Hearth & Home Louisiana Red - Pipe Tobacco Reviews

By Bob Tate

The pouch aroma of this blend is a nice tobacco scent with a sweet, tangy, spicy aroma with a hint of plums. The tanginess is a little more predominate than the others and causes my mouth to water. I love it! The moisture content is perfect for smoking right away. I loaded up my pipe and proceeded to the charring light.

On the charring light, I was greeted by a nice tobacco aroma and taste. There was a nice amount of natural sweetness with a slight tang to it from the Virginias. It tasted very nice. I finished lighting the pipe and settled in for a nice relaxing smoke. Read the rest of this entry »

Castro Brothers (Davidus) Portrait - Pipe Tobacco Reviews

By Bob Tate

Note: Portrait is a house blend that is sold by Davidus. Davidus is a tobacconist chain that is located in Maryland. I try not to do reviews of tobacco blends that are not available to everyone, but Davidus.com does have an online store where you can purchase Portrait. There is not much information on this blend, so I am somewhat taking an educated guess on the tobacco contents and I am listing what it looks and tastes like to me*. This blend is only available in tins. From the look of the tin and the tobacco, I am guessing that this blend is made by McClelland Tobacco exclusively for Castro Brothers (Davidus). - Bob

The tin aroma of this blend is of a heavy, smoky Latakia with a hint of sweetness and spice. I also am picking up on a very slight hint of plums far in the background. The moisture content upon opening is a little on the moist side and some drying time would not hurt. I let this blend dry out for a bit before smoking it. I loaded my pipe using the two step method and proceeded to the charring light. Read the rest of this entry »

Hearth & Home Virginia Spice - Pipe Tobacco Reviews

By Bob Tate

Note: I would like to say that I have seen two descriptions on this blend. I have a copy of the old description from 2005 that says that this blend contains cigar leaf. The current description does not say this. I do see pieces of tobacco in this blend that look like cigar leaf, so I assume that it is still used in this blend and have included it in the ‘Tobaccos’ part of the information break down.

The pouch aroma of this blend is sweet, slightly spicy, tangy, and with a hint of, what I would call, plum. I love the way that this blend smells. I love when a Virginia or a Virginia/Perique blend has that tanginess that tingles my nose and makes my mouth water when I smell it. The moisture content of this blend is perfect for smoking immediately with no drying time needed.

I loaded up my pipe using the two step method and proceeded to the charring light. The charring light presented a nice tobacco taste with light hints of sweetness and spice. I also picked up on a little pepper in my nose. I can already tell that this is a very good blend and I settled in for a nice relaxing smoke. Read the rest of this entry »

Troost Special Cavendish - Pipe Tobacco Reviews

By Bob Tate

The pouch aroma of this blend is of a straight forward tobacco smell with a hint of plums. The moisture content is on the dry side, but it is not so dry that it is to the crumbly point. This is a ready rubbed that I needed to rub out a little to separate the strands of tobacco. I loaded the pipe using the two step method and proceeded to the charring light. On the charring light, I was met with a straight forward tobacco taste and aroma with a very light sweetness to the aroma and taste. I settled in for the smoke to see where this blend would go. Read the rest of this entry »

Peterson Merry Xmas 2009 and a Happy New Year - Pipe Tobacco Reviews

By Bob Tate

In the tin aroma of this blend I am picking up on vanilla, bourbon, a very slight twang to the nose, and a smell that reminds me a lot of cherry cordials. I know that there is no cherry flavor or anything cherry in this blend, I am just telling you what it smells like to me. The vanilla was the predominate aroma. I picked up no scent of baked apples at all. The tin aroma is very Christmassy and reminds me of the Holiday Season. I like it a lot! The moisture content is a little on the moist side and some drying time would help out quite a bit. Read the rest of this entry »

McClelland Holiday Spirit 2008 - Pipe Tobacco Reviews

By Bob Tate

The tin aroma of this blend smells really good and reminds me of some of the smells that are encountered during Holiday baking. Dark rum is the predominate aroma and there is a hint of dark chocolate and I also picked up on a slight hint of coffee. The moisture content is a little on the moist side and some drying time wouldn’t hurt. I smoked it right from the tin with no drying time and it smoked well with no problems. The cut on this blend is pretty chunky with some large pieces of leaf. Read the rest of this entry »

Hearth & Home Egg Nog - Pipe Tobacco Reviews

By Bob Tate

Tis’ the season for some Eggnog!

The tin aroma of this blend is excellent and instantly invokes memories of the Holiday Season. I am picking up on the rum, cinnamon, and nutmeg aromas, but I am not picking up on any of the vanilla. That doesn’t mean that it isn’t there though. The tin aroma of this blend is very complex and there is a lot going on, so it is probably hiding in there somewhere. It does not smell anything like actual Eggnog, it is more of just the Christmas and Holiday spices that most people are accustomed to smelling around the Holidays. So, just in case you were worried about smoking “actual” Eggnog in your pipe, don’t be (although I wouldn’t mind doing that during the Holiday Season, lol). The moisture content is perfect for smoking as soon as I received it. Read the rest of this entry »

McClelland Christmas Cheer 2006 - Pipe Tobacco Reviews

By Bob Tate

This excerpt is taken from the paper insert inside of the lid of the tin:
This 2006 blend is made with a special selection of ripe orange-red flue cured Virginia from the Old Belt crop of 1999. Picked at its peak, it is rich in flavor and naturally sweet and mellow. Read the rest of this entry »

Dan Tobacco Milonga - Pipe Tobacco Reviews

By Bob Tate

The tin aroma of this blend is a heavy caramel and vanilla aroma, caramel being a little more prominent than the vanilla. It smells almost like a caramel-vanilla flavored cup of coffee. The moisture was good for smoking right away, but a little drying time might not hurt. The tobacco is more of a ready rubbed and a little chunky. I didn’t rub it out any, I left it the way it was, loaded my pipe, and proceeded to the charring light.

On the charring light I was greeted by a lovely vanilla aroma with a hint of caramel to it. The vanilla also was more prominent in the taste as well. This surprised me a little as the caramel was more noticeable in the tin aroma. I finished lighting the pipe and settled in for the smoke. Read the rest of this entry »

CAO Cherry Bomb - Pipe Tobacco Reviews

By Bob Tate

When I opened the tin and the aroma hit me, I heard a loud rumbling and then a crash. This guy had just busted through my wall!

The tin aroma smelled exactly like cherry Kool-Aid powder. The name Cherry Bomb is right as far as the tin aroma goes. It was a very strong cherry smell and although the tin description says there is vanilla, I smelled no vanilla at all. It was pure cherry. I detected no medicinal smell to the aroma that seems to accompany a lot of cherry flavored blends. It smelled quite good. Read the rest of this entry »