What an interesting package, not just the tub, but the whole concept and blend. This is the Hearth and Home Mid-Town Series match for the discontinued Walnut, by Russ Ouellett at Pipes and Cigars. It's quite a blend to come in a tub, with "smooth Burleys, Maryland and Virginia...accented by ...Kentucky, Turkish and a bit of Latakia." It improves on the old tub tobaccos by lacking all or most of the additives and is the only one in the series that is non-aromatic. I've only smoked about five bowls, so I'm not ready to pronounce on everything, but for a tobacco so mild, it is rewardingly complex, and it retains the virtue of the old tub tobaccos by being easy to light and keep going, and sustaining an even burn. I wanted to try it, and when they put it on sale for $19.99 for 14 ounces, I stepped right up. The box arrived just before a storm, and the postal employee left it in the open by the side door rather than under the porch. But with a plastic tub, it mattered not. The leaf is light, loose, moderately moist and lovely, with a beguilingly complicated "nose" that really piqued my curiosity. It goes best, so far, in a great big bowl -- right now an ample Ferndown bent billiard--that gives its six constituent tobaccos room to expand and meld. Oh boy. What's not to like? Some may find it too mild or boasting too slight a dose of Latakia, but I'd call that splitting hairs. I think many pipe smokers are going to find this a little too good, nudging over some of the more expensive and choicer blends with its sturdy understatement and intriguing nuances. Not just anyone can put this kind of blend together, but Russ had done it this time, I believe.
