Iwan Ries Old Colonial

I love this stuff! I smoke FM, Dark star ,English luxury, Escudo etc... run the board. But the flavor and ash in every pipe I smoke is great, Meershaum,Castello,Charatan Dunhill,doesn't matter it smokes down to the bottom with no effort and a fluffy white ash with a great aroma according to my official aroma critic (one of my daughter's)! Fantastic!

The description of this blend was pretty off-base, so I updated with the information directly from the IRC website. As you can see, this has a base of burley, virginias, and black cavendish, to which latakia, perique, and a casing of of vanilla have been added. I can understand why many describe this as being coconut flavored. The overall effect is reminiscent of coconut, but that is most likely just the cumulative effect of the various flavors. IRC states very flatly that this only has a light vanilla casing. If we take them at their word then the coconut effect is an interesting example of something being more than the sum of its parts.

The tobacco is an attractive light mottle of the burley and VA with darker flecks here at there. The cut is most definitely not ribbon - to my eye it is closest to a cube cut. It is pretty dry and needs little additional resting time before packing, and packs nicely without much fuss.

It lights easily and once started will burn very consistently with a light tamping now and then. The flavor started out dry and soapy to my taste, but this quickly dissipates and is replaced with a sweet, dry but rich flavor. I really cannot taste the latakia, but perhaps that is where that slightly soapy background and the dry mouth feel comes from. It burns so cool that I have a tendency to puff it too quickly simply because it lets me, and it tastes very good. I must admit that sweetness with a light coconut flavor is a good way to describe the taste, but the effect is very harmonious and light, without being thin or enjoyable like other, flavorless blends. I can almost convince myself that there is some kind of very light floral, lakeland thing going on, but it is probably just in my head, because I have to look to find it. The takeaway is that while this is light there is real depth here also, and you can enjoy exploring with a bowl.

This one has zero nicotine, so it would be a very good beginners blend as it does not bite, tastes good, burns easily, and will not make you woozy. Like all blends with vanilla it can get sharp if you puff too hard and fast, but it never reaches the level of tongue bite, and you really have to offend it to produce such an effect.

To me this is clearly a very burley-forward aromatic, and there is nothing wrong with that. There are some heavily cased German virginia based aros that will just destroy you if you do not smoke them exactly right. There are no such worries with this - just pack your pipe and go to town.

I always find it interesting that many of the old school aromatics had latakia and perique thrown in. We seem over the years to have developed a false line that excludes those tobaccos from most aromatics, and have lost something as a result. One of my favorite aromatics is Sillem's Black, which has a very substantial dose of Latakia, and Old Colonial benefits from these ingredients, no matter how little is used. They provide just enough structure to provide real flavor and a satisfying smoke from what would otherwise be a very light aromatic.

This one is growing on me. I am new to the blend, and frankly did not give it a fair shake because I had already tried Dr. Bradley, which is just much better to my taste. That is not, however, because Old Colonial is not very good in its own right - Dr. Bradley is just an amazing, one of a kind smoke. Even though they share much of the same structure they really do not taste anything alike, and Old Colonial is much in light with what one might expect from an old school american aromatic. If you are used to gloppy, wet modern aromatics then you need to see what was up 50 or more years ago, because they knew how to blend for flavor and enjoyment without creating a sticky mess. So Old Colonial makes a wonderful anytime, easygoing aromatic smoke.

I just want to add a shout-out to Peppino's review because he got it exactly right. It doesn't matter what you smoke, if you enjoy a good quality pipe then you are going to enjoy this, because it has a whole lot of good qualities to offer if you have an open mind. I have sugar-coated Gawith flakes that are more than ten years old, and I can honestly say that I can enjoy this, in the right frame of mind, (almost) as much as I can enjoy those Gawith nuggets of joy!

Stopped in the other day to get a small tin of Union Leader in keeping with my latest theme of "Old Timey" blends and decided to give this one a try. I must be on a roll here, as I have found much pleasure in this blend especially. This is one of IRC's oldest blends and I can see why they still offer it. Pleasant in an automobile with the window slightly cracked and not offensive to my allergy afflicted better half in the sometimes lenghty rides to and from the loop. Can't taste the casing, aroma not sweet at all, this is rapidly becoming my tobacco of choice. Also with a nod to emmbee, I hope that this fine old shop will not become just a memory, and with the service and selection which is in my opinion second to none, is in no danger of becoming so.