The smoky, woody, earthy, lightly musty, mildly incense sweet Cyprian Latakia is the lead component. The floral, earthy, woody, herbal, vegetative, dry, sour and lightly buttery sweet, spicy, tangy Orientals play a strong support role. The very nutty, earthy, woody, lightly molasses sweet burley is a secondary star. The red and brighter Virginias provide a lot of tart and tangy dark fruit and citrus, earth, wood, light grass, and a hint of vinegar. They play just below the level of the burley, the red Virginia being little more prominent of the two. The strength and taste levels are a couple of steps short of medium. The nic-hit is a hair past the center of mild to medium. Won’t bite or get harsh, and due to the double pressing, has a lightly fermented, sugar, rather matured quality to it that moderately mellows out the experience. This blend barely has any rough edges due to that. Burns cool, clean and slow no matter how you break up the cake. You may prefer to give it a light dry time, but I did not. The mildly sweet and more savory, spicy, deeply rich, complex, well balanced flavors are very consistent from start to finish, and translate to the lightly lingering campfire after taste. The room note is a tad more pungent than what you taste. Leaves very little dampness in the bowl, and requires some relights. Can be an all day smoke for any level of smoker. Three and a half stars out of four.
