It’s been called by afficianados to be the best tobacco in the world, described as earthy, rustic, and yet delicatley herbal and floral. The promise regarding the contents of the 100gram package I will soon have in my possession is “it will be unlike any other pipe tobacco you’ve ever had.”
Semois tobacco is a product of the Ardennes Valley in Belgium. It gets its name from the Semois River that winds through the valley. What makes for the unique qualities of the leaf is the misty, Sun-deprived climate in which it grows. Believed to be a descendent of Burley, Semois has mutated into its own subvarietal. Its processing by blenders is basically one of drying, fermenting, shredding and packaging… the product, 100% tobacco, no additional essences of any kind.
Having become extremely popular throughout Europe around the end of the 19th century, it began losing market share to cigarettes after the Second World War, and today, only three boutique manufacturers remain.
La Brumeuse, “the Misty One,” a full flavored, full strength rendition of pure Semois, produced by blender Vincent Manil is now available for purchase in the U.S. through ‘The Pipe Guys’. With its new introduction into the U.S. market, I’m curious to see if this product becomes the next highly-sought-after-and-hard-to-obtain pipe tobacco. You might want to get yours right now, while you can. I do mean, right now. Until further notice, you gotta get it from The Pipe Guys.
(Nice little NY Times Magazine article about Semois and Vincent Manil)
SoCalPipester.com 