Look what I won at the Sherlock Holmes Pipe Club tobacco raffle!

I've recently returned to the Sherlock Holmes Pipe Club after a long hiatus - maybe one or two monthly meetings in the past dozen years. I was happy to discover there's still a friendly group of guys there who were welcoming after my long absence.

The meetings are friendly and informal. We meet up at a sportsman's club in the greater Boston area and fill the room with smoke in one of the few public places people are still allowed to smoke indoors. (When the club is booked for other events, we meet at a synagogue!) Dues are minimal and club business is conducted in loosely-followed Robert's Rules of Order fashion over a period of about half an hour. The rest of the time we just sit and talk about pipes, tobaccos, cigars, boats, guns, politics, and anything else that comes to mind. It's a wonderfully varied group of open-minded guys (and a couple of women.)

I don't have any photos of the group of my own, but do check out http://shpcboston.org/ if you're interested in learning more or coming to a meeting. The monthly newsletter is full of all kinds of great history and information, but club-related and generally, and all the back issues are linked from that page.

Anyway, on to the review...

The label describes this as a fairly complex mixture of leaves without any added flavorings. "Double broadcut light and dark Virginias, Old Belt plug, Macedonia and Latakia. Cool and slow burning Scottish mixture with full flavour." Since MacBaren's Scottish Mixture has been my everyday smoke for the summer (I've been buying it by the pound) this sounded right up my alley.

And it is indeed a treat. The aroma leapt from the tin as soon as I broke the seal. The woodsy smell of decaying leaves on a forest floor in late autumn, with just the slightest plummy undertones of fruit to it.

The leaves are cut extremely broadly; some of them unravel into ribbons nearly an inch across: beautiful, translucent, and leathery. And there was just enough moisture in the tin that the leaves were pliable and easily packed, but not so much that they clump together into a soggy mess.

I suspect that this is a well-aged vintage tin as well. I'm not completely sure if the 12/09 written on the bottom means that this was stored on December 9, or September 12, or December of 2009. But from the amount of crystallized sugars and the way the leaf was clinging to the paper wrapper that it's the latter - which would explain why it provides such a smooth and well-blended smoke. (Tinned tobaccos will age even better than cigars, if they're stored properly.)

So - on to the smoke.

This is one case where the flavor matches the smell impeccably. (This is not always the case.) The flavor is woodsy, tangy, just slightly sweet (from the Virginias) and heavily layered with a spectrum of smoky notes from the Latakia and Macedonian leaf. The nicotine content isn't overwhelming. (Lots of nicotine doesn't necessarily equate to lots of flavor, and too much of the stuff can leave my head spinning.) And the broad cut did indeed make for a slow, even smoke all the way to the bottom of a medium sized bowl.

There's enough going on with the flavor that it's worth smoking this one indoors. I think the complexity would be lost outside, at least on a windy day. This is a perfect blend for sitting by the fireplace this autumn.

This is a 9 (out of 10) rating from me, guys. I'll be ordering a couple more tins in the future, and I'll be curious to see if tins that have not aged as long exhibit the same mellow complexity.