Missouri Meerschaum Country Gentleman

This is my first review and I am fairly new to pipe smoking, this was also my first VaPer. I'm no tobacco connoisseur but I've had the whole pouch, so I guess I can say something about this blend. The pouch note reminds me of the cheap tobacco that is sold in Brazil in yellow bags in country shops, that good Va smell. Going a bit deeper it smelled like a country pub where old men sit the whole day playing cards, in a good way, probably the Perique. It came nice and dry, ready to be burnt. Lighted easily and kept alight for a while, normally one or two relights necessary. I found it a rather pleasant smoke, simple and honest. I couldn't really pick the Perique due to my lack of experience. It was almost like smoking a good and long cigarette, in a good way. I would call it an all-dayer, but a bit bland.

I don't regret buying it but probably won't buy again.

Country Gentleman was a little surprising. I picked up a pouch of it in my last order stuck a piece of tape on it with the date received and tossed it in the cellar. I opened my cellar again and could smell tobacco which is not good since everything should be well sealed and a pouch has a cellophane outer wrapper so you should not be able to smell anything there either, except this pouch has no outer cellophane all you need to do to get to the tobacco is pull the tape and it opens. Not good, looking closer still MM has stamped their date on it which is 12/05/18! So this is been setting on a shelf for over a year essentially open. Also surprising is the fact that the tobacco is not bone dry, a little on the dry side sure but I was expecting it to simply crumple. The pouch note is very limited at this point, I get a little citrus hay/grass and a straw like note that reminds me a little of a clean barn, some plumb and fig notes from the perique all very mild in the plastic pouch. The taste is VA forward with citrus and grass out front for me and the dark fruits of the Red VA trailing this. The KY has a little smokiness and is slightly woodsy. The perique trails behind with a faint peppery note and a hint of plumb the fig note from the pouch did not translate into the smoke for me. There is a slight topping as the blend is simply too sweet for there not to be, my best guess would be a sugar water or the like that has been added to help sweeten the blend since it could not age in the pouch. These flavors are all mild and do not develop what you get in the first few puffs is all that is there. The overall body and flavor would be at the center of mild to med. The nic hit is at the upper end of mild for me. Somewhat recommended.

The pouch note was extremely pleasant; it almost smelled like an aromatic, although the first few puffs once lit did away with that notion. The cut was consistent, and the tobacco was in prime smoking condition fresh out of the pouch, without any drying time.

The opening puffs tasted light, dry, and the slightest bit citrusy. There was no flavoring or topping detectable. The room note throughout was generally pleasant. Deeper in, the brighter flavors of the Virginias were balanced by the fainter, almost fruity tones of Perique and a slightly earthy note in the aftertaste, which I can only attribute to the Dark Fired Kentucky in the blend. The flavor arc and aftertaste were superb. Definitely not as complex as my favored English blends, but decidedly delightful in its own way; in a wine analogy, this blend is to a good English what a Sauvignon Blanc is to a Merlot.

This blend smoked slightly hotter than the English blends I'm used to, and perhaps for that reason was a bit more likely to bite. However, what bite was present was relatively mild, certainly not at all bad enough to turn me off to this overall pleasant smoke.

I will be smoking this again, and recommend it.