Altadis -- Count Pulaski

Brand: Altadis
Blend: Count Pulaski
Style: English/Aromatic
Pipe Used: Savinelli Natural Oscar #313
Price: $6.96/4oz.

Appearance: 6
Taste: 7 *UPDATED TO 9*
Room Note: 4
Value: 10
Overall: 7 *UPDATED TO 8*

In my search for an anise-flavored tobacco one name kept popping up on various forums -- Count Pulaski. Since I grew up in Detroit I'm well acquainted with Casimir Pulaski the Polish cavalry officer who fought and died for the American side in the Revolutionary War. Heck, the fellow even has a nice statue downtown. But what about the tobacco?

Count Pulaski is a blend from the huge tobacco company Altadis and while many pipe and cigar smokers hold their wealth of offerings in disdain, I'm not one to make snap judgments without first sampling the goods.

Described as being a combination of Burley, Virginia, Carolina and Latakia leaf with a topping of rum and anise, Count Pulaski is a difficult blend to categorize. The strong Latakia component places it firmly in the English camp while the added flavorings indicate that it belongs to the aromatic family. For my purposes I'll just call it an English-style aromatic.

Count Pulaski is a very coarse cut tobacco consisting of fairly large pieces of mostly black and some light tan tobacco leaf. Unless you're smoking a large pipe some further break-up is required before packing and smoking.

The pouch, or in my case bail-top jar, aroma is overwhelmingly Latakia and my nose could detect none of the advertised toppings be they rum or anise.

I set some tobacco aside to dry for a few hours then loaded up my pipe. The charring light revealed that I should have torn the tobacco a bit more as large pieces started to burn and rear up out of the bowl. It took a lot of tamping and charring to get this mess tamed but once it was under control in burned just fine.

The first flavor to hit was of course the Latakia and it left no doubt that this was predominantly an English blend. The large Burley component added a nice nutty undertone that one doesn't typically find in this style of tobacco while the Virginia leaf brought some spicy sweetness to the mix. Heavy puffing also brought out a very strong cigar type taste which was very much to my liking.

Since I bought this tobacco mainly for its anise flavor I waited and waited for that aspect to emerge but it never really did. No anise, no rum -- just a slightly herbal undertone to tickle the tongue. Some of the smoke had a faint licorice aroma but I've found that in other English blends and tend to attribute it to the Latakia.

Save for that slightly sweet scent, the room aroma of Count Pulaski is not likely to win many friends as the Latakia assaults the nose like moldy sweat socks thrown on a campfire. I for one enjoy that smell but most innocent bystanders will likely be knocked on their keisters.

The coarse cut did give me some problems with burn issues but the blend still behaved well and offered up a cool, bite-free smoke. The tobacco also burned down to a nice dry ash and left no goop behind in the pipe which is surprising for an inexpensive bulk aromatic such as this.

Count Pulaski is an interesting blend from Altadis and is likely to appeal to fans of light English or aromatic English tobacco styles. I was a bit disappointed that the anise flavor never came through for me and without that added twist there's just not much to recommend this over many other similar blends. Where I can recommend it is in both behavior and price since the tobacco burns well (if torn up a bit beforehand) and is offered at a ridiculously low bulk price.

*UPDATE 6/27/09*
Last night I stumbled on a cob that I had loaded with Count Pulaski a few days earlier to take fishing and had forgotten about. I decided to light it up and was met with one of the finest, most sublime smokes I've yet experienced.

The missing hints of anise were finally there and the pleasant cigar-like taste had evolved into a richly mellow leathery taste that was superb.

All in all this neglected bowl of Count Pulaski provided a nearly perfect smoke and my ratings have been bumped up to recognize that fact.

HPCS Adirondack Series -- Trout Stream

Brand: HPCS Adirondack Series
Blend: Trout Stream
Style: Aromatic
Pipe Used: Peterson Aran 150
Price: $9.99/4oz.

Appearance: 7
Taste: 7
Room Note: 8
Value: 8
Overall: 7

Trout Stream is an exclusive offering from the Habana Premium Cigar Shoppe -- better known as pipesandcigars.com. I'm a huge fan of their Butternut Burley and had heard many good things about this blend as well so I ordered a few ounces to give it a try.

The tobacco is a mixture of Golden and Black Cavendish and comes in a black and tan ribbon cut form. The aroma was great and smelled of butterscotch. The moisture content was about on par for an aromatic so I set some tobacco aside for a few hours to dry out.

I loaded up my Peterson Aran 150 Bulldog, gave the tobacco a charring light, and away I went. The flavor started out mellow and pretty much stayed that way to the end. Being composed solely of Cavendish tobacco, this blend is fairly straightforward and offers no surprises. The butterscotch came across as a slightly sweet aftertaste but wasn't nearly as front and center as I expected given the initial smell of the tobacco.

Trout Stream is a very well behaved blend and burned nice and dry with no goopy residue left behind in the pipe. It also burned evenly and only required a few relights along the way. The blend was also bite free and provided a nice, cool smoke.

As is the case with many aromatics, the room aroma was much richer than the taste of the actual tobacco. That's not a knock against the blend, just a statement of fact.

Trout Stream is a nice enough aromatic and I really have nothing bad to say about it but I much prefer the added flavor depth found with Butternut Burley and since it runs $10 cheaper per pound I can't really see myself ordering more of this blend in the future.