Seattle Pipe Club Deception Pass

I really had high hopes for DP, and I hold out hope yet, but I found this smoke to be a bit disappointing. The uniqueness of the blend coupled with my experience with Mississippi River prompted me to order an 8oz tin without first sampling. Smells like a quality vaper should in the tin, along with some floral aromas imparted by the oriental leaf. To my dismay, though, I don't get very much flavor from the actual smoke. It comes off as thin and too mild. I'll admit, my preferences are normally in the realm of strong and full, so if you're into mellower blends this may be an original blend that's right up your alley. The VA and perique dominate from the start, with only very faint occasional citrus/spice notes off the orientals. I suspect that where this blend falls short is from the black cavendish. Perhaps too heavy handed? I think the mellowing effect of the cavendish takes so much of the edge off the other components that no real identity evolves. I would definitely like to taste more oriental. This is one of those tobaccos where I catch myself subconsciously puffing harder and faster to try to release and develop the flavor profile, but this just sours the smoke...literally, like the unpleasant sourness of a super-moist, under-fermented cavendish. The tobaccos seem to be of typical McClelland high quality, though, so I do really hope that some age will do this blend some justice. I plan to return and update this review in the near future.

Deception Pass is one tobacco I am going to pass-by the next time I place an order. And, I don't blame McClelland Tobacco, the blender of this blend. Maybe I got a bad tin, or a bad batch, in which case it is McClelland's fault. However, I think this is the Master Blender - Joe Lankford's fault. This blend just lacks balance.

I like Va/Pers as a rule, and was the reason I ordered it for Christmas. But this blend is one in a long, long time I could not finish. It is stuck on high 'C' to use a musical analogy, without any low notes to create a harmony of music. From the charing light until I couldn't take it anymore this blend is sharp sweet and hot. I haven't had a tobacco burn my tongue in a long time, but this one did in short order, and it never improved throughout the smoke. I tried to like it, but finally gave-up. In my estimation there isn't any balance to this blend; it's all Perique. The Virginia and Turkish leaf just doesn't cut it in creating a harmony, or enjoyable complexity of smoke. There is no complexity. It's all a hot, high 'C'.

Deception Pass is all that the name implies - it is deceiving and if you are smart you will pass-by.

Four pipes and several sessions in, I am calling off my putative trek through Deception Pass. I wish I could but I can’t seem to get around awful, mouth oiling, chemical tastes that start soon after I light up. I was able to get decent aromas from a big pot, but that pipe only exacerbated the chemicals. When I was able to keep the bad tastes further in the background, the smells and tastes from the tobacco were insipid. Overall, I just can’t recommend it, so 1 star.

My favorite of joe lankford's Seattle Pipe Club blends. Reading the reviews there is the usual criticism of unsweetned cavendish. I see it when people complain about mcClellands Navy Cavendish, or rattray's Marlin Flake. All of these are favorites of mine. So its subjective i suppose. The Cavendish, or this sort of true unsweetened black cavendish was hugely popular in the late 19th century and early 20th. Many old british blends used it, and often based the blend on it. It seems far less popular today (be interesting to examine the reasons for that, as I have no clue). This is very much a retro sort of blend. Its something one might have purchased at your local tobacconist in Liverpool or London back in the 1920s.

in any event this is medium blend of black virginia (mostly), with a bit of Perique and probably some drama or smyrna....i cant tell which as there isnt that much. The oriental leaf, whichever it is, does provide a kind of haunting aftertaste while one puffs away. But this is a virginia and cavendish blend. Ribbon cut. Id like this more if it were flake I think, and stoved more. Its good....and it reminds me a bit of something Rattray's might come up...in fact its not all that distant from Old Gowrie, or perhaps more correctly, to Dark Fragrant. Its dark fragrant minus the slight casing. Overall its a very very nice blend. Nic hit approaches medium, and this just wont bite regardless of how you smoke it. 3 and a half stars.

A mild yet spicy VaPer. Nice sweet fruit from the Virginias. Plums and figs and a nice amount of spice from the Perique. I'd say that their influence is near equal. The Black Cav smooths the rough edges and provides a little toasty note in the second half. I think it also "waters this down" and makes it a bit milder. The Orientals are nearly invisible. All in all, a very good smoke.

Mild in body. Mild to medium in taste. No added flavoring. Burns very well.

Looks and smells lovely in the tin. However, all I get from this tobacco is too much perique and an extremely dry mouth. It burns hot the whole way no matter how I try to fuss with it to keep it cool. There's not much in the way of flavor either once you get halfway through the bowl. It's not complex and borders flavorless. All I can hope is that I got a bad tin or that storing it will bring out more complexities. I was really excited and really want/ed to like this blend. If any kind of epiphany happens, I'll edit this.

I was realy looking forward to try this SPC blend, just because, I loved the poster, really. As I say in other reviews I made, I am not quite THE reviewer, ... yet. So for now, it's really "I like this because ... ", "i don't like that because..." ... And so I discovered this blend on SP.com and I got really intrigued by the image. I clearly stood out from most of very classical ways of doing tobacco labels I've seen before. I noticed that all SPC blends have very nice logos and so I decided to order a tin of DP and one of Potlatch. I haven't been disappointed. Recently, I found myself at a crossroad finding most aromatics very nice and sweet and all, but lacking substance, most English being too strong on the latakia, and not enjoying Virginias or Vapers much.

And there they were, in the same posted package were my 3 new best friends, FMC, Potlatch and Deception Pass. All sharing the same thing I wanted to find in a tobacco, strength, substance, but also some sweetness.

DP is smoking very nicely and cool, it's has smells and tastes like a Virginia, but like a cup of coffee might need a sugar in it, this one here felt, at least to me, the same.

SPC was on sale and I fell victim to ordering a few as for the most part I have abstained from buying more blends. Over the past few years, I have come to the realization that my hobby is buying different pipe tobaccos much like a wine collector does as I will absolutely never, never consume all that I have hoarded over the past twenty years due to my wise old age of 62. With that being said this blend was one that I chose among the several that I bought to equal the free shipping. Not sure why they do this but my 2oz tin of this was twice the size of other 2 oz tins of tobacco I have bought. Maybe it is to let the tobacco breathe or maybe to make the consumer feel they are buying a lot of tobacco or maybe for no reason at all. I have tried to find out who made these blends prior to Sutliff but it must be a trade secret for all I could find was a mention or two on reviews and the web saying that it was McClelland. It is possible but I cannot ascertain for sure. Upon opening the tin my senses detected a slight vinegar smell and that was about it. There were large ribbons and portions of black leaf through out the tin and fairly moist to boot. Upon the first light I detected a slight sweetness at the start and then most of the smoke was hard to describe, slightly sour, astringent, nothing bad but nothing to pique my interest. Another reviewer felt like this blend had too much going on and suffered an identity crisis which may well possibly be. Unfortunately for me I knew that this tin would be one to sit on my shelf and collect dust until maybe once a year I revisited it. Who knows, I may grow to like this more as time goes by but that is not to be as I took it to the pipe club and everyone who tried it really liked it so I gave it all away. Not a bad blend at all but not one I will revisit.

Preparation & Burn: 8/10 Nice ribbon cut. Spongey-feel, as I like it. Burns cool, no bite. Stays lit. A bit of harshness if puffed hard.

Taste: 10/20 This is a fairly tasty and subtle smoke. Smoother than most VaPers. It does lack a nice spicy kick that other SPC vapers have, like Gertie.

Mildness: 9/10 My idea of a good smoke is a relaxing, low nicotine session. Therefore, the milder the better. Not much nicotine at all!

Total: 27/40