Friedman & Pease Templar

Kind of non-descript visually with basic mottling in color and a rich and fairly potent Virginia and aromatic agent scent. Couldn't place the scent but "herbal liqueur" works for me, I suppose. Ribbon cut with some small chunks.

This was a tale of two halves of the bowl. In the first half, I always tasted the flavoring at first lightup. The only real evidence that it's an alcohol is a phenolic-type "bite" (not a tongue bite) that bursts on the tastebuds. Very quickly this fades more to the background and the Virginias take over with some commentary from the perique and orientals. Towards the midway point, the perique becomes slightly more prominent and the burley starts to come forward. The black Cavendish isn't so much tasted as it is felt as a smoothing out of the blend.

The second half of the bowl (and this was consistent) was the Virginia in the lead, burley as a fairly vocal shotgun rider and orientals tagging along. The perique went MIA for the most part and the topping subsided but was still pleasantly there. The overall flavor of this blend was a mellow spice with a ripe, almost McClellandy Virginia tanginess. Reviewers use the term "nutty" for burley when they run out of adjectives, but it works very well here. The burley gave the blend a nut-like essence that was compelling! I usually enjoy a burley/Virginia mix and this one was no exception. A lot of blending genius in this one and I wish it were still available. I also found myself wishing that the bottom and top of the bowl could invert themselves so it started with this basic nutty sweet spiciness and then moved into the more exciting phenolic peatiness and heavier spice of the top half. But that's a tiny issue. This is simply a masterful blend with a lot of surprises and complexity. I wish I could have found more than a single tin.