ATTENTION: CB Pipe Tobacco Review Bombing Run Version 2.0

[Emperor Zurg]

Date: 4/15/15
Bum: Emperor Zurg
Sample: “Orange i" Vac Packed G&H Brown Flake
Pipe: MM Freehand Natural
Environment: Vehicle - windows down, highway

Observations:
Appearance: Brown flake with lighter streaks
Preparation: Dried for a couple hours - fold and stuff almost 1 entire flake. This pipe holds quite a payload.
Burn: Burned beautifully after I got it going. No relights unless I put it down for a while.
Tin Note: Sweet hay and raisins.
Flavor:
False light tasted of Lakeland soap. I puffed it a bit and it changed to a creamy soap, then I let it go out.
True light took a couple tries with quite a bit of fire and puffing - got pretty bitter but I finally got an ember going.
Once it got under way and settled down...
The first thing I noticed was dry hay. Dry hay with a touch of soap. Soon this took on a pretty dry, floral profile that stabilized for a bit. After about 10 minutes I got some sweetness creeping in that continued to build throughout the bowl. About 20/25 minutes in I would describe the flavor as sweet dry grass with a light floral component. Eventually the floral started to fade a bit, giving way to a hint of pepper. The pepper was welcome because I was getting bored with the floral grass flavor and hoping to get a shift to citrus or dried fruit (which never came). The pepper built for a while and the smoke eventually took on a bit of an almond flavor once in a while, although never loosing the floral component. This seemed to be the dominant profile because it lasted for the majority of the bowl. Toward the beginning of the last 1/3 the pepper had faded out quite a bit (was never really strong in the first place) and I think I picked up a touch of apricot or something once in a while - the floral component seemed to be coming and going at this point. I was getting dizzy so I set the pipe down and grabbed lunch. After I recovered a bit, I lit it back up and once it settled down I was getting a pretty delicious caramelized sugar flavor on the tongue, although the smoke was still pretty floral out the nose. I was liking the caramel much more than the floral at this point so I didn't retro much anymore. The caramel also made a sip of my coffee taste a bit like butterscotch. I was enjoying this quite a bit but alas, the vitamin N was getting to me again and I was pretty near the bottom of the bowl so I set it down for the last part of the trip, fearing any more and I wouldn't be fit to drive.

Comments and conclusion:
This was another interesting and enjoyable flake. I didn't care so much for the constant floral profile but it changed around enough that it stayed interesting. I'd classify this as a medium strength that probably wouldn't have bothered me much had I smoked a usual-sized bowl but this was a long delivery trip and the Freehand holds an enormous payload - way more baccy than I would usually smoke in 1 sitting; about 2 hours in and I still have some left in the pipe. I did enjoy the previous, sticky flake more as I like the citrus flavor that one had, but I wouldn't turn this one down.

Thanks to Pete and Tobias for making all this possible!