GQ Tobaccos Nottingham Lace : Noir

A stunning example of glynns blending prowess. A dark tobacco with an earthy musty aroma with packs and lights easily. The perique is easily detectable and although the tobacco burns freely it never makes the bowl hot or bite the tongue. I deliciously dark rich complex smoking pleasure that never overpowers. A solid four stars from me

Got a pouch of this beauty in a trade with StevieB. Thanks bro.

This is very nicely balanced and well rounded. The Black Cav is very lightly sweetened and has little flavor, but provides a noticeable smoothing. The Virginias are mildly grassy and very mildly sweet. The two together provide just enough sweetness to make this work. The Perique is mildly figgy and has a fair amount of spice. The Turkish adds a mild sour note and a very mild creaminess. There is an underlying earthiness to this whose source is hard to pinpoint. I think it's a combo of the Perique and Virginias. Altogether, it's a delicious smoke. Normally I would want a little more sweetness, but the little bit that's here works well in this blend.

Body is medium to strong. Taste is medium to full. Burns very well. No appreciable difference between cob and briar.

Nottingham Lace Noir is another one of those blends from Glynn Quelch that offers a lot of Perique done in a masterful way. While I enjoyed the Rouge version, it wasn’t in my wheelhouse as a regular smoke. Noir, to me is a lot more complex and more to my liking. The Perique leads in pouch scent with a little bit of fig, but in the pipe, the Perique offers a lot more pepper rather than fig/plum. The Virginia’s are more of the African variety to my taste, but that’s a guess. They is more grass than sweet although there is a small amount of sweetness from them. I don’t get quite the amount of sweetness (sadly) that others have described. The Izmir provides an undercurrent that is noticeable, but minor in role flavor-wise, but to me, the Izmir is what smooths out this blend. In looking at the components, I found it difficult to see them working together, yet they do come together well which is a tribute to Mr. Quelch’s blending skill. I could easily see this as an after dinner smoke for Lat lovers looking to take a break from Latakia without giving up body and flavor. Noir really produces billows of smoke too. It’s a “meaty” blend with ample strength to satisfy full body smokers!

GQ Tobaccos - Nottingham Lace: Noir.

What a superb smoke! This is a PERFECTLY rounded blend, well perfect for me at least! The smell from the pouch is the ultimate insight into the smoke that is coming up. A full, pure and no nonsense tobacco journey. I find the moisture great, I don't have to dry it any but can fill and smoke straight from opening it.

The flavour of the smoke is a fairly deep/complex one. Although there's Perique in it it's not a Perique powerhouse. I get a subtle spicy edge from the Perique but it leaves miles of room for the other flavours to come through. I taste a superb grass like quality from the Virginia, it's not too prominent however it's easy to notice. Of all the flavours I find the Cavendish to be the lightest. If I hadn't read it contains Cavendish there's a good chance I wouldn't have noticed it! The temperature of the smoke is good, even when I really draw hard it doesn't become hot. Tongue bite? There isn't any occurrence of this all the way through. On to nicotine now. It contains what I would describe as the absolute medium amount! It would satiate N lovers yet wouldn't upset taste only smokers! The room note is quite a busy one, all the tobaccos gain recognition well but it doesn't create plumes and plumes of smoke in the room.

When I tried Nottingham Lace Rouge I new imminently it was a four star blend and the same applies to Nottingham Lace Noir. Four stars!

This is yet another delightful blend from GQ. Darker, richer and more pungent than the Rouge, it gives a high level of rich, spicy taste and great aroma. The tang is sharp and pronounced and it has a good strength of character. The Perique comes across loud and clear. Wonderful aroma from the pouch and moisture and consistency to die for. Lovely, sweetness blending with the spice and pepper to make smoking this a true pleasure.

Fairly broad cut, browns and black.Smell: leather, dried fruit. Taste: dark, dry, rich, with a hint of liquorice. excellent. I didn't notice the perique, though.

Classed as VaPer but clearly so much more.

Now I'm a GQ fan boy in the making as I do enjoy all the tobaccos I have tried to date. This is no exception and the small sample bags are a great way to try the tobacco before you buy a load of something you may not enjoy.

This offering is dark black and brown with some broken flake and a fair addition of lighter colour tobacco through the mix. The moisture content of my sample was excellent and the cut strands uniform and long so as to be breakable without to much sawdust in the end of the bag. The tin note is subtle but very rich and has a mild sweet and figgy aroma. However if you take your time to enjoy the smell the leather and wood notes are also found. which are much more evident upon smoking the stuff.

I loaded a small pipe to start off straight from the bag with no special prep at all. The tobacco took to to the flame with ease and after a couple of lights burned slow and has to be noted as extremely cool. Trying to explain the flavour is not easy with such a complex tobacco, the flavours of each tobacco used marry together so well that the taste throughout most of my pipe was similar each time I sipped at it.

The Cavendish is smooth as cream and gave such a solid spine to the flavour that all the time I was expecting it to fade away, but no it just hangs around and lets the other flavours come and go a little through the smoke. I am a rubbish smoker and keep poor regularity to my puffing. I think that a more steady smoker would find a very consistent taste right through the pipe. The taste is dark like the tobacco with no bitter but slight sour taste. The Virginia is superb and its sweet and grassy nature empowered by the other leaf. The part that I find the magic in is the perique, it is obvious and strong but the peppery twang it is loved for is kept in check throughout. This is something I find with all the perique blends from GQ and what I see as one of the brands trademarks. I am thankful that GQ uses so much of the stuff as I love it and the great taste it gives and even more thankful that the amounts used are above the norm yet not brash or garish. The Nottingham lace noir is an above par blend and a well executed mix, a VaPer with all the bass and some treble to.

If you are a light smoker then take care as the easy smoking nature of this cool weed hides the fact it does contain nicotine to satisfy all but the extreme N junkies. Try this and the rouge and see which you like. For me however I'm torn between them both.

This is good, very good. It might not be an every day smoke, but it deserves a try.

It's smooth, slightly peppery (as in a small pinch of pepper); with hints of raisins and dried fruit.

It is a little smokey, I can't tell where from. Overall very rich and full, yet without being overwhelming ( towards the end of a bowl I could quite happily refill).