Tobaccos Hearth & Home - Vermont Meat Candy

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Emeritus Account (30194)	2013-11-12		Mild	Mild to Medium	Mild to Medium	Pleasant

Now this is an interesting one! Mostly medium brown with slight specks of dark, and a tin nose that delivers on its promise of maple and something sorta like bacon - a smokiness that's not latakia. This feels overly moist in the bag but I did not need to dry it out. It smoked very dry, and I don't just mean the moisture in the pipe but also the taste was dry. Very different and enticing. Reminded me of Boswell's version of 1-Q in the "dry on the tongue" feeling.

The taste was typical American cavendish with a very noticeable hint of maple. Strong maple on the room note. The taste also had the unmistakeable hint of smokiness that one would get from bacon. Not an actual bacon taste but fairly close. I'll be durned if this didn't bring up the experience of eating pancakes and bacon and having the syrup collide with the pig! A hint of saltiness with the hint of smoke and the sweetness, just as Russ promises.

Ok, this isn't something I'll smoke a lot of, but it's an excellent take on the traditional American-style cavendish-driven aromatic. I believe I'll pick up a few oz from time to time and I thank the internet buddy that sent me this sample. Interesting stuff and fun to smoke.

18 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Pipestud (1829)	2015-03-04		Mild	Medium	Mild to Medium	Very Pleasant

Unbelievable blend! I thought the bacon thing in the descriptive was a little over the top - but it wasn't over the top, it was true!

A terrific morning smoke for those who like to start their day with sweet aromatic blends. I normally don't, but the combination sure worked for me as a change of pace.

Pipestud

14 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	JimInks (3048)	2017-05-13		Mild to Medium	Medium	Mild to Medium	Very Pleasant

The rich maple flavored cavendish is the star, and also has a couple grass notes. The fire cured dark burley adds a little earth, wood and nuts, plus a hint of salt and spice to its smoky character. I don’t quite get a bacon meat flavor per se’, but the other qualities are mildly present due to the hickory smoke curing of the burley. You’ll barely notice the tobacco taste by design. The strength is in the middle of mild to medium, while the taste level is a step or two closer to medium. The nic-hit is very mild. Won’t bite or get harsh. The tobacco is a little moist, but I saw no need to dry it. Burns cool and clean at a slightly slow pace (if not dried, which I don’t recommend doing) with a very sweet and lightly savory, fairly smooth, deep, consistent flavor all the way through. Leaves just a little moisture in the bowl, and needs a few relights. Has a very pleasant, lingering after taste and room note. Can be an all day smoke. Three and a half stars.

-JimInks

10 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	misterzipp0 (3)	2015-07-25		Medium	Mild to Medium	Medium to Full	Pleasant to Tolerable

This blend (to me) is the same base as H&H's Latham Circle but with a touch of dark fired Kentuck to bring out that bacony taste.

The DFK brings an interesting component to the blend, a dry heat if you will, not at all unlike Buffalo Wild Wings Desert Heat dry rub or similar smokey/sweet rubs you would use while grilling.

All that said this blend is super tasty! This was one of my first aromatics that I actually understood and could identify the individual tastes, a true compliment to the blender!

Do not try and search for any kind of buttery sweetness, it's simply not there. This blend hops on the maple/bacon bandwagon and takes over the reigns! What you will get is the smoky goodness of hickory cured bacon and the aroma of maple from thick creamy smoke billowing from your pipe.

This is a great blend that provides an amazing mustache note and will leave you craving your next bowl full.

Age When Smoked: 4 months

Purchased From: Pipes and Cigars

Similar Blends: Hearth & Home - Latham Circle (Landmark Series), Sutliff Tobacco Company - Rum and Maple Match, Gawith, Hoggarth & Co. - Dark Kentucky, Sutliff Tobacco Company - Maple Street (Sutliff Private Stock).

10 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Kraft1994 (54)	2014-01-31		Mild	Very Strong	Mild to Medium	Very Pleasant

Vermont Meat Candy was a let down for me. After all the hype about this blend I expected more. I did have a lot of flavor to it but more a chemical taste than anything. Tobacco burned far to hot, lead to tongue bite and fowled up my pipe with a chemical ghost. Overall, I was very disappointed with Vermont Meat Candy.

9 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	codyp (65)	2014-01-27		Mild	Strong	Medium	Tolerable

Once again disappointed. I was very excited for this blend to arrive. Out of the tin it smelt kind of weird. A bit like overly used casing. The strength was okay, and the room note was okay.

The taste however was there, but it was not good. They tried way to hard to make this blend pop, and made nothing but a tongue biting, foul tasting let down.

I may have gotten carried away, but it's all opinions, and I hope this helps somebody.

Pipe Used: Peterson System (Bent), Nording Poker, H.I.S

Purchased From: Pipes & Cigars

7 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	StageCarp (8)	2014-05-26		Mild	Mild to Medium	Mild to Medium	Very Pleasant

Noticed that this is currently back ordered (Memorial Day weekend 2014) at Pipes &Cigars. Disappointing, because I need more and am reduced to rationing what little I've left of it! The "Meat" in the name may be off-putting to some.... fear not! It's delish. A better name might have been "Smokehouse Maple"... but wouldn't perhaps be as catchy.... This blend captures for me the essence of a Mapley-Hickoryish glaze.... not too sweet, but not bitter.... one sec...... smoking some now...... wow. Yep... these flavors just dance together here! I don't perceive any of the "chemical" flavors some other reviewers write about... my sample is full, rich,and to me a great balance of sweet and savory.... Seems that perhaps as has been mentioned, some reviewers got a different off- batch??? I see myself reaching for this often, when not wanting candy tobacco, and not being able to face a heavy English.... could Hickory cured Burley be my new Latakia? ... perhaps!. (This is a maple aromatic, yet the hickory smoked flavors come from the fire cured. Rather a semi-aromatic to me along the lines of a mapley Frog Morton, with fire-cured standing in for Latakia) Try a sample of this... I think many will be sold... and I need more folks to order it to keep it always available! Top notch stuff, and an imaginative blend.

Pipe Used: MM Diplomat cob

Age When Smoked: 2 weeks

Purchased From: Pipes & Cigars

6 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	dixcreek (184)	2020-12-29		Mild to Medium	Mild to Medium	Mild to Medium	Very Pleasant

VMC is a pleasant change of pace smoke. The Cavendish is excellent and no too overly sweet. The burly adds a nutty component and the Ky adds the smoky essence of, well a smoke house in the early winter. The maple topping is tasty and plays well with the tobaccos. Bacon, well the hickory smoke of it but not the porky saltiness. Behaves well in the pipe and burns dry with little or no goopy moisture. Produces copious amounts of fragrant smoke. All in all a winner for me.

4 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	canvas (337)	2018-05-19		Mild to Medium	Mild to Medium	Mild	Pleasant to Tolerable

Well I just got back from lunch and had a club sandwich with bacon, so I can safely tell you I know what bacon tastes like and this was not it. I'll admit the smell of maple is in the bag, and I suppose you might convince me I'm smelling bacon. There is a grassy/wheaty smell that could be construed as a savory element.

Once lit though, everything was just dry and unpleasant, even though textually it was fairly moist. Burned well and hot with some smokey depth to it, yet it wasn't what I found tasty. Another mystery was how the ash kept poofing up and making a mess when I puffed on it.

By the end of the bag, I grew to enjoy it a bit more. Not sure if it was a newer pipe I used, but I also got the taste of a cedar box... that dry, seasoned wood scent you smell when first walking into a sauna.

I feel it is just another aromatic trap that advertises more than is possible in a flavored tobacco.

Purchased From: pipesandcigars.com

3 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Bbrown626 (150)	2017-08-29		Mild to Medium	Medium	Medium	Tolerable

As a lover of bacon, I really hoped this tobacco would be special. I opened the pouch and disappointment set in. I can't really put my finger on it, but it smelled more of chemicals than a run-of-the-mill aromatic. Once lit, the chemicals came through in the taste. I did not pick up a bacon taste at all and to top it off, it burned hot. I handed it off to my son-in-law, a smoker of English blends and Maduro cigars who thought it was "ok." That was generous! The room note got a thumbs down from the Mrs.

Pipe Used: Cob

Age When Smoked: 1 year

Purchased From: pipes and cigars

3 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	PhantomWolf (41)	2017-04-13		Mild to Medium	Medium to Strong	Medium to Full	Pleasant

What an aroma! Even through a sealed bag, this tobacco had my mouth watering. It smells exactly as you would imagine. Mable syrup and a bit of smoke. Frankly, I have no idea why a bit of Latakia wasn't added to this blend to lend that meaty smoke flavor. This tobacco packed well and smoked smoothly, if only a tad on the hot-side. I had to re-light the bowl a couple times and there was a hint of moisture in the bowl afterwards. I had some tongue bite, but if smoked slowly, I can avoid this. The flavor for me was Virginia and maple. No bacon, but there is a kind of a dry saltiness that tricks the senses occasionally into imagining the taste of bacon. The room note is really the high point of this blend. That along with a pleasing aftertaste earns this tobacco a 2 star rating for me. I probably wouldn't buy this again, but I would recommend it to a fan of over the top aromatics. I'd like to add that I plan on aging the remainder of this smoke for a couple years. I think it may turn into something special if the level of volatility comes down a bit.

Pipe Used: Missouri Meerschaum, Corn Cob-Straight

Age When Smoked: Fresh, air-dried for 20 mins prior to packing.

Purchased From: PipesAndCigars.com

3 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	DSYoung (1)	2015-10-22		Medium	None Detected	Extremely Mild (Flat)	Unnoticeable

I must have missed something. Most of the reviews were pretty positive, but what I received in no way aligned with what I expected. No particular flavor, no particular aroma, harsh, higher in vitamin N than I prefer. As I say, perhaps I missed something, but this won't be a repeat for me.

Pipe Used: corncob

3 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Haroldt (26)	2014-04-29		Mild	Mild to Medium	Mild to Medium	Very Pleasant

This is becoming one of my favorite aromatic smokes. This is maybe one of the only aromatics that taste just like it smells. The wife likes it too. You truly can close your eyes and believe some one's cooking bacon. If you like aromatics and you like sweet... you're gonna love this.” In my original post I state rank it up with RLP^. Revised... Far better than! It is one of the best aromatics I've smoked.

I would rank this up there with Lane's RLP #6, in that it smokes well, smells great and taste great all the way to the end. Many aro's start out with flavor and then peter out. The Vermont Meat Candy delivers a sweet flavor to the end.

Purchased From: Pipe and Cigar

3 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Travelingman542 (3)	2021-01-09		Mild	Medium	Medium to Full	Very Pleasant

Very pleasant buttery maple flavor that does not overwhelm. The hickory cured burley takes some getting used to as I would say it is the culprit for the “chemical” flavor I hear so many people mention in their reviews. This blend will leave your tongue dry, almost like a salty dry. No tongue bite at all. Pleasant nutty, grassy aftertaste. Not something I would want to make into an all the time smoker but certainly a nice novelty

Pipe Used: MM Huck Finn

Age When Smoked: New

Purchased From: Pipes and cigars

2 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Stinkypipe (155)	2017-01-22		Mild	Extremely Mild	Very Mild	Pleasant to Tolerable

I wish my palette was as sophisticated as some of these reviewers. I get a slight taste of maple and very little smoky flavor at all. That's it in a nut shell. Room note is decent and burns fairly cool. I wish I could taste what some of you folks have described but sadly I get mostly Maple and little of that.

Pipe Used: Boswell

2 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Old6String (27)	2014-11-06		Mild	Mild	Mild to Medium	Pleasant

2oz just arrived and I'm already on my second bowl! Subtly sweet and slightly smoky but of course no "real" bacon flavor. I didn't really expect any but this stuff is super tasty just the same.

I puffed this stuff pretty hard for a few minutes and it refused to bite. At least that was my experience. Packs well, burns well and I will definitely be reordering more soon.

It is flavorful but mild and I can imagine I'll be moving this in and out of my rotation regularly. Definitely worth the price to try it.

Update: moved to 4 *'s; smoked it all day Saturday while working in the yard. Never got tired of it. For my money and palate it's nearly perfect!

Pipe Used: Old basket briar; MM Legend

Age When Smoked: New

Purchased From: P&C

2 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	DoctorThoss (146)	2014-09-27		Mild	Medium to Strong	Medium	Pleasant

Here we have a pretty decent aromatic from Russ Outlette even if it doesn't really live up to its description. According to Oulette's marketing material, this blend "combines two great flavors - maple and bacon. We start with a Cavendish that's been given a deep, sweet maple flavor and then we added dark Burley that's been fire-cured with hickory wood, which delivers the flavor and aroma of hardwood-smoked bacon." Well…if Russ says so, I guess. I don't detect any kind of smoky/salty/"hickory" flavors in this blend at all. What I do detect is a pretty good dollop of maple. That's not a bad thing, mind you -- I've always tried to keep a decent maple aromatic around, but most of them are hot, biting, nasty products that I wouldn't smoke with someone else's tongue. Not so with Vermont Meat Candy. This is a quality product made of quality tobaccos that delivers a very sweet, natural-tasting maple flavor and aroma that's sure to hit the spot (if you're into this kind of thing at all, at least). I can't really find any major faults with this blend, and I don't hesitate to recommend it. So why don't I give it three stars? Because it's not Autumn Evening, which I feel is a full star better than this.

Pipe Used: Cobs

Age When Smoked: New

Purchased From: PC

Similar Blends: Autumn Evening, Mountain Maple.

2 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Der Pfeifenraucher (71)	2014-08-13		Mild to Medium	Medium to Strong	Medium to Full	Pleasant to Tolerable

Just smoked up the last of my trial for VMC. Everyone should try this tobacco. Not because it is an exceptional smoking experience but because it has a brand new component not yet seen, the hickory smoked burley. I'll call it the American Latakia until somebody comes up with a better name. This is a very welcome flavor but in this first iteration of a blend it doesn't work that well for me. First off, out of the bag comes a super smoke aroma with a good measure of maple. Packing and lighting are great, very easy tobacco to work with. Now to the experience. I'm a fan of both aromatics and Latakia blends but don't like to mix the two. That's essentially what's been done here, a wood smoked tobacco plus a cased tobacco. The combination didn't do much for me and I didn't get any indication of a salty/meaty flavor. This isn't a surprise but the flavor is advertised as bacon/maple which is a stretch, maybe as close to bacon as one can get from a pipe though. For me it is mostly an odd combination of sweet and savory, like pickles and ice cream. Great separately but, in combination, not so much. Another bummer for this mix is the fact that it wanted to burn hot. Not a scorcher but if you aren't paying attention it will get you.

I'll be watching for more experiments with the new American style Latakia.

Pipe Used: cobs and briars

Age When Smoked: 0-2 months

Purchased From: P&C

2 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	DrT999 (318)	2014-06-08		Mild	Mild to Medium	Mild to Medium	Pleasant

I'm not sure why I added this to an order, but it was interesting to try. I have to say, I detected none of the 'meat' (i.e. hickory) in this. The maple was certainly detectable however, but it was not overwhelming or really all that sweet. In that respect, a nicely balanced blend. The cavendish burned a bit too hot for my preferences, but not too much so. Overall, a decent aromatic for this non-aro smoker. I still wouldn't rebuy it, however.

Pipe Used: briars

Purchased From: pipes & cigars

2 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Suttonwood (12)	2013-10-17		Mild	Mild	Mild	Pleasant

I have finally found an aromatic I like. This stuff is great. The maple flavor and the hickory smoke blends great with the tobaccos. They aren't overly sweet and it has great smokiness to it, not in a latakia way, but in a smoked meat way. The flavors are simple, yet complex in the way they play off of each other. This will be a great tobacco for weekend mornings. I am looking forward to this with a cup of strong coffee before a day in the woods.

2 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Emeritus Account (30194)	2013-01-09		Mild to Medium	Medium	Medium	Very Pleasant

I absolutely love this blend. It has this delicious maple drizzled bacon flavor. It is sweet and a little smokey which makes you crave for breakfast! Well rounded, no bite, and burns to a nice white ash. I'm using this blend to break in my new pipe because hey, a little bacon flavor to anything makes it taste that much better!

2 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	WmZiggy (81)	2020-12-17		Mild	Medium to Strong	Medium to Full	Very Pleasant

Hearth and Home has seldom disappointed me with their blends and Vermont Meat Candy is certainly not an exception. The maple and bacon flavors are present and enjoyable in this blend. Smokes cool and tasty with a dry white ash almost to the bottom of the bowl. The tobacco in this is high quality ribbon cut with no dressing or dust.. Then, like most aromatics, the dottle becomes wet and slightly bitter. Mid bowl it's at its best. I recommend this with a dram of Tennessee whiskey.

Pipe Used: Amphora X-tra 724 Bent Bulldog

Age When Smoked: Smoked upon delivery

Purchased From: Pipes and Cigars

Similar Blends: Unique. Not like anything in my stash..

1 person found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Rustedrailsmokes (293)	2018-09-24		Mild	Medium	Mild to Medium	Pleasant to Tolerable

With the beginning of Autumn, I pulled back out a jar which I put away last September of VMC.

Mix of light and darker tobaccos. A little moist in the jar, but not too bad. Maple syrup smell in the jar.

Easy to pack in a meerschaum. Easy to light and smoke with minimal tending.

First half of the bowl was heavy on the maple. If pushed it does want to burn a little. Second half of the bowl gave more savory sensation from the KY.

Personally I think there could have been a little more of the KY to give it a little more of the smoky "bacon" taste. It was quite enjoyable when I got there in the 2nd half of the bowl.

Nice blend for fall and I'll be rotating with Sleepy Hollow as my fall AROs.

Pipe Used: meerschaum smaller bowl

Age When Smoked: one year

Purchased From: Pipes and Cigars

1 person found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	manxman (82)	2016-06-14		Medium	Medium	Medium to Full	Very Pleasant

Mild enough to inhale, but there's no point. No nicotine in evidence. I was surprised to get slightly bit by this. No gurgle, smokes dry, especially in a cob. Burns right to the bottom and falls right out of the bowl. Has a pleasant "smoky" flavor. I will buy a few more ounces and revisit this review. This will please bystanders.

Pipe Used: MM cob w filter,, briar w o filter.

Age When Smoked: Fresh to one month

Purchased From: Pipes and Cigars

Similar Blends: Tobacco Galleria Rum and Maple.

1 person found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	J.R. Patton (106)	2016-06-04		Mild to Medium	Medium	Medium	Very Pleasant

Good stuff. I love dark fired and I love maple. Put then together and we have a winner. I'm not gonna go over the top and rave about how much this stuff resembles bacon and pancakes. You just can't replicate that sort of heavenly food in smoke form. But hell, it comes close. Burley aromatics are always a favorite subspecies of mine. They may burn a little hotter, but if you treat them right (i.e. don't overfill the bowl or puff like a raging crackhead), you're rewarded with much more flavor than a simple cavendish based aro. If I had one suggestion for meat candy, it would be for a little more dark fired in there. I like to mix this with a half flake of Mac Barens Bold Kentucky from time to time. Anyway, it's a pleasant aromatic with no excessive toppings or PG that burns cleanly with volumes of smoke. Room note and beard note are spectacular. Non-aromatic guys and gals ought to give it a test drive. It works for me any time of the day, and sometimes breakfast for dinner is just what the doctor ordered.

Purchased From: Pipesandcigars.com

1 person found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	BryGuySC (26)	2016-05-24		Mild to Medium	Medium	Medium	Pleasant to Tolerable

This was an interesting smoke. I wasn’t sure what to expect with a name like “Meat Candy!” I was wandering through the bulk offerings at P&C and the name jumped out at me, so I tossed an ounce in the cart. I expected to hate this blend, but I was pleasantly surprised. It definitely had a sweetness to it, which was evident right from the start. It was not a cloying sweet; more smooth and subdued. Along with the sweetness, there was a certain saltiness or savory taste. Thankfully, not actual bacon flavor. I had to check to see what exactly it was. I assume it was the hickory-smoked burley. The smokey note from the hickory-smoked burley was very nice. I’ll have to look for this in other blends.

I quite enjoyed this blend, and will probably order some more to have on hand.

Age When Smoked: Fresh

Purchased From: pipesandcigars.com

1 person found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Theosprey247 (73)	2016-03-05		Extremely Mild	Mild to Medium	Mild	Very Pleasant

Very mild and enjoyable smoke. Smooth not rough, but rather lacking in the taste department. The tin note provides the essence of maple, and a slight meaty flavor (bacon maybe I've never smelled bacon like that but whatever). No bite, but does get hot if you puff puff like a steam engine. Give. A good amount of pleasant smelling smoke.

Pipe Used: Unknown zulu

Age When Smoked: About a month old

Purchased From: Pipes and cigars.com

1 person found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Drummerguy (5)	2021-01-23		Mild	Mild to Medium	Medium	Pleasant

I'm not much of an aromatics smoker, usually focusing instead on naturals, VA/PER, flakes, and some English or American-English blends. But in honor of my dad and the pipes he left (probably from the 60s or 70s) I'm trying a few. My dad would have smoked drug store rum-maple and this stuff is nothing like that.

In a word, this is subtle. It's also beautifully integrated, the whole more than the sum of the parts. Moist to the touch but not sticky and needs no drying. The bag aroma is sweet, maple, but not Maple Street maple, a little tart, a very faint hint of vanilla, and a distant campfire. A very distant campfire. Packs nicely, lights easily and stays lit. I think I re-lit once or twice. The flavor is consistent from start to finish. Sweet maple, smoky notes and a little salt waft in and out. No tongue bite. Smokes to a clean white ash with no moisture left behind.

It doesn't so much TASTE like a lumberjack breakfast as feel like one: familiar and comforting. I just want more. I could smoke this all day, especially in cold weather.

Pipe Used: Jelling, half bent apple

Age When Smoked: New

Purchased From: Pipes and cigars

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