The apple tobacco of my eye…and taste

Solani Blend 127

I opened the tin and knew immediately that I liked Solani Green Blend 127 – Green. Its an appetizing blend of black cavendish and light and dark brown tobaccos. It contains some finely chopped, some ribbon and some more like shredded leaf.  Then I looked it up on tobaccoreviews.com and saw that it’s actually made by Kohlhase & Kopp one of my favorite pipe tobacco manufacturers.

There’s a tangy, sweet aroma that makes me want to just sit and inhale the delicious aroma. It says, “Sweet Apple Flavor” on the label and I do smell apples. I just don’t think it screams “apple” quite as loudly as some claim. Its mildly apple, to my nose, with maybe a hint of ripe cherries or berries. Some reviewers say it smells and tastes like Granny Smith apples. Personally,  I think it more of a Braeburn or even a Golden Delicious flavor – sweet apples with an underlying tartness. But I digress.

I found the moisture level in a newly opened tin to be almost right. It is not too dry, but not so moist you have to dry it between paper towels to absorb the moisture. In other words, it’s not sticky but it’s not dry as dust either. When I grabbed some and let it drop back into the tin, it fell in individual bits and ribbons.

Solani Green lights easily, with just a charring light, tamp and second light to get it going. I like the sweet, fruitiness I get when paired with black coffee.   I found it smooth. Being someone who smokes slowly, it didn’t bite until I took a sip of straight rum. Even then, the bite was more like what I expect from eating a piece of cinnamon candy instead of “I burnt my tongue from smoking too fast.”

Now, if you are one of those pipe smokers who want to taste the tobacco first and the flavor second, this isn’t the tobacco for you. Other’s say it’s heavily cased and they can’t taste the tobacco. I found the flavor to be dominant until almost the bottom of the bowl but that’s not saying I couldn’t taste the tobacco. I found the Virginia’s to be there as a complimentary ingredient that enhances the apple flavoring.

As for the casing, in my experience, a heavily cased tobacco is overly moist and always leaves moisture in the bottom of the bowl. The moisture also causes gurgling and I do smoke some tobacco that are so moist I keep a pipe cleaner handy. Solani Green isn’t one of them. It leaves little moisture in the bottom of the bowl and I haven’t noticed a gurgling in either the straight or bent pipes I’ve used.

Where to buy:

Solani Tobacco is imported to the U.S. by Monjure International. It’s available at smokingpipes.com, pipesandcigars.com, and other on line and local retailers. In the New Orleans area, it is available at The Mayan Import Company.