This goes on sale July 4th.
The very tangy red Virginias provides a wealth of dark fruit, earth, wood, bread, sugar, mild tart citrus, grass, floralness, vegetation, light vinegar and sour lemon. They take a small lead in the proceedings. The Saint James perique offers plenty of earth, wood, spice, stewed plums, raisins, figs, and mild floralness as a very competitive supporting player. Right behind the perique is the fairly sweet stoved burley whose aspects are earth, wood, plenty of nuts, some bread, and very light cocoa and licorice. The fruity sweet rum mildly tones down the tobaccos though it weakens a little by the last third of the bowl. The strength is a couple of steps past the medium threshold. The taste is a slot past that mark. The nic-hit is almost as potent as the overall strength level. No chance of bite or harshness. The rough edges are very light. The crumble cakes are mildly moist and require no dry time. The intrinsic properties of crumble cakes almost always have a little inconsistency especially when they are complex like this one. It burns cool, clean and a little slow with a very tangy, fruity, sweet, spicy, nutty, mildly floral, deeply rich flavor that extends to the pleasantly lingering after taste. The room note is pleasant to tolerable. Leaves little dampness in the bowl, and requires some relights. It’s not quite an all day smoke, but it is certainly repeatable. Four stars.