Lane Limited Crown Achievement

This is a powerful bulk Latakia blend. The leaf is of exceptional quality, and, in my humble opinion, very special. deep Latakia flavor that provides huge volumes of smoke. The Virginia and exotic Orientals add a depth to the blend no often found in tobaccos of this style. The Perique plays cat and mouse with the palate the entire time and that was a good thing. Man, this is good stuff!

A handsome medium ribbon cut, non-moist ready to smoke tobac, perhaps best aroma from the bag, bulk blend I have experienced. Evaluating Crown Achievement following another Lane Bulk blend, RLP-6 and finding a ‘favorite’ brings this CA blend a challenge to rate as high. A wonderfully constructed and balanced blend I had to learn to manage the burn characteristics – which proved to be worth the effort. The rich and rewarding flavor aromas get into gear the last half and deliver the wonderful top note and slip stream aromas that I need to have in an outstanding bowl. Just the right hint of perique to not overwhelm, CA reaches for and gets a 4 star.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Definitely hard to find as it hasn't been produced in awhile. Another victim of Conwood's ownership of Lane Limited. I was fortunate enough to find some following it's demise, but not a great amount so I'll smoke it sparingly, but when I do smoke it I find it to be a real treat. Reminiscent in many respects of Dunhill 965, another blend of the past. Not too strong, not too weak, just right.

I found the blend to be spot on in moisture content, leaning more towards dry than wet. There was clearly no humectant used in this blend. Upon lighting, the Latakia makes it's presence well known and the spicy elements become apparent. However, by 1/4 way into the bowl, the spiciness subsides and the full, rich combination of tobacco imparts a smooth and tasty flavor of smokiness and mild sweetness combined. The spice is still there, but stays in the background. No goop, just white ash in the end.

I'll enjoy my sizable stash of this great blend of the past for some time to come.

The average of the reviews for this blend are a bit screwed as many are reviews of the earlier version of this blend prior to 2012. This review is of the original recipe now being sold. A good, solid English blend. The buttery orientals combine with sweet Virginia and smokey Latakia to produce a full flavored English with a touch of peppery perique.

This is my go to smoke when I have the urge for some Latakia and it always satisfies. I highly recommend buying it in bulk.

My favorite blends are English/Balkan blends and I was pleasantly surprised by how enjoyable CA turned out to be. I am not familiar with the history of the blend and somehow this was the first Lane Limited blend I've smoke since starting in 2008. I was a bit skeptical because Lane is such a huge tobacco company.

Crown Achievement compared very favorably to many of the upscale-tobacconist/luxury blend English/Balkan entries. The latakia was always present but neither to heavy or light. A nice cool smoke with a tastiness from the Perique. I guess they really know what they are doing at Lane. Good enough fro me to smoke all day. I will definitely get more at some point. Bought the can and started in November 2015. (there's another can in my cellar) Finished the can in June 2016.

A great smoke especially for the price.