Update: Of the many blends listed above that I would like to try, so far, I have ordered Hearth & Home Chatham Manor, Mac Baren HH Burley Flake, and Lane Limited Ready Rubbed (Edgeworth). I have been smoking Chatham Manor and HH Burley Flake over the weekend. The Ready Rubbed is still on its way in the mail, and should arrive tomorrow. Here are my thoughts so far:
CHATHAM MANOR
This is Russ Ouelette's Carter Hall match. I've smoked about ten bowls of it, all out of corn cobs. I started with a brand new unsmoked cob. Like most of the reviewers at tobaccoreview.com, I do not think it's a very close match to Carter Hall, but that Chatham Manor is an excellent blend on its own merits. It's a very good lightly-topped "codger burley" and burns every bit as easily as Carter Hall, even while retaining moisture straight from the tub with no drying. I smoked it slow, and I smoked it hot to see how it would act. I got no bite whatsoever, and none of the cigarette-like propylene glycol taste that can be found in Carter Hall and other similar OTC blends.
Also like many tobaccoreviews.com reviewers, I taste quite a bit of chocolate / cocoa flavor, despite the fact that Russ has said the blend does not contain any chocolate or cocoa topping. In addition to chocolate, I'm getting a good amount of molasses and some occasional whiskey notes. While smoking my first bowl, I was disappointed at the strength of the chocolate / cocoa note. However, after knowing what to expect out of the blend, I quickly came to enjoy it. The lady of the house (my girlfriend / future wife) suggested that if I combined a bowl of Chatham Manor with a glass of bourbon, it would be like a "bourbon ball" which she knows I really like. I poured myself a glass of bourbon, and found Chatham Manor to be an excellent smoke to accompany it.
All in all, I really like Chatham Manor, but I am undecided at this point as to whether I will order more, though I have no doubts that I will smoke the entire 14 oz tub. I intend to put it into mason jars to avoid excessive drying. If the chocolate / cocoa notes were reduced in prominence, and the molasses and whiskey notes were made more prominent, then I would certainly be ordering a couple more tubs in my next TAD order.
MAC BAREN HH BURLEY FLAKE
My pipe for this blend was a brand new unsmoked corn cob. I've smoked about five bowls so far. I found HH Burley Flake to also be a very good tobacco. I tasted no topping whatsoever, and it was very instructive as a demonstration of what an untopped, uncased burley flake tastes like. This blend, according to the tin, includes some Virginia and some dark-fired. I could not taste the Virginia notes, so I am guessing the Virginia is essentially a condiment in this flake. The flavor was very woodsy, and had almost a hint of a cigar leaf taste. I could imagine that if I traveled in time back to the mid 1800's and found the very best burley blends that farmers were smoking out of their homemade corncob pipes, HH Burley Flake might be one that I would come across. I rubbed the flakes out, and let them dry for about 30 minutes before packing. It burned very easily with no bite.
All of that being said, for the taste of pure tobacco without any detectable toppings, casings, or wood-fired (latakia) notes, I prefer a good Virginia flake (which is something else I'm experimenting with, and a topic for another post). As such, I will probably not order more HH Burley Flake, though I can recommend it as a very good "straight tobacco" tasting blend, and one that I am happy to have tried to gain a fuller understanding of burley.
LANE LIMITED READY RUBBED
This one is on its way, and I am really looking forward to trying it.
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