E. A. Carey Castle Blend

A cascade of wonderful aromas poured forth when I opened the sturdy polysomething pouch. This has got to be good, thought I.

So I forthwith and straight away filled a pipe and got a mouthfull of steam. So I lay the beautiful baccy out to dry, enjoying the smells it gave off.

Anyway, to cut a long story short, all the goodness seems to go in the air and all that's left to smoke is an insipid squib.

So I concur with my namesake, Mr B, this is one for the beginners.

Or I could use it as a nosegay should I find myself in the stench of some medieval town.

An update some time later: I dried this baccy right out and just had a bit of a puff in a small bowled pipe. And magic popped angel stuff all around my taste buds. Delicate, delightful.

With all the pounding I give my poor old palate with heavy guage dark virginias, I'm surprised this one revealed its mystery. She must like me.

More stars!

Carey's - Castle Blend.

The smell is a straight forward Latakia one, smoky and a little leathery. The mix comprises quite chunky tobacco pieces, they're not all extraordinarily long but the majority of the strands are mainly thicker ones.

It has a good level of moistness which means that it lights up great, a fairly short touch of the lighter is plenty to get a steady burn going. The flavour isn't as strong with Latakia as the aroma led me to expect, yes it's easily detectable and definitely the most formidable but it it's not the only flavour. Behind the Lat' resides a splendid sourness from the Oriental/Turkish with an equally weighted Virginia hay flavour, making it seem like a much tamer version of Petreson Balkan Delight. The nicotine is mild in Castle Blend, if you, like me, appreciate "N" then some deep inhalations are a requisite with this. The smoke issues zero bite, it can be puffed with extra vigour and even then bite remains elusive. The speed of the burn isn't the slowest I've had, it's not over in seconds but there are a fair few better suited blends for a long period of relaxation.

I think this would make a great beginning to the world of Latakia, it has just enough Lat' to give a good example of the smoky taste yet it also allows the other tastes to come through. 3 stars.

Trying to hitch a ride on the Squadron Leader name is a little out of line, I think. This is all right - a middle-of-the-road English mixture - but it's no different from many another. It's all right (mild; cool; well-behaved; not a lat bomb), but it's nothing special. I'd probably have spoken more favourably of it if it weren't for Carey's attempt to pass it off as something it isn't. I recommend it somewhat, but in the way that I would recommend maybe ten other blends from which, frankly, it's indistinguishable. E.A. Carey's prices remain attractive, though, and their mail order service, though slow, is good to have.

I really like E.A. Carey's company and have for decades. I am not particularly fond of the Papyrate filter pipes they offer, but over the years they sure have been good to our local pipe club's raffle as Carey pipes are appreciated by a lot of the members.

As for me, I've been enjoying sampling their staple blends for decades and Castle Blend is one of my favorites. You can't beat Carey's prices and whoever puts together their tobaccos, does a great job. Castle Blend has some punch and fills the palate with a great traditional English style smoking experience. The Latakia is just right and the Virginia and Orientals employed are always top shelf, too. I have noticed that this blend varies in presentation, but that's probably because I've ordered it maybe 3-4 times over the last 15 or so years, and as is the case with a lot of pouch blends, getting the same leaf year in and year out is not easy.