One of my go-to pipe tobacco blends is called Escudo Navy Deluxe. It’s a blend of Virginia and Perique, a specially fermented tobacco that originates in St. James Parish in Louisiana. Perique can be quite… pungent. If you ever sniff a jar of pipe tobacco and think, “horse barn” – not in a bad way, but you’ll know it if you encounter it – that’s Perique.
Escudo has a great reputation, and for good reason. Not only is it quite delicious if you like VA/Per blends, the little coin slices are cool. Escudo is made by tightly rolling or twisting the different tobaccos together into a rope with the darker variety in the middle. It’s then aged and sliced thinly before being packaged. The little coins are easy to rub out to loose tobacco, or some people just fold or roll and stuff them into their pipe.
As Escudo is a little pricey, I figure if I’m blending my own tobacco I may as well try to make something either close, or at least something I like as well. So, I was a little excited to find a blend on the FTT forum that is billed as an “Escudo match” or substitute. I mixed up some a few days ago, spritzed it very lightly with bourbon – because why not? – and pressed it for three days in my noodle press. I took it out early this afternoon and sliced off a bit to sample. I rubbed out the slice and got a near perfect collection of chunks and ribbons, which I let dry for a while.
As I smoke it now, I’m pretty happy with it. I did make a modification to the recipe; in place of the Red Virginia tobacco called out in the recipe I used my own mixed VA leaf from the 2023 crop. It’s a mix of bright, red, and darker leaves, and they aren’t really properly flue cured. They were kilned and aged for a year and a half, but probably have lower sugar content than “real” flue cured red leaf. I’m sure the flavor is a little different.
One thing that surprises me is that I haven’t needed to relight this stuff yet. it’s burning perfectly, and the flavor is really good. As good as Escudo? Probably not. Good enough that I’ll mix and press another larger plug? Oh, yeah. And I remind myself that it will only get better with age. A year or two in a jar will make this stuff sublime.
Score.