Visceraman1 - Joshua Lopez

So a few weeks ago or so, there started this "Blend of the Month" deal over at a.s.p, where one selected member would choose a blend for the month, and others involved would sample that blend and all would submit a brief essay as to the qualities of the leaf. I submitted an emphatic "OK" for my participation, and promptly forgot about it.

Until this morning however, when I opened my email and was notified that I was to immediately choose a blend for the month of September. I scanned some of the recent posts over at a.s.p., and saw that the East Coast readers were growing impatient with my lack of response, (Excuse the fuck out of me for living in a different time zone), and I had no idea of what blend to choose.

I wanted to choose something that I've never heard mentioned before in the a.s.p. posts, and one that I was completely unfamilar with as well. After all, this is how good things are found. I scoured through the listings over at Habana Premium, and having yet to sample any of the CAO line, found myself navigating mostly through those blends. I'm not sure what the story is behind CAO and Dan Tobacco, I haven't been able to find out anything just yet, and searching through the CAO website itself is a fruitless venture into Flash Splash Pages and piss poor content.

Enough about that, I opted for a blend rather sweetly named "Hamborger Veermaster". I wasn't able to find any reviews over at tobaccoreviews.com, and though "aha! But now there will be an onslaught!" An A.s.p. reader did point me to the rather favorable reviews hidden in the Dan Tobacco listings. It's rather simply described as

"Classic sailor`s flake tobacco made from rich Golden Virginias, sweet and mild.

As if that says it all right? Now, this will be my first solid Virginia as opposed to the Virginia/Perique blends I'm used to, and it will be my first flake tobacco as well. There are plenty of positive reviews of the blend over at tobaccoreviews.com, leading me to believe that I may have done well in choosing this blend.

It was a about 25 to 50 cents cheaper over at Habana, but I went throug Mars for this one, I have to share the business and I like Mike's service.

And yes, I ordered a tin of Rose of Latakia while I was there as well. Rose of Latakia is to Joshua as Coffee is to Jeri.

Posted by Joshua at 11:11 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)

My wife is very supportive of my piping, and to help encourage that sort of response, I like to throw in a bit of aromatics to the mix every now and then. When ordering the Rose of Latakia, I found a listing for a bulk blend, #605, Pastry. Now, I don't have much of a sweet tooth, so I definitely had Jeri in mind when I bought this, and the description didn't immediately give me a toothache:

An extremley light-bodied mixture of seasoned, Ribbon-cut, Lemon tobaccos of the highest grade from Brazil`s Rio Grande Do Sul. Unique pastry aroma.

It's definitely not a sweet blend at all. Very subtle, very unique, and very...well...it's pastry. It tastes good, smells good, the wife really likes the smell of it, what more could you ask for. I'll definitely keep this on hand, for her and for me.

Posted by Joshua at 12:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

I think it's safe to safe I'm a Balkan fan, and that I dearly love the smooth spice of Syrian Latakia. In my efforts to keep me from ripping through my Vintage Syrain, I was looking for something that might fill the potential void. I stumbled across a listing of McClelland Products, specifically their Balkan/Syrians. Of course, it has to have the dumbest name, but there it was. Rose of Latakia. What the hell, I ordered a tin. Some sort of small description is found on the tin itself, and wherever the product is listed:

Only the most precious, most flavorful Syrian leaves are called Rose of Latakia. This fine blend is complex, fragrant, incredible.

I pulled open the tin and whoa! What the hell? Is that really ketchup I smell? I called Jeri into the room to smell. She said it was more barbeque sauce than ketchup. Regardless, it's very vinegary. This can't be good I thought. I loaded up a bowl of the fairly dry weed and lit away.

It's not quite the Vintage Syrian, but not only is it pretty damn close, it's got it's own mesmerizing qualities. I promptly orderd 3 more tins. I can smoke this every single day, and not tire of it. Each time I smoke it, I find something different taking place. Something captivating, relaxing and enchanting. Oh this is good stuff. Even with the odd ketchup smell. (That's only in the tin, not in the smoke itself.)

Posted by Joshua at 12:26 PM | Permalink

Quite a number of months ago, I was scanning some of the entries over at a.s.p., and stumbled across one offering samples of a vintage Syrian latakia. I figured what the hell, and contacted the gentleman who was inquiring, and said I'd be happy to try it. A week or so later, a small envelope arrived in the mail. I brought it inside, grabbed a beer and sat on the couch to investigate.


From the envelope I pulled some literature about the product, and a small sandwich bag with a Mac-Baren sticker on it, partially filled with tobacco. I opened the bag and tested the waters with my nose. Something about that was damn good. I burrowed my nose deeper into the bag and was hooked. I set the bag down and headed into the kitchen for a pipe. I loaded up the pipe, but before I lit away, I read the literature. I did note that this blend was considerably drier than anything I had encountered before.


From what I interpreted - correct or incorrect as it may be, this product, HH Vintage Syrian, was a new product that was being produced by Mac-Baren. It had been introduced at the Chicago Pipe Show, which had occured just a few weeks prior, and would be presented to the masses in or around August of this year.


There was a brief description of the tobacco which, really made the tobacco seem as though it would be way too complex, and muddled with all the different blends occupying the same bag:

"A little under half of the volume is a smooth, and yet powerful, Latakia from Syria. This tobacco gives the blend the overall "smoky" taste. To add a spicy note to the blend, Turkish Oriental has been added. Different Virginia tobaccos from 3 continents add a sweet natural taste. To complete the taste with depth and body, they added some Dark Fired Kentucky from the USA."

Somewhere online I read that there was something like 37 different tobaccos making up the other 50% of the blend. As Doodle might say, "too complicated, make it simple". That's really neither here nor there. I lit away.

Oh my.

Oh my.

I tasted again.

I pulled the bag back up to my nose and inhaled deeply. I tasted again.

Que Magnifique! This was truly the most amazing thing I had ever tasted (as though I've been at this that long). Oh my. I was absolutely speechless; the Syrian Latakia was so much different that the Cyprian variety I was used to. Crisper, yet more smooth. An understated boldness about it, more regal in it's aroma. This, this was something I could definitely enjoy every single day.

In fact I probably would have, however there was just one problem. My sample was only so big. Somewhere in the area between 1 and 2 ounces and that was it. And no definitive date on mass release of this delicacy. I was going to have to do something I had never done before in my entire life.

I was going to have to demonstrate a mature level of moderation.

Sure you laugh, but I pulled it off. In fact, when it was announced on a.s.p. that Mars Cigars was finally unveiling HH Vintage Syrian to the public, I still had 1 or 2 bowls left of the sample. Hooray! I ordered two tins just as fast as my porky fingers could type.

The day they arrived, I was filled with utter glee. I held the two tins (which were much larger than I had envisioned), close to my chest with pride. A few days later I opened one to enjoy with my estate Oom Paul.

My prior tin experience was limited to that of Haddo's; this was hard for the pudgy fingers to get into, I had to enlist the assistance of Jeri for this. Inside, the tobacco was very firmly packed and cradled into a piece of crepe paper. I unfolded the crepe, and scraped away enough for a bowl. Oh this shit is mighty tasty.

And then the music stopped.

Ok, maybe not as crushing as Carcass calling it quits, but pretty devastating as it were.

The entry on a.s.p. was pretty clear: "HH Vintage Syrian is gone". It couldn't be true. I headed first to Mars, and then to several sites. Not in stock. Gone. Sold out. WHAT THE FUCK WAS THIS!

They say it's was a limited production run, and should be available again. But when? Now, I have to moderate myself, again.

Posted by Joshua at 12:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

If I wasn't so lazy, I'd be including some photos with a few of these entries. I suppose that may imply that I've been too lazy to upload photos, or even just too lazy to plug the memory stick into the laptop. No, I assure you it is because I'm too lazy to go to the closet, get the camera, charge up the battery, take a picture and then upload the photos. Because of my inherit laziness, you will not get to see the simple artisan loaf I made a few weeks ago, neither of my pugliese loafs, none of my cupcakes, nary a peanut butter roll, no chocolate cookies, no crepes, no lasagna, no pancakes, and no chicken wellington. Also absent from the photo directory are the images of the 4 new additions to our little family (Mixed Media, Esther, Spookie and Sanchez), ok, 6 additions if you count Helmut and Grainger.

I've also been lazy about eradicating the weeds in the front (and back) yards, although it's hard to be motivated when it's still raining outside. I did attack them with the weed eater and spritz them with a bit of poison.

Posted by Joshua at 01:17 PM | Permalink

It's really not fair for me to write a review of this blend, I'm not going to be even remotely objective. Early in my piping days, I had read numerous positive statements about this blend, and was curious to try it. It was actually the first Cherry Blend I encountered. I was looking forward to getting a bit, and even though the TInderbox managed to exhibit their less than appealing customer service, i secured some. A brief description reads:

"Freshly fragrant and cool smoking with a natural fruity and nutty flavoring, for a delightfully sweet, yet light taste"

Upon smelling the pouch, I picked immediately picked up both the cherry and the almond flavorings. The almond was more of an almond extract aroma, not a handful of nuts aroma. I reached into the moist (quite moist) bag, and loaded away.

Yes, yes there was cherry, and there was almond in the smoke, and yes it creamed around the palette nicely, but then it hit my teeth like a gob of candy. I have one of the smallest sweet tooths out there, and this blend quickly overpowerd that tooth. Determined to work through this and give it a fair shake, I tried a few more bowls throughout the next weeks, and just couldn't keep the pipe going. Way too sweet for this guy. For others, perhaps a pleasant public blend.

(Later I did add some Captain Black White to the bag to tame the sweetness (if possible). It helped take the edge off, but still wasn't something I wanted to smoke.)

Posted by Joshua at 11:43 AM | Permalink

August is sure flying in and out pretty quickly.

I haven't done much gaming at all. It's almost shameful, until you factor in the 27 books I've read since June 21. My reading history shows 31, but 4 were crafting related, clearly the work of the curly headed wife. That's pretty good I'd say. It harkens back to an era when my 6th grade teacher would present me with a Book It coupon for a free personal pan pizza from Pizza Hut. No pizza this time around, but the curly head did buy me my first meerschaum pipe. (I'd link to a picture of it, but it's long gone already). I dearly love the pipe, though it feels so fragile in my porky, clumsy hands. Celtic (a blend I've yet to review, but also greatly enjoy) seems to find its way in it more frequently than any of the other blends. I suspect that it has to do with it being one of the wife's favourite aromas that comes from my pipes.

Work is steady, slightly elevated on the aggravation front over there, but Kerry's back so I've got his wisdom in my box.

Posted by Joshua at 09:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (12)