4noggins Bulk: FATHER ORIN

Burley smoker. Nice little Burley/Virginia blend. Heavy hit of honey on initial light up and near the end. I intend to buy more.

I got a sample of this tobacco a year ago and forgot about it completely until today I found it among my stash. The taste is subtle and soft. The tobacco smolders slowly and steady. For me the most appreciated feature is the lack of tongue bite. Even if you smoke it fast it's easy on the taste buds. Room note resembles the smell of cigar (tolerable). I can recommend this blend for Va/burley fans.

In the pouch, a mix of light tan, dark brown and almost black ribbons of uneven cut. The pouch aroma: pleasant, with a mild off-fruity note, close to old redcurrants or perhaps blackberries (in a nice way). Not much honey and unsure about bourbon, but some of that was definitely there on lighting up the pipe. Topping is rather light, pleasant and not intrusive, with good quality burley and virginia nicely coming through. Absolutely no bite. Gentle even flavour remains throughout the bowl leaving mottled black and white ash without aftertaste. A well-behaved top class blend that can be smoked all day.

I'm mostly a VA flake lover, but my main change of pace blend is usually a Burley blend. I've tried most of Rich's VA's, all of which are great, but decided to sample some of his Burley offerings, Father Orin being my first choice. Well, what a joy. I personally like a good dose of Virginia with my Burley, and I'd say this is close to 50/50. Equally I like my aromatics not too heavily cased, I've noticed this blend doesn't make it into his Aromatic Sampler, I would describe it as a semi-aromatic, just how I like it. Every time I try to think of anything I'd adjust with this blend, I just can't find anything. It is Perfection. Everything comes together in perfect harmony. I've found most whiskey blends have an added rounded fruity flavour rather than an actual pronounced whiskey flavour. If overly done, the whiskey casing just tastes artificial or processed. In this blend the Bourbon brings a fruity flavour, the honey, a subtle sweetness to the tartness of the Burley, the VA's bring it all together. I'd say the Burley leads this blend, but if you smoke it in a VA pipe then the Virginia's push more to the front. It is simply perfection, a flawless example of blending as a fine art. Now why the hell did I only order two ounce's? That won't be happening again!

As I've said before, I haven't smoked an aromatic baccy in several years; I'm a big fan of English mixtures and VA-Periques. But Matt Robillard's terrific Father Orin almost single-handedly modified my smoking régime (I've been enjoying pipes for over 40 years). I love the mild-but-quite-discernible fine bourbon whiskey & honey that top the superior-grade Virginia & burley tobaccos. Father O smokes slow & cool without gunking up my Missouri Meerschaum corncobs. This truly all-day smoke has just enough complexity to never get boring. I highly recommend this mild aromatic as a change of pace to folks who DON'T usually like aromatics. After trying this blend, I asked Rich Gottlieb to include a sample of his Essence of Vermont. Guess what? EofV is just as good. Stay tuned for my review of that baccy, too. IMHO 4noggins is simply the best source of top-quality AND reasonably priced tobaccos, pipes, and accessories anywhere. Even with shipping costs, Rich & co. save me a bundle on bulk tobacco compared with buying our over-taxed equivalents here in Canada. A real godsend for fixed-income retirees like me. Cheers!