Tsuge Premium Pipe Tobacco Raijin - The Thunder God

The first thing I noticed on opening the tin is pungent, earthy perique. That's a good sign. There's a neat motley of different colored leaf, and straight off I can tell it will be perique heavy. The leaves are not over-processed, so you get a mixture of everything from small ribbon cut pieces to larger portions of leaf that unravel. I find this impressive and usually a telltale sign of quality tobacco used.

After lighting I'm met with a heavy volley of perique and dark fired kentucky. The perique is earthy and peaty and just very mildly sweet, while the DFK lends a very dark tea note with a smokey finish. There's some nasal spice on the retrohale. The latakia is not as noticeable, but it's there, and I feel it struggles against the smokiness of the DFK to make itself known. Unfortunately, this battle of smokiness leaves a kind of unpleasant aftertaste. If it were Syrian latakia, I bet they'd work together a lot better. Damn the dwindling supply of Syrian. The orientals are perceptible throughout the smoke, adding some sour and tart high notes to counterbalance the darker aspects.

Raijin is just about right to pack a bowl straight out of the tin. It burns cleanly, I never have been bitten or had to relight. It definitely tastes better in a cob. Strength is medium to full, as is the taste, and there is no topping that I can detect. If it weren't for the aftertaste that I attribute to latakia vs. DFK, I would give it 3 stars. I believe with some age the flavors will mellow and meld together better. The blend just seems a little youthful. So I'm giving it 2 for now and will return to update once it has matured some.

Wow, this blend has a lot going on. I agree with Gentleman Zombie that this could use a little more Virginia and the smoky elements do seem to dominate, but I did have some really good bowls. The problem I had in addition to what GZ pointed out was the consistency between bowls.

This blend has a lot of elements and when you are packing a bowl you will invariably encounter large clusters of any one particular leaf, that unless broken down and mixed in will have a large impact on the taste of the bowl you are packing. I have had many different tasting bowls as I worked my way through and as mentioned some were quite tasty.

The one thing that is consistent is that the Kentucky and Perique is always there, but not in any annoying way. If you do not taste them you will certainly feel them as this blend is quite strong. I think that those elements have been applied quite well as they never truly overwhelm. There are times though when those two elements get combined with a little too much of the oriental and/or latakia it just takes it to a level of bitter smokiness that is not necessarily to my liking.

There are other times when the balance is just right and you are treated to a panopoly of great flavor. I do tend to enjoy these blends that employ so many leafs, but In the ones that I enjoy the most, burley and/or virginia make up the majority of the mixture with all else being condimental which creates a nice backdrop of nutty sweetness as the smoker navigates through notes of spice, citrus and smoke. In this one it seems the latter tends to dominate more times than not, so I will also put two stars on this, but for someone who likes the deep dark notes of Kentucky and Latakia/Oriental leaf, this could be much more to their liking than it is to mine.