Peter Stokkebye Pistachio (No.27)

I think I'm through sampling aromatics. This one was certainly sweet and nutty and might be a great choice for aromatic fans. It's a clean burner (rare for aromatics) and is true to its name. But again, where's the tobacco taste? Where's the nicotine?

The aromatic lovers in my pipe club will no doubt love me this month because this one's going to be passed around thanks to my generosity. (-;

The tangy, dark fruity, earthy, woody red Virginia stands out over the grassy, tart and tangy citrusy golden Virginia. The brown sugary black cavendish adds to the mix in a complimentary role. The pistachio topping has a little depth, but it is toned down by the vanilla, and both mostly sublimate the tobaccos. The vanilla starts out light, and then becomes a little more obvious before you reach the half way point. The strength is mild. The taste level is just shy of the center of mild to medium. Hardly has any nicotine. No chance of bite or harshness. Burns clean, cool and slightly slow as the tobacco is lightly moist. The flavor has a little inconsistency, and slightly weakens near the finish. Leaves a little moisture in the bowl, and requires a few relights. Has a very pleasant, lightly lingering after taste and room note. Can be an all day smoke. The name of the blend would have been more accurate had vanilla not been added, and whether or not that fits one’s flavor profile is a matter of personal preference. Three stars for what it is.

-JimInks

No pistachio flavor noted, just a flat & dull flavor. Can't wait to use it all up....

Over the years I´ve tried several Stokkebyes blends. One or two are great, several are good. This one is the only that I regret buying.

I was drawn because of the pistaccio, and payed for it. Not only I have not being able to smell or taste any nutty aroma, let alone pistaccio, but the tobacco has a hard time to be labeled as "aromatic". IMO this is bland and almost insipid. In that regard, that it bites just make things worse.

If you are considering Peter Stokkebye´s tobaccos try other good blends like peaches & cream, nougat, or evening roses.

Peter Stokkebye – Pistachio – 4/5 – Completely inoffensive aromatic Cavendish

If you are in a brick and mortar, and they have a jar labeled “Pistachio”, this is likely it. The bag I bought had probably been around for a bit, however, the tobacconist had very good jars for it, so it was still quite moist and smelled very nice.

On opening the bag, it did, in fact, smell like pistachios, but not overwhelmingly so. It smelled friendly and harmless. A typical aromatic. I let mine dry out a bit before trying it.

On smoking this tobacco, it smoked exactly as I thought it would. Just fine. Completely inoffensive. A blend of decent quality Virginia and Cavendish, with a topping of pistachio flavor.

So why did I give this 4/5? Because it’s so inoffensive and easy! Don’t want to ever relight it? PS Pistachio. Sipping it? Perfectly mellow. Trying to smoke it so hot it might crack your bowl? Perfectly mellow. Want to practice smoke rings? Go for it, perfectly mellow. Want your mouth to taste completely pleasant with an after taste of pistachio? PS Pistachio. Accidentally inhale it? Probably won’t even catch in your throat. Worried about nicotine strength? What nicotine? Where? Smoke it on an empty stomach if you like.

The innocent nature of this tobacco makes it something I’d recommend to someone who had never smoked tobacco of any kind before. There’s no bite. None. I tried. I really abused this tobacco. I took it in a back alley, sucker punched it and demanded its wallet. It gave me its wallet and thanked me for the opportunity.

I like full flavored smoke. I like VaPer. I love Mediterranean leaves mixed with old, skanky Virginias. I like tobaccos that can, and will, hurt your feelings. That said, PS Pistachio tastes nice, smells nice, won’t bite, won’t ghost your pipe and is inexpensive.

Let me preface this review by stating that I love Pistachio. I like the nuts, I will always order it at an ice cream joint when it is an option (usually double dip accompanied by butter pecan or a coffee flavor) and, ironically enough, I just had a slice of pistachio cake that was fantastic. It was this love of pistachio that drove me to purchase this one ounce sample when perusing the stokkebye offerings during a bulk sale. I did not like this blend too much, but a quick search on here for pistachio will reveal only this blend, so my hat is off to Peter Stokkebye for attempting to capture the taste of something I love.

My problem with this is that it just doesn't encapsulate the taste of pistachio for me, rather an artificial taste trying to be Pistachio. It is like when you go to a breakfast joint and order strawberry pancakes and rather than a pancake with real bits of strawberry inside, you get some regular flapjacks with some red gelatinous pie filling crap dumped on top.

OK, I realize you can't put real pistachios in a blend and smoke them, so by the combustible nature of tobacco, the topping must be a somewhat artificial representation of that flavor you are trying to emulate. Whatever is used in this is just not to my liking. Another thing about this one that I do not like is that it can come off as pretty bitey, so every precaution must be used in a slow tempo on this one.

Like all Peter Stokkebye aros I have had the pleasure of trying, this has a nice combination of Virginia, burley and Cavendish underlying the topping. Also, like many of the PS blends and many other aros, the topping does diminish in strength as you progress down the bowl. This is the point that you should be happy you are smoking a PS aro versus many others, because that wonderful background leaf starts to break through and the last half to a third is usually very good regardless of what you think of the topping.

This was no exception to this as I really enjoyed the last third of each bowl I tried. Reading the various reviews on this one, they seem to be all over the map and I think it illustrates the point very well. Many are probably experiencing what I just experienced with PS Mango. In the beginning when I tried it, I did not like it. In time the topping flashed off the blend to a large degree and left me with a fantastic smoke.

I notice many of the higher ranked reviews mention the topping as light where the opposite is true of many of the lower ranked reviews. I think If I had smoked through my one ounce samples of both Mango and Pistachio when I first received them, I could have hung one star on each, but as it stands, I went with three stars on the former and this one is coming in with two stars. something tells me that had I let this age another year or two, I would have added a star.

I would be remiss to not mention the vanilla element to the smoke. It is something that did not stand out in the beginning of the bowl, but started coming through from the halfway point. In other words, it chimed in when I started to enjoy the smoke.

This is one I probably would never have tried if it weren't included in a monthly sampler. For one, I do not smoke many aromatics these days. Secondly, I'm just not a big pistachio flavor fan...love the actual nuts, just not foods flavored as pistachio. But this blend is surprisingly good on both fronts. Moisture content is perfect, great bag aroma, and no problems keeping it lit. The taste is as most reviewers describe - nutty pistachio flavor with some saltiness and a faint hint of vanilla. A good example of how tasty an aromatic can be while still forgoing the gobs of PG and overdone toppings. Very balanced and just barely sweet! It's got me wondering what tobacco these negative reviewers smoked. But hey, we all got our preferences. Give it a try if you enjoy mildly flavored aromatics. It's definitely unique, and won't hit hard on the old wallet...I will purchase again. Good job Stokkebye.

Stokkebye's Pistachio is a siren that calls you to the rocks. Despite an absolutely superb scent in the bag. Once you get this sweetheart home. You will likely regret not asking for a prenup.

In the bag. Pistachio has a marvelous and unique smell. Lightly sweet and remarkably similar to that of pistachio ice cream. Predominantly made up of Virginia with flecks of black cavendish. The light color adds to the light scent. The moisture content is about perfect as well. With so many things going well at first sight it is so disappointing that this doesn't at least somewhat carry through the rest of the experience.

In the pipe. This does all the right things except for in flavor and strength. Cool and dry smoking and stays well lighted. Yet boring. So very boring. No discernible flavors of anything. No tobacco taste. No casing. Nothing. At least it doesn't taste ashy either. The only taste that ever comes up is about ten minutes after finishing the bowl your mouth may have a slightly sweet aftertaste.

Depending on your packing method you should get a decent smoking time out of it. Yet for what reason? It lasts for me about forty minutes of relatively continuous smoking.

The room note was fairly non-existent as well. A little ashy smelling and the slightest hint of sweetness. The room note vanishes very quickly.

Needless to say that I will not be purchasing Pistachio again. I could smell it all day in the bag but that just isn't enough to keep me coming back for more.

Wow! This really tastes like Pistachios! I never in a million years would have thought that it would be possible to make a tobacco taste just like this unique nut, but here it is. This is a nice aromatic as well, with very light characteristics. I find this was worth the price just for the novelty alone. I probably will not buy more however as it is just not my style, and once the novelty of smoking a nut in your pipe wears off, there is just not much to come back to. I imagine this would be a nice change of pace for hardcore aromatic fanciers out there who will not smoke anything else. The flavor is not very sweet ( in fact the Virginias are almost nonexistant) but instead salty- just like a nut!

Burns well and continuous. Slight sweet nutty and salty taste. A hint of what can be discernible as a pistachio flavor. In general, pretty boring and plain with a hint of tongue bite. Not something I'll get again.