The Magnificent Seven and the Mystery Blend.

Thanks Ronnie for your impressions of the blend. You are close, but no cigar, so to speak (No, you don't win a cigar if you guess right.) So who's next up? A little birdie has since told me what it is since the beginning of our examination of this formerly unknown blend.

Here's my summary

as soon as I opened the bag I captured a scent of vinegar or that mcclelland trademark. I loaded it easily. Not too dry, not wet, a near perfect humidification for me. I loaded it in a cob, charred the top as I do any tobacco and false light. Then I tamped a nice tight head and relit. Took a puff. Reminded me big time of one of my favorite blends, Z50 Black Cordial. Soooo, this is leading me to think it is a member of the Sutliff family. Faintly, I get a Latakia kick. To put a weight I'd say 80% black cavendish and burley aromatic and 20% Latakia. The room note is fantastic for me. I smoke something extremely similar to this and own 2 pounds of that stuff. If I were to add a bit of Latakia it would replicate spot on I think. I agree that this blend definitely feels more like a yesteryear blend that our past generations would have smoked. I love nostalgia so that's a bonus for me.

I know that when we find out what it is, I'm buying a 2 pounds of it.

Thanks for the review! Two down and five more to go.

nortac said:

Do let me know if you don't get it soon.

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Received.

DC_MPA said:

I know that when we find out what it is, I'm buying a 2 pounds of it.

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The blend sounds right up my alley, so I'm on board with picking some up once it's revealed.

Hopefully, everyone will have theirs by the end of the day.

Got my sample today, smells pretty damn good, will post an update once I get a chance to devote some time to the first tasting in the next few days.

WE look forward to your assessment sir!

I'm ready for more reviews!

I smoked a bowl this weekend and took down notes. I'll smoke another tonight and post my thoughts.

What Micah said. I've been out of state for a bit and didn't take the sample with me, but smoked a bowl in a cob before I left. I'll burn another bowl and revisit it.

My initial, unrefined opinion on the initial bowl:

Looks: Black Cavendish and Virginia.

Tin (bag) note: Perfume.

First third of the bowl: Couldn't get past the aro. Since I've not had bulk aro. I have nothing to compare it to besides OTC. The taste was a bit familiar, and the wife said the room note reminded her of cherry...that was it!

It reminded me of the small, plastic tipped cherry flavored cigars I smoked a few of when I was younger. The remaining two thirds of the bowl got dumped into the ashtray.

I think it's a cherry flavored Tiparillo cigar tobacco posing as pipe tobacco.

I will revisit it though...but I think I ruined a perfectly good cob pipe.

Mike, don't hold back, tell us how you really feel! LOL

nortac said:

Mike, don't hold back, tell us how you really feel! LOL

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You really don't want to know.

Did I mention that I don't like aromatics?

OK, finally got a second crack at "Abita", so here are my thoughts.

Bag note: I get cocoa, maybe a little vanilla, pleasant dusty smell, slightly sweet aroma

Moisture: seems OK. This is not a goopy aro, and when i squeeze together a bunch in my hand it doesn't stick at all.

Pre-Smoke Investigation: I searched the interwebs, but couldn't get any clue on the blend. I even sleuthed some pics of the store's display and looked up some of the other blend names I saw to try to determine which product line they carry, but no luck. I'm going to have to do this the old fashioned way. So, I tore a small portion the blend apart into components. This is nothing more than taking a small sample of the tobacco and painstakingly separating each leaf by type. Here's what I found.


A good portion (more than half) is a broad cut black cavendish.
A smaller portion (about 1/3) is some type of mahogany colored leaf, which I suspect is a virginia (more on that later). Then there is a little portion of what looks like pressed tobacco in a medium brown color. This might be the stems from the mahagony portion, and there's not much of it in the blend, so I'm guessing that's what it is. If it's a separate component, my guess is some kind of burley. Lastly, there are a few scraps of a leaf I can't identify. It could be smaller pieces of the cavendish, but it's slightly less dark--more of a really dark brown than a black. I suspect this is due to variation in the leaf, but the cut looks a little different some I'm leaving the possibility open that it's some kind of condiment tobacco--maybe a touch of perique, but I'm not really sure.

Set up: both times I put it in my Radiator Pipe, which I find gives me a clean smoke which is good for tasting new blends.

Smoking: Yep, it's an aro. This is definitely an aro something, and has kind of a generic aro flavor. Think along the lines of Captain Black and Lane 1Q. Initial thought--it's not bad. I don't get giant clouds of how steam like I do when I smoke a blend with lots of PG, and the flavor comes through fine.

With aros like this (which aren't really my cup of tea), it can be hard to nail down exactly what it is, so I sometimes find it easier to describe in terms of what I don't taste: not fruity, not caramel, not nutty, not spicey. Even though the aroma was slightly cocoa, I don't get a real cocoa hit. The flavor I do get is a little vanilla, maybe a little coconut, maybe a little honey.

Here's a few things I also don't taste: latakia, orientals, dark fired KY, or spicy perique. I also don't get any nicotine from this blend. Yeah, I can handle my nic so it might be there and just too light for me, but the lack of any real nic feeling makes me think the blend has virginias instead of burley in it (since I usually feel a little punch from the burley). So, I'm going to guess it's a cavendish and virginia blend. If I had to guess, I'd say it's McClelland Ave TQ.

OK guys, I've had two bowls of the "Abita Blend", first was in a Briar (Pot) and the second in a African meerschaum (Pot)...
Bag note: creamy vanilla, caramel, creme brûlée/amaretto type of scent, really nice aroma, for a dessert not a tobacco
Blend make up: your typical aromatic base tobaccos, Burley, Cavendish & Virginia I believe.

Light up: really nice aroma and a burst of sweet creamy flavor which quickly goes bland shortly after light up and the aroma has a scorched/artificial hint to it if pushed at all.
No real tongue bite if smoke at a slow cadence, flavor starts to come back around the last 3rd of the bowl as well as a little body, a definite crowd pleaser if that's your goal, doesn't strike me as a McClelland blend (but I really don't smoke their aros anyway) more of a Stokkebye/Altadis/Lane style IMO.
I got some alcohol hints near the end of the bowl.
Final verdict: Not a bad aro as aros go but definitely I would never crave or buy it, thanks for the chance to try it and hopefully my honest thoughts don't offend anyone.

Thanks Hirsute and Blade Boy for your honest opinions and astute observations on "Abita Blend". No one should be concerned about offending myself, or anyone else, for that matter. I have no emotional investment in this blend. I put it forth for the taste test and identification to enhance my own and others' knowledge of the leaf and I appreciate all of your insights, even the most negative

Hirsute said:

..................If I had to guess, I'd say it's McClelland Ave TQ.

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Just an FYI, I went to Tobacco Review's site and found that the ingredients in both our guesses are nearly identical. One favoring chocolate and the other vanilla as a topping. This was fun, thanks for letting me play.

Ill give further confusion, neither are correct I've figured it out with certainty and can say that there have been a few close calls but no ones hit it on the nose yet.

alpster said:

Just an FYI, I went to Tobacco Review's site and found that the ingredients in both our guesses are nearly identical. One favoring chocolate and the other vanilla as a topping. This was fun, thanks for letting me play.

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DC_MPA said:

Ill give further confusion, neither are correct I've figured it out with certainty and can say that there have been a few close calls but no ones hit it on the nose yet.

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Hence the little birdie who had the audacity to actually call the B&M shop in question and ask what it was. I guess they weren't afraid to tell someone who was not local for fear of losing sales to the internet. Magnificent!

I do what I can for the future of all pipe smokers, near and far!

it was one small step for me but one giant leap for the magnificent seven.