Fans of H&H
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I have had very few of the Signature Series. In the Slow Aged Series I have only had Smoky Mountain and I highly recommend it. I did somewhat of a review on it if you search for it.
The Signature line I highly enjoy Blackhouse, Cerebus, Viprati and WhiteKnight. I have about 20 each of Blackhouse, Cerebus and WK cellared. Just never got around cellaring the other. With a sale and a discount code stacked on top I have routinely paid between $6-7 a tin. I place big orders of them then and hope the box holds together over the next 10 days ?
The Signature line I highly enjoy Blackhouse, Cerebus, Viprati and WhiteKnight. I have about 20 each of Blackhouse, Cerebus and WK cellared. Just never got around cellaring the other. With a sale and a discount code stacked on top I have routinely paid between $6-7 a tin. I place big orders of them then and hope the box holds together over the next 10 days ?
The Marquee series Sweet and Savory is a favorite of mine. Unfortunately it hasn’t been produced for some time. I’ve got a couple ounces jarred up that I smoke out of from time to time.
It’s a really unique blend of Virginia’s, dark fired, and various orientals. You get the sweet smokey flavor of the Kentucky mingling with tangy woody incensey orientals. It’s never overbearing to me and the flavor lasts through the entire bowl.
It’s a really unique blend of Virginia’s, dark fired, and various orientals. You get the sweet smokey flavor of the Kentucky mingling with tangy woody incensey orientals. It’s never overbearing to me and the flavor lasts through the entire bowl.
Always wanted some Chatham Manor, but I'm afraid customs would have a field day with me if I ordered a tub.
I like the Viprati and have about 5 tins. When it goes on sale I plan on getting more for the cellar. Jus bout a can of Chatham Manor as it was on sale for $25.
I think Viprati is Russ’ Virginia masterpiece. It’s his version of a ribbon cut Three Nuns (Viprati’s favorite tobacco). You don’t hear a lot about it, but its definitely worth checking out if you like VaPers.
Russ is, of course, an exceptional person and true champion of our hobby. He has delighted us smokers for many years with some exceptional blends. I personally love his powerhouse, Steamroller. Strap on your seat belt for that one as it'll give you quite a ride.
White Knight should be right up my alley, but I found the cut so coarse that I didn’t get an integrated flavour, but a succession of chunks of different tobaccos.
I’m not giving up, though! I have a pot shaped pipe on the way to see if it helps with these coarser cut mixtures.
I’m not giving up, though! I have a pot shaped pipe on the way to see if it helps with these coarser cut mixtures.
I like a lot of the H&H blends I've tried. Some of my faves are: Anniversary Kake, Classic Burley Kake, Larry's Blend, Cerberus, and Fusilier's Ration. Russ is a very skilled blender, IMO.
This one has been on my list for a while and I really need to get around to buying a tin. Stormfront, too. Both have a lot of enthusiastic fans
I thought the anniversary cake had a really strange off flavor I just can’t put my finger on it.
Same! I’ve at least 1.5 pounds of White Knight (Holy #%^}!), several tins of Black House, Viprati, a couple tins of Cerberus (have yet to try this). I intend to add Fusilier’s Ration also.
Thus far I’ve not had a ‘miss’ with H&H. I do need to get into my Cerberus however. Can I get in trouble for smoking a pipe the day after my wife’s birthday? The itinerary calls for movies and snacks all day... ?
If only Russ Oulette posted here. Then he’d know how much I love his blends. Surely he’d know where I could find H&H at friend prices... ?
I will agree white knight is good. And I haven’t tried others because I’m just not into Latakia. So they may be good too. But the non-Latakia stuff I tried , I dunno.
It's been a long time since I had Cerberus and I really should re-visit it to see how i feel now, but I really loved it back when I was first getting into Latakia blends. It was sweet & sour and reminded me a bit of tamarind. A very nice change of pace from the usual Latakia blends.
Whiteknight and Blackhouse are 2 of my favorites, and I believe they are designed to smoke this way. They're supposed to be recreations of the legendary "most interesting brand in the world" that everyone remembers differently. Russ didn't want these to ever seem monotonous, so he sacrificed homogeneity and bowl-to-bowl consistency for a smoke that changes throughout the bowl and seems a little different everytime you smoke. A wide Pot is great for these blends but it doesn't really change their schizophrenic nature. I like B Sasieni and Supreme almost as much as WK and BH and they don't suffer from the same schizoid tendencies but I like to have all 4 around for when I'm in certain moods.
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I can't find it now, but I read a post on here where Russ said Sutliff Match BSOSM and 759 are bulk versions of WK and BH with less yenidje and perique (respectively) and possibly lower grade orientals. I've smoked them back to back and can't tell a difference between WK and BSOSM Match other than WK has some tin age. I can tell there's less or no perique in 759 Match but they're very similar and sometimes I like it more. These are listed as McAllister blends but Russ said they're his recipes.
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