First and foremost, a massive shout out to Frank (
@streetrod) for kindly sending me a tin of this PPSR to sample and review. The community and generosity in this place continues to amaze me day after day!
This review is definitely not exclusive to, but slightly geared towards people who have already smoked SPC Plum Pudding. If you haven’t tried it, you should really pick some up and give it a try! You won’t be sorry.
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The tin note: When compared side by side to the regular production Plum Pudding, I find that where the regular PP has a smokey barbecue type aroma, the special reserve has a much more prominent dried fruit aroma (mostly fig and raisins). Of course there is still plenty of Latakia, but it doesn’t overtake the blend like it does the regular production.
I’m not very experienced with plug type tobacco but I’ve used the same method as I do with a flake. I don’t like to rub it out completely. Leaving the tobacco in small chunks gives me a longer and more even burn.
The plug is fairly moist. I typically cut only enough for a bowl and let it sit out for at least two hours, more if possible. Today I set this out for three hours and it still left quite a bit of moisture in the bowl. It can be a little tough to get it going but once’s it’s lit, I typically only have to relight once or twice at the most.
I had about five bowls of this before the review. It’s an excellent blend and I ordered another tin less than half way through my first bowl.
Today I decided to go with my trusty Peterson. This bowl smoked for around an hour and a quarter.
This is obviously still a lat forward blend, but the big difference I noticed right away is the special reserve has a much more pronounced slightly tart, dried fruit (plum, fig and raisin) than I ever got from the regular production. It’s not overpowering in any way, but it’s different than what I’m used to with PP. There also seems to be more Perique in this blend. It has a bit more spice and I’m guessing that’s where more of the fruit flavor is coming from.
The more I smoke this stuff, the more I like and the more flavors I can pick out. In my very limited experience, I would consider this to be a fairly complex blend. The smoke is silky smooth, creamy and very sweet. Not an aromatic type sweetness, but a very pleasant natural sweetness. It burns cool and it’s easy to retrohale, but I did get a bit of tingling in my nose from the Perique.
The description says some of the orientals were subbed out for a “special small leaf tobacco”. I haven’t found any information on what type of tobacco that might be. I don’t taste anything I would consider new, in this blend. It’s certainly a lot smoother and creamier than the regular production, but to me it seems like they just adjusted the amounts of each tobacco making up the blend. Either way, this stuff is absolutely worth buying. I would recommend this to anyone who loves English blends or anyone who is looking to get a feel for them.
Another
huge shout out to Frank for being so kind as to send me a tin of this incredible leaf! Your generosity is very much appreciated!!
Practice makes perfect.
