Components: Black Cavendish Burley Virginia Family: Aromatic
Cut: Ribbon
Well since hundreds of you requested, well not that many, well really zero requested that I review the other two blends so I could not help myself. So here is my review of the "Sweet and Mellow" and I will finish with the Virginia tomorrow. I smoked the Mixture this morning and into the early afternoon and finished with this one late tonight as the chill filled the air in Central PA. Alas winter will soon be upon us. I could not resist opening the tin of Sweet and Mellow just to see whether this blend would not so much be better than the others but change my views of them. As I sit here writing this, I can't help but think the differences in the three blends so far are distinct and when I am done I will give my final thoughts.
So to start, the tobacco is ribbon cut and like the other two blends packed easily. The tobacco is made of light and dark tobacco and moisture content was spot on, no drying or other prep needed and like the other blends the quality is very good, it does come from C&D so would we expect less.
On opening the tin I got a strong fermented apple/raisin smell, kinda reminded me of warm French Apple Pie and the aroma is great, deep and rich, almost addicting. This is clearly to me an ARO and that is what I am into right now so I have some experience.
After a normal charring light and subsequent light the tobacco burned as before with the others, no problems to speak of as far as relights or tamps go. I was careful to smoke slowly as we all know cadence is everything to enjoy an ARO. The tobacco again smoked fairly cool but a little warmer this time due to what was more moisture than the other two had. I have to note that I did get gurgling on one bowl this time which I cleared with a pipe cleaner. All four bowls had some dottle but not excessive. I can see this blend giving some pipers bite if they are not careful although I did not experience this. Again smoke this one slowly.
Well now to what you all really want to know, what did it taste like? All 4 bowls were to say the least consistent. A sweet smoke thanks to the Cavendish with hints of chocolate and to me maple that was subtle but there. The smoke is again mild but that was OK with me. I don't think this blend would have worked well if it was too heavy with the casing. I did not catch much with the Burley woodie notes.
What can I say, this blend was also mild but much more flavorful as I hoped it would be based on the tin note. I did not find this blend boring and it could easily be an all-day aro if your into them. The smoke was smooth with no nose burn on the inhale and retrohale. I had stated before in another review of walking into the exhaled smoke in search of flavor, I did the same here but it was to enjoy the fragrance and room note which was pleasant and the better halves would not have a problem with it in my opinion.
Now to finish up, this to me was the better of the three so far, but consider that I am new and probably biased towards aro's. But even with that in mind, I only bought a tin of the Sweet and Mellow and Virginia based on what I had read and so far that decision for me at least has been a good one.
Well that's it for now folks. Stay tuned for the final review.
Side note, I like side notes. When I lit my first bowl I was in the garage and noticed at once that all I could smell was spray paint, happens my neighbor had started spray painting his lawn furniture at the very time I started the charring light. Which is why I can speak of the room note since I went inside to smoke which is something I rarely do.
Cut: Ribbon
Well since hundreds of you requested, well not that many, well really zero requested that I review the other two blends so I could not help myself. So here is my review of the "Sweet and Mellow" and I will finish with the Virginia tomorrow. I smoked the Mixture this morning and into the early afternoon and finished with this one late tonight as the chill filled the air in Central PA. Alas winter will soon be upon us. I could not resist opening the tin of Sweet and Mellow just to see whether this blend would not so much be better than the others but change my views of them. As I sit here writing this, I can't help but think the differences in the three blends so far are distinct and when I am done I will give my final thoughts.
So to start, the tobacco is ribbon cut and like the other two blends packed easily. The tobacco is made of light and dark tobacco and moisture content was spot on, no drying or other prep needed and like the other blends the quality is very good, it does come from C&D so would we expect less.
On opening the tin I got a strong fermented apple/raisin smell, kinda reminded me of warm French Apple Pie and the aroma is great, deep and rich, almost addicting. This is clearly to me an ARO and that is what I am into right now so I have some experience.
After a normal charring light and subsequent light the tobacco burned as before with the others, no problems to speak of as far as relights or tamps go. I was careful to smoke slowly as we all know cadence is everything to enjoy an ARO. The tobacco again smoked fairly cool but a little warmer this time due to what was more moisture than the other two had. I have to note that I did get gurgling on one bowl this time which I cleared with a pipe cleaner. All four bowls had some dottle but not excessive. I can see this blend giving some pipers bite if they are not careful although I did not experience this. Again smoke this one slowly.
Well now to what you all really want to know, what did it taste like? All 4 bowls were to say the least consistent. A sweet smoke thanks to the Cavendish with hints of chocolate and to me maple that was subtle but there. The smoke is again mild but that was OK with me. I don't think this blend would have worked well if it was too heavy with the casing. I did not catch much with the Burley woodie notes.
What can I say, this blend was also mild but much more flavorful as I hoped it would be based on the tin note. I did not find this blend boring and it could easily be an all-day aro if your into them. The smoke was smooth with no nose burn on the inhale and retrohale. I had stated before in another review of walking into the exhaled smoke in search of flavor, I did the same here but it was to enjoy the fragrance and room note which was pleasant and the better halves would not have a problem with it in my opinion.
Now to finish up, this to me was the better of the three so far, but consider that I am new and probably biased towards aro's. But even with that in mind, I only bought a tin of the Sweet and Mellow and Virginia based on what I had read and so far that decision for me at least has been a good one.
Well that's it for now folks. Stay tuned for the final review.
Side note, I like side notes. When I lit my first bowl I was in the garage and noticed at once that all I could smell was spray paint, happens my neighbor had started spray painting his lawn furniture at the very time I started the charring light. Which is why I can speak of the room note since I went inside to smoke which is something I rarely do.