RYO LifeStyle Blog
This Luxury Tobacco Smells like Chocolate
09
Nov
Nov
Daughters & Ryan, also known as D & R, are the manufacturers of numerous premium tobacco blends. They are relatively new in the premium pipe tobacco market but have still managed a striking entry not only because of the vast selection of blends the brand produces to satisfy every taste bud but also because of the quality of leaf they use and the care they take in crafting their premium blends.
D & R’s premium pipe tobacco is made from the finest flue-cured leaf blends and their tobacco is so high-quality, many people consider it a luxury brand. The brand offers an extensive assortment of tobacco blends, all of which can give any tobacco smoker the best pipe experience money can buy and some of which, interestingly, smells like chocolate.
Mark Ryan and his company, Daughters & Ryan, started as a roll-your-own (RYO) tobacco manufacturer and over time, expanded into the pipe market with their line of premium pipe tobaccos which they publicized as all-day smokes that you could enjoy on their own or as mixer components in your blends.
D & R is truly a top-shelf, one-of-a-kind pipe tobacco. It is luxury so it certainly doesn’t come cheap, but the quality that you get from the blends makes them well worth their price. The blends are flavor-packed, each having its distinctive profile so that the variety will almost have your head spinning, literally.
Here is a list of all the series of pipe tobacco Daughters & Ryan have come out with, the blends in each series, and everything you need to know about each one.
Daughters & Ryan Cockstrong
Cockstrong by Daughters & Ryan is a very American-style series of choice premium tobacco blends, combining Virginia tobaccos with smooth Burleys, flue-cured Gold Leaf, and some fragrant Oriental leaf from around the world. The result of this combination is a rich blend that does not rely on heavy flavorings at all to make it enjoyable. This tobacco is for people looking to enjoy the taste of high-quality tobacco and nothing else.
This traditional pipe blend is full-bodied with zero additional flavorings yet it constitutes a robust taste that will remind any aficionado of blends from the mid-20th century. The notes are so robust, you’ll get everything from woody, nutty, and oat-like notes with a touch of sweetness to floral notes with a touch of tart and tangy citrus, and then even some herbal, smoky notes as well.
The tobacco also has a very cool and clean burn. It was crafted by Mark Ryan to satisfy pipe smokers with distinctive tastes and preferences. The most amazing characteristic of this blend is that it has no chemical flavorings or casings added to it.
Daughters & Ryan PenHooker
D & R’s PenHooker comprises handpicked blends of flue-cured tobaccos that are bright in color and carry a remarkable natural sweetness. These mild to medium strength blends are very smooth and flavorful.
1. PenHooker Regular: The Regular blend of the series is a rich, straight Virginia tobacco blended in Canadian style with a regular American cut. The notes it offers include some grass, a touch of tangy dark fruit, earth, and wood, plus loads of tart and tangy citrus. The blend is mild, sweet, and smooth, and makes good mixer tobacco.
2. PenHooker Silver: In this PenHooker blend, lighter grades of flue-cured tobacco are used to give easier, silkier pipe smoke. The blend is still Canadian-style like the Regular and the strength is between mild and medium. The tobaccos provide earth, floral, and wood notes with a bit of tar and tangy citrus, a little tangy dark fruit, and a couple of pinches of spice, all lightly topped by some sugary sweetness. This can easily serve as an all-day smoke and makes a good mixer too.
3. PenHooker Green: This is the same blend as the PenHooker Regular with the addition of a minty flavor to it.
Daughters & Ryan Ramback
These exotic tobacco flavors are extremely popular. D & R’s Ramback tobaccos are characteristically made using hearty and fragrant Turkish leaf in Ribbon cuts, blended expertly for the perfect richness and balance. The Turkish or Oriental tobaccos are specially curated from the finest regions.
1. Ramback Regular: This Ramback blend is rich in wonderful, fragrant Izmir, one of the best-known Turkish tobaccos that give a slightly sweet and exotic flavor. When smoked, it has a silky smooth taste with a flavorful and slightly exotic oriental finish. In particular, the notes from this Turkish tobacco are fairly woody, earthy, and toasty, slightly floral and spicy, with a few sweet and sour notes. This blend would make a good mixer.
2. Ramback Gold: The Gold variant in the Ramback series comprises the same flavorful Izmir as the Ramback Regular but with the addition of a bright flue-cured leaf to give a lighter, sweeter, smoother flavor. The added leaf provides citrus and grass as supporting notes to those in the Regular variant. The strength and taste are medium and pleasant enough to not exactly be an all-day smoke but can certainly be repeatable.
3. Ramback Balkan: The Balkan is an exquisite blend of uniquely sweet, flue-cured Balkan Oriental and Balkan Virginia sun-cured tobaccos, with the bright and exotic flavor of select small-leaf Orientals, including exceptional Yenidje and Basma tobaccos. The blend presents a wonderful amalgamation of flavors with lemony to exotic spice notes and a very nice and mellow smell that gives pleasant room notes.
Daughters & Ryan Rimpoche
The Rimpoche line of D & R tobaccos includes ribbon-cut blends made of some special, full-flavored tobaccos such as sweet and spicy Louisiana Perique, dark and smoky Latakia from Cyprus, and the rare Acadian Black—dark-fired tobacco fermented for a year using the Perique blending method.
1. Rimboche A.B.: In this medium blend, sweet Virginias are melded with the unique flavor of Acadian Black (which is why it is called “A.B.”), a specially fermented, fire-cured tobacco, and a bit of Latakia is added for some distinctiveness. These elements are blended to produce this extraordinary tobacco which contains a combination of the fruity essence of the Perique blending process and the smoky warmth of dark-fired tobaccos. Plus, it has zero flavorings added to it.
2. Rimboche A.P.: “A.P.” stands for Acadian Perique. This is a blend of flue-cured Virginia tobaccos with a healthy portion of Acadian Perique to give it more body and a deeper sweetness. The flavor is rich and smooth with, grass, earth, wood, spice, and a few citruses and fruity notes. The strength is mild to medium and serves as a nice all-day smoke for the pipe veteran.
3. Rimboche S.J.: “S.J” refers to classic Saint James Parish Perique. This variant consists of Virginia tobacco blended with the rare St. James Perique. This extraordinary Perique tobacco is specially selected from the finest Louisiana tobacco fields (Magnolia Soil) and then anaerobically barrel fermented in Louisiana according to methods tracing back over 200 years. This blend is smooth and flavorful just like the A.P. variant.
Daughters & Ryan Rowland
The Rowland series features aromatic blends of smooth and mellow tobaccos, particularly suited to most American tastes. The ribbon-cut blends comprise sweet Virginias, nutty, earthy Burleys, and flavorful, herbal Orientals in various combinations that provide a subtle variety of flavors that all smell like chocolate.
1. Rowland Regular: The Rowland Regular is an easy-smoking but flavorful American-style blend, made up of a simple combination of Burley, Virginia, and Oriental tobaccos. This blend is for smokers who prefer a more conventional, aromatic pipe tobacco. The notes in this are your typical grass, citrus, nut, and earth with drops of honey, spice, smoke, and wood. This chocolate-scented aromatic can easily serve as an all-day smoke
2. Rowland Gold: The main component of this rich blend is the Virginia tobaccos, but these are flue-cured in a manner that is similar to some European-type Virginias. These Virginias offer very mild flavors of citrus, floral, and hay with a little earth, wood, and dark fruit. There is also a very lightly applied cocoa topping that evens out the rest of the flavors in the blend.
3. Rowland Silver: This is a lighter, smoother version of Rowland Regular but it is still rich in its way. The light chocolate topping in this has a mellowing effect that works to smooth out the blend.
4. Rowland Platinum: This is the smoothest and mildest blend of the Rowland series. It has plenty of flavor without the heavy feel of Regular tobacco.
Daughters & Ryan Ryback
Some pipe smokers have an acquired taste for the European or Dutch style of extra fine cuts of fire-cured tobacco. The Ryback blends cater to these tastes. These blends have rich bodies and bold flavors that are very reminiscent of some Dutch-style tobaccos.
1. Ryback Regular: This tobacco blend is a rich and robust shag cut, the dark-fired Virginias, Burleys, and Kentucky tobaccos offering hearty flavor notes of sweet citrus, nut, earth, floral, and spice. The strength of this blend is medium and strong. The strength of its smoke makes it not much of an all-day smoke.
2. Ryback Gold: The Gold variant consists of the same dark-fired tobacco as the Ryback Regular but there is more of Virginia in this blend, making it a more medium smoke that is slightly lighter and sweeter.
Daughters & Ryan Three Sails.
Daughters & Ryan’s Three Sails is a light-bodied, British-style Virginia blend with a fine cut that allows for firmer packing. It is an incredibly sweet straight Virginia tobacco with a lot of natural tarts and tangy citrus, plenty of grass and hay, some sugar and tart lemon, along with acidic, bread, and floral notes. The strength and taste levels are medium and the tobacco makes a good mixer.
Newly released is the Three Sails Green variant which is the same great tobacco as the original, only infused with a minty note.
Daughters & Ryan Two Timer
The Two Timer’s delicious nutty flavor and natural sweetness come from its core component—a specially processed, double-toasted Burley with a smooth, naturally sweet flavor, but plenty of body. They make nice, uncomplicated all-day smokes that do even better with light hydration.
1. Two Timer Regular: This strong, ribbon-cut blend is made of specially processed Burleys that lack the typical harshness of the tobacco, and rather, have a cool, natural cocoa note.
2. Two Timer Gold: The Gold variant is made of the same double-toasted Burley as the Regular but with the addition of golden Virginias for some extra brightness and sweetness.
Daughters & Ryan Vengeur
D & R’s Vengeur series makes use of sweet and smooth flue-cured Virginia tobacco, mellow air-cured Burley, and Oriental tobaccos to produce blends that are silky and balanced with zero bite or bitter tastes.
1. Vengeur Regular: This is a rich-tasting, medium-bodied blend of Virginia, Burley, and Oriental tobaccos with a natural flavor that is never harsh or overpowering. The notes in the flavors include grass, herbs, nuts, earth, and sweet citrus with an essence of cocoa in it. This blend makes a good all-day smoke.
2. Vengeur Silver: This is a lighter version of Vengeur Regular for those who like the Vengeur flavor but still want a bit more smoothness.
3. Vengeur Platinum: A bit more flue-cured gold leaf is used in the Platinum variant for a slightly sweeter blend.
Daughters & Ryan Windsail
The Windsail line of tobaccos uses the finest grades of one of the most versatile and widely used types of the leaf—you guessed it!—sweet and velvety flue-cured Virginias. All three blends in the line share a fresh and natural flavor.
1. Windsail Original: This is a naturally sweet selection of golden Virginias that are smooth but still robust in taste. The flavor profile consists of notes that are grassy and hay-like, fairly tart and tangy citrusy with some darting dark fruit, wood, and earth. It also has a very minute spice and honey hit. This blend would make an excellent mixer.
2. Windsail Silver: The Silver variant utilizes lighter grades of flue-cured Virginias for slightly mellower smoke.
3. Windsail Platinum: The Platinum blend features light, choice Virginias for exceptional smoothness.
Even as Daughters & Ryan is a newer brand of pipe tobacco, they have already established themselves as artisans in the craft of tobacco blending. So whichever choice of Daughters and Ryan premium pipe tobacco you pick up, you are guaranteed an extraordinarily pleasant pipe experience!