Lane Limited Crown Achievement

So I grabbed a tin of this from a box pass, but never got around to opening it. A forum friend wanted to send me some reciprocal hate mail from some samples I sent him and mentioned he had a lot of this as it was his favorite blend. I fully expected to dislike this blend since I grabbed the tin and jumped on the opportunity to sample some as I now identified the optimal trading partner for my tin should it live up to my expectations.

To be fair, Lane has always disappointed me and this is the reason for my skepticism. With my first bowl of this, I thought it to be a pretty decent lat blend reminiscent of Nightcap, another blend of which I am not too fond. I had this blend on the ride home from work, which is usually not the best time to really enjoy a smoke as the rush hour traffic and accumulated thoughts of the day tend to rush my smoking cadence.

But my second bowl found me at optimal smoking conditions; at night; while the kids were asleep. This is when I really had a chance to enjoy this blend. And enjoy it I did. This is the very definition of the contemplative smoke in my mind. The flavors are constantly changing. The lat is restrained and the orientals constantly weave through sour to nutty then to earthy type notes. The perique is evident with a spice note. There are moments when I get notes of spiced fruit. I am not sure whether this is just from the perique or perhaps some of the Virginia is slightly stoved. And the side stream is heavenly. I must have been a humorous picture smoking this in my truck during the morning commute as I so often removed the pipe to sniff at the smoke coming off the top of the bowl. It was hard not to.

So, as it sometimes happens with samples in the mail, you try them to cross them off your list and you end up wanting to purchase more. This is my experience with crown achievement. I am really up in the air on this on whether to give it three or four stars. I seldom award a four star review to something that I have only sampled, but this one was so solid, I really can't see giving it three stars. So four stars it is. And as to it being reminiscent to Nightcap, I will do it one better. This is what Nightcap wishes it was.

Thought I'd like this blend, and tin description sure sounds enticing. Opening the tin I get the usual latakia smokiness, which my wife refers to as a campfire but to me resembles my fireplace the morning after I burned a stack of oak. It's on lighting up that anything positive about the blend goes out the window. First off, it's a Lat-bomb, so that's about all the taste you're going to get here. And the latakia seems to be acrid, sharp, and just all-around unpleasant. Latakia to me is the steak sauce of tobacco. A well prepared steak needs little to none of the sauce, a well prepared tobacco blend should have at most a minor amount of latakia. It's a spice tobacco, and when it's over used all other components are drowned. To me, lat-bombs are for those without refined palettes, like those who drown a steak in A-1 sauce can't be true steak lovers.

Anyhow, that's my anti-lat-bomb rant. Back to CA, this stuff is not only dominated and covered up by the acrid latakia, but the flavor is totally flat and one-dimensional. There's a disproportionately low amount of flavor, driving you to want to puff faster to get something out of it, which then leads to dry mouth and bite. Perique is absolutely undetectable. Virginia is detectable only by a low-key sweetness that just as well could be from the Orientals. You'll never be able to tell because you'll be busy choking on the latakia. The orientals do peek through from time to time, but only for a flash before they're gone again. Murdered before their time by the lat-beast. I am sorry, I respect Lane, but this is a really poorly blended attempt at an English. I will not purchase again, and cannot recommend to those who haven't tried it. I sincerely hope this isn't literally their crown achievement!

This is perhaps the smoothest English blend I've yet to smoke. The tin note was, at first, offsetting as it was nutty and clearly an English blend, but for whatever reason had the feel of an aromatic. From the first light, on through the bowl, it was a smooth smoke with a nuttiness and progressively increasing spice. I attribute the spice to the perique, but am still surprised at how well the flavored blended together. What really surprised me was that, unlike most any other English blend, the retrohale was remarkably light. On the retrohale I find it brings out the nuttiness of this blend more so than anything else, but also with a tinge of sweetness not detectable otherwise. Having bought a few more tins since my first of CA, this has been my go to blend when I can't decide what I want to smoke, as it has never disappointed me. If you're looking for an English to sit back with that isn't as bold as nightcap, or as light as any of the Frog Morton line this is truly an excellent choice.

Certainly not what it name implies. I did not find this new version as I had remembered the original. I was disappointed and was anticipated more turkish flavor and less latakia influence. I like latakia blends and feel that there are several others on the market that provide a better smoke IMHO.

I recall smoking CA back in the 1970s when it was allegedly the most expensive pipe tabacco on the market. My dim recollection of taste from 40 years ago was of a tobacco of strength and dense richness. So much for memory....

But, I'm delighted to see this blend re-introduced. I ordered 4 tins and have smoked through one already. I simply didn't want anything else in my pipes for a while. The new CA comes across to me as a "creamy" Oriental, by which I mean that the aged Virginia base and the mixture of Orientals blend to a balance, not favoring either. I found it a delightful smoke at any time of the day and worth a try by the doubters. Now, I'm curious to re-try some of the aged old stuff to see how it compares, assuming I could find some. CA will be a regular in my rotation.

My friend loves this blend. However I think it is underwhelming. Nothing works together in this blend and even the subtle undertones of the orientals taste flat. It was a chore for me to smoke, even after revisiting it months later. I'll let my friend enjoy it!

Back in the day, Crown Achievement was advertised as America's most expensive pipe tobacco, $1.35 for 2oz., as opposed to Balkan Sobranie, which was $1.25. If ever there was a case to be made for a time machine, that is it.

Trying to compare current reality with memories of four-plus decades ago is a fool's errand, at best. So, I shan't try. All I can say is that this version of Crown Achievement comes much closer to evoking 1972, as I remember it, than any iteration of Balkan Sobranie has since about 1980.

That is not to say that it is the same. Nope. The Crown Achievement of forty years ago had more nuanced Virginias and Orientals, and the Latakia didn't smack you upside the head quite so much. But this is close, and the addition of Perique is delightful, and covers a multitude of sins.

Upon opening the tin, I find a dry tobacco that smells of a berry topping with some Latakia smokiness. It's a fine cut ribbon that has a lot of yellow and golden strands.

Because of the dryness, it lights very easily and burns to a white ash. Unfortunately, the topping is quite present in the smoke, with an average amount of Latakia and some bite on the tongue. I don't know what the original tasted like but this mixture is in the category of a dime a dozen for me. The aftertaste is of cigarettes, which is a bit normal for a Virginia driven tobacco, but I think that the quality of the leaf is on the average side.

Virginia lover

Let me begin by saying I am a newbie smoker, a light smoker and tend to smoke aromatics. I had smelled Latakia/English blends in my local B&M (notice that is B&M and NOT BM) and they smelled terrible to me. (might as well have been a BM) 🙂 This is the first Latakia/English blend that I have tried. I read the reviews and hype about this blend and thought it would be a good one to give me an idea of whether I would like these types of tobacco blends. This one has the same off-putting smell in the tin as the other English Styles, but I was not dissuaded. I loaded it straight out of the new tin which was at a moisture content that was just a bit high, but I loaded it with a very light tamp. My moisture meter measured it at 18%-a bit high. I have read it should be about 12%-14%. {This moisture content information was gleaned from a very helpful, informative "Pipes Magazine" online article. (The moisture meter, by the way, is an excellent tool for gauging tobacco moisture for the newbie smoker-before I got the meter I was trying to smoke very moist tobacco-measure at around 20% and higher). If I can take the time to dry my tobaccos to the 12%-14% mark, they smoke wonderfully. It still lit well and burned pretty good, I only had to relight once to get it smoked to the bottom of the bowl. I am glad I tried it in a rather small cob, as I really disliked this tobacco (personal preference not putting it down). The cob gave its' all and provided a slight sweetness that was much appreciated by me. I knew going in that I might feel this way and I was not wrong. It smoked just as it smelled in the tin. I can't exactly describe it, but it was something like a smoky-perfume-soap. It did get a bit spicier at the half way point, it did not help. I persevered to the bottom of the bowl and was glad when it was done. I like Perique, as in McClelland's "Beacon", too much in "Beacon Extra" but the Perique did not help me with this blend. I got a small sample of G.L.Pease "Gaslight" along with this order from Smokingpipes.com and will try it next. It does not seem to have as strong of a Latakia tin note, but I think it will be similar and just as off-putting to me. My advice is, if you like the English/Latakia tin note smell you will probably really enjoy this tobacco, as it smokes just like it smells.