I’ve been smoking a good bit of my “Towers of Antioch” blend, and overall I’m pretty happy with it. It does, from time to time, display a rough edge here and there. It’s not a big deal, but I’d love to figure out exactly what’s causing it and maybe smooth it out a bit. I’ve also been tring out some of my very early stuff – like the pressed plug straight VA from late ’23, and my first Cavendish attempt. Both have a pretty bold component to them that can get a little harsh if you’re not careful. So, I decided to see what would happen if I tried some ToA without it. In its place I simply substituted the lemon VA that I bought from Whole Leaf. I mixed up a small test batch, enough for half a dozen pipes maybe, and pressed it for 24 hours in the noodle press. Not a long press, just enough to smooth it and blend the flavors a little better.
The result is… less interesting. It’s not bad, but it reminds me of the difference between two commercial English/Balkan blends I tried last year. One was the Sutliff Sobranie match, the other was – I don’t really remember what, I just remember it was tinned and enjoyed a lot of good reviews. Anyway, while it had VA, Oriental, and Latakia, it was notably less complex than the Sutliff and bordered on uninteresting by comparison.
So, back to the drawing board. I do have a 100 gram plug of ToA sitting in the jar that I haven’t sliced up yet. I’m still working my way through the other 50-60 grams that I sliced and rubbed out. I’m wondering whether letting the plug age in its semi-compressed form will make a substantial difference. I’ll just leave it in the jar until all the rest is gone, and maybe even longer than that. I do have probably half a pound or more of various commercial pipe tobaccos sitting in jars on my shelf. Orlik Golden Sliced, some Sutliff Sobranie match, some Ennerdale and Bob’s Chocolate Flake, My Mixture 965, little remnants of several others. There’s even some 1-Q there, along with an ounce or two of Haunted Bookshop and Bayou Morning – neither of which I like, so they’ll probably just stay there indefinitely.