King Mountain
Lil' Brown house blend. joekker and dkj59 say it is a good alternative to H&R. $10LB.
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- Re: King Mountain
- Posted by orien Rigney on Wednesday, 28-Dec-2011
Growing up in West Virginia during the forties, especially the early to mid forties, good cigarettes like: Lucky Strikes, Phillip Morris, Camels and some choice others had gone to war. A standard pack of twenty, if you could find them; cost anywhere from .15$ to .20$ on the (Blackmarket). Kids like me couldn't afford them so we smoked the cheap and finely cut dried tobaccos like, Bull Durham, Cutty Pipe and Prince Albert, along with some others I can't remember. Most of the stuff came in what was known as $.05 Nickel Bags.
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Most of us kids referred to these little 1 oz. bags as "Pokes". Guess we got it honestly. You went to the store, purchased your groceries and brought them home in a poke. Actually, a brown paper (Bag). You carried your lunch to school in a "poke" also. And I'm sure you've heard the expression "A Pig in a Poke"? Wonderful memories!
- Re: King Mountain
- Posted by Bill on Friday, 30-Nov-2007
I started stuffing with Gambler. It was good but the wife raised cane about the aroma so I went to Farmers Gold full flavor. On an order to Lil' Brown I saw that they had a great price on King Mountain so I ordered a bag. I used it first and I really liked it. I was glad when I finished the 5 pounds of Farmers Gold so I could reorder the KM. It is a great tobacco for the price.
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- Re: King Mountain
- Posted by Jennifer on Thursday, 19-Apr-2007
I tried KM when I found out that lilbrown no longer sells H&R. It's not as good as H&R, but an ok smoke for the price. Money is a little tight for me, so for now I will stick with cheaper brands that don't make me gag like midnight special does. I am going to give black jack a try. If that doesn't workout, then back to KM.
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- King Mountain: Formula Changed?
- Posted by Warren on Thursday, 01-Mar-2007
Just got KM 16 oz bag from Lil' Brown. Few months ago I got a 6 oz KM bag and I liked its plain earthy flavor of classical Kentucky burley, with a strong nicotine kick.
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The new 16 oz KM bag seems like entirely different tobacco, very fruity smell, low nicotine kick with nondescript forgettable taste, like those cheap pouches I got once at the local Walgreens and dumped after few sticks. It is still burley, but lower quality and excessively flavored to cover for the poor leaf quality. I wonder if they package different tobacco in 6 oz bags from the one in 16 oz bags or perhaps their formula changed for the worse? Did anyone else notice change in the blend and new fruity smell? Maybe it is a fluke bum bag I got this time?
- Re: King Mountain: Formula Changed?
- Posted by Smokin n Jokin on Thursday, 01-Mar-2007
I don't know if the formula has changed because I've never smoked it before but I just order a pound of King Mountain, 6oz of Blackjack, Complete and Rave from Lil Brown. Out of the four Blackjack would be my last choice and King Mountain my second to the last choice. For $1.25 a pound more Complete is a lot better tobacco.
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- Re: King Mountain: Formula Changed?
- Posted by Warren on Friday, 02-Mar-2007
Did your 16oz King Mountain have fruity smell (quite similar smell to McClintock regular)? It seems they switched to some lower quality burley (or perhaps just for the 16oz packages).
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I also just got Blackjack regular & natural from Lil Brown. The Blackjack regular had fruity smell out of a bag, similar to KM and otherwise not much to write home about or order again. The Blackjack natural was Ok, no extraneous non-tobacco smells, but with a woody tasting smoke and not nearly as strong as American Spirit. The only quality thing about them were nice airtight ziplock pouches they came in.
What kind of smoke are Complete and Rave (full flavor)?
- Re: King Mountain: Formula Changed?
- Posted by Smokin n Jokin on Friday, 02-Mar-2007
I didn't try the natural. The Blackjack full flavor 6oz had a very fruity smell, kinda like apple cider. The 6oz King Mountain full flavor didn't have the fruity smell but had more of a woodsy smell. It obviously has more air cured or sun cured burley than Blackjack. 16oz Blackjack light has an aroma like applesauce and is pretty dark, like it has a lot of oriental virginia. 6oz King Mountain light is about like the FF. I don't think you could compare either one of them to McClintock FF, they aren't even in the same class. Complete and Rave are availeble in FF, light and menthol. There seems to be quite a jump in quality from $10.00 a pound tobacco to $12.00 a pound tobacco, just like there is from $12.00 a pound to $15.00 a pound and from $15.00 a pound to $20.00 a pound and so on. Out of what I ordered Classic Canadian was the best at about $14.00 a pound. It smelled the least like a fruit bowl or salad bar. I ordered these for some starving college kids that I work with to try. Not that there's anything wrong with these low cost tobacco's, I thought that they were all very smokable; but would probably stuff them in a charbon tube, I'm about to the point where if it doesn't cost more than $20.00 a pound I don't want to smoke it. Premades here cost a minumum of $50.00 a carton. Considering that I'm not even going to think about smoking tobacco that costs $6.50 a carton instead of $15.00 or $16.00 a carton.
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- Re: King Mountain: Formula Changed?
- Posted by Dave L on Friday, 02-Mar-2007
"air cured or sun cured burley... pretty dark, like it has a lot of oriental virginia."
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Burley is air cured and typically darker than Virginia. Virginia is mostly flue-cured and can look almost anemic. Oriental is sun cured and not distinguishable by color (the darker component in Ramback is unique).
I agree that, for the most part, you get what you pay for when buying tobacco.
- Re: King Mountain: Formula Changed?
- Posted by Smokin n Jokin on Friday, 02-Mar-2007
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Hello Dave, I would graciously defer to your expertise in almost any instance but I'm afraid We'll just have to agree to disagree on this one. Any tobacco can be cured in any way. The picture is of Jester, which according to the manufacturer is premium virginia and dark fired kentucky A.K.A burley, as are all halfzwares or dutch recipes to my knowledge. It certainly doesn't look anemic to me. According to the Department of Agriculture In 2001 the state of Virginia alone produced 154,000 pounds of "sun cured" tobacco. The TA55 Black Sea Samsun Turkish tobacco that I am growing in my front yard here in Arizona is most definitely Turkish or "oriental" tobacco, just as the TA59 Canadian Delgold is most definitely Canadian tobacco. Conversely....if I were to grow TA42 Kentucky 8959 burley in Samsun it would not be Turkish or "oriental" tobacco.
- Re: King Mountain: Formula Changed?
- Posted by Dave L on Saturday, 03-Mar-2007
Most commonly, Flue-cured and Virginia (AKA bright or gold leaf) refer to the same tobacco and its typically the lightest colored component of any blend. You don't say what kind of Virginia grown tobacco was sun cured. I do know that some Virginia is sun or fire-cured but my understanding is that its a relatively small percentage. Burley is most commonly air cured (I believe its efficient with Burley because of the porous nature of the leaf. With Virgina there's an optimum point where drying of the yellowing/dying leaf should happen, the heat/controlled conditions of flue curring aid in this) and darker than Virginia. I doubt its possible to tell one from the other when they are dark-fired/fire-cured (e.g. Jester). Oriental/Turkish is most commonly sun cured (which could be because of the climate its typically grown in, fire-curing would be a shameful waste).
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I don't recall anything in this thread about where tobacco is grown but it brings up an interesting point. How Canadian will Arizona grown Canadian seed be? How much of the Samsun flavor is defined by the soil and environment its grown in?
- Re: King Mountain: Formula Changed?
- Posted by Jeffo on Wednesday, 12-Dec-2007
I agree with your statement about Complete. It's a very smooth and sweet tasting tobacco and for the money it's the best I've tried. I tried it because of your post above and I'd like to thank you for making it...
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- King Mountain
- Posted by joekker on Monday, 11-Sep-2006
Very nice tobacco at an extremely good price (9.95lb) from LilBrown. I alternate between a handheld stuffer (El Rey & El Rey filter tubes) and a handheld rolling machine and have no trouble making a smoke that's indistinguishable from retail.., and in fact tastes much better.
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It's unfortunate that LilBrown dropped H&R but this's a fine replacement IMO.
- Re: King Mountain
- Posted by denali on Friday, 29-Sep-2006
I'm trying the King Mountain Light. This bag was real dry, and needed some humidity. Dry it's somewhat harsh. Remoistened, it is smooth, just a hint of bitterness? Long, very fluffy cut, some bigger pieces mixed in. Very smokeable. I think this is good if you like a burley type tobacco. So far, this has been the smoothest, out of the bag, "light" tobacco that I have tried, but then, I don't seem to like the virginia tobaccos much.
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At this point, I would prefer a little more added flavor, (hint of chocolate, etc) and so I am also using this as the base for blending with some of the other overly flavored tobaccos that I have.
King Mountain tobacco is available at Lil Brown in 6 oz bags & 16 oz bags, in Full Flavor & Light. Current introductory prices are 6 oz-$3.95, 16 oz-$9.95.
- Re: King Mountain
- Posted by dkj59 on Wednesday, 04-Oct-2006
I brought some King Mountain from LilBrown a few months ago after they quit carrying H&R. Been smoking it ever-since. Good taste and stuffs alot better than H&R. Hard to beat it for the price.
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- Re: King Mountain
- Posted by Warren on Thursday, 12-Oct-2006
Prompted by comments here, I got a 6 oz bag yesterday. Not bad, at all. Earthy, unpretentious flavor, fairly smooth even in non-filtered tubes, pretty good nicotine content. Reminds me of 'Kentucky's Best' brand, except that burley earthiness of King Mountain is more subdued. I think it's just right where it ought to be, for my taste. As noted by others, it is quite smokable.
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- Re: King Mountain
- Posted by Warrior on the Edge of Time on Tuesday, 21-Nov-2006
glad I just dug and found this info on King Mountain before I posted elsewhere. My finances keep me from joining the D&R crowd just yet, and I saw this at Lil' Brown. I can't find it available for stuffing anywhere else, not even on the official KM website....the packaging struck my eye since it looks like Marlboro Red (what I used to smoke), and I'll be darned if I didn't discover that Phillip Morris went after them. My experiences so far are limited, was doing Gambler, but discovered I liked Peoples True Taste better, and now I wonder about this...and I guess if I do get it I'll save the bag!!
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mike c
- Re: King Mountain
- Posted by Kerry on Tuesday, 21-Nov-2006
I have no connection with ANY tobacco company or any other third party tobacco related company or products.
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That said...
I once thought that the initial price of D&R put it in a cost range that might be too high. However, it has turned out to be quite reasonable. "Cheap" tobacco and tubes (I use Gambler tubes purchased locally for $1.69/200, decent quality and uniformly reliable) can yield a carton for as little as $7.00. However, if you are looking for quality smokes at about $11-$13 dollars a carton, go ahead and give D&R a try. Once you find the blend or combination of blends you prefer, I promise, you won't regret it!