My 5 Favorite Tobaccos

5. McClelland ST. James Woods. This classic blend of Virginias and Perique is strangely compelling. I once smoked it compulsively for the better part of 24 hours and I don't know why. I can say this much, it's tangy & sweet, and if you smoke it all day, your mouth will feel like it's ready for Saint James Infirmary. It's like good butterscotch, the flavor is always just a little out of reach - maddening!

Runner-up: Davidoff Flake Medallions. Virginia, Perique, and Cavendish rolled into thinly sliced bull's-eyes. For when I don't want to go all catnippy over a Va/Per.

4. Solani: X - Sweet Mystery (113). This is my favorite aromatic blend. In fact, it's the only aromatic I habitually keep on hand. Says Monjure International USA, X -Sweet Mystery is a "Virginia blend consisting of red sweet Virginias and broad bright Virginias from the best regions in the world. Virginia flake and double-fermented sweet black Cavendish have also been added. A pinch of black currant treated with Bacardi and CocoCream results in a mystic sweet taste with fantastic room aroma. Wildcut, cross-cut and broken flake are combined to make this blend cool burning ... " Some say the black currant flavoring steps on the other flavors, but that's not entirely true, though it is the dominant topping.

Runner-Up: Solani Green Label (779). Black Cavendish with an Apple topping, this blend smells better in the tin than in the bowl, but it's still pretty good.

3. Samuel Gawith Golden Glow. Known as Medium Virginia Flake in bulk, Golden Glow is a great every-day smoke. It's not too strong, not too, well, not too anything actually - just a loyal broken-flake, rough and ready. In the can, it smells like hay, very much like hay - like when the hayloft has just been filled. In the bowl, it's just what it's supposed to be, "blended, flue-cured Golden Virginias, pressed and matured. Cut to form a broken flake which offers a natural sweetness."

Runner-up: Dunhill Light Flake. For when I want something a little stronger and more ruminative than Golden Glow. The term "Light" refers to the color of the tobacco, not its strength, which is fairly strong. I hear its been discontinued.

2. Balkan Sasieni. This is the most Old Testament tobacco I have ever smoked. What was Moses smoking on Mount Sinai? Balkan Sasieni. Jonah's whale emetic? Balkan Sasieni. It smells like a tire fire in the can and like a barn burning in the bowl. It's antisocial, antiestablishment, and it wouldn't surprise me if it was antifungal. It is a strong, nasty, horrible tobacco, and I love it.

Runner-up: McClelland Frog Morton Across the Pond. For my lighter, New Testament moods.

1. Solani White & Black (763). Like ST. James Woods, this blend puzzles me. I don't know how to describe it, except to say that it tastes very good. The ingredients, "flake with dark Virginia, black Cavendish and Syrian Latakia," seem to work together in harmony to produce a perfect blend. It's not the only perfect blend, mind you, merely a perfect blend amongst a select few. I also find it very soothing. Some tobaccos (like Balkan Sasieni), wake me up and some tobaccos (like White & Black), relax me. {I sometimes wonder if our preoccupation with nicotine keeps us from noticing the effects of the other constituents hiding in tobacco, such as short term MAO inhibitors? Could these harmine type alkaloids play more of a role in a given tobacco's perceived strength than we know? I think yes.} I smoke it once a day, time permitting, in the evenings. When I think of tobacco, White & Black is always the first thing that comes to mind.

Runner-up: None.

Photos: 1. Jonah & the whale. 2. Phil May, ca. 1883 - 1903 (Library of Congress)