First smell:great
Upon first opening this blend I was greeted by the most pleasant aroma of earthy dark chocalate and sweet musty dried fruit i.e. raisin,plum etc with under tones of vanilla.The initial reaction was kid in the candy store so many wonderful aromas mixing together and slipping in and out of focusand only describable as good like grandmas house at the holidays.
Moisture:just right
The moisture content was just right.damp enough to stick together yet dry enough not to clump.I pack light to meduim and had no issue with relights after the intial char.To go a step further i dried it for about thirty minutes and same results charred then stayed lit though needed packed a little tighter as one would expect.then I tortured it and dried it all night it still was moist enough not to crumble away and as before chared and light though tighter pack required.Very little to no gurgle.
Bite:none
I smoked this blend in four different pipes a Macqueen Wizard,Vauen Nobile n293,Stanwell royal danish and A MM Cob.I hot boxed it,sipped let it go out and relight all to no avail this tobacco is very well behaved and refused to bite.
Burn:very cool
Through all of my experiments and torture test Blackstrap stood out as one of the top burning tobaccos I have tried.It burned evely with a generalized white ash in the center and and darker around the edgfes that were gladly turned to ash with a bit of tamping.In my churchwardens tried to get it to burn hot but without much luck.Even the Stanwell behaved well with very thin walls.
Smoke and Flavor:excellant
Ok the part that really matters.When first charring I recieved thick creamy vanilla right up front andlots of thick white smoke.After tamping and relighting the vanilla backs off a bit but is still the forefront.Approximatly 1/4 down the molassases starts to come in giving me a flavor more liken to a dark rum mixed with a vanilla coke.Athe bowl progress the vanilla fades away to a carmel earthy raisnish flavor.By the last 1/4 the sweetness takes the back up role and the tobacco flavor comes through mildly with thesweet earth molasses flavor playing backup and the vanilla carmels are just out of reach to latch on too.
Recomendation:High
Roomnote:wife loved it
Upon first opening this blend I was greeted by the most pleasant aroma of earthy dark chocalate and sweet musty dried fruit i.e. raisin,plum etc with under tones of vanilla.The initial reaction was kid in the candy store so many wonderful aromas mixing together and slipping in and out of focusand only describable as good like grandmas house at the holidays.
Moisture:just right
The moisture content was just right.damp enough to stick together yet dry enough not to clump.I pack light to meduim and had no issue with relights after the intial char.To go a step further i dried it for about thirty minutes and same results charred then stayed lit though needed packed a little tighter as one would expect.then I tortured it and dried it all night it still was moist enough not to crumble away and as before chared and light though tighter pack required.Very little to no gurgle.
Bite:none
I smoked this blend in four different pipes a Macqueen Wizard,Vauen Nobile n293,Stanwell royal danish and A MM Cob.I hot boxed it,sipped let it go out and relight all to no avail this tobacco is very well behaved and refused to bite.
Burn:very cool
Through all of my experiments and torture test Blackstrap stood out as one of the top burning tobaccos I have tried.It burned evely with a generalized white ash in the center and and darker around the edgfes that were gladly turned to ash with a bit of tamping.In my churchwardens tried to get it to burn hot but without much luck.Even the Stanwell behaved well with very thin walls.
Smoke and Flavor:excellant
Ok the part that really matters.When first charring I recieved thick creamy vanilla right up front andlots of thick white smoke.After tamping and relighting the vanilla backs off a bit but is still the forefront.Approximatly 1/4 down the molassases starts to come in giving me a flavor more liken to a dark rum mixed with a vanilla coke.Athe bowl progress the vanilla fades away to a carmel earthy raisnish flavor.By the last 1/4 the sweetness takes the back up role and the tobacco flavor comes through mildly with thesweet earth molasses flavor playing backup and the vanilla carmels are just out of reach to latch on too.
Recomendation:High
Roomnote:wife loved it