Hearth & Home LJ Heart Burley

(3.00)
A light, naturally sweet blend created for renowned pipemaker, Lannes Johnson, who selected this mixture to send as a sample to his pipe customers. Two different types of nutty Burley are laced with an unusual cube cut Virginia and a Burley-based natural toasted Black Cavendish for a splash of non-flavored sweetness. Now available to the general public for the very first time. If you're looking for an all-day blend that isn't wet or overly sugary, give this one a try.

Details

Brand Hearth & Home
Series Signature Series
Blended By Russ Ouellette
Manufactured By Pipes & Cigars
Blend Type Burley Based
Contents Black Cavendish, Burley, Virginia
Flavoring
Cut Mixture
Packaging 1.5oz Tin, 8oz Tin, Bulk
Country United States
Production No longer in production

Profile

Strength
Mild to Medium
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Extremely Mild -> Overwhelming
Flavoring
None Detected
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
None Detected -> Extra Strong
Room Note
Pleasant to Tolerable
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Unnoticeable -> Overwhelming
Taste
Medium
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Extremely Mild (Flat) -> Overwhelming

Average Rating

3.00 / 4
6

9

6

0

Reviews

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Displaying 1 - 10 of 21 Reviews
Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Mar 02, 2015 Mild to Medium None Detected Mild to Medium Pleasant
The burley is nutty with some chocolate and molasses along with hint of oats and earth as the star component. The Virginia is a little grassy with some citrus in the background. The unflavored black cavendish is here to smooth the blend out with a little brown sugar. Has a light nic-hit. Won't bite or get harsh, though it has a touch of a rough edge. Very dry out of the tin, I suggest a light hydration. Burns clean and fairly cool with a very consistent, lightly thin flavor at a moderate pace. Leaves little dampness in the bowl, and requires few relights. Has a pleasant, short lived after taste and room note. A decent work and play smoke. Two and a half stars.

-JimInks
6 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Jan 14, 2014 Mild to Medium None Detected Mild to Medium Pleasant to Tolerable
This one just did not excite me at all. I found it to be a lot like Carter Hall, but not quite as tasty. It, no doubt, had less of the chemical humectants that irk so many pipers including myself, but I still would prefer to smoke Carter Hall. As you may tell it does not fare well from my view point. I don't typically expect big flavors from predominately burley blends, but this is just too bland. Perhaps I am just too used to these burley blends carrying more of a topping than I otherwise detect, I am not sure.

I will say that I am a big fan of ABF, and as far as I know, it does not have a heavy topping (I subscribe to the school that all tobaccos have some topping.) Nor does Uhle's Blend 00 which is becoming one of my favorite Burleys. I don't think it is fair to slam this blend on that alone, but I also find H & H's own Classic Burley Kake to be vastly superior to this blend. It is for this reason that I cannot really recommend this blend.

At the same point, I can't give it one star as nothing really repulsed me about the blend. It is comfortable enough to smoke, It does seem to be pretty natural in taste and appearance, the moisture content was great and the burning properties were fine as well. It would probably work fantastic as a blender. It is for this I will somewhat Recommend.
Pipe Used: various, primarily a MM country Gentleman
PurchasedFrom: P & C
3 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Dec 30, 2013 Mild None Detected Medium to Full Pleasant
I smoked this blend over the holidays in a variety of pipes and I have to say I really like it and the best part .is that my wife who hates tobacco smoke made a point to tell me that this one does not bother her and asked me to buy a bunch of it to smoke when I am around her. In the 36 years we have been married that has never happened. So if anybody has a wife that complains, this is one you might try.

This blend by Russ Oulette is a very straightforward, mild yet flavorable blend that is easily an all day blend. It comes in the tin at the perfect moisture content, is multi colored running from a light khaki to a dark brown and is a mix of rough cut and cube cut that is easy to pack in the pipe and light and smokes all the way down with a gray ash and with just a little dottle in the bottom of the bowl. It smokes mild and cool yet it burns faster than most blends I have smoked. I think this is due to the cut and low moisture content. A pipe that normally takes 45 minutes to smoke with most tobaccos will smoke in 20 minutes with this blend.

The tin aroma is a little sweet and tart and very fresh smelling. The room note is not overwhelming at all, kind of like fresh burned hay. The taste is a very nice mix of burley with the sweetness of the cubed Virginia and the non flavored toasted black Cavendish. I does not have any bite, can be smoked continuously, yet it has a fullness and mouth feel that is very satisfying. I think Russ hit a homerun on this one and I do not understand the lower ratings on this one. I did go right to the internet and bought a good amount of this one like the wife suggested. I think this will be in my rotation in the future.
Pipe Used: briar, meer, cob
PurchasedFrom: Pipesandcigars.com
Age When Smoked: recently recieved
2 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Apr 20, 2015 Medium to Strong None Detected Medium to Full Tolerable
A smoking acquaintance of mine walked up to me and handed me a tin of tobacco that he had smoked one bowl from and didn't like. That tobacco was H&H LJ Hart Burley and I took it home with me and smoked it. Firstly, I didn't find it's physical appearance to be as strange as some reviewers noted. However, it's somewhat thin tin odor did concern me and I wondered about its smoking strength and aroma. So, I light up and - no problem. This tobacco smokes a whole lot better than it's tin aroma might indicate and I found it to be "toasty" in a median strength kind of way from the burley that makes up it's base. Also, I found it to be a softer smoke than the tin aroma might indicate. I ascribe this to the inclusion of the black Cavendish. The next stage was to use it in micro blending and that is where it starred. I had been using two C&D blends: Backporch for the Virginias and Burley Flake #1 for the burley/perique hit. H&H LJHB shoved them aside to second place right away. I am going to add some tins to my Tobacco Apocalypse hoard and recommend this blend - three stars smoked straight and four stars for blending.
Pipe Used: Charatan 1/2 bent four-square Dublin
PurchasedFrom: gifted from a friend
Age When Smoked: current
1 person found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Sep 14, 2014 Mild to Medium Very Mild Medium Pleasant
This tobacco ticks a lot of boxes. Easy to pack and light, burns well, has a great aroma and comes at a great price point.

An unusual cut, fishflakes as earlier reviewers have called it, with range of colours from black thru to blonde. The overall colour is surprisingly bright.

The tin note is honey sweet with notes of walnut and the distant whiff of anise. All very mild. This stuff burns beautifully and gives a fair amount of creamy smoke. There is a light sweetness on the tongue, some pepper, and a distinct smokiness, either from fire cured leaf or the toasted cavendish.

This tobacco has a similar basic composition to McB Stockton, one of my favourites, but is lighter and easier to handle.
1 person found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Oct 27, 2009 Medium None Detected Medium Pleasant to Tolerable
Dang! Is this stuff supposed to be bone dry? Upon opening the tin, this blend looked like fish food (thanks to Beaupipe for that!) and was dry as tinder. The square cut loaded easily into the pipe but it was so dry, it burned really fast. I prefer large bowled pipes and I still finished a bowl in half an hour.

Flavor-wise, this one is a winner. The beautiful natural chocolate aroma came through and this was one complex burley! The virginia added a light sweetness but the predominant flavor component was a toasted nuttiness (are you sick of that descriptor when it comes to burleys yet???) that reminded me of a bagel shop. Really tasty stuff. I hold blender Russ Ouelette in high regard for his Vaper blends but he shines on burleys as well! This is a great smoke that doesn't misbehave or bite. The only down side is the moisture content but then again, I tried to hydrate this a bit and its flavor characteristics changed, not to mention it became a tough light. I guess I'll leave it the way it is. Not my favorite burley, and one I'll return to only occasionally, but if you find burley flakes too difficult to deal with, try this one. Loads easily, lights easily and has a flavor to die for!
1 person found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Sep 18, 2008 Medium None Detected Full Pleasant
LJHB is most unusual. It is extremely dry, reminding me of the old RYO brand, Bull Durham, packaged in a cloth draw-string bag. Remember that? But LJHB is in a very different taste regime.

LJHB is composed of brittle, weightless flecks of leaf approaching a centimeter in diameter: various brown tones, dotted by occasional bits of crimpy looking black leaf. I was put off a bit because I had no experience handling something so dry and unwieldy. It's my understanding that it is supposed to be dry; and after trying moisturized samples, I have to say it's best on the dry side ...in a briar with a large diameter chamber.

Pure non-aromatic Burley heaven. Variously nuanced, it delivers Burley's characteristic nuttiness; an interesting, almost Oriental-like aroma; a vague non-saccharine sweetness; and tobacco flavor up the ying-yang. It has a faint, delightful cigar-like note -- but it is so subtle and ephemeral that I really can't pin it down. Sometimes I can barely detect a musty, pungent taste that reminds me of grated dry Italian cheese: it rather teasingly appears and disappears as fast as my palate can detect it. What a nice total effect! For me LJHB only develops these tastes when smoked after a meal; otherwise the tobacco is ordinary and Burley-ish. I'm convinced it has something to do with mouth chemistry, but it works!

In sum, I find LJHB awkward to handle; easy to light; good burn; plenty of smoke volume; no bite; fair nicotine hit; pleasant, gentle salinity; and, with attentive tamping, one or two matches takes you to the bottom.

My staple smoke with morning coffee is a 15:1 mix of Prince Albert with bulk Turkish. But I consider LJHB the perfect after-meal smoke. Toe-curling goodness that makes you glad you smoke a pipe!
1 person found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Mar 03, 2014 Mild None Detected Medium Pleasant to Tolerable
H&H, LJ Burley… Popping open my new undated tin, I found 1.5oz of attractive random chop leaves, tan to light brown in color, with a almost a sour tin aroma.

I had great hopes for this blend, because I really enjoy a good burley dominant blend. But keeping this stuff burning is tuff, even after some drying time. As for the other smoking characteristics, bite was no problem, a medium Nic level and the taste was robust and pleasant. I found that this stuff does IMO requires some basic smoking technique such as slower puffing or it tends to get a bit aggressive and bitter which tingles my sinuses and makes my nose run as it does when I eat to many hot peppers. These characteristic would probably not make this blend a first choice for someone new to pipe smoking, but given some experience LJB is a decent enough smoke.

Accept on occasions I personally find this blend a bit too much for my taste, but for those that enjoy aggressive burley blends and don’t mind the fuss mentioned, I would say LJB is sure worth a try.

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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Nov 13, 2011 Medium Mild Medium Pleasant to Tolerable
Without aging, this is the most schizophrenic blend I have ever tried. Un-aged, it is has a pleasantly mild, slightly sweet burley flavor for the first half of the bowl, then it suddenly swings to a rough, bitter, overbearing fire cured burley flavor which is remarkably similar to the flavor you get at the bottom of the bowl when breaking in a new briar. Aging mitigates this, but it was not until I aged my sample a full year that the entire bowl was enjoyable. The black cavendish gives it a nice room note, though it's flavoring is only slight while smoking. All in all a good, but not great burley blend with good packing and burning characteristics. After aging, it is somewhat like C&D Haunted Bookshop, with a better room note but not as good a flavor.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Apr 15, 2011 Mild to Medium None Detected Mild to Medium Tolerable
The two ounces of this I received in my Hearth and Home sampler pack were so dry you could crunch them like cornflakes. I smoked a bowl right out of the bag like that, and while it burned quickly and produced a large volume of smoke, it did not bite. I proceeded to rehydrate it, and it absorbed some of the moisture from the wet towel, but not much.

Whenever I am sampling a tobacco that is new to me, I give it a couple of smokes in a Missouri meerschaum corn cob, a regular meerschaum, and then in one of my briars. This smoked fine in all of them, left very little fragments of tobacco at the bottom, and hardly any moisture, despite it burning so quickly.

So why the low rating? The taste was simply not there. There was a slight nutty flavor and a little touch of sweetness, but nothing more. I've sampled burley blends like Prince Albert and Carter Hall and this was similar. It is okay, but nothing special. It produces more smoke than flavor and that makes it not worth purchasing a second time.
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