GQ Tobaccos Nottingham Lace : Rouge

The red Virginia is tangy, fruity sweet with some earth. The perique is as peppery as it is plumy, comprising 16% of the mixture. The Kentucky offers strength and a smoky, woody quality with light spice and a hint of nut at times in the background. I don’t know what the alcohol topping is, but it’s lightly applied, and doesn’t distract from the tobacco. Not a very complex blend, but it’s rich in taste and full of flavor with a moderate nic-hit. It’s not quite an all day smoke, but is a repeatable blend during your smoking day. Ribbon cut, it burns at a moderate pace, cool, clean and even with a consistent flavor. Leaves little moisture in the bowl, and requires an average number of relights. Has a pleasant after taste.

-JimInks

Another lovely tobacco from GQ. Since discovering this unique blender/retailer, I've fallen in love with their tobaccos. Rouge gives a truly wonderful smoke. The tobacco has a sweet, aromatic aroma in the bag, lively and crisp, spicy and fruity. Moisture is perfect. No need to further rub out. It packs the bowl easily and comfortably. Lighting up gives lovely, clean smoke, fresh tasting and with that bite of spice from the Perique, coupled with the sweetness of the Virginias. Aroma/room note are exceptional, in my opinion. It stays lit, too and last evening I found I needed only one relight. A pepperiness comes through, but it is the sweetness that attracts as well. Sipping is recommended, as it could burn hot if you gulp at it. Strength is medium to full and the Perique adds that extra depth and dimension. Flavours, after the initial raw and fresh few puffs, settle down to a fuller, most satisfying sensation and the freshness continues but in a more mature way. More or less smoked the whole bowl and enjoyed every moment. I highly recommend this tobacco.

Got this from StevieB in a trade. As always, thanks bro.

Very, very tasty stuff. Nice balance with all three tobacco components readily discerned. The booze is very lightly applied and although I cannot identify it, it makes it's presence known in a little extra sweetness. The overall flavor is fruity, smoky, spicy, nutty, and earthy with just enough sweetness. A wonderful smoke with a good deal of strength.

Medium to strong in body and nic. Added flavoring is extremely mild. Taste is medium to full. Burns very well.

Nottingham Lace’s blend description is really on the mark. In the pouch, Nottingham Lace Rouge smells more like an aromatic than a VaPer. In the pipe, it is sweet and the liquor component is there in the background, but I can only guess that it is a sweetened liqueur, but that is strictly a guess as it is well blended into the tobacco in a way that makes it very difficult to determine. The amount of spice is moderate and not bitey. The Perique pepper is more evident in the later stages of the bowl. I can only assume the Kentucky is adding some strength as I can’t “pull” it out of the blend. Although not as strong as Askwith Kake, there is a decent amount of Lady N in this blend too. All in all, this is a sweet, yet spicy blend, with the sweetness coming through less as each bowl progresses. I should point out that it can burn a little warm if pushed, but not enough to detract from this being a very good blend. It wouldn’t be a regular smoke for me, but a very pleasant divergence.

GQ Tobaccos - Nottingham Lace: Rouge.

Sometimes certain blends make me think "four stars" on the first puff and this is unequivocally one of those blends! Although it has added flavouring I struggle to get much in the un-lit aroma, there's maybe a nebulous alcoholic twang. The blend holds a superb amount of moisture, it's not one that has to have time to sit and dry. The tobacco can be lit with great ease, a quick touch of the flame is all that's needed. To be fair, I know it states that there's the addition of alcohol in this but I really struggle to detect it, to me it's more of a Perique strong VaPer. The alcohol seems vacant in the room note too, it's quite a full tobacco note. Do you like nicotine? If your answer to that question is yes then I suspect that this will float your boat! This is one of those great blends where I can smoke bowl after bowl and not suffer bite once.

Rating this blend is a real easy task. It's a remarkable blend that scores four stars. I would score it more if I could!!