Certain tobaccos impart distinct flavours to their respective blends.
Virginia is toasty, grassy or lemony;
burley is nutty and often sprayed with fruity essences;
"oriental" or "turkish" tobaccos vary considerably, but often taste floral, citrous, or leathery;
perique is piquant, and tastes like stewed fruit, salsa and chrome;
latakia--the most distinctive "condiment" tobacco of all--smells like road tar, burning camel shit and funeral incense, and tastes like it smells, except saltier.
Westminster is a full-bodied English blend comprised of virginias, orientals and Cyprian latakia. Compared to the rarer Syrian latakia, which has a smoky transparency and a hint of overripe pomegranate, the Cyprian leaf has a darker, almost opaque quality and a slight mustiness. I think I prefer the Cyprian, although the fullness of either can be off-putting. The virginias taste like
toast. The orientals taste like a
petting zoo full of
goats and
llamas. It smokes very cool, and the flavour is consistent throughout the bowl, although I usually end up tossing the last 1/4 (bad for the pipe, I know, but it tastes like wet ass). Overall, Westminster has more balls and nicotine than Esoterica Tobacciana's
Penzance, another notorious Cyprian heavy hitter. If it's cased (i.e. flavoured) at all, I can't tell.
Some people (
English people, I
imagine) can smoke an English blend all day long. I like one once in a while, on a cloudy, chilly day when I'm feeling
nostalgic and/or a little
sad. Don't ever smoke Westminster indoors with other people around unless you like making lifelong enemies. In fact, you probably shouldn't even smoke it while you're
on the phone.
RATING: a bittersweet 80%--Don't smoke latakia, kids, unless you really want to smell death.
(Image from
smokingpipes.com. Also, that petting zoo is in Houston *
cough cough*.)
Vintage Violence, John Cale's first solo album following his departure from the Velvet Underground, is one of my favorite albums ever. Cale wrote and recorded the music in 3 days, around the same era he was producing The Stooges' first album, The Stooges, along with Nico's The Marble Index. Vintage Violence is mostly a pop album with elements of folk, and I can't describe the album better than Rolling Stone magazines' Ed Ward (sad, I know) who stated that Vintage Violence sounds "like a Byrds' album produced by Phil Spector marinated for six years in burgundy, anise and chili peppers". Actually, I'm not entirely sure what the fuck that means but the Phil Spector part is fairly accurate. If you have to pay $.99/track (I understand, we are living in a recession) then I'd recommend "Hello, There", "Cleo" and "Bring It On Up." Goodnight everyone.
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