Scandinavian Tobacco Group (STG) Escudo Navy De Luxe

I'm sorry, but I just don't see what's so special about this tobacco. Upon opening the tin, I detect a nice but rather ordinary aroma of tobacco, a hint of spice present as well. The tobacco comes in coin form, too large to stack in even a group 5 bowl, so I rolled the coins up into sausages to fill my pipe. I used a Stanwell Golden Danish 1/8 bent billiard to try this tobacco, a pipe that has generally smoked well for me in the past. Lighting is easy, especially if you rub out a bit of the top of the sausages, and the bowl stays lit with little effort. The first 1/3 of the bowl is fairly bland. It's not smoking hot, and I'm perceiving no bite at all, but it's simply not all that interesting. Very little sweetness, with a touch of spiciness, probably from the Perique. The middle third of the bowl is a bit better, but not that much. A little more sweetness is perceptible to me, and the Perique is stronger. The last third is similar to the second, except I'm starting to get a bit of bite if I puff too hard. Overall, a nice, clean burn with very little or no moisture, little bite, and little special about it. Perhaps the problem is that I like full English mixtures and light aromatics, and am used to stronger flavors; but I just don't find this very exciting. On the plus side, it has some of the best burning characteristics I've come across. I've cellared an unopened tin, just in case my tastes change over time, but I plan to give away the rest of the first tin, if my first impression is confirmed in another pipe. If you like VA/Perique mixes, I imagine you'd enjoy this one; otherwise, nothing to write home about. UPDATE: Smoking in two other pipes - a Rhodo and a 1/2 bent Meer - confirm what I've said above; for me, this tobacco just doesn't get it done. I've sent the rest to someone who I hope will enjoy it more then I did.

I was really excited when Escudo was on sale so that I could try this famous blend. I am a bit disappointed. I am starting to find that Virginias are a bit of an acquired taste. The ones I have smoked, like this one, are subtle. This can be a good thing if you sip your pipe and can savor the flavors. Just explaining my bias in this review. Overall, I find this a good smoke, but not the awesome tobacco I was lead to believe it was. It has a wonderful grassy, hay aroma in the tin. The smoke has a nice mild sweetness that becomes less pronounced (though it is never like a Cavendish) deeper into the bowl. I barely notice the Perique. Occasionally, deeper into the bowl, a bit of woody spice comes through but mostly it is a gentle, mildly sweet smoke with nice flavor. The strength is a bit more than mild. I can imagine this is a good all day smoke if you like a straight up tobacco taste, but nothing is extremely pronounced are attractive. I will try other Virginias before I come back to this one.

Light, summertime blend style of Virginias.

Room note is pleasant. Strength is mild. Slightest hint on tongue bite.

I smoked this blend in a curved rusticated beehive. The bowl of the pipe remained very cool to lightly warm, throughout the smoke. The smoke quality is rich and mellow, with the slightest hint of tongue bite.

This tobacco mixture would be an excellent summertime blend, from mid-morning until dinnertime commensing. Taller bowl style pipes bring out the best of it. The beehive is tall, broader at the base of the bowl, with the bowl base being flat. When smoked in a 1968 Weber Oom Paul, all that was missing, was my being in East Cape, South Africa, hunting Kudu.

I rate Escudo Navy DeLuxe (Petersen, Denmark), at 2-stars, as I enjoy heavier tobacco blends, but trust me, if you enjoy Virginia light tones, you will not be regreting your purchase of this pipe tobacco mixture. In my opinion, this tobacco should be aged, to knockout the hint of bite. It must be noted that this tobacco was fresh when I smoked it, and I prefer dry tobaccos. It did remain lit with only the initial lighting, all the way to the very heel of the pipe bowls. All that remained was white, airy ash; This I liked, because residue and wet, soggy smokes, I cannot stand. I felt my money was well spent, and there was no waste. The tobacco mixture did, burn to conclusion, a bit rapidly.

This tobacco smelled very nice in the tin and the coin presentation was very appealing. Unfortunately the taste was not very full as I was expecting. The aroma was nice and the perique was quite minimal which is okay by me since I'm not too fond of a strong peppering. The volume of smoke was moderate, which was good and the strength increased slightly as the bowl got past half way. I will probably not purchase this again but am glad I got to try it, though it was a bit disappointing.

Well - All I can say is "Damn near blew my hat-off !" Fascinated by the reviews, I was intrigued to the point of wonder. Then by chance I was offered a few rolls to try. So home I scurried to enjoy later.Really interesting look... Rolled out very well... Odour from pouch or should that be pooch was odd to me !! Did someone do something nasty in the castle yard without telling me ???

In for a penny thought I, so packed and ready to go..

WHAM - ooo eeee.. Nic - o - tine city here we come.....

Obviously I am a novice - too strong for me - Set sail for milder seas !!!

I should say I tried this 5 years ago after hearing some good things about it. I bought a few tins to age it and also tried it new back then. Back then when I opened the tin, I thought it smelled like a hay ride. Then I smoked and thought it tasted and smelled like burning hay. I simply hated it and wondered if all its supporters thought burning hay was a good thing.

Recently I found my old tins of this. I had completely forgotten that I had them and when I found them, I intended on selling them on ebay but one of the tins kept calling me to open it and try it again. When I opened the tin, I noticed the disks had turned to a deep brown. I remembered them being gold. The hay smell was still there but so was a sweetness. I loaded it into a newer Castello and had a go. At first, it's nothing. Then a few puffs into it, the sweetness hit me, followed by a mild pepperyness from what I gather is from the Perique. I was actually enjoying this! This is the most radical change from aging I have ever experienced with a tobacco! Certainly my tastes have changed but my other tobaccos haven't changes this radically. It got hot and wet when I puffed to hard but keeping it steady produced a nice mellow smoke. It's definately a "sipping" tobacco. It's a very good tobacco without being the holy grail of smokes. It has made me want to try more Virginias, which is the last bastion of tobacco types I have yet to delve in.

Hooplah surrounds this blend, it being the holy grail of many old time smokers. You know, the tobacco the 2000 year old man used to smoke back in the days before baggy pants and punk haircuts and when a car looked like a car, not a freaking jelly bean. When one of the old timers starts in about the glories of Gallaher's Escudo and the shortcomings of Petersen's, I usually make for the door as respectfully as I can.

This tobacco has possibilities for me, but little else. The first half smokes nicely, with a dark pruny sweetness and mild spice. That is, before it burns the hell out of my tongue.

The second half gets even hotter. At least it does before the perique kicks in and completely anaesthetizes my mouth.

To sum it up, I find myself reaching for this blend believing each time that THIS time it's going to be great--and each time I smoke it I go numb. I try to like it, but I usually use it to punish myself when I've been bad.

Just finishing up a tin of this much debated tobacco. As a self professed lover of all things Perique, I had very high expectations for this blend, and after picking up an aged tin at the 2002 NASPC show, I patiently waited to finish off my open tins of other VA & VA/Perique flakes so that I could devote my undivided attention to Escudo.

Visual: Without a doubt, one of the most attractive forms of tobacco I have ever seen. Opening the tin revealed an array of tobacco disks composed of mainly dark brown tobacco with streaks of black and even more streaks of gold interspersed. My tin had an abundance of tiny sugar crystals dusting the disks as well.

Texture: My tin was just a bit on the dry side, so that the disks tended to crumble as I would rub them out. However, I did not feel the need to add humidity.

Pack/Pipe: Smoked this cut into small pieces, rough rubbed, and fully rubbed out. Although the cut "chunks" seemed to provide a bit more flavor, I usually smoked this fully rubbed out. Gravity fed with a few taps and very lightly packed seemed to give me the most consistent burn. I smoked this tobacco in almost my entire rotation of VA pipes. It really stood out in the smaller Ashtons (xx), and wasn't too bad in a very small Comoy Rockroot. It did not taste as good in my larger pipes.

Lighting/Burn: On match to char (long charring light), and one to achieve an outstanding burn. (Usually to the bottom, or maybe one additional match to finish. Maybe the best burn characteristics of any tobacco I've ever smoked! Smoked relatively dry for me, and never really got too hot. (I did experience burn-out for the first time with this tobacco in a Stanwell Bamboo, but I think that was due to the pipe, not the tobacco heat).

1st 3rd: Starts with some VA tang, and a stewed fruit taste that remains throughout the bowl. Somewhat sweet and pleasant, but light. Burn at a slightly above average speed, but remember I pack this very loose.

2nd 3rd: Loses most of the tang at this point, and the sweetness is dark, not sugary. Stewed fruit remains. Notice some nicotine strength here.

Final 3rd: Not much sweetness here, but just a bit of VA sharpness with the stewed fruit aftertaste. Once in a while it got a little ashy here, but usually just burned to the bottom leaving a fine grey ash. Nice nicotine kick.

Notes: I really was hoping that this would knock my socks off. Unfortunately, it just never had "enough" of what I was looking for. Everyone should try this, and I may return to it sometime in the future, but it will not become a regular.

Stogie rating: 6 Mild Macanudos

It smells like a VaPer, sweet, fruity, like a raisiny fermenty type of sweetness. The taste did not do much for me at all, and given the reputation (even this iteration) I was quite surprised. I tried different packing, different pipe material, even different ages, and it was the same each time. It was not bad, but when there are VaPers that would be preferable at the same price but cost about half of what escudo does, it's hard to justify this one. It could be worth a try as many find this to be a top quality blend, but don't expect it to knock your socks off.

You can view my video review of this blend here:

https://youtu.be/1VLPYz_3JS0