Abenaki Tobacco Co. Seaport Rum

The grassy, citrusy gold Virginia forms the base of the blend, though it’s not very noticeable. The nutty, molasses sweet, very slightly sharp burley takes a minor lead over the Virginia. Both tobaccos are processed in the cavendish style, which makes them less sweet than usual, and a little toasty. The two rums are very sweet with a light spice note, but suffer from lack of depth, though they do tone down the tobaccos a bit. Won’t bite. Has little nicotine. Burns cool and clean at a moderate pace with a fairly consistent flavor. Leaves a little moisture in the bowl, and needs a few relights. Has a short lived, pleasant after taste and room note. An all day smoke. Two and a half stars.

-JimInks

Though the rhum fragrance doesn't grab you upon opening the pouch this sweet Abenaki aromatic is a sleeper and improves in taste and performance as you get into the smoking experience. I love rhum, whiskey, Irish Mist and cherry Cavendish style casing laced aromatics and this one just leaves me immensely satisfied. Superbly mild, smokes cool, no bite, slow burning and you'd have to blow through the stem like a locomotive stack to make the bowl hot. I'm enjoying this now in a briar I previously reserved for my Irish Mist aromatics and this tobac has so much gentle definition and form it delights all the way through. Highly recommended.

Flavoring is tolerable with some but rather little burley tobacco taste. Burns well. Medium bite. Reminds me of Dream Castle Vanilla Cavendish, which I used to smoke before discovering what pipe tobacco can and should taste like.

UPDATE:

I was rummaging through my tobacco cabinet recently when I came across a small jar of Abenaki Seaport Rum that I squirreled away years ago. The label said that I purchased it in 2007. So I decided to give it another whirl to see what a well-aged drug store quality tobacco tasted like. Much to my surprise, it tasted pretty good.

ASR is a dark brown ribbon cut tobacco with a pleasantly sweet aroma. Given its age, it was surprisingly moist, probably because it contains a fair amount of PPG. It lit easily and burned rather rapidly, giving off lots of smoke. The room note was quite pleasant and the flavor was that of a sweet burley (I presume the sweetness is due to the top dressing and perhaps the Virginias). Initially, it had a hint of rum flavoring but that quickly dissipated and was replaced with an occasional burst of cherry flavor -- think Smith Bros. cough drops. But the flavoring did not completely mask the toasty and choclatey burleys. Like a lot of inexpensive tobaccos, it had some bite, but this was easily avoided by smoking it slowly. It burned rather quickly, leaving no moisture or dottle in the bowl.

All in all, I'd have to say that ASR aged rather well. While it's not something that I would consider buying again, I expect I'll smoke what I have when I'm in the mood for aromatic tobacco. Accordingly, I've raised my rating from one to two stars.

This is a pleasant, and simple Burley Virginia with a buttered rum casing. It isn't bad smoked slowly in a cob. It will get rough and nip if you push it.

This is a light blend, with no dark cavendish. Pouch aroma is pleasing. I detected a faint odor of rum, no butter. Packs well,stays lit. Very smooth and very sweet. Did not bite even when puffed hard. All in all I found this blend to be most enjoyable. I'm adding it to my 4 star list. I rate this blend 9.5 out of 10.