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This is similar to our Churchwarden but with a decrease in the cigar leaf and perique, and the addition of some high grade burley for a slightly sweeter, nuttier smoke. Rich and full with round full undertones. Pressed into Crumble Cake!
Favorite Of 2 Users
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Reviewed By | Date | Rating | Strength | Flavoring | Taste | Room Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| JimInks (3047) |   |
Medium | Extremely Mild | Medium | Pleasant to Tolerable |
The smoky, woody, earthy, musty, incense-like, sweet Cyprian Latakia is a major player, though the nutty, earthy, woody, molasses sweet burley provides ample support. The nuttiness reminds me of Planters’ peanuts, and the interplay between it and the other components occasionally gives me the feel of an American English mixture. The Virginia offers citrus and grass, primarily acting as a base for the other tobaccos. The black cavendish is a minor addition that adds some creamy smooth brown sugar to tame the Latakia. The Orientals are also lightly present; smoky, woody, mildly floral, herbal, vegetative with a hint of dry and light sourness. The spice from the perique is faint, and when noticeable, seems to be more fruity (raisins, plum and figs) than spicy. The woody, earthy, herbal, vegetative, sweet cigar leaf is about as obvious as the perique, meaning that I don’t always taste it. Fairly complex though some of the flavors are subtle, but mostly consistent to the finish with a little sweetness and some savoriness. No chance of bite or harshness. The strength and taste levels are medium. The nic-hit is just past the center of mild to medium. Burns a little slow with no dull moments, though it loses just a touch of sweetness in the last quarter. Leaves just a little moisture in the bowl. Needs some relights. Has a pleasant, lightly lingering after taste. The room note reminds me of sitting around the camp fire at night. Three and a half stars.
-JimInks
20 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By | Date | Rating | Strength | Flavoring | Taste | Room Note |
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| Emeritus Account (30171) | |
Medium | Very Mild | Medium to Full | Pleasant |
Mostly black with some mottling brick that is fairly easy to pull apart and load. Bag aroma was mostly of latakia but with an underlying spice scent. A delicate whiff of cigar, and since cigar aroma is anything but delicate to me, I found this interesting.
Taste-wise, this was about as unique a latakia blend as I've ever encountered, with a plethora of flavors. The latakia was in front but just barely. There was a slight sweetness but it was mostly of the nutty variety - a nut whose taste I could not place but that I've tasted before. But it didn't taste like your run of the mill burley and I'm assuming the addition of orientals, cigar leaf and perique had a lot to do with that. The cigar notes were mostly in the room aroma or when I held the bowl close to my nose, but there was a spice that I've not picked up before from the other components. The perique was very light but noticeable. Yet, I didn't find this terribly complex, as the overall presentation barely changed down the bowl. Adding too many components to a blend often dulls the experience for me, but Ernie has created a recipe here that brings out the best in all the constituent tobaccos and achieved a blend where everything does its part. Not my favorite tasting latakia blend but a 4 star creation nonetheless. Ernie Q has really earned my admiration!
11 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By | Date | Rating | Strength | Flavoring | Taste | Room Note |
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| SeoulSister (37) | |
Mild to Medium | Extremely Mild | Medium | Pleasant to Tolerable |
I really like the smell of this cake. I break up the cake in small pieces. It burns slowly with minimal relights. This is a very good tobacco! It's sweet, smoky and bit nutty on the back note, a nice combination of all the tobaccos. I would put this among my top favorites. Easy to smoke and stays lite nicely and didn't burn hot.
10 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By | Date | Rating | Strength | Flavoring | Taste | Room Note |
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| SteelCowboy (685) | |
Medium | Extremely Mild | Full | Pleasant to Tolerable |
For those that don't live in the northeastern US, a “Nor'Easter” is a storm that spins up the Atlantic bringing a ton of rain or snow along with high winds. The name is fitting for this excellent Krumble Kake as it a “full on” tobacco. As I have said in other reviews, I am miffed at the lack of attention on TR paid to Watch City. They are among the very few local pipe shops that make their own (not renamed blends made elsewhere) kakes and flakes. All of the ones I have smoked thus far have been very good to excellent. Nor'easter is dark and as described, quite rich in flavor. The kake is fairly tight but breaks up easily. There is Cavendish in the kake that adds some underlying sweetness. Smoker's Haven Krumble Kake is my personal standard for top shelve kk's. For points of reference, it's not as complex as Smoker's Haven krumble kake, but as complex as many of the Hermit blends and more complex than Pirate Kake. The heavy dose of Latakia is balanced off by the Cavendish. I enjoy that bit of sweetness, but lovers of Latakia heavy blends may feel differently. Nor'easter, like many tobaccos in its class, can be a little muddled in the latter half of the bowl. This is another winner from Ernie at Watch City. Three and a half stars!
Similar Blends: Plum Pudding-Seattle Pipe Club.
7 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By | Date | Rating | Strength | Flavoring | Taste | Room Note |
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| SunriseBoy (21) | |
Mild to Medium | Medium | Medium | Pleasant |
I'm not an experienced reviewer because I know my limits on smell and taste. I have very little of both. However, this particular leaf is excellent. And as others have noted on TRs, why is WatchCity so disregarded. The two blends I've tried, this one & 558 Flake, are both four star numbers for me. They load, burn and smoke well. And this one in particular is the best Latakia combo I think I've smoked. Burns and draws beautifully. Very well done. And Ernie Q's service is as effective, attentive and solid as his blends. People made a lot of noise about McClelland's blends, well, in my opinion, Ernie's stuff is well above those. Perhaps the style may be different, but for me, I am ever indebted to JT in Perth for gifting me the two samples of WC's Nor'easter and 558 Flake. I don't think you could fault either of those two at least. Highly recommended in my opinion.
Pipe Used: Cob
Age When Smoked: A year or so?
Purchased From: Gift
4 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By | Date | Rating | Strength | Flavoring | Taste | Room Note |
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| Tom Bombadill (121) | |
Medium to Strong | None Detected | Full | Very Pleasant |
This is one of the best latakia blends I've ever had the pleasure to smoke. The latakia is predominant at each stage: in the bag, while you smoke, and room note. What makes it unique, for me at least, from other Oriental/latakia blends I've enjoyed is the very subtle, creamy bottom taste from the cavendish and burley. I think it would be going to far too say the smoke is sweet, but as noted there is a very nice and unique "creaminess" to the bottom of your smoke/taste. Interesting.
And I really enjoyed the "krumble kake" style blend.
Update 11/08/10: It's a year later and I'm enjoying a bowl of this during a minin Nor'easter in Boston, Ma. This blend is as good if not better than I remember it so I think I will bump it up to Four (4) stars.
4 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By | Date | Rating | Strength | Flavoring | Taste | Room Note |
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| DavyCrockettwashere (33) | |
Medium | Mild | Medium to Full | Very Pleasant |
One of my favorite tobacco blends anywhere! This is English, but American. Probably more on the American side. The addition of burley in this blend, along with the Latakia and aromatic makes for an outstanding smoke. No bite, burns cool and without a big mess. The aroma is handsomely wonderful. The only thing I might add: Let this dry a bit.
Pipe Used: Charatan’s Make Canadian
Age When Smoked: Few weeks old
Purchased From: Watch City
3 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By | Date | Rating | Strength | Flavoring | Taste | Room Note |
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| Pryhosm (248) | |
Mild to Medium | None Detected | Medium | Pleasant to Tolerable |
Home run from Watch City! Easy to rub crumble cake (I love crumble cake, plugs and flakes) with a magical pouch/jar aroma. I am pretty sure the topping is chocolate as the first thing that hit me when I opened my mason jar was...chocolate. I am not 100% sure it is a topping as I have been fooled before (at least the label said I was fooled) with Burley and Cavendish based blends. Sure Cavendish is sweet and Burley has a chocolate like flavor and aroma but this smells like Nestle's Quick may have snuck its way into my jar. There or not it smells great. The first thing I noticed was the sweetness, man when I am in the mood for a blend with Latakia and some sweetness it is hard to find one that is done just right. This one is. This blend has layers of flavor with sweetness in every puff: The Latakia is not the star but it does give the blend creaminess that really assists the other tobacco's. there is: Earthiness from the Cavendish, some sour notes from the Orientals, wood, citrus and nuts. They all seem to be there and come and go as you smoke through the bowl. I think this is much better than Churchwarden, but for transparency, I like my perique with Virginia's. It is rare that I find Perique to help an English or American blend...not that it can't but it can foul up a blend if applied to heavily in my humble opinion. They toned the Perique down plenty in this one and the cigar leaf is also not as noticeable but it is there and adds to the complexity. This is good stuff.
Pipe Used: Briar’s and cob’s
3 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By | Date | Rating | Strength | Flavoring | Taste | Room Note |
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| Newbie2010 (18) | |
Medium to Strong | None Detected | Full | Pleasant |
Just wandered in to Watch City Cigar to check it out and just had to buy some of their pipe tobacco with cigar leaf. As a cigar smoker and pipe newbie, I was thrilled with the concept of the addition of cigar leaf and I was intrigued with Nor'Easter's smoky aroma and oily goodness. I let some dry out a little, about an hour or so, and then packed my pipe. You'll want to smoke it slowly because of its moisture content. It produces good smoke and a wonderful marriage of flavors that finishes like a wonderful maduro cigar, which is exactly what I was looking for in a pipe tobacco. I like the roomnote, too. It's a lot like the Owl Shop's Bancroft Tower, which reminds me of the incense they use at church. I should note that I pulled too much Nor'Easter out to dry and didn't put the remaining bowl-full away. It really dried out, but I smoked it anyway. It was a tad different. The flavor was not as full and the finish was shorter and drier. This is a nice treaure to have on hand and I'm certainly going to try Watch City's similar Churchwarden blend as well.
3 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By | Date | Rating | Strength | Flavoring | Taste | Room Note |
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| Tantric (321) | |
Medium to Strong | Mild | Full | Tolerable to Strong |
The personal at Watch City Cigars were kind enough to send me a sample of this blend. It is excellent, albeit with that pervasive slightly sweet Cavendish ingredient which I personally don't care too much for.
Now, the other tobaccos seem to me excellent. The Perique indeed is very shy (but its presence is nevertheless there), but the Burley and Latakia combine pretty well. This is the strongest of the previous blends I've tried (Persian Sleeper, Deep Elm and Justice), so I wouldn't recommended it as a first experience with Oriental/Latakias. For the seasoned smoker however, this may present a nice change of pace from the more traditional blends. Its smooth, easy to light and it has a very nice burning rate.
Maybe if they toned down the sweetness of their Cavendish (present in all the very good mixtures I've tried from this house), or used an altogether unsweetend Cavendish (like the ones used in Dunhill's My Mixture 965 or in Fox's Provost Mixture), there wouldn't be---for my taste---such a conflict of flavors.
3 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By | Date | Rating | Strength | Flavoring | Taste | Room Note |
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| lenow (3) | |
Very Strong | None Detected | Very Full | Pleasant |
Ernie Q. has done it again. I am a big fan of Esoterica Penzance and this is similar, but with a bit more spice because of the perique and cigar leaf. I started smoking this, and haven't stopped. It has a great taste without biting and smokes to the bottom of the bowl every time. You can taste this long after a bowl, but in a good way. If you like strong English blends, this is for you.
3 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By | Date | Rating | Strength | Flavoring | Taste | Room Note |
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| Bayoupipe (4) | |
Medium | Very Mild | Full | Pleasant to Tolerable |
I'm smoking my third bowl of Nor'easter, and I'm enjoying it every bit as much as the first, a few days ago. The Orientals and Latakia dominate in both flavor and aroma, but the Burley makes its presence known in a woodsy, nutty way. This is my first foray into Crumble Cake and into Watch City Cigars blends. I'm very pleased on both fronts. Crumble Cake is not only fun, but I think it preserves the moisture of the tobacco and helps the various flavors continue to marry after pressing. Nor'easter packs easily, and I've smoked every bowl so far on a single light. Many reviewers seem to ignore the visual aspect of the smoke. To me, a thick, dark gray smoke adds to the piping experience. This blends satisfies in that arena, too. As far as room note goes, I can't say "pleasant", based on the way my wife's nose curls up when I smoke it. But being a latakia fan, I personlly like the aroma. Great blend! I'll be looking into more from Watch City soon.
3 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By | Date | Rating | Strength | Flavoring | Taste | Room Note |
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| Timmer (8) | |
Medium | None Detected | Medium | Pleasant to Tolerable |
I'm a newbie, see my profile. Consequently I'm still learning the vocabulary for describing tobacco tastes. At present I'm mostly inclined to be subjective. I like this ... a lot. Nutty and earthy seem descriptive, as does "dark" and tasty. Doesn't seem to bite. If you like burleys you will probably like this.
Pipe Used: Brigham
Age When Smoked: fresh
Purchased From: Watch City
2 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By | Date | Rating | Strength | Flavoring | Taste | Room Note |
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| nkulk8r (90) | |
Medium | None Detected | Medium | Pleasant to Tolerable |
Wow -- Holy Cow – I absolutely love this tobacco! Sweet Black Cavendish, nutty Burley, smoky Latakia, spicy Oriental/Turkish, plumy Perique, citrusy Virginia -- what's not to love? I love the way Nor’Easter looks, I love the way it smells, I love the way it’s pressed, I love the way it crumbles, and most importantly, I love the way it tastes (I also love the way it smokes). This is my second blend from Watch City in as many days, and it’s hard for me to believe that something this good -- which has been around for 13 years -- has only been reviewed by 14 people (just like Flake #558). Watch City blends have to be the best kept secret in the pipe tobacco ecosphere. When word of Watch City gets out – Watch Out – these Watch City blends are going to go the way of Penzance and Stonehaven. Hoardable. 4-stars.
Age When Smoked: Fresh
Purchased From: Watch City Cigar & Pipe
2 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By | Date | Rating | Strength | Flavoring | Taste | Room Note |
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| Emeritus Account (30171) | |
Medium to Strong | None Detected | Medium to Full | Unnoticeable |
Latakia and Orientals are front and center in this band, hooting and blatting and generally showing off like a couple of clarinet players, while good ol? burley sits up back, laying down a cool, sweet, earthy back beat groove without which the swinging frontmen would be lost. Okay, maybe not lost, but certainly not as easy to dance to. The constituent parts of this dark, moist, easily rubbed out and easily lit crumble cake work together wonderfully, providing, as I said, a predominantly LatOrient smoke made smooth and rich and vaguely sweet by the burley. I?m sure that the cigar adds to the overall melange one how or another, but I don?t detect it. While this estimable smoke may not turn me completely away from the VAs, Vapers, and VaBurIques that I?ve been seen running around town with lately, it has certainly rekindled a flame for my first true love, Latakia-rich Englishes.
By the by, when I say "unnoticeable" as regards Room Note, I mean "I can't tell you," because I smoke alone most of the time and haven't yet had the chance to ask my Lovely Wife of Many Years, "What's this one smell like?" I'm sure that the Room Note of this tobacco is very noticeable by others; how so I can not say.
2 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By | Date | Rating | Strength | Flavoring | Taste | Room Note |
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| Doctor Watson (9) | |
Medium to Strong | None Detected | Full | Tolerable |
This is the sister blend to "The Churchwarden." The differences being:
1. This one has no cigar leaf 2. The Nutty Burley's fill the support role.
A masterfully blended "American" English.
Pipe Used: Briar, Meer, Cob
Age When Smoked: Fresh
Purchased From: Watch City
1 person found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By | Date | Rating | Strength | Flavoring | Taste | Room Note |
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| Lawyertodd (36) | |
Medium | Mild to Medium | Medium to Full | Pleasant |
Love this blend and it has become a trusted go-to companion to several of my pipes. Slightly heavier than what an early dawn requires, so this blend seems a perfect evening smoke to complement a meal and an ale.
Pipe Used: Wilke poker
Age When Smoked: Recent
Purchased From: Watch City
1 person found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By | Date | Rating | Strength | Flavoring | Taste | Room Note |
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| PKT (30) | |
Medium to Strong | None Detected | Medium to Full | Pleasant |
I really enjoy crumble cakes,Latakia and Burley. Therefore, I love this blend The cake arrived slightly crumbled but in fine shape. It smoked cool and slow with a smokey, nutty and creamy taste. I found it different enough from Churchwarden to make it worthwhile to cellar both. It is a real pleasure and interesting to smoke frequently.
Pipe Used: Midsized meerschaum and briars
Age When Smoked: 3-6 monthes
Purchased From: Watch City
Similar Blends: Churchwarden.
1 person found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By | Date | Rating | Strength | Flavoring | Taste | Room Note |
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| Emeritus Account (30171) | |
Medium | None Detected | Full | Very Pleasant |
I received a sample of Nor'easter and immediately fired it up. I am a big fan of crumble cake type tobaccos and the ingrediants of Latakia, Orientals and Burely sounded good. As a big fan of full bodied English tobaccos I was expecting a bit more of a punch along the lines of The Churchwarden.
Nor'easter is very smooth but I found the Burley to be the predominate part of this blend. The sweet and woody flavor of the Burley overpowers the Latakia and the subtle nuances of the Orientals.
It burns nicely to the bottom of the bowl. It seems to taste a little better when dried a bit, but smokes well right out of the bag. I tried smoking it in chunks as well as rubbing it out a bit. When smoked in little chunks, the flavor seemed more pronounced.
Since I am not a fan of this type of sweet Burley I can only somewhat recommend this blend. The room note was very nice with the wife commenting on how good it smelled.
1 person found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By | Date | Rating | Strength | Flavoring | Taste | Room Note |
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| Emeritus Account (30171) | |
Medium | None Detected | Medium to Full | Tolerable |
"Nor'Easter" is essentially "The Churchwarden" in a crumble cake form with much more burley and much less cigar leaf.As with T.C. it needed to be dried out for a while before packing and it worked best in a medium sized bowl.The flavor is much milder and would make a nice late morning or afternoon blend but for me I missed the cigar leaf and perique and enjoyed it's sister blend a bit more.None the less it's a very nice blend and is recommended.... prep
1 person found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By | Date | Rating | Strength | Flavoring | Taste | Room Note |
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| TallPuffO'Burley (633) | |
Mild to Medium | Very Mild | Medium | Tolerable |
Ernie was kind enough to put a sample of this into an order I placed back when tobacconists could give samples; I am glad that he did as I likely would not have tried this one otherwise. This is an everything and the kitchen sink, old timey, American English type of blend, that is a real pleasure to smoke.
It is hard too decipher which of the elemental leaves takes the lead in this as they tend to coalesce and shift as you work your way through the bowl. There is ample sweetness, much more than one would expect from a blend with these leaves in their natural state. I assumed this to be due to be a topping; however, it could be that the cavendish or burley have been cased. In any case, I am fairly certain there is a flavoring added.
In terms of properties of this smoke. It comes in a crumble cake that is easy to crumble. It is slightly moist, but it lights easy and smokes dry. It is a simple blend to smoke as your tempo can very wildly with no harm to your tongue. It is not a very strong blend in terms of nicotine, but it satisfied my needs each time I smoked it.
I am between 3 and 4 stars on this one, and am giving it 3 as there are a few other blends of this type that I enjoy slightly more, but this is good and a bit of a sleeper, so I do recommend it, particularly to those who like these types of blends.
Age When Smoked: 5 yrs 3 months
Purchased From: Watch City Cigar
Nobody has rated this review yet.
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Reviewed By | Date | Rating | Strength | Flavoring | Taste | Room Note |
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| Justindaze (11) | |
Medium to Strong | None Detected | Medium to Full | Tolerable to Strong |
I must admit, in my 20 years of pipesmoking, I haven't had a lot of experience with the Krumble Cake varieties. I'd say the best I've ever had is Smokers' Haven Krumble Kake. And that is a high watermark to reach!
Nor'Easter arrived in the mail at the perfect smoking humidity. No drying time needed. I rubbed out a quarter of one of the thick slabs and filled my pipe. It loaded easily and stayed springy in the bowl. The act of rubbing released a nice meaty aroma.
I toasted it with a false light, tamped a bit, and then followed with a true light and it sprang to life.
The first thing that came to mind as I began smoking was "Wow, this reminds me of McClelland's 3 Oaks!" It's charred, smokey Latakia meets with a tart black cavendish that is sweet but not too sweet. 3 Oaks may be a little sweeter in fact. The semisweet, bitter, tartness almost tastes like underripe cherries and it is the main player and hits hard. The tart bitterness may be a bit too much for some, but I don't mind it.
The Perique makes itself known as a light raisin undertone and a tingle on the tongue and in the nose. The Oriental/Turkish is there with a spicy exotic wind that picks up and dies down.The Virginia tobaccos sit way in the back and whisper with a bit of citrus and hay.
The room note is pleasant if you like Latakia, but if not then beware. This is not one I could smoke around my partner Amanda.
I'm about halfway through the bowl and the initial tart smokey punch in the face has died down. The storm is calming a bit, but still there. The rest of the elements remain the same, just coming forward a little because of the main players waning.
This is a very engaging tobacco. I'd only smoke it if I was doing nothing else because it's a thinker. Definitely not a yardwork smoke. It hits hard and fast and is aptly named.
It burned cool to the very end with no hint of bite. The bowl finished dry with a fine, light gray ash.
In the end, I think this is a very good Krumble Cake, not the best I've had, but solid. I think it would benefit from a year or two in the cellar to grind down the sharp, tart, bitter edges, perhaps sweeten a bit, and further meld the array of tastes.
I personally will be buying more. Some to age. Some to smoke on that occasion when my palettes needs a reset. I'd like to smoke this during a thunderstorm!
This is a 4/5 and I highly recommend it!
Pipe Used: Savinelli 320 Noce
Age When Smoked: New
Purchased From: Watch City Cigars
Similar Blends: 3 Oaks.
Nobody has rated this review yet.
600 Perdue Ave
Richmond, VA 23224