War Horse War Horse Ready Cut

This is the first of the samples of the five blends introduced by Standard Tobacco Company I both received and finished; and I am happy to say that I liked this one. This could be for a few reasons, chief of these, that VaBurPers are probably my preferred choice of pipe tobacco genres and secondly, this is the only blend that is not a Balkan/latakia blend of the five Standard Tobacco Company offerings to date.

This one is also unique in the fact that it is not one that could be completely duplicated due to the results of the laboratory analysis done on it. From what I had read there were things in the original War Horse that could not be put into a tobacco today. I presume this to mean that an ingredient was something that could be a danger to ingest.

Based on that, I can say that, at least as it concerns this one of the five, I am glad to have never tasted the original. For giggles, I did look at the review of the original to see what others' impressions were of it. Apparently it was a strong Virginia with a topping that came in a plug form. the Standard Tobacco Offering is a ribbon tobacco that I believe has some sort of fruity topping to it. I hate to use the word cherry because of the impression many of us have of that as a topping, but it did taste kind of cherry to me.

The burley and Virginia play nice together and give it a sweet and earthy background. The perique presence is light but does add a touch of spice. It is really quite good. In the article I read it stated that Russ used the perique to add flavor, but I have to wonder if it wasn't also to give it a little backbone as the original was reputed to be quite the nicotine beast. STC War Horse is also pretty strong on the nicotine, but far from overwhelming.

I am not sure I can put four stars on this, but it is very good and just falls shy of that mark for me. There are just more Vaburpers that I would put over this one.

But I do recommend it as I feel anyone who enjoys burleys and vapers will not find it to be money wasted.

Golden brown to black ribbon with a baggie note of whatever topping is used atop a slight tobacco-y smell. I couldn't place the topping either by smell or taste, although it brought back old memories of a children's cough medicine I used to have to take. Unpleasant memories. Further, I'm not sure why a company would bring back an old favored tobacco and change the cut from plug to ribbon??? Seems odd to me.

Flavorings are pretty simple determinants to a blend - if they are obvious and you like the flavor, the blend is good. If not, the blend is not for you. This one started out with that unpleasant topping which thankfully burned away completely by mid-bowl. Drying out the tobacco before loading helped the topping disappear earlier. And that worked better for me. The burley was not at all nutty and opted for a more earthy, tobacco-y approach. There was a slight sweetness not topping related from the Virginia which kept this one from being a basic burley-Kentucky (although nothing wrong with that, but apparently that is not WarHorse). My sensitivity to perique is lower than most smokers and I didn't notice any in the taste, although I did get a slight nose tickle from time to time. That tells me it's doing its job in the flavor dept as well. My problem is the topping. Sometimes even a light flavoring dominates for me, as it did here in the first half of the bowl. I never smoked the original so I can't comment on how close this is. I do suspect this one is going to become quite popular, as it bridges a gap between an English-type OTC and an American OTC. I doubt I'll smoke it again, but I do recommend it, both as a possible match to the original and something new and different (if you don't have the original as a comparison).

War Horse, one of the new re-introductions by the Standard Tobacco Company of PA (with Russ Ouellette) arrives, like many of Russ’s blends, on the dry side, which how I like to smoke my tobacco. The tin scent is ever so slightly sour in a good way, along with a topping that bears some resemblance to cocoa for me, although though I don’t think that’s what it is. I have never tried the original so I have no basis for comparison. For me, the standout tobacco in this blend is the Burley, which others have pointed out, is earthier for me rather than nutty. The Burley leads the day for me and the topping adds a bit of sweetness. I don’t really taste the perique and I am guessing it was added ever so lightly. It burns really dry and leaves a bit of dryness in my mouth too. I would put War Horse in the “all day” type smoke category. While not a strong tobacco, there is some noticeable nicotine. War Horse reminds me of some of the old drug store blends (in a good way) but of much higher quality.

Conclusion: I really like this. It packs a lot of flavour and even if it is not very complex, this straight shooter has yet to let me down.

Taste: A sugary sweetness, slight but still, that seems to come from the casing is first evident. Tobacco wise kentucky is the key ingredient, as it's smokey and earthy allure permeates the blend and really marries the sweetness mentioned. It creates almost a cacao like sum of the combined ingredients, reminiscent of maduro cigar leaf. As the bowl progresses the sweetness recedes a bit in favour of the darker, earthy side of the blend.

Mechanics: Ribbon, ready to smoke right out of the tin, no bite and medium nicotine.

Standard Tobacco Company - War Horse Ready Cut.

A medium size ribbon that's mostly light and dark browns, with a couple of black specks. The moisture of the blend when fresh is good, and the tin-note is a little sharp.

What often deters me from blends with Kentucky is they can sometimes come across with a really harsh fire-cured flavour which seems caustic and leaves a horrible aftertaste. This, however, lacks that character. As many folks mention, it's the Burley that leads the flavour here, seeming quite raw, and rustic, but is supported well by other flavours. The Perique passes me by, I can't recognise much dark fruit, or spice from it. The Virginia, pleasantly, gives the mix a notable sweetness, and slight sprightliness. Regarding the added flavours, I can taste something extra, albeit, it's too faint to be able to quantify. I can't fault the burn, and the smoke's cool and bite-free.

Nicotine: medium to strong. Room-note: pleasant enough.

War Horse Ready Cut: a blend with just enough Kentucky to add flavour to the smoke without ruining it. Recommended:

Three stars.

A really fine smoking experience. I've been a fan of Irish Flake since its release and enjoy a robust smoke, and what little I've been able to find referencing Irish tobacco blending practices, I find this topic very old-world. Upon opening the tin and taking a deep whiff, I get the smell of a freshly opened box of Del Monte's Dried Apricots. I don't get any anise as some have found. The cut was dry to the touch, but just right for packing and smoking. It took to the light very readily and smoked clean and dry to the heel. It reminded me very much of Erinmore Flake, but way better than Erinmore. I read an interview a while back where a long time Murray blender said the flavoring for Erinmore Flake was that of prune and apricot. I don't get the prune here, but I do get the apricot. I found the Erinmore to be a bit cloying, and although once a favorite, no longer is so. I smoke EF on rare occasion these days since I grew tired of the taste and found it nipped at my tongue a bit too much. War Horse is a different breed entirely. It has the strength of IrF and a very nice earhy, but sweet, fullness while smoking. I've never been a big fan of Perique, but I do detect its presence here and find it a very agreeable addition to the mix while adding a touch of spice to the tongue. Sweet all the way to the end, but not in a confectioner's way. The sweetness coupled with the earthiness is a combination I've not experienced before and find that I like it very much. An all around solid smoking experience with a pleasant room note to boot.

To me, this is basically a burley blend, with the Kentucky, Perique, and even the Red Virginias lightly added condiments. The dark fruit topping is very lightly applied, and although it's a fairly standard ribbon cut, it burns very fast. A serviceable rather than interesting or special blend.

Surprisingly good and smooth for a blend with some heftier tobacco varieties. This is not a nicotine bomb but has good body and is bite free. I think the secret here is the burley tobacco. Being made by Lane, I think they used either the same or similar treated burely one can find in their plastic bagged straight burley. It is very mild, dry chocolate and malt character that lightly comes through in the smoke and is complimentary to the whole flavor. It has a tiny amount of a Lakelandish-flowery casing that is refreshing which I think could have been increased a notch or two upwards. The casing of coarse melds wonderfully with the dark-fired kentucky. The perique is there in a lesser extent adding more of a musty and peppery spice note, more natural like and not ridiculously fruity from added casing which is so common these days. I applaud STCP in conjunction with Lane for the way they recreated this blend not knowing what the original was like. They could have gone the route by using some hefty, natural burley that would have put it over the top; Irish blends have the reputation of being very strong. Maybe there was an intentional compromise with regards to the modern smoker. Anyways, the outcome is a rather pleasant blend, bolder than average but refined with a subtle sweet floral character.

Got three tins early in my pipe smoking adventures when Pipes and Cigars had a special going on. Started out with one then ordered more after trying it. I feel it necessary to say I smoked cigarettes for a couple decades and cigars for the same period of time as well. Still smoking cigars and stopped the cigarettes almost a year ago now. Having said that, War horse ready cut seemed to give me enough nicotine and flavor to make that transition much easier. I like the flavor of this pipe tobacco so much that I smoke at least a bowl of it daily. Doesn't bite, room note isn't anything to write home about, the flavor keeps me intrigued even though it burns quickly. Not an experienced pipe smoker by any means, I do a lot of reading and research and learning about pipe tobaccos now because of this blend. The mixture of tobaccos here to my palate reveal a little Va tobacco with the other two players taking the lead and the spice I do quite like. It can become boring in large bowls like a General corn cob pipe but in a small to medium sized bowl makes for a good smoke. Found out that I like Dark fired Kentucky thanks to this blend as well so its helping to refine my search for a good blend with it as a lead player. Cheers!