarily complex, but more so involved and resolutely well fused in a fragrant bouquet of complementing colors. Namely, an overarching sugary ambience nicely introduces itself hosting elements of creamy vanilla, gentle caramel, a hint of cocoa, and a blissful commingled fruitiness that is all encompassing and abstract. Supporting this forward characterization, Parson’s Blend also endows some natural aromas of mild sourness and a healthy air of tart earthy nuttiness that fill the bottoms of its exacting attractiveness.

If I were to broadly generalize, I could suggest that this tobacco tends to be topping dominant for the most part. Qualifying dominant, however, in a tapered manner as their experienced intensity proved to be well-trimmed of overindulgent aromatic vibrato. In actuality, the composite taste profile eventually manifests as reasonably balanced between the noted coatings and the native strains that form its mass. Gently sweet and pacifying in magnitude largely, Parson’s Blend stands as a shining example of a refined and well-designed recipe on the whole. Likewise, I found the textural quality of body and flavorsomeness to be undeniably smooth and duly polished.

Having determinately smoked the bolus of my sample ounces into a mournful state of paucity, I think I have finally come to a resolve on what I believe to be the inclusive additives here on this one. Perhaps what follows is my best objective interpretation of the same, more so. The blend was unquestionably fruity to say the least. But honestly, the tobacco encountered as being characteristically elusive in demeanor. Could this be Mixture Scottish Blend’s down-home Mississippi cousin? Judging from my trials, I found this smoking adventure to be a truly similar exercise in contestable scrying.

More precisely, this little booger of an aromatic is painted up, down, and sideways with uncompromising obscurity. Therefore, being able to define what actual flavors were properly and succinctly coming through became a formidable challenge. Nevertheless, it is my experienced feeling that Parson’s Blend has been so well mixed that the assorted streams of fruity additives do arrive in a superbly orchestrated meld, making for a puzzling depiction to cleanly decipher, even for those pipers who are blessed with an almighty gold-standard palate. And given the coating’s gracious mildness this dilemma is indeed somewhat extended.

Overall, there is a definite base presence of a constant enjoyable plum circulating with a classic notation of sugary, ripe, dark-skinned fruitiness appeal. Accompanying this central note, I nicely recorded some form of a latent mystery berry element, which ultimately settled within my mind as the taste of a diluted blueberry variety. Further I did sense a brighter melon like essence that was reminiscent of crisp honeydew on the top trailing finish, offering a musky and sweetly floral garnishment.

Still, Parson’s Blend savory colorfulness was finely accented with a discrete wrapping of real vanilla, rich caramel, basic sugar and with just a tracing of some indistinct mulling type seasoning that borders on cooked cinnamon and cardamon. Last I perceived an occasional undertone that, oddly enough, I pleasantly associated with those little candied treasures of French burnt peanuts, weird but true.

As to the base native influence, I discovered them to be well rounded and of equal footing with the cited cast of secretive “fu-fus” previously discussed. For the mixed Burley itself, the blend projects a common walnut-centric nuttiness streamed with decorations of weaker cocoa and firmer molasses. With that, the registration revealed some modest earthiness common to a gentler cigar intertwined with a bit of placid wood coming from the Dark varietal. Tipping these strains base flavor was a highlighting nuance of lesser mint and refined sourness.

Despite the official listing, it is of my candid opinion that the Parson’s Blend recipe does contain a sprig or two of Virginian leaf. Again, denoting what I perceived upon the visual inspection and then supported by familiar chords of sweet Red wood and a distant parceling of citrusy grass, I do stand by that conviction. The succulent darker tones of Red in particular can be recognized as they seem to resonate deep in the bottom layers of natural tastings. And for the Cavendish, maybe a minor contribution of basic zest at best. So, as you would have it, Parson’s Blend is categorically a Burley favored smoking excursion.

As the bowl progresses, one will find the confluence of the assorted additives tends to calm itself allowing for the advancement and importance of the native strains. Although a pacifying and comforting sweetness still reverberates clearly, the essential persona of this tobacco grows deeper, slightly more robust, and definitely woodier in disposition. The remarking of darker wood, headier sourness, and spicy zest surface to project a lively sensation within the whole palate. This combination of natural sweet-sour savor and the blend’s toasty smokiness will be sure to find you well seated in a big poufy chair of delighted contentment.

Demonstrating optimum mechanical attributes respective to critical burn properties and obliging modest temperature, the medium nicotine Parson’s Blend is generous in its production of quality plumes of dense sweet aired “pipey” grandiose smoke. The follow-on room essence is nothing short of pleasantly appealing and I dare say that would apply to even the most susceptible or delicate natured onlookers. Carrying the essence of sugary nuttiness as the principal base, the tobacco shines with the mood of a sweetish fruited mantra, seasoned by the embracing of welcoming vanilla and warm caramel as a waft of passive wood envelopes its aroma. Attractive in a word, enough said on that matter.

In closing, I do recommend that you get yourself familiarized with the moralizing aromatic sermon of the Squire’s Parson’s Blend. Judging from my enjoyable sampling, I assess the pitch of oration to be of a truly redeeming nature. Climb aboard the taste train and have yourself a bowl or two. And with that smart action, I believe you too will come to see the light just as I did myself, ha-ha. 3.3 Pipes