Blend: #18
Pipe: Comoy's bent bulldog
Packing method: Codger stuff
Appearance: Ribbon cut. Dark yellow and brown with a lot of black tobacco.
Pouch Note: Smells like an English blend. Latakia is present, but not overwhelming.
Lighting method (why didn't I think of this before?): standard Zippo

At first light this blend seemed a bit unbalanced, but as it settled in, everything pulled together, and I got the sense of a pretty decent English blend. All of the component tobaccos found their place, and the smoking experience became rather pleasant. I was smoking this as I was reading something, and my cadence must have been just right, as I was surprised that I was nearing the end. I set it down with about 25% left.

After typing up that first paragraph, I relit for the final stretch. A very slight note of sweetness is present, as well as a balancing astringent note. The smokiness of the Latakia doesn't dominate, but is always present, like a chatty backseat passenger who keeps you awake during night drives. Present enough that it's a bit hard to tell if there's Burley or Oriental in the blend, though I do suspect that there may not be Perique, unless it's in very negligible amounts.

Right near the end of the bowl I had trouble keeping it lit. Probably a combination of moisture and accumulated ash. So I scraped out the rest and swabbed the pipe. I thought this was a decent English blend. Not quite as good as #16, but good enough to finish off this baggie at least. The initial sense of unbalance, though it subsided, might still have been there just beneath the surface, though not enough to turn me off to this particular mixture.