Forums
I´m a latakia fan. I love blends infested with the dark leaf, from bombs to the ones with just a whisper of it in them. But on summer, due to infernal Spanish summer, (Tomorrow we'll be in yellow alert in my area because temperatures will reach 104F), I don´t feel well smoking latakia blends, so I switch to straight Virginia and Orientals. Just on occasion I can add a pinch of Latakia to them, just enough to wonder if that background lightly smoked note is latakia or not.
Have you had similar experiences or have a summer blend?.
Latakia is many ways IS pipe smoking to me. I love lat bombs like Lancer's slices and more oriental driven Balkans. But it does feel like fall and winter. I still mix it in during the summer but less frequently.
However, I tend to smoke more burley or Bur/VAs in the summer I like a good stout VA based flake and enjoy red and darker brown VAs. But a lighter straight VA or VA oriental just doesn't turn my crank very often. I lack refinement of taste. But this relates to more than just pipe smoking. 😂
It’s not a rigid rule for me and I still smoke a wide variety, but I definitely lean towards Virginias, VaBur and Virginia/Oriental blends in the summer. They just seem to fit with the weather.
I have No experience smoking in a really cold weather. My temperature reference is quite summer the whole year. When the winter reaches we usually get 20 °C/68 °F which is not cold at all. So i believe I'm use to smoke latakia on hot weather.
Dang. Nice! Up here... I may as well hang up the pipes from December through April. Lunting is my only winter option. 😐
In the area where I live it´s said we have nine months of winter and three of hell. Last December we reached -16ºC. We had a late frost at the end of may that ruined half of the grapes for wine plantations, and a week later began the hell.
I smoke very little latakia, I don't really have seasonal preferences as far as I'm aware.
I haven't really thought about seasonal tobaccos, but I understand it's a big consideration for many.
So far, I seem to find myself reaching for aromatics more frequently than normal, but it's not a conscious decision, really. 🤔
In the central area of Chile we have very distinct seasons, cold and rainy winters and hot and dry summers. This makes my preference for blends adapt to the climate. I definitely enjoy Virginias and Vapers a lot more in the summer, but without ever giving up a good smoky bowl of latakia at night.
Seasonal blends? I find myself totally ignorant. I don't yet have any awareness of, or connection to, such traditions. For me, any blend goes, year-round.
Just personal taste. For me and others is difficult to enjoy a latakia blend with hot weather. I can´t find a scientific reason, but on summer I feel better with straight Virginias and Orientals, even if they are bold. I recently added Aged Burley Flake by @Lee prescription to my summer survival kit.
I tend to smoke english mixtures and balkans between autumn and end of spring, when summer's hot and burning I dedicate myself to Virginia and Virginia-Perique in flake, or a light Oriental mixture.
My two all summer blends are:
- Capstan blue
- G.L.Pease - Cairo
Now that I discovered Orlik golden sliced it will be also in that list. Sometimes I smoke some italian Kentucky, but that's when I feel cocky and I wanna test my resistance 🤣
I don't live in Italy actually, I live in Switzerland, and for now no Samuel Gawith available on the Helvetic market, even though we're not in the EU...
But we have access to a lot of other good brands like G.L.Pease and Cornell & Diehl so I'm consoling myself with that 😊
So you can happily order to Synjeco, that sells almost the complete G.L.Pease range. You're lucky!!!
I have to beg my wife's relative, who lives there, to bring me five tins, (maximum you can bring to Spain) when he comes from Christmas.
Right now I'm with Joseph in that I don't favour a particular style at any particular time but this will be my first full summer as a "real" pipe smoker so maybe by the end of season that will change. In the meantime the conversations are quite educational so keep 'er going.
I don’t have any seasonal preferences and always smoke whatever takes my fancy. I probably smoke less Latakia in summer, but not by a great amount.
Denmark and UK have kind summers, comparable to the beginning of the spring where I live. West Central Spain has hellish summers with temperatures around 30-40º C. People disappear from the streets from 14,30 to 19h. Only sunburned tourists with the red skin, are so reckless to be in the street at these times. When I see them I remember a song from a Brazilian composer, Vinicius de Moraes, "Sol, cocinheiro da gente". (Sun, cook of the people).
Yes, they’re like kids who only get chocolate around Christmas time - when the time comes, they get as much as they can! You’d understand better if you’d lived in a place like Manchester most of your life! 😊 It’s still crazy, of course! And, dangerous. But, the Spanish should just smile, count their Euros and sell sunscreen!
Yes, I understand perfectly, and even have helped a couple of them with severe burns, with insurance papers at Hospital. Someone should tell them how dangerous can be the sun.
At this time, at same temperature, people in Brazil is enjoying the beach. I´m not part of them, most of time I´m avoiding the sun but here people use to like when it´s sun and 40 ºC. You don´t need wait to the weekend to see the beach completely full.
I'm italian, so people here in Switzerland think that, as a mediterranean dude, I could stand any temperature. In reality, if I'm under the sun for more than 5 minutes, I feel death coming to me.
That's why I love trees.
I have a severe sun intolerance caused by years and years of working outside with almost no protection. I have to protect my skin with the most powerful sun screen on the market, and of course, avoid sun.
target="_blank"
