2011 vintage Heine's Blend (Sutliff Tobacco Company ) in a rusticated Royal Coachman (Comoy's second) apple with fish-tail bit and a bowl whose size is approximately Group Three. This 13-year-old tobacco has aged beautifully and provided a wonderful smoke!
For those of you who may not be familiar with this stalwart standard, below is the text of my July 07, 2011 review of it on tobaccoreviews.com. Incidentally, my stated opinions have not changed in the interim:
"Heine's Blend has been on my tobacco radar for years, but is one that I did not try until today. Now I am sorry that I waited so long.
"This blend is described above as having a "cube cut" and so I expected to see something akin to Cornell & Diehl's Crooner (No. 104) when I opened the sturdy 14 oz. plastic container. Instead, I was greeted by a mostly dark, gently fragrant, chunky tobacco that has more of what I would describe as a "rough cut."
"It was moist, but did not leave my fingers sticky when I pinched some between them. Its aroma in the container seemed almost subtle, really noticeable only when I placed my nose a few inches above it. To me the smell was reminiscent of Fig Newton cookies.
"Like most aromatic tobaccos this one would benefit from some drying, as initially I had a hard time keeping it lit after loading my pipe (a small briar billard that I use for testing new tobaccos) directly from the container. However, having said that, I was pleased by the fact that there was no "gurgle" in my initial bowl. Further, a pipe-cleaner applied after I dumped the dark gray ash (with almost no dottle) showed a surprisingly small amount of tar.
"The smoke was blue-white and creamy, and try as I might I could not induce this blend to bite. Its taste was lightly sweet and pleasant, and left no coating on my tongue. The room note was comforting: slightly spicy, warm, and inviting.
"This is a very pleasant easy-to-smoke blend that helped me to recall why I became a pipe-smoker in the first place, and I recommend it."