A beautiful blend and a pleasant smoke have been created by the combination of dark ready rubbed and bright loose cut Virginias with a hint of burley. The taste of summer has been completed with the addition of a little vanilla, a splash of rum, and a touch of fruit.
When I ordered this I intended on putting into my cellar for awhile and reviewing it at a later date. When it arrived this morning the sun happened to be shining in all its glory so my idea of cellaring it got pushed swiftly aside: it's a perfect day for a summer limited edition!
The contents of the tin are quite an even split between very dark brown/black and lighter brown coarsely cut pieces. The smell sets the summer mood perfectly: it's like having a fruity cocktail on a beach! Because the tin's only push-clip fastened as opposed to being air sealed the tobacco's perfect to smoke right away.
My initial thought consists of two words: quality aromatic. The rum compliments the smoke nicely, without domineering it. The fruit/citrus gives nice flavour but little of the bitterness that oranges, lemons, or limes can often bring: this causes a flavour that's very reminiscent of high grade punch! The vanilla comes over as a pleasant 'extra': it isn't heavy or gloopy, but it gives the blend an enjoyable creaminess. Even though this is a fairly false tasting blend it's quite mitigating with tongue bite: to get bitten the pipe must be drawn with great force. The burn from 2016 is good, but my only problem is the speed: if I take my eye off the ball it can be over too fast.
Even though I have a preference for standard room-notes, I enjoy this highly aromatic one: it's fruity like punch, again! And finally the nicotine's quite mild: not really mild, but it needs a push to become medium.
I'm glad I didn't cellar this, it is indeed a perfect smoke for a summers day. Four stars:
This is a fine blend. Very fine. Maybe extra fine. All I can say is this. Puff 1. Lovely. Fruit and Virginny Puff 2. Also lovely. Fruit sublimates to the rum. Puff 3. VIrginials shining. Cavendish behind the scenes. Puff 4. Didn't take one had to go pee. It burned for a bit. Puff 5. Pure ass Baccy goodness with a wiff of rum on the back 7/32s of the left side of my tongue. Puff 6. The fruits have waffled but not so much so that the fine pressed sliced aged and blended Old Tobey are red headed step children. Puff 7. Back to rum in the forefront with a touch of old leather. Not like 1956 Buick leather but more like a unreliable 2011 Maserati QP. Puff 8. It is all harmoniously melding into a puffy cloud as saintly as if an angel herself had vigorously packed and lit my pipe for me. Puff 9. What's to say? This here is great. Not a great like free pizza delivered by chairmen Mao. Puff 10. Well damn junior. This a here is so settled in and the aromas and tastes are doing the jig on my tongue like a fat drunken midget. Short yet sort of funny but not too heavy.
Buy this. But if you do from Cup O Joes beware that is comes in dry. Crunchy dry. Not giving you the ability to choose the level of dryness.
Pipe Used: Parker. Dunhill. Cobs.
Age When Smoked: New tin but delivered dry
Purchased From: Cup O Joes.
Similar Blends: An old blend I smoked in Tangiers in 67. Had dried orange peels mixed in. Once I thought I tasted camel dung..
I originally received a tin of this as a freebie with the purchase of a new Peterson so I wasn’t expecting much. I am happy to say that I was very wrong. The black Virginias compliment the flavorings perfectly. One of the few aromatics that can be called complex. Burns a tad hot but well worth it.
Pipe Used: Peterson standard system
Age When Smoked: 3-4 years
Purchased From: Pipesandcigars.com and Just for Him
Black & yellow coarse cut. Opening the tin, it is perfect moisture, with a lovely sweet aroma of rum & vanilla with hint of fruit. Almost like the scent of white wine. Smoking it, I taste the nuttiness of the Burley and sweetness of quality Virgina, with subtle mild flavours of mild fruit, rum & vanilla. Definitely not an overpowering aromatic. Perfect blend for a Summer afternoon.
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