Bruck's Review of Peter Stokkebye 41 Cube Cut
I ordered an ounce of PS 41 Cube Cut on the basis of a favorable comment or review I read recently. PS 41 is primarily a VA-Burley thin pressed flake with some Cavendish, cut into small cubes slightly larger, and not too different in appearance from Grape Nuts. I fired up a bowl "right off the truck" as they say on the cigar side, and was quite pleased. As I always do with new tobaccos, I brought a sample in for a BOTL co-worker, who was also duly impressed. When it went on sale at P&C the next week, we went in together on a bulk order.
The Review:
Tin note: In my case this would be "Ball jar note." Basic burley tobacco aroma with some sweetness. I don't really pay too much attention to tin note, however, as it often does not have much to do with the burning flavor. In fact I really only consider tin note when composing the odd review.
Texture: As noted above, PS 41 is a "cube cut," which is a pressed flake, a thin one in this case, cut into small cubes, like Grape Nuts cereal but bigger. It's not all cubes, as pieces break off, and they're not all dice-like perfect cubes either, but that's the general idea. I have approx. a half pound of it in a 20 oz Ball jar, so it's fairly dense - I normally get less than a half pound of ribbon cut to fit in a quart jar. To load the pipe, I employ gravity fill with slight tamping after the initial toasting.
Appearance: little sorta-cubes, abt 1/8" to 3/16", colors varying between light and dark brown.
Burn: It arrived by mail slightly damper than I prefer, as do most bulk tobaccos. My first bowl, ROTT, burned well at first but then got a little soggy toward the bottom, requiring a few relights, and then I had to dump out the balance. I put a dessicant pack in the jar for a few hours, then let it sit (sealed) overnight to stabilize the moisture level, and that seems to have done the trick. Stayed pretty dry down to the bottom of a MM General bowl, just requiring a few relights toward the end. The size of the cubes seems to be about right - unlike some flakes, no "rubbing out" was required, so the small cubes seem to have about the right surface area to volume ratio for steady oxidation. You do have to careful when dumping the ashes, as the partially-burned cubes tend to fall out along with. Tongue bite: none.
Flavor: Excellent. The burley flavor is predominant, and the VA complements nicely. I don't really detect the Cavendish which supposedly is in there, but Cavendish by itself is pretty subtle, so it might just be there in the background helping with the burn. There is some sweetness which may be a mild topping or from the VA. Other reviewers have noted chocolate or vanilla notes, but to me it's more of a straight tobacco flavor with hints of whole wheat toast. The flavor doesn't change much throughout the bowl, but like most tobaccos, it gets a little bitter if I smoke it too fast. Overall, a very nice blend, subtle, not too complex. Sort of like Half and Half without the medicinal flavor.
Strength: medium vitamin N.
Room note: I don't usually pay much attention to room note, as I'm normally smoking alone, but for the sake of comprehensiveness I'll include it here.
Bruck: "Honey, how does this tobacco smell?"
Mrs. Bruck: "Get out of the house with that thing!"
Once outside,
Bruck: "OK, now how does it smell?"
Mrs. Bruck: "Pretty good."
In summary, this is an excellent, and fairly inexpensive, tobacco with good flavor, requiring some drying for optimal burn.
