This is a ribbon cut easy to pack tobacco, but the tin will benefit from some drying time. When I bought it I wasn't all too sure whether it had any Latakia in it or not, but it has. Not that I was disappointed to learn about it, but I guess I was more focused on exploring oriental tobaccos when the idea to buy some popped up in my head. Anyway, the Latakia content is minimal, I dare to say, so it is still possible to separate what belongs here, what there and to what extent. As for the Cavendish tobacco, I was kind of expecting it to give the whole thing a somewhat sweet and mellow dimension, but it is so much in the background you can hardly notice it. The Latakia tobacco seems to flare up at times as you progress in your smoke, but this might as well be due to the fact this mixture is not presented in flakes. Funny though it might sound, despite my initial concerns, it is still possible to explore the oriental side of it, which adds sort of a fermented tinge to it very similar to a cigar (though the Cavendish tobacco might be playing a part in this too). Precisely, I guess they call this tobacco "Red Rapparee" because of its somewhat cigar leaf qualities, being the "red pike" a metaphor for the cigar itself (a Rapparee was a pike welding Irishman during the Irish Confederate Wars). Even the fine ash it produces will draw upon that. Overall, I found this mixture quite tasty and intriguing enough to keep me wondering and wanting more of it. I will give this tobacco a 3 star rating, which is not bad at all.
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