Tobaccos Solani - 369: Blue Label

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	JimInks (3046)	2014-04-13		Mild to Medium	Medium to Strong	Mild to Medium	Pleasant to Tolerable

A rich cherry aromatic with some peach and vanilla, all of which sublimate the tobaccos. There's a hint of nutty, earthy, woody burley somewhere around, but it's hard to find. The grassy, tart and tangy citrusy Virginias essentially escaped my notice, though the spice and raisins from the perique was pretty obvious. The sugary black cavendish is in the background. I found this is be a little syrupy and very moist, so it will require a little dry time, and leave a little moisture in the bowl. It will need some relights. The strength is a couple of steps past the center of mild to medium, while the taste just misses the medium mark. The nic-hit is a couple slots past the mild threshold. Burns cool and slightly slow with a very consistent flavor from start to finish. Won't bite or get harsh. Has a very sweet after taste, and room note that lingers just a mite. Not quite an all day smoke.

-JimInks

9 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	NEWMAN (305)	2010-02-10		Very Mild	Strong	Mild to Medium	Pleasant to Tolerable

I should have read the reviews before I bought this since I don't generally enjoy aromatics and there was no such indication on the tin. Although this one is nicely prepared as other Solani blends, it is too moist from the tin and I needed numerous relights. After some drying, it smoked without condensation and cool with no bite. I just dont' like the amount and taste of the casing and missed any hint of true tobacco taste. However, if you enjoy aromatics, this may be a good one.

9 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Emeritus Account (30167)	2012-08-06		Mild	Medium to Strong	Mild	Pleasant to Tolerable

A tobacco trading partner threw this in with our last trade, asking if I'd ever smoked it. I hadn't and I didn't know why, since I enjoy a lot of Solani blends. After smoking as much of the tin as I could tolerate (not much), I think I must have read the reviews here and didn't recall. It also allows me to speculate as to why he was eager to trade this to me.

First of all, this tobacco merits just one star for my personal taste. It looks like black and brown confetti and smells in the tin like a fruit basket. Unfortunately, this fruitiness - predominantly cherry with some peach in the background - translates to the taste with the utmost fidelity. The very cool tin states only "virginia, burley, sweet-perique", none of which I can taste over the produce. A little honesty on the tin wouldn't hurt, as "cavendish" or "aromatic" or "cherry" do not appear. This reminded me of my very early forays into pipe tobacco where I wanted sweet tasting blends, and this one reminds me of one in particular that my first tobacco shop named Sweet Ebony. It was even more horrid than this one, though, as it smoked extremely wet. This one smokes fairly dry and if someone is looking for a cherry/fruit blend, they could do worse. Two stars as an aromatic, one star for me because I find its taste absolutely foul.

6 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Pipestud (1829)	2004-03-20		Medium	Mild	Medium	Pleasant

Virginia and Burley components make for a unique presentation at the match as the blend also has a noticeable amount of Burley to build more strength that your average VaPer. Burns cool and there is an added casing of some sort that also gives the overall presentation a sweeter flavor than your usual VaPer. This one is still in production and could even make for your all day favorite.

5 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	MikeHaggarKJ (22)	2017-10-05		Mild	Very Strong	Very Mild	Pleasant

Atrocious chemical apple smell and taste. And that's pretty much it, very little tobacco taste. Reminds alot off heavily flavoured, low quality waterpipe tobacco that dumbass teenagers smoke to mask and overpower any natural tobacco flavour. The flavouring ghosts ALOT, hade to wash my clay pipe with a brush under running water to get rid off it. Since the flavouring tastes artificial apple with an unpleasant and aggressive sweetness with nothing pleasant to round it off with that is ONLY bad news.

Pipe Used: Ratos Old Briae 915, clay pipe, unidentified briar

3 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Newbie2010 (18)	2016-02-06		Mild to Medium	Medium to Strong	Mild to Medium	Very Pleasant

I was duped. On the can, it says Virginia, burley and sweet Perique, so naturally I was thinking it was some iteration of a VaPer, and NOT an aromatic. I like very few aromatics. I like Nat Sherman's 314, Lane 1Q and Peretti's 432, which are probably all the same, as well as Nat Sherman's 509, and a few others, so I have given many a fair try, but have never found the same satisfaction as I do with say Solani's burley flake. I tend to stick with burley, Virginia and VaPer and various blended flakes. I also enjoy the English blends heavily dosed with Latakia. That said, at first, it's hard to discern the Virginia, the burley, and Perique mixed with all of Blue's cherry-vanilla-fruit flavoring, which hits you as soon as you crack the tin. It's seems more like a cavendish blend than anything else. But it nicely develops and is rather mild in flavor and finish, with the Virginia and burley being the most pronounced, sweetened with all that flavoring that isn't noted on the damn tin. The room note is quite pleasant. And I have to say, I did find this blend somewhat enjoyable. So, it was not a total disappointment because the quality is there and it does not bite and it's not cloying. If I knew it was an aromatic, I would not have purchased it, but it is one of the better aromatics I have tried.

Pipe Used: Bari Wiking, LJ Peretti bent billiard

Age When Smoked: Several months, was in bargain bin at B&M

Purchased From: Watch City Cigar

Similar Blends: Blue Note, sweet Killarney.

3 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Hillbilly08 (38)	2015-07-28		Mild	Mild to Medium	Mild to Medium	Pleasant

It is not often that a mild blend can be complex in flavour and aroma. The Blue Label achieves that, and is a testimony to blender's care and attention to detail. Freshly opened tin has the usual high moisture of Solani but it is not too hard to get going after two charring lights. Short cut ribbon is easy to pack lightly which the moisture level requires. The tin aroma is slightly sweet and hints at honey, caramel, possibly cherry and some vanilla. The tin aroma is the same as the smoke. Yes it is sweet but with no excessive cloying. Perique is only just noticeable on top of reliable, honest cavendish with virginia also present and a burley only an occasional hint here and there. There is no bite, and no bitter end to the bowl either which is common with cheap aromatics. A well-structured, satisfactory and well-behaved blend, with enough complexity and character to please any aromatic tobacco lover.

Pipe Used: Stanwell 9mm briar

Age When Smoked: fresh out of tin

Purchased From: 4noggins

Similar Blends: 4noggins - Trout Stream (but with perique).

3 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Alessandro (14)	2014-08-24		Medium	Medium to Strong	Medium to Full	Very Pleasant

When I'm in the mood to taste something really flavourful... fruity flavour that is, I will enjoy this tobacco. Smells excellent out of the tin. Reminds me of apricot, honey smoke. Hints of apricot appear when smoked and the nicotine hit is nice. A medium nicotine strength. Certainly can be described as a dessert smoke. Very Aromatic.

Purchased From: Cigar Bodega, Unionville Ontario.

3 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	CoolPilot (69)	2014-01-18		Mild to Medium	Medium	Medium	Very Pleasant

Here is a great aromatic with some strength and a decent taste finally! A perfect social smoke, my son said "you are smoking a marshmallow". Despite the fantastic room note, this tobacco is also quite good in taste, and as I said also gives some nicotine. It reminds me WO Larsen danish aromatics, but this is quite better under all aspects. Does not bite, it has no bitter taste, and in fact it is certainly similar to smoking a redberry, in terms of flavour and taste. An absolute must-try for aromatic people. Deserves a dedicated pipe for aromatics, of course.

Pipe Used: Brebbia collection

Age When Smoked: unknown

Purchased From: Dubini, Chiasso Switzerland

Similar Blends: W.O. Larsen signature..

3 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	strongirish (249)	2012-06-23		Strong	Strong	Very Full	Pleasant

I respect tobacco blends too much to pull any punches and I always tell it like it is, this is one unique tobacco. Most know that I can find good in almost any kind of tobacco and I smoke most types on a regullar basis and not any one type specifically. So I feel very qualified to review this blend. First it is very unique in that it is a perique blend using an aromatic as a base, and it does contain one heck of a lot of perique, the spiceyness of the Perique is present from start to finish. The base is a mix of virginia and burley and cavendish and a topping that seems to be a mix of different flavors with a berry like backdrop but with a room note smelling like apricots with a touch of spicyness almost like smelling ppeach cobbler cooking. It was an unusual combination yes, but not a bad one at all, just not what I expected it to be. I am smoking it out of a 100 gram rectangular tin that is very nice in it's presentation being mostly silv er with a little blue on it and the sealed foil pouch inside is a gold foil like bag holding the tobacco which is like a broken flake but more rubbed out. The tobacco is dark in color going from dark khaki to very dark brown almost black. My tin has eight years of age on it, and it is still very moist in the pouch. Almost too moist.

I feel that some drying would be nice but I hesitate to do that as I don't want to lose any of the very rich flavor of the tobacco itself. It is very full and bold and spicey and to lesson the strength would mske it just a run of the mill aromatic, which in this case it is not. Obviously you must like aromatics to appreciate it and also love perique as well. it smokes very nice and each puff is a burst of flavor. I have read though some are surprised by this bend, the tin art does say cavendish as well as burley and va which shoulld be an indication to some but they really should put on th tin, the labels says nothing about using a dark cavendish nor the fact that that it is v ery aromatic.

Uout of the pich it does smoke a little wet with numerous relights, but that is OK as it lights easily. It smokes down to the bottom of the pipe well but does leave a touch of residue on the bottom of the pipe which is why I am not giving it a four star rating. But this is a blend worth trying and I will hve no problem smoking what I have.

3 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Eulenburg (193)	2003-02-06		Extremely Mild	Strong	Mild	Strong

Open the round tin, and a synthetic vaho of vanilla and coconut will immediately curl your eyelashes. If you are allergic to cheap artificial parfums, be forwarned! You could choke to death.

In the can the mix looks like-totally Danish aromatic: swaths of "wild" cut Virginia, greasy-looking black cavendish, and scatological-brown burley. I see and smell no Périque: it could be part of the casing. Yikes.

This is so artificially moist that I have trouble lighting it and keeping it lit. When it finally catches on, through my burnt tongue I can taste syrupy vanilla-coconut twinky plus the underlying bitterness of the chemicals. It gets more bitter and gurgly towards the end. It left a gorgeous Becker & Musicò Dublin, silver-mounted, full of gunky Scheiße.

I can't remember when I last despised a tobacco so much.

3 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Emeritus Account (30167)	2012-07-20		Mild	Medium	Full	Very Pleasant

My favorite tin, so the first one I will review. Was given a sample at a local B&M because a guy had left his tin there. I got about 3 sessions outta it between that and the next day and went back and shelled out 14 bucks and added to my rotation. I get a kind of spiced berry note to it perhaps? Give it a shot.

2 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	dedalto (25)	2011-08-31		Medium to Strong	Strong	Full	Pleasant to Tolerable

I usually smoke Compton's Balkan and Macedonian Mixture along with Gramercy Park, Hobbit's Weed, Rich's Grandpa, and the odd piece of rope I find. I say this to let you know I am of no camp and I have out grown absolutely nothing. I enjoy smoking tobacco, any tobacco. The ones I like I tell you about.

369 was a total mistake. I ask the clerk at the shop for nice burley. He said try this. So when I lit up you could recognize my surprise. My wife looked at me and said,"What are you smoking? I replied saying I don't know, but I think I like it.

Wow! This was a blast. Vanilla. Cherry. Coconut. Yep. All of them.

This is a sweet social tobacco that is fun to smoke. Everybody should try it. I would definitely put this in rotation if I had one.

A big sweet ever lovin 4.

2 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	ELF (40)	2010-11-12		Extremely Mild	Medium	Very Mild	Very Pleasant

Absolutely F R E A K I N-Fantastic Tobacco! I've never smoked a Weed,that changes Personality..quite like 369Mix. Meer,Briar,Cob,Clay...Big or Small...Enjoy.!!

2 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Emeritus Account (30167)	2008-10-14		Very Mild	Medium	Very Mild	Very Pleasant

--update-- Who would have thought, I now smoke this blend more than any other! Seems that if it's dried out quite a bit, the extreme flavoring seems to disappear. More tobacco taste creeps trough and I quite like the spicy notes that float up the nose when puffing away. I am changing my rating to 4 stars! Great tobacco.

--original review--

Well well.... I bought this without first checking this website. That was a mistake. I needed a replacement for Aston Gold Rush (couldn't find it anywhere) and was in a hurry. I read the tin and saw "virginia tobacco, perique and NO FLAVORING". So much for believing in "Tin talk"....It is the complete opposite of what the tin says. It is flavored....really flavored.....saturated actually. I was pissed of to be exact because I had flavored tobacco all over the house but no pure tobacco anymore! I didn't like it at all and it went in the cupboard. I took it out when I was in a "sweet" mood and smoked it : Really nice tobacco actually! Sometimes a bit of perique seems to creep trough the casing and disappears again, nice easy good smoke.

It's just a shame that they lie on the tin, I first thought they put the wrong tobacco in the tin at the factory but on tobaccoreviews I see it's normal....whatever.

Just 1 complaint....it's WAY to wet in the tin to smoke. Let it dry out a bit.

2 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Ivanhoe (36)	2020-03-09		Mild	Medium	Medium	Pleasant

Like many of the earlier reviewers of this blend, I feel cheated. I was not familiar with Solani tobaccos except by reputation and when I saw the tin description of Virginias, Burley, and Perique I though that this might be something that I would enjoy. Nowhere on the tin does it say "aromatic" or hint that fruit syrups or other flavorings were involved with this blend in any way.

When you open the tin, it smells like a fruit basket. Other reviewers have described cherry, plum, apricot, peach, pineapple, vanilla, and even coconut aromas. These are all there in this tutti-fruity mixture if you look for them, and they are also present when the tobacco is smoked. If you examine the many other reviews I have submitted you will find no aromatic tobaccos among them. Not one. I do not like aromatics. I will not buy this one again.

That said, I probably will finish the tin. I will use a dedicated pipe for this because I don't relish the idea of tutti-fruity flavors with the burley blends I normally enjoy. The cut is wild and the tobacco seems overly moist when the tin is opened. Even so, it is easy to pack and it burned evenly through an entire pipeful for me. The aromatic flavors are "enhanced" if you keep it slow and sip the pipe without heating it up too much. I let the tin dry for an hour or so after the first bowlful and it continued to behave well. I don't prefer this type of tobacco, but for its type it seems to behave well and I am too stingy to throw away a tin I paid $20 for. There is no trace of a real tobacco taste anywhere here, though some of the fruitiness may be coming from Perique.

The main lesson I have learned from this is never again to buy a tobacco without checking good old tobaccoreviews.com first.

Three weeks later: Now that I have spent time with this, here is my revised review. The tobaccos behaves perfectly in a mechanical way. It packs easily and always burns to the bottom of the bowl in a white ash, leaving none of the disgusting soggy dottle that aromatic tobaccos are known for. It smokes cool with no tongue bite. This is where the good stuff ends. I said before that the smell of this stuff in the tin is like a fruit basket. I was wrong. What is really smells like is a big bag of Jolly Rancher candy. It's a strong smell and it is not natural. Having smoked a lot of this by now, I can confirm that there seems to be absolutely no nicotine in this stuff. Since I don't much like the taste of it and I am getting no nicotine, I have to ask myself why I am bothering to smoke this stuff. I have dropped the rating to One Star. Happy smoking, friends.

Pipe Used: A new corncob

Age When Smoked: fresh

Purchased From: A shop in Tokyo

1 person found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Falliver (42)	2019-01-21		Mild	Medium to Strong	Very Mild	Pleasant

From the box, a sweet and pleasant aroma hits the nose, if a bit overwhelmed by the plummy perfumes.

Produces a light smoke, almost devoid of richness and body, with taste of sugar and cheap perfumes, however giving off a pleasant room note.

If still wanting the plummy taste and aroma, rather smoke John Patton’s Storm Front freshly from the tin.

Age When Smoked: From the tin.

Purchased From: Sol Cigar Oslo.

Similar Blends: Rattray - Wallace Flake (Flake Collection).

1 person found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Capt (339)	2016-02-09		Mild	Medium	Medium	Very Pleasant

Reminds me of a twisted 50/50 mix of Stanwell Melange and Dan's Blue Note.

Initial flavors of cherry Chapstick, but changes to a vanilla-cherry after a few minutes under a match. This blend was kind of hard to keep lit. If you puffed harder to keep it lit, it smoked a bit ashy. Not a lot of nicotine to be found, but it did leave an excellent room note, that is a crowd pleaser for sure.

1 person found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Emeritus Account (30167)	2013-08-29		Mild to Medium	Mild	Medium	Pleasant

how much nicotine is there in this - i did get quite the sweats after smoking it.

flavor came thru on every 10 draws but first time in this pipe. had tried their festival much stronger sharp flavor

sweet mystery sweet but also sweats - seems solani has some not so pleasant nicotine issues.

1 person found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Sailorjack (57)	2011-01-30		Mild to Medium	Mild to Medium	Medium	Very Pleasant

Won a couple of tins of this on eBay. Looks like they have a bit of time on them. Made with obvious quality tobaccos. Yes it's an aromatic but not overdone. Tastes good, smells great and it burns cool. What's not to like? The perique is really only condimental here. Good change of pace for me. Smoked a tin in less than one week,that should say something. I guess.

1 person found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Emeritus Account (30167)	2010-03-02		Mild	Medium	Mild	Very Pleasant

It has a VERY sweet berry-akin taste that is a lot like the casing on x sweet mystery except this blend is not as good.

x sweet mystery is better given the choice. so try that if your looking at solani

1 person found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Emeritus Account (30167)	2008-02-09		Mild	Medium	Medium	Pleasant

Taste good wouldnt smoke it all the time but very nice when company around.

1 person found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	final_id (37)	2007-05-02		Mild	Medium	Medium to Full	Very Pleasant

This is the tobacco I smoke when I want something floral and girlie. No, really, I mean that. This tastes like potpourri, but not if you stuck potpourri out of the girlie store into your pipe; but more like, if you took the essence of all the good things about potpourri out of the girlie store and were able to distill it into a pipe tobacco and smoke it. It's fun, pleasant to smoke, easy on everyone around you in terms of odor out of the tin before it's on fire, and odor out of the pipe when it's on fire, and odor out of the ashtray after it's done being on fire. It's not "really" a "real man's" tobacco, but those of us who are confident in our masculinity are comfortable wearing pink shirts and smoking Solani Blue. :)

I do see how people might feel misled. The can description is far from the smoking experience. It's a cherry-based casing of some sort, not unlike a lot of the Christmas odors that pop up around holiday season. One of my tobacconists has a cherry-plus-Latakia thing she calls "Flambeau," which is her name for a standard Lane's creation that I'm sure plenty of y'all have smoked. Orientals like Latakia would not be your first instinct to combine with a sickly-sweet casing like cherry flavoring, but when you think about it, they kind of "cancel" each other while also "complementing," just as does that pink gooey sweet-and-sour sauce that they put on Peking Duck at cheap Chinese restaurants. Know what I mean? I like it. Then again, I like eating at cheap Chinese restaurants, and I always found potpourri in my girlfriend's lingerie drawer quite pleasant, too. Guess I'll go put on my pink shirt now, and wear it to lift some weights and open some doors with my skull.

1 person found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Sasquatch (90)	2007-02-18		Very Mild	Medium to Strong	Mild	Pleasant

Well, I can't see why Solani bothers to indicate perique, or burley, or virginia, or anything on this tobacco. You can't taste it, and anyone who buys this stuff hoping for a mixture of Red Va, Burley, and perique will probably be disgusted with the heaped on tropical fruit topping. Same exact topping as Peterson's Connoiseur's Choice (and Jacaranda, if I remember) but Connoiseur's is far better tasting because it actually contains a) a reasonable amount of topping and b) some tobaccos with flavour.

So, this is a light, somewhat floral summertime smoke (which is to say, I'm going to put the tin away for about 5 months and try it again then) which does not resemble pipe tobacco any too closely, and which I wouldn't recommend to anyone unless they want a totally aromatic blend with a lot of fruity notes.

EDIT: Worse with time, my wife hates the smell, I hate the taste. It burns.

The horror... the... horror...

1 person found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Emeritus Account (30167)	2005-09-26		Strong	Very Strong	Very Full	Very Pleasant

Once in a while you run across a blend that all it takes is one bowl, and you either give the balance of the tin to any unsuspecting person in the vicinity, or you will never be without an extra tin or two in your tobacco cellar. 369 Blue is one of them.

I wish I could describe the the taste (of the casing) better, but I can safely say I have never smelled or tasted anything quite like it. And strangely, this tobacco tastes very much like it smells. The Virginia I can detect through the casing, but not the Perique.

I don't expect many will find this blend to be an "all day" smoke, primarily due to the price, but it's a fine blend if you're looking for something a little different for special occasions.

F. Prefect

1 person found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Emeritus Account (30167)	2003-07-08		Very Mild	Medium	Medium	Very Pleasant

It would be nice to know what the content of each pipe tobacco is, how much nicotine, whether additives or flavorings were used. I guess if the government doesn't mandate this it's not likely to happen.

Left to speculation, then, I can only say this stuff is a good, light, flavorful smoke with a room note that people like. It doesn't make your head swim, it doesn't leave a coating in your mouth that inhibits further taste. It does smell very good, both in the tin and as a smoke.

It burns smoothly and slowly, and is very satisfying. One of my current favorites.

1 person found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Emeritus Account (30167)	2002-05-17		Mild	Mild	Mild	Very Pleasant

As a fan of Solani 633, I was interested to try Solani Blue as part of my unceasing efforts to find a tasty aromatic to smoke around my wife. Solani Blue is not a bad tobacco--it is well-cut and -blended, and smokes dry and cool--but for me there was too much burley bitterness dodging around in the foreground shortcake taste. Like many aromatics, it also leaves a bad aftertaste. If you are an aromatic fancier, I can recommend Blue as a quality tobacco. If you're crossing over from Virginias and English blends, I don't think you'll find the taste you're looking for.

1 person found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	BronxBriar (10)	2002-03-18		Mild	Mild to Medium	Medium to Full	Very Pleasant

Can't improve too much on that first review. I tried this at the March 2002 NY Pipe Convention and it restored my faith in aromatics. A nice cool smoke, delightful taste and aroma without being overwhemling. Fruity with that touch of perique...just magical. This will be a regular smoke during spring and summer...will have to wait to see how it fares in the fall and winter.

1 person found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Emeritus Account (30167)	2001-04-03		Medium	Medium	Medium to Full	Pleasant

Upon opening the tin, an mild aroma of VA and Perique mixed with vanilla fills the air. I'm not sure if the tobacco is actually cased with vanilla, but it sure smells and tastes like it. The ribbon cut allows for easy filling of my Peterson full bent meer, and it lights easily. The tobacco is not overly moist in the can and as such burns very nicely, not too warm, yet it does not need frequent relighting (although that could be technique. The aroma is very much vanillaish (patrons at the local pub have told me so) and it tastes much the way it smells, with a very full strong flavor. The flavor of the VA and Perique is not lost with the topping which makes for a nice all round pleasant smoke. To date Solani 369 is one of my favorites.

1 person found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	TheOtter (70)	2023-02-15		Mild	Mild to Medium	Mild to Medium	Pleasant to Tolerable

This blend really put me off to Solani, and I'll have to let go of my prejudice and try other blends. The yellow plum casing smells remarkable, the first few puffs let off a shisha-like aroma that is sure to get you compliments from anyone within its vicinity. It quickly goes downhill from there. The casing burns off quicker than any aromatic I've tried, and the perique becomes dominant. It is jarring to get that spice without the plums after such succulent first puffs, and if the perique was of better quality it would be able to compensate with its own plumyness, but there are no fruit notes to be had as the bowl continues to burn.

Sadly, I have to give this a 1/4, the concept showed promise but the execution is poor.

Nobody has rated this review yet.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	North State (72)	2020-04-10		Mild to Medium	Medium to Strong	Mild to Medium	Very Pleasant

I smoked the "three colours" of Solani right after another and found them so similar with each other that I ended up copying pretty much the same review for them all. They are all flavoured, fruity, sweet aromatics on the mild, easy to smoke side, reminding me of Peterson's Connoisseur's Choice, but with different set of flavours and toppings. And for that very reason they don't do much to me; the tin note is exquisite, the room note enjoyable, they pack, light and burn well - the consistency of large, dry flakes varying from light yellow to black is delightful actually - but the smoking experience... While nothing wrong with it per se, leaves one with a certain feeling of artificiality, of everything not being 100% true to nature. Therefore, while an enjoyable smoke in itself, not really something I would be dying to have again anytime soon.

Of the three, Blue is my clear favourite. Still a 2-star but leaning on three stars, unlike the others that are more firmer twos; the burley base gives it a leg to stand on, plum as a flavouring always works for me, and I also started my Solani run from Blue because it lists perique as a main ingredient, a style of tobacco I'm intrigued about but had no previous experience with. I'll need to find a purer perique blend though, or at least something that is more clearly based on it, as it's not that easy to tell apart from this pot pourri of flavours. Funnily enough, from everything that went into this, the main sensation that I get is fresh pine-bark burning, which is actually a not at all disagreeable essence. Or could this be from the perique? Of the three, Blue also has the least tongue-bite, non-existent really if sipped carefully.

For my part, being "too aromatic" and a somewhat pricey brand to boot, Solanis can stay on the shop shelf in the future. I can heartily recommend them to fans of fruity aromatics though, you'll like it more probably than not.

Pipe Used: various

Age When Smoked: Fresh from tin

Purchased From: Tobacco shop in Kalmar Sweden

Similar Blends: Solani Green label, Solani Red label, Peterson Connoisseur's choice.

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	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Pryhosm (248)	2018-01-02		Mild	Medium to Strong	Medium	Very Pleasant

This is an interesting tobacco. Tin note is one of the most unique I have come across. Fruity is an understatement. It is very strong and the topping is all you can smell. It is very pleasant and is smells of plum, raisins, figs and berry. The tin description is cherry and plum but the melange of tobacco and topping changes the cherry smell to me. Very nice. This for me a morning with a cup of coffee smoke on occasion. It is very sweet and is one of the few pipe tobacco's where the topping and casings are very evident in the taste. This is the pop tart of pipe tobacco. It has a berry flavor that I have come to identify as blueberry, the brain tells me blueberry no matter what the tin says. The burley and cavendish are the lead leaves and provide flavors of nuts, wood, molasses and toast. Most of these flavors are strongest and most recognizable on the retrohale. The flavor is consistent throughout the smoke, very little depth or complexity. The room note is very pleasant, like blueberry pie or toasted blueberry pop tart.

Pipe Used: briar and cob

Age When Smoked: 1 year +

Purchased From: Mars Cigars

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	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Emeritus Account (30167)	2011-06-02		Very Mild	Very Mild	Very Mild	Pleasant

So let me predicate this by admitting that I'm a newcomer to the world of pipes and pipe tobacco. I've sampled several popular blends and found most to be very good. This blend's tin note was nice but I got a very flat and off putting artificial floral taste. Was also my second aromatic. Not my cup of tea.

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	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Emeritus Account (30167)	2009-11-23		Mild	Medium	Medium	Pleasant

I filled my pipe with this and tasted first without lighting. Reminded me of hazelnuts. Quite pleasant. Upon lighting a somewhat fruity taste. Yah, it was good. My son sitting next to me enjoyed the room note (even though on our smoking porch) and said he wanted to give that a try. He and I will enjoy next time home.

Cheers.

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	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Emeritus Account (30167)	2008-09-10		Mild	Mild	Medium	Very Pleasant

In the Tin: Well behaved, impeccable breeding

Not a favorite.

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	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Emeritus Account (30167)	2008-03-01		Very Mild	Very Strong	Medium to Full	Pleasant

Because I like you guys I'm going to let you in on Solani back room secrets. This is what you get when you cross tobacco with air freshener. This frankenstein mixture can only be described as what appears to be tobacco that is flavored with flowers and candy.

I'm sure my wife loves the room note as it saves on our air freshener bill but I don't care, I gave the rest of the tin to my novice pipe smoker son. His review is simple, it's almost as good as Capt. Black but nowhere as cheap to buy!

In all honesty this is probably a really high quality aromatic but I outgrew those years ago, or at least ones as strongly flavored as this one.

I bought it based on the label description but I taste no tobacco at all. Had I discovered TobaccoReviews.com sooner I wouldn't have wasted my $$ on this tobacco.

I give it a "somewhat recommended" rating because many people are very fond of this type of smoke, I'm not...

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	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Emeritus Account (30167)	2006-10-27		Very Mild	Very Strong	Very Mild	Overwhelming

Suffice it to say that my wife, who has sat quietly as I smoked bowl after bowl of English, Balkan and Va/Per blends, asked me to put this out after the charring light. Whereas many pipesters say they have to smoke outside because of the Latakia or Perique or whatever in their favorite blends, I dare say that I'm the only one who'll have to smoke outside because of an aromatic.

I'd really like it if Solani would fess up to what they put in this stuff!! If you miss the aroma of the local candy shop from your childhood, you MAY like this tobacco.

10/27/06

Decided to actually light the bowl and try a few more puffs on the way home from work to see if I'd been too harsh. I hadn't. I finally figured out that yes, it is a cherry flavor but with a top note of coconut! As well, there is no tobacco flavor that I could discern at all. And the car continued to smell of this blend even with the window down!

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	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Emeritus Account (30167)	2005-11-28		Mild to Medium	Very Strong	Full	Pleasant

I don't know why anyone hasn't gotten it yet or why they don't say it in the description on the tin but this is a "Cherry" flavored tobacco! very cherry! But because of the different mix of tobaccos this is a good one for a cherry tobacco. I only smoke it in the winter outside. It's nice in ah Meerschaum. Because of the strength of the flavoring if you smoke it in a briar you'll have to dedicate a pipe to it because it will flavor the pipe. Good one for a beginning pipe smoker wanting a cherry tobacco.

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	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Emeritus Account (30167)	2005-05-30		Mild to Medium	Extra Strong	Overwhelming	Pleasant to Tolerable

Potpourri anyone? I can't believe they waste such beautiful tins on this nastyness. Better off used as a bathroom or car freshener.

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	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Emeritus Account (30167)	2005-02-12		Medium	None Detected	Medium to Full	Very Pleasant

Still laughing about Pipestud's review - especially about the potpourri - I think this is a tobacco to smoke when you are in the mood for something completely different. I think it is a good tobacco, does not bite and goes to grey ashes. Now and then I smoke this tobacco, my wife loves the smell of it in the room. It is very sweet and it tastes like it smells. For aromatic lovers a must-try I think.

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	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Emeritus Account (30167)	2003-07-03		Mild to Medium	Medium to Strong	Medium	Pleasant

If you're looking for an aromatic with decent tobacco flavor, you can do worse than Solani Blue. I'm normally not an aromatic smoker, but I can enjoy a bowl of this on occassion when I'm around company or need to "freshen up" the smoking room.

This blend is heavily cased, but still manages to burn well. There is a substantial helping of Virginia tobacco here, so it does have the potential to bite. Flavor is a decent mix of sweet Virginia and cavendish as well as nutty burley, with a slight touch of Perique fruitness. (The normal spiciness of Perique is absent, however, leading me to wonder if the tobacco was cased with "Perique Juice").

Room aroma is vanilla and fruity, and is definitely tolerable to all but the most rabid of non-smokers. I also detect a "coconut" type smell/flavor as well. The aroma does come through in the taste, especially in the first half of the bowl. The aromatic components will cling to a pipe, so smoke this in a piece dedicated to aromatics.

I don't know if I'll buy any again soon, but for a tinned flavored tobacco, it's not a bad choice.

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