Lane Limited Crown Achievement

This is the new 2014 Lane re-introduction of this old blend, with the original Perique formula.

Description says simple but typical combo of leafs, without detail of Turkish varieties. A ribbon cut, English-Oriental blend or Balkan in my book, but the Perique I assume makes it stronger. The Turkish-Latiakia component stands out in flavor, but the Perique tips it into a spicier-heavier breed.

First half of bowl in a newer Northern Briar (large cobbleshell) is nice tasting English but something kicks at mid-way point to ramp up the spiciness. I gather the Turkish is meeting the Perique. However, in the my 60's Dunhill pipe, the blend tastes mellower for longer but it still has a strong finish.

I suppose without the original formula Perique added, the blend would have been something like a Rattray lighter Scottish blend, which vary from bland to good depending on your preferences. This is definitely more of an Oriental experience and certainly is not flat.

I smoked some of the old Lane English blends in the 70's (including Medal of Honor, Black Knight, etc.), and they were on the exotic-strong side for me then. I don't specifically remember this one, but it still taastes like it fits that bill.

Peterson's Balkan Delight is certainly lighter than this but I don't detect any Turkish in that one to make a fair comparison here. A Balkan is a fairer comparison, but this Crown Achievement is toward the heavier of the line (and not just due to Latakia).

This is my personal experience after smoking nearly a full tin which I will finish. I will age the other tins I have to bring out more mellowness, but for someone who like fuller blends this is ready to smoke now. Cool but spicy. Interesting.

When CA came on the market somewhere in the mid-sixities, I began to smoke it in my initial english blend explorations. Although never my absolute favorite, I liked it and continued to smoke it occasionally. This went on up until the time of the sale of the brand to another company who, to save money in 2004, took the perique out of the formula. This riled a lot of english smokers, but I wasn't one of them - I thought it still made a descent english smoke. However, I never bought it in the numbers I had with the original formula and didn't hoard the second version - I would buy an occasional tin and smoke it to completion. By 2012 I had smoked three of the remaining four first generation tins in my stash and, at our 2012 NASPC show, Leonard Wortzel of Lane Ltd. bought my last tin. He told me that it would be used as the model for the new tinning design, and it was. Leonard talks about this on one of the popular pipe smoking sites.

As to the smoking quatities of the new version, I found it to be just about as I remembered it to be originally: solidly a heavyish english blend comparable to many of its competitors both then in the old days and now. If anything, I thought it was actually stronger than the original with a little bit of bite to it - not tongue bite but a spicey type of bite on the palate. My first reaction to this was that I wasn't going to like it, but this went away with subsequent smokes. I then began to use it as my heavy component in microblending english blends and this worked out very well.

Never my absolute favorite english blend in the past but solidly acceptible at any given moment, I would have rated it three of four stars in the past and that is still my feeling and rating today. I have no problem recommending it and hope it will be around for a long time to be enjoyed.

I'm not sure what planet I've been living on but I've only recently learned that this was sold in bulk... after Lane's dropped it! I've always smoked the tinned version and my review is of a well-aged tin.

This blend is the same as I remember it from years ago, memory being what it is, of course! Very smoky tasting with a light sweetness, it has a bit of "zing" to it - a mild sharpness reminiscent of 965 but I don't find they actually taste the same. Or even similar. But the mild sharpness is there. Hard to describe but you'll know it if you're familiar with 965.

Just the right amount of latakia, which drives the blend. The light sweetness could be from the virginia and/or in combo with the various turkish tobaccos. I don't smoke a lot of latakia these days but I do plan on spreading my one tin out over time to make it last because when I'm in the mood for latakia, this blend is an excellent "go to" smoke. I recommend this if you can find it in the tin, as it seems the bulk version is different, based on the reviews below. The tinned version sings!

I think this is a great tasting English blend. Middle of the road tasty. Not weak, but not strong either. Has a delicious flavor. This reminds me of a cross of Nightcap (which is a favorite) just a smoother version of it, and Petersons Old Dublin. Crown Achievement has zero bite to it. The only complaint I have is there is a ungodly amount of stems in this tin which is very odd.. I've never seen anything like it. Every bowl brings the slow down procedure of picking out the stems blocking a quick load. Thought it was just that first load but it happens every time. Very odd. Don't know why Lane Limited would go through this trouble to produce this blend and not focus on the de-stemming process. I did not detect any topping or flavoring. This blends seems like a well balanced blend to me. Its an all day smoke kind of blend.

I did not get into to pipes till well after the original had stopped being produced. So I don't have a memory to compare this to. Having said that I find this blend fairly enjoyable.

I received this with a good size TAD order. Unfortunately this was the only tin to have lost its seal in shipping. I also did not have any mason jars to store this in. So it arrived a little damp fortunately for me I left for work for a month and left it in its tin. Seems to be at the perfect moisture level at that point. First let me say I like the tin with its leather type lid. Anyway how does it smoke? Well it's fairly smooth. It's nicely balanced with latakia forward for the first half of the bowl and the perique just sneaking in from time to time eventually being very dominant toward the last third of the smoke. I finished a tin of this in about a week so I guess I enjoyed it.

I tried to get this to bite one time. My wife was talking to me and I was very bored with whatever the hell she was saying. So I faked interest and puffed extreamly fast but no bite! Still not sure what she was talking about?

I would reccomend this to smoke. It is not by any means the best lat blend I have smoked but I might buy some more tins.

I bought two tins, one to try immediately, one for tin aging. Upon opening the tin aroma was a heady delight of promise. Presentation in the tin was first class as was the packaging. Best packaging I've ever seen. The ribbons packed easily and the charring light brought back memories of my first taste of the Dunhills I had back in the 1960's - My Mixture #10 and #965. I would rate that first taste as between those two (not to be confused with the current versions in any way). Lane has obviously gone some distance in sourcing the Orientals in this as they are not readily available, I understand.

After the char however, CR faded a bit but was still immensely enjoyable as an English blend, a premium one. I loved the tastes. BUT this lasted until I hit the 2/3 burn mark. After that level it became muddled, harsh, and frankly, unsmokeable. I was very disappointed as invariably, no matter which briar I used, I was digging out the last 1/3 bowl. Still, up to that point it was an extraordinary smoke showcasing well its component pedigree. Otherwise I would have given it a full 4 stars.

As I neared the midpoint of my test tin I tried this in a cob (which I do not use for English blends). The bad behavior of the last 1/3 disappeared. Why? Heck if I know. I suspect the Latakia used actually. It needs more tin time to cut some rough edges off and the cob helped that along. I have experienced this Latakia effect in other blends by other houses before. Jar time cured that dragon effect with those and hence I will keep my other tin for a year before trying it. And I am prepared to transfer it to a jar for secondary aging at that point if necessary. I will try more of this later, in six months or so just to see how it goes as well.

I've been smoking CA 100 for about 3 years now. I've had a few different Latakia blends but I still have to have this on hand. The first time I smoked a bowl of this I was like "no way in hell people can really smoke this." I didn't have it in me to throw out my 2 oz, so I just sat on it. After a year and many reviews later I decided to give it a real chance and boy was I surprised. Wether my palette changed or it just aged well I don't know, but I began to enjoy this stuff. True, it has a lot of stems that get in the way of an easy pack, but, whatever. This is my main smoke. Though I love other mixtures as well, CA 100 is cheap and easy for me to get my hands on. Anyway, if you get nothing else out of this review, let it be a lesson: Never, ever judge a tobacco on a couple of smokes and never, ever, ever through out a tobacco. Period. Trade, blend, or just sit on it. Might one day turn out to be your favorite 🙂

An American English quite unlike anything else I've had so far. It's Lat heavy but there's also a ton of pepper and spice going on. Amazingly, it's still a sweet tobacco.

This is mild in nicotine but very rich in flavour. It is complex and I guess is subtle in the sense that working out what flavour is coming from what type of leaf is bewildering. But on the whole this is a punch in the face affair.

It is what it is, and what it is, is also unusual. I suspect this will divide opinions and the reviews so far, even allowing for formulation changes over time, seem to bear this out. I enjoyed it a lot. But I wouldn't want to smoke a lot of it quickly.

If you like moderately full-bodied Balkans, where the Orientals and Perique can be detected rather than be overwhelmed by the Latakia, then this blend is worth trying. Takes and keeps a light easily, but while made of good quality tobaccos, it really doesn't stand out either. A nice solid winter's smoke, but nothing to rave about or that makes it unique.