Transitioning to Uncased Blends

Dunhill EMP is an excellent blend, but there some other blends that would be all day types. Here are some I recommend and some have burley in them-Grey Havens (McClelland) Haunted Bookshop (C&D), Sam Gawith Lakeland #6, GL Pease Stratford, no burley, but subtle and delicious and for pure burley flavor try Five Brothers go slow it burns fast.

Good luck

I haven’t smoked EMP for months, but when I tried it last–at a time when I had been smoking mostly aromatics–I tasted nothing but pepper (more a tongue-feel than a taste) and ash. Didn’t like it at all.

So I guess the main thing I would suggest is trying some different non-aromatics. Among Virginias, Hal O The Wind is nice. Right now I REALLY like Frog Morton–the original. I’m not sure it qualifies as uncased, but even if it’s not it should be a good bridge. There’s a smell to FM that I just love, and it isn’t a sweet smell like the typical aromatic.

Partly it’s about how you think about it. Aromatics are dessert. To me, a good English, and perhaps Virginia–the type I like–is like barbecue.

Jim

I too am a convert from aromatics and had I asked the same question, I would have liked someone to answer in the following way (only because I find this suits me): try first Sam Gawiths Best Brown Flake, if you want something a little stronger, or should I say with a little more flavour, then Gawith and Hogarth’s Best Brown No2 should fit the bill quite nicely and if your still not satisfied, then back to Sam Gawith for a Full Virginia Flake. All three are very fine quality tobaccos and amongst them I hope you will find at least one that will give you a good “smoking base” with which to experiment further.

Tony M.

When I switched to non-aromatics I went for the sweet virginia blends such as the Stokkebye Luxury blends, Orlik Golden Sliced, Bjarne Flake De Luxe, etc. You may also want to try a light english such as Presbyterian mixture or Squadron Leader. Bob’s Chocolate Flake has a dash of latakia and is a nice blend. C&D makes some new virginia blends with a kiss of honey, I believe they were part of the Simply Elegant series, you may want to try some of those as well.

Thanks to all for the advice!!!

Mike Herbert aka “Roswell 49″

Well, I think you mean non-aromatic, since I’ve heard all blends have some type of casing and I don’t doubt it but here are my picks so far on the basic types:

Pure Virginia -> Samuel Gawith’s Full Virginia Flake
Virginia/Perique -> McClelland’s 2015
Balkan -> Gawith & Hoggarth’s Balkan
English -> Solani’s 779 Gold Label “English Luxury Mixture”
Latakia Blend -> Esoterica’s Penzance

Ask me again in a year and my picks might change a bit.

Happy smoking!

I started with aromatics, and tried some pale virginia flakes as my first of the more natural blends. But it was the strong English mixtures, with plenty of latakia, that really opened my eyes. SO much more enjoyable than what I was used to, so much more flavour. Don’t be afraid because they are stronger, just use a smaller pipe the first time, and preferably one that doesn’t have cherry vanilla oozing from its pores. I suggest Dunhill Standard Mixture as a good start. Dont go for the super light Englishes to start with, start in the middle. 965 is also a good start, or Murrays “Oriental”.
For me the pure virginias, and even the lighter Englishes only became really enjoyable when I’d got good at “breath smoking”, and could smoke them REALLY slowly. Until you get the hang of that, the richer tobaccos offer the best flavour and the least tongue bite.

I recently transitioned from aromatic blends. So far I am really enjoying the Frog Morton series. I still haven’t acquired a taste for Bob’s Chocolate Flake but I have some that has aged for a few months that I intend to rub out more than before and try in my meerschaum.

I also plan to try some of the Virgina blends and plan on buying some McClelland 2015 soon.

I buy uncased tobacco’s from C&D. Then, I flavor them with professional aromatic sauces. I use a non-latakia blend as well as a latakia blend for this purpose. I have learned that C&D tobacco’s are generally drier than most as they use nothing but distilled water prior to adding flavors. They have aromatic as well as non-aromatic blends. Keep in mind “all” tobacco’s have some flavoring added. It is merely a question of “degree” which classifies them as non-aromatics vs. aromatics. I suggest you try a non-latakia, non-aromatic blend from C&D. http://www.cornellanddiehl.com Consider “Two Friends Heritage”. It happens to be the only tobacco the owner, Craig Tarler smokes! It is a fine way to transition to non-aromatics as it has only a tiny bit of flavoring but good natural tobacco taste. No spicy latakia in this blend.

I can’t offer anything that hasn’t already been suggested, but would like to voice another vote for the original Frog Morton. I was on aromatics, and the smell of FM worried me at first; I liked it, but the smokiness made me think it might be too harsh. Not at all so. In fact, it’s hard to get this blend to bite.

I then moved on to Butera’s Royal Vintage Latakia No. 2, which I liked (and still like) even more. To me, No. 2 is pretty sweet (but less so than FM), and not too smokey, while No. 1 is just the opposite. I really like mixing No. 1 and No. 2 50/50 to get the balance I want.

Hope this helps!