Hearth & Home Virginia Spice – Pipe Tobacco Reviews
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Bob - Jan 27, 2010
- 3 min read
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.
Right from the start, I knew I was going to love this blend. The taste is pretty complex. Along with a very nice tobacco taste, it is sweet, spicy, with hints of pepper. None of them over power the others. Sometimes each one stands farther in the front and is more noticeable than the others and sometimes they mingle together to form a very nice harmony. On the finish, I taste a slightly tart pluminess. I have read and smoked quite a few different blends where they say that there are hints of plum, but this is one of the few blends where I actually detect it.
I haven’t really detected any cigar taste, but this blend does have a little bit more, for lack of a better word, smokiness to it than other Va/Per blends that I have smoked. It’s not a Latakia type smokiness, just a general heavier smokiness. Around the half bowl point, the pepper does get a little more pronounced, but it never got overpowering. The sweetness also faded quite a bit, but never left. At this point it became a little more spicy, peppery, and sweet instead of vise-versa, like it started. At about the same time, the finish changed as well. The slightly tart plum taste switched to a sweet and spicy taste with a hint of pepper to it. It stayed this way throughout the remainder of the smoke.
Virginia Spice has an amazing and complex flavor profile that never got boring. It burned cool, dry, and burnt very well. It was easy to load, light, and keep lit. It had zero bite to it. I couldn’t get this blend to bite me at all and I tried to get it to bite. I love this blend! It is going to become a staple in my cellar. In fact as soon as I am done writing this review, I am ordering a pound of it. If you like Va/Per blends, I think it is safe to say that you will love Virginia Spice, I do!
I Highly Recommend it!
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Brand: Hearth & Home (pipesandcigars.com)
Blend: Virginia Spice
Description: For the pipe smoker who really enjoys the clean, sweet spiciness of a mixture of matured Virginias, but who wants something a little different. The difference comes from the use of cool-smoking Perique for a bit of plum and pepper.
Country: US
Cut: Coarse Cut
Tobaccos: Virginia, Perique, Cigar Leaf
Strength: Medium
Taste: Sweet, Spicy, Slight Pepper, Tobacco
Room Note: Pleasant
Hearth & Home Virginia Spice – Click Here to Order Now!
Hearth & Home Virginia Spice – Click Here to Order Now!
Read more reviews of Hearth & Home Virginia Spice at LuxuryTobaccoReviews.com
Written by Bob
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