Dan Tobacco Tumblin' Dice

The lighter Virginia is a little grassy with a deep tangy, tart citrus flavor, and there is more of that than there is of the earthy, lightly woody and bready, very tangy, fermented dark fruit sweet brown and red Virginias. The Virginias are the major components, and each compete for attention. The very raisiny, figgy, plumy, spicy perique plays, as you might expect, a strong support role. The inherent characteristics of the perique are almost equal in their effect. A well blended cube cut, you’ll most every aspect previously noted in the majority of your puffs to various degrees. The nic-hit is almost medium. The strength and taste levels are medium. Burns at a slow to reasonable pace with a clean and fairly cool, very consistent, deeply rich sweet and rugged, spicy flavor from start to finish. It won’t bite, but there are a few rough edges here and there if you puff beyond a moderate rate. Requires some relights, and leaves a little moisture in the bowl. Has a pleasantly lingering after taste, but the room note is a little strong; stronger than the after taste. Not quite an all day smoke due in part to the aforementioned rough edges.

-JimInks

The tin aroma is sweet and haylike with a slight fruity acidity, reminiscent of raisins, dried figs or prunes.

The cubes messure 5 to 6 mm edge length, each containing the complete blend. Packing your pipe is as easy as possible. You just let the cubes tricle into your bowl and tamp lightly. Lighting takes a little patience, but once the tobacco is properly lit, it'll burn down evenly to a fine grey ash. However, an occasional re-light might be required due to the cube cut.

This Va/Per blend provides a cool smoke with a superb natural sweetness and a nice tangy edge that'll last right to the bottom of the bowl. It's important not to draw to eagerly on your pipe, because if you smoke Tumblin' Dice too hot, it'll lose a lot of its complexity and might even bite your tongue. Otherwise it's a very balanced smoke.

The room note is rather sweet and rich. Pleasant, if you like the smell of Virginia, tolerable in other respects.

Tumblin' Dice... really not too shabby!

I'm just recently became a HUGE fan(-atic) of Virginia/Perique/Kentucky-Blends (future me says: Who wants Va/Per/Kys?!? Burleys are my thing now). They are my all-day and every-day smoke. VA/PER/KY is - for me - THE mixture of tobaccos. The Trinity of tobacco.

So I got curious if a good VA/PER would also fit in my daily tobacco rotation. I had experienced a few VA/PERs (which I also reviewed), but never quite got hooked onto them. I orderes a few samples.

When I took a first sniffed on the Tumblin' Dices I knew this would fit my taste. Very rich scent of freshly mown grass and hay. Citrusy, slightly sweet. Plus the delicious aroma of the Perique in there - somewhat sour, at the same time a mild fruitiness which I appreciate in Perique tobaccos. All in all very inviting and savory.

The cut is a 'Cube Cut' - and oh dear, what a nice and well crafted cut this one is. Every chunk - or 'Cube' is supposed to carry all ingridients of the tobacco, to deliver a steady smoking experience. Just take a few Cubes into your palm and let them gently drop into your - preferably big sized - bowl. Tamp with your fingers very gently, take care of not pushing too hard.

Due to it's special Cut the lighting takes 2-3 tries. Not too hard, yet you should pay attention to it and be patient.

Once lit you're in VA/PER-Heaven! The tobacco provides a very creamy and full smoke. A gentle fruitiness is the first thing i notice, together with the typical "Perique-Tingle". Paired with the deep citrusy and moderately sweet quality Virginias. A little spice kicks in to make this a even more exciting tasting experience. The fruitiness is more in the back in this one. It's a bit more tangy, but well balance with the VAs. Also I'm getting a slightly nutty note in the back.

A solid smoke! Not too complex or "deep" in flavours, but a great All-Day Va/Per for lovers of that kin!

|| Personal rating: 2,5-stars | Rated for what it is: 3 to 3,5-stars ||

This is another brand that I always bring home when traveling. When I open this up it always smells fruity to me. Traditional Virgina it lights up fast and runs hard when puffed. I always have to slow down with this tobacco. I always seem to want to smoke it fast for the flavor. I love the ash here. It is very fine and builds up a cake in pipes very fast. I don't know why but it works.

The tin note is appealing, reminds me of German dark bread. In short: a fine tobacco but difficult to keep lit.  For the experienced smoker

The packaging is good.  I bought the 250g bulk. I transferred the tobacco into an empty airtight glass jar, half of it into another for cellaring. I never know if it makes sense to cellar tobacco once the packaging has been opened, but will see when I hold my future notes against these.

I smoked the first bowl right out of the tin and had some trouble keeping it lit.  Subsequent pipes were better although they still needed a fair number of re-lights. Although the product doesn't seem too moist to smoke, drying does help without changing the taste. A not too wide bowl gives me the best results. Crumbling the cubes into the bowl is an alternative, but not practical.

The taste is Virginia: sweetness, citrus, grass and some bread. The perique is noticeable and balances the Virginia nicely. There's no favouring that I can tell. The taste intensifies as the bowl progresses, stronger citrus with some hints of tar.

First smoked in a Torben Dansk Modi, a big quarter bent pipe. Torben Dansk Ture, a big poker with a narrower bowl than the Modi, which I figured would be easier to keep the fire going. Big Ben Barbados 647 with a rather wide but shallow bowl. 

I use to smoke it any time of day, it's complex and good to pass the time without doing anything else. Besides, you need all your attention to keep it lit. The aftertaste is spicy.

I recommend frequent but careful tamping to keep the smouldering going.

The taste is medium, flavouring absent, a spicy and sweet smoke of medium strength. Not harsh, I don't notice the "edges" JimInks mentions (but I don't have his well-developed taste) but think of it as round. In fact, a lot more so than when I first tried Tumblin' Dice some years ago. Does not smoke hot. Does not give tongue-burn. I prefer to leave some dottle instead of smoking down to grey ashes because the last puffs are too sharp for my taste.

I haven't heard complaints about the room note.

Age when smoked: two months.

I will buy it again.

 Three stars

The tobacco comes in carefully prepared cubes, which smell sweet, fruity and it smells as there’s a mix of spices in the tin. These cubes are easy to pack and easy to light up. The taste is fruity and sweet. I definitely found raisins and citrus fruits, but there is more which I can’t correlate with a certain fruit. So, I stay with fruity. The Virginia delivers a taste of earth, grass and a bit of hay. The Perique spices the tobacco up with some peppery notes. At the end the tobacco will get a bit stronger, spicier and more peppery.

Upon opening a very tangy aroma of natural fermented tobacco comes through the tin. Interesting and unusual cut. Small cubes which, if you rub out they reveal shards of leafs and not pressed tobacco. Moisture is low and can be smoked straight away. It loads with ease with gravity fill and does not need to be pressed considerably. Needs a little effort to light and needs a few relights (if rubbed a little I find that it smokes better).

From the first whiff I was pleasantly surprised, although I was already excited from the tin aroma. It’s a very tasty, earthy tobacco and quite different from most Va/Pers I have tasted. It’s so earthy, it’s like it contains Burley, like a mild cigar-like taste. Quite dry tasting as opposed to sweet, and the Perique adds a substantial peppery spicyness and almost no fruit at all. Strength is on the right side of medium and nicotine is quite satisfactory. Tumbling Dice is an excellent blend, it burns slow to a very fine ash (due to the fact that the cubes consist of leafs and not pressed tobaccos) and leaves only a little dottle. Room note is very nice for those who like tobacco.

The tin note is very nice, inviting sweet-ish with a nice strong zesty fruity notes. When puffed slow the taste is almost what you expect from the smell which I like a lot. Theres a sweet tone and a little sourness that accomplish the aroma nicely. The perique is quite noticeable here giving some dried fruit tones and a spicy pepery tingling that could be enhanced a lot by pushing it a bit with faster puffing. If pushed too much the taste is gone completelly so I reccomend a calm environment. The cut provides some relight requirements to the experience. The same goes to prep where you have to let it dry more than you are normally used to with another baccy. When it seems to be dry enough let it dry for some half hour more. Otherwise you end up with fighting the pipe to stay lit and when you win it would be at a cost of puffing a hot steam that taste like an ashtray. But when dried properly it burns nice slow producing quite cool smoke. Leaves quite a bit liquid in the stem of a briar but the bowl is fine. That could be for sure solved by using a cob but for me the taste experience is better with briar (as usually with any virginia heavy blend). If you have some experience with tobacco handling and prepping then this one is a nice one. I cant recommend this to a newbee since that could be probably a bad experience.

Smoke and drive: Not this one. It is a pain. Sometimes literally.