yeah, i'm behind, it takes a minute for me to organize my mental chaos...
GLPease key largo.
first off, i want to than siakingsport, who was kind enough to bomb me the tin. because the quiet ones are never to be trusted. o)
key largo is a standard GLP "paint can" tin, and the tin art is sharp, so points on presentation. upon opening, it is OBVIOUSLY an english, you can't mistake the Lat in the nose, campfire and mulch. the tobacco is a broken flake, i think, where you can see flat slices, but time and transit and gravity, but it appears dark and rich. and WET. i think a lot of the GLP blends are a little wet, and for my palate a little drying time, or packing and loading with consideration to moisture content, is in order.
number of bowls smoked: half a tin (the other half having been bombed out)
pipe used: eight of them, meer, pear, morta, and briar, just to get a comprehensive sense
prep: cube cut, fold and stuff, and rubbed out (fully and partially)
here's the thing about this tobacco: it has an unctuous and oily presence from the Lat, peat and iodine, and some bright notes from either Va's or orientals, but a recurrent earthy, tart, and sour note from the cigar leaf. it is VERY apparent in fold and stuff, where the flakes are more intact and you get the separation of the tobaccos, less so in cube cut, and more melded and homogenized in the rubbed out preps. but it isn't a mainstay for me. the cigar leaf takes the place of burley as a neutral core, but it is too assertive for me under most conditions. the blend works in its components, and it works as a whole, but it wont be a mainstay for me. i can appreciate it, and in a few bowls i loved it, but i don't NEED it, like i do when a blend clicks for me.
in my life, for my palate, when i want a CIGAR i will burn a cigar, and when i want a pipe, i want a pipe. if you have heard of "condiment tobaccos", this is one for me, where a little makes it, and a lot breaks it. if the cigar leaf in this blend played a more support role, it may have been a LOVE it, but as it is, while i fully plan on revisiting it, GLP key largo won't be something i will be stashing...
that said, the perverse side of my mind wonders of the cigar leaf component will mellow sufficiently with time to sing in harmony with the rest of the blend...
