Peter Stokkebye English Luxury (No.17)

If i look forward to any tobacco then this is it..Seeing it being carefully weighed out from the jar in my specilaist tobacconist its all i can do to restrain myself from snatching a piece from the scales and filling my pipe. The quality is second to none and although a confirmed virginnia puffer this delicious blend is perhaps my favourite. It has a delicious fragrance something of fruit..ie rasins?..figs?..and on smelling a couple of days later what i can only describe as rose?. Its quite dry even at its freshest, certainly more so than say Marlin flake or old Gowrie but this in no way adversly effects its burning qualities. The aromas are judiciously applied and in no way overpower the natural tobaaco taste. It burns slowly with no tongue bite and has much complexity due to the variety of tobaccos which include Virginnia, Burley.black cavendish, etc..So this is a tobaccco that has a wonderfull aroma for the smoker yet none of the sickliness of some aromatics, and has all the flavour you will ever need. Without doubt a four star tobacco.

I like English Luxury for it's dryness & straight forwardness in taste.You can really taste the Virginia's,Black Cavendish,Mexican Burley's & Cyprian Latakia's.And I don't miss the Perique in this at all!! (It's great as is) But also make's a great mixer to add to some blend's as well.It's easy to light & get along with.(Not Goopy)But full of flavour."I really appreciated it" after the fourth bowl onward's.Now I make sure it's alway's on hand & opened ready to go. In it's class, I'll give it 3 Out of 4 Star's.

Pouch Aroma was very sweet due to the Cavendish. The aroma of Virginia and Latakia graces the nose yet promising a nice mild english blend.

Packs well. Flame hits Fruitness with a slight bitter choclate element, can feel the Latakia in the back of my throat, some depth and creaminess added by the burley. Maintained this throughouth the first 2/3 of the bowl. Became more fruity somewhat like a sour cherry flavored dark choclate kept in an oak cask towards the end as the Latakia became more noticiable and the burley tapered off.

Room Note: Smoked outside, people enjoyed it and a few commented that it smelled like sage.

This is my go to smoke. I like it because my smoke shop has it in stock all the time. I usually buy tins on line. But this is a mild and easy to smoke tobacco. I buy 4ozs at a time and store in a pint mason jar. 4ozs is only $9.

Easy to smoke,taste very nice.Maybe a bit weak for the cold winter night,but except that situation this is one of the best English Mixture.

**2015 Update** I have had a pound of this this stored in a jar that I partake from. It has been in the jar and aging over the years. I have smoked it again recently to compare it to the other english/lat blends I have been sampling. I still really like this blend, but think it is definitely more of a lighter english. The sweetness and flavors really open up around mid-bowl. The flavors are softer than other english blends, but still present and well balanced....age seems to have mellowed and married the flavors well. I still love it, but think there are other blends that are more flavorful, if that is what you are looking for. Black Mallory, Quiet Nights, Meridian, etc...

So far this and Black Mallory are my favorite English blends. I have many more to try, but have been quite impressed with this one. It has the Latakia saying 'hello' now and again, not as often as I would hope, but it is perfectly balanced with an earthy sweetness, not to mention that awesome nuttiness that I crave. I'll be ordering more soon!

**UPDATE** 3/2012 I love, love, love this blend. This is hands-down my favorite Latakia/English blend. It is fun and complex. It is sweet, tangy, smokey, rich, with a hint of bitter earthy notes. Now that I have tried several Latak./Eng. blends, this one has 'something' that the others don't (IMHO)...not sure how to put my finger on it but it rings my bell. It has a balance of bitter, sweet, tangy, and smokey that is just delicious to me. And it makes my pipes smell like cookie dough when I'm done (at least that's how I describe it).

I have discovered other English Latakia blends that I also love as much or more than this one, though this is still up in my top 3-5 blends. I know that 'something' that this blend has, it's the nuttiness....I think it's the burleys that provide this, but other blends have similar flavors and I love them.

I like it.Like most of Peter Stokkebye bulk line it is very pleasant indeed.I keep it on hand along with PE and BS.I buy what I like,but at Peters' prices I can just buy more.All three balance one off the other very well.This is the sweet end,with BS the savory end.I just love them.

I like to dry this a bit and spike it with perique, I add a couple parts perique and age for a week or so I store it under pressure by using a mason jar with a small plastic plate on top of the tobacco with a wooden stick butted against the lid if you let it age for awhile this way, you get a very good result,, something that aleister crowely himself would write home about.

I believe this is the same blend that Finck?s Cigar sells as their ?Vintage English? blend. As I said in my review under that title, this is a great low-cost bulk English blend. English Luxury is by far the most enjoyable Danish blend I have ever smoked, and is quickly becoming my favorite all-day bulk blend.