Here it goes, I'm halfway through a 100g tin so I believe I have a fair idea of what this tobacco is like, given I never had a blend with N. rustica before.
First of all, huge kudos to Per Jensen and MacBaren for doing this, along with everyone involved in it's development, I understand it was not an easy task to bring a "wild" tobacco to the mass market, but it's been successful! It takes a robust operation like MacBaren to pull it off right.
Presentation is impeccable, like all of the HH line, three neat stacks of chewing gum-wide dark, nearly black flakes, all perfectly even. Smell is slight BBQ, vinegar, and herbs. I'll come back to the herbs...
I've tried cube cutting, folding and stuffing, and rubbing out, leaning to rubbing out with this one as I find folding and stuffing especially (my preferred treatment of flakes) to be tricky to keep lit, even after drying.
Initial flavour is soft, vinegary and woody, the first nasal exhale is eyewatering, yes there is a lot of nicotine here! A lot more than Old Dark Fired, a little more than Gawith brown ropes, a lot more than Gawith black ropes, a little more than 1792 Flake, and a bit LESS than Motzek Dark Twist.
It's hard to tell if it's spicy or it's just the nicotine burning the nose, I lean towards it being the nic as the taste overall is not particularly spicy.
The taste is consistent, I don't find it particularly "full", it feels a bit soft to me, more towards a bright tobacco than a dark one, despite the flakes themselves being nearly black. There is floral and herbal tastes, and bitterness like, an Earl Grey tea steeped for too long. Bitter herbs in fact. That's where the blend started going sour for me, I don't like bitter tastes, even when talking beers unless it's Guinness, I prefer a porter or a Bavarian Weissbier. HH Rustica gives me a lot of bitter herbs, like an Asian shop without the spice. Pity is once the bitterness showed up I couldn't get it out of my head, it was here to stay, and make me want to finish the tin, but not get another.
Overall, a bold and successful experiment, showing there's still life and desire for innovation in pipe smoking, but for me there are both stronger and tastier strong blends I'll go to before reaching to Rustica again.
First of all, huge kudos to Per Jensen and MacBaren for doing this, along with everyone involved in it's development, I understand it was not an easy task to bring a "wild" tobacco to the mass market, but it's been successful! It takes a robust operation like MacBaren to pull it off right.
Presentation is impeccable, like all of the HH line, three neat stacks of chewing gum-wide dark, nearly black flakes, all perfectly even. Smell is slight BBQ, vinegar, and herbs. I'll come back to the herbs...
I've tried cube cutting, folding and stuffing, and rubbing out, leaning to rubbing out with this one as I find folding and stuffing especially (my preferred treatment of flakes) to be tricky to keep lit, even after drying.
Initial flavour is soft, vinegary and woody, the first nasal exhale is eyewatering, yes there is a lot of nicotine here! A lot more than Old Dark Fired, a little more than Gawith brown ropes, a lot more than Gawith black ropes, a little more than 1792 Flake, and a bit LESS than Motzek Dark Twist.
It's hard to tell if it's spicy or it's just the nicotine burning the nose, I lean towards it being the nic as the taste overall is not particularly spicy.
The taste is consistent, I don't find it particularly "full", it feels a bit soft to me, more towards a bright tobacco than a dark one, despite the flakes themselves being nearly black. There is floral and herbal tastes, and bitterness like, an Earl Grey tea steeped for too long. Bitter herbs in fact. That's where the blend started going sour for me, I don't like bitter tastes, even when talking beers unless it's Guinness, I prefer a porter or a Bavarian Weissbier. HH Rustica gives me a lot of bitter herbs, like an Asian shop without the spice. Pity is once the bitterness showed up I couldn't get it out of my head, it was here to stay, and make me want to finish the tin, but not get another.
Overall, a bold and successful experiment, showing there's still life and desire for innovation in pipe smoking, but for me there are both stronger and tastier strong blends I'll go to before reaching to Rustica again.
