Hearth & Home Rolando's Own

(3.35)
Named for renowned pipemaker Rolando Negoita, this is a Virginia/Perique blend with Rolando's artistry in mind. A mixture of lemon, red and stoved Virginias is enlivened with a moderate dose of wonderful perique, for a sweet and flavorful all-day smoke.

Details

Brand Hearth & Home
Series Signature Series
Blended By Russ Ouellette
Manufactured By Sutliff Tobacco Company
Blend Type Virginia/Perique
Contents Perique, Virginia
Flavoring
Cut Coarse Cut
Packaging 1.5 ounce tin, 8 ounce tin, bulk
Country United States
Production No longer in production

Profile

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

Average Rating

3.35 / 4
11

7

0

2

Reviews

Please login to post a review.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 20 Reviews
Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Oct 14, 2013 Medium None Detected Medium Pleasant to Tolerable
This blend offers tart and tangy citrus and dark fruit, some tangy fermented stewed dark fruit as well as earth, wood, sugar, bread, light floralness, spice and acidity, and a blade or two of grass from the lemon, red and stoved Virginias. The earthy, woody, figgy, plumy perique is rather peppery, and is a almost a supporting player. The strength and taste levels are medium. The nic-hit is a notch below that level. No chance of bite or harshness. Has a few small rough edges. It has no dull moments. A well balanced, mildly complex coarse cut mixture that burns cool and clean at a moderate pace with a very consistent sugary, fermented tart and tangy fruity, spicy, rich flavor from top to bottom. Barely leaves any dampness in the bowl as it easily burns to ash. Requires few relights. The sweet and spicy after taste pleasantly lingers. The room note is a tad stronger. An all day smoke that ages well.

-JimInks
13 people found this review helpful.
Please login to upvote this review.
Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Mar 04, 2015 Medium to Strong None Detected Medium to Full Pleasant
Negoita and I share the same palate! This was a VaPer with strength and complexity. Sweet, in a tart sort of way - if that makes sense. And smoke slowly or get a buzz!

Pipestud
4 people found this review helpful.
Please login to upvote this review.
Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
May 24, 2013 Mild to Medium Extremely Mild Mild to Medium Pleasant to Tolerable
This was shipped very dry, and so I got a little more in terms of volume. I got it appropriately humidified after a first test bowl.

This is an interesting blend, and I found it burnt well. It was a cool smoke that was easy to keep lit. For my taste buds, this was a little mild and the Virginias are less of the heavy/sweet that you find in Anniversary Kake.

If you would like to try a VaPer and are looking for subtle and citrus instead of spicy and sweet, give this a try. I doubt I will keep this in inventory, but I can see how other folks might like it a lot.

[Edit 9/24/13] I found a 4 oz bag of Rolando's Own bulk hiding in my tobacco stash. I have been smoking it in a dedicated pipe, and I have to say it has grown on me. This is a better blend than I initially thought. It does not rise to the 4 star "have to have," but this is better than a 3.
4 people found this review helpful.
Please login to upvote this review.
Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Feb 02, 2014 Mild to Medium Extremely Mild Medium Pleasant to Tolerable
Generally, I have been somewhat of a Eurosnob when it comes to VaPers as almost all of my favorites are European made. With that said, Russ Ouellette is changing the error of my ways. After really enjoying his VaPer variation in AJ’s, along came Rolando’s and I am becoming a believer. As with AJ’s, I wasn’t very fond of Rolando’s when I first purchased it several years ago. So I tossed in a jar and forgot about it. Now, 5 years later, I am wishing I had bought more. It’s now sweet, although not as sweet as AJ’s, and slightly tangy. There is an ample amount of Perique that comes across with some spice. My guess is that there is some C&D tobacco in this blend. The only issue I have with Rolando’s is that it can be a bit bitey and somewhat hot when pushed, thus not a four star blend for me but a nice change of pace.
PurchasedFrom: pipesandcigars.com
Age When Smoked: 5 years
3 people found this review helpful.
Please login to upvote this review.
Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Dec 14, 2011 Medium Mild to Medium Mild Tolerable to Strong
Im sorry to be the spoiler here, but this tobacco does not do it at all to me. I have tried it in a number of different pipes with various sizes, tried different packing tightness, aired it out, let it sit and what have you. No matter what pipe or what technique I used this burns hot to the degree that its actually unsmokable.

Five seconds after lighting or relighting it the pipes get so hot I actually start to worry about having my first ever burn out. No matter how slowly I puff.

As for the taste, its difficult to actually get an idea of it, maybe because of the burning character. The taste I do get is not nice at all.

Based on the overwhelmingly positive reviews this stuff gets, I believe I simply got a bad batch. I have jared whats left of it and will give it a try in a year or two, if it still behaves like it does now I will throw it away, Im tempted to order more to see if I in fact got a bad batch or if theres something in the chemistry with mr. Rolando and myself thats just not right. But its a handsome tobacco.

To make up for this terrible review to master blender mr. Russ Oulette I wish to add that I love his Virginia Spice. Simply marvelous!
3 people found this review helpful.
Please login to upvote this review.
Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Jan 17, 2013 Mild to Medium Extremely Mild Mild to Medium Pleasant
I can't recall who first described the cut of many of Russ' blends with the term "fish flakes" but it's quite accurate with this one. Large chunks give way to small ribbons and just about everything in between. Color is mostly light with small pieces of dark mixed in. The bag aroma reminded me of C&D Haunted Bookshop with its musty, "old book" smell. Some of the perique-y aroma came through as well.

This musty aroma transfers to the taste for the first 1/4 bowl, and detracts from my overall experience. Once it dies, I'm treated to what seems to be to be a standard, middle-of-the-road, Vaper. A light sweetness with some tartness and "burley-like" body, with a moderate amount of complexity. The flavors change often but in subtle manners. The perique is noticeable in the flavor but is a bit too restrained for my tastes. I also noted the extreme heat this one puts off that reviewer Emil did. No matter how slowly I smoked it, my meerschaums (and thank goodness I smoke those because I may have fried a briar!) gave off a tremendous amount of heat. The cause of this is certainly unknown to me.

Of the basic VaPers I've smoked from Russ, I put this one well behind AJ's (at the top) and LA Red/Anni Kake/Sunza in the middle. That does not make this a bad blend, and indeed it scores 2.5 stars rounded up to 3 in my book, but it's lacking whatever makes those blends noteworthy. Pretty much a no-frills VaPer that doesn't produce any jump factor in me. Definitely one for the VaPer lover to try, however, as it does seem to have its fans.
2 people found this review helpful.
Please login to upvote this review.
Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Sep 18, 2020 Medium Extremely Mild Medium Pleasant to Tolerable
Its pretty good. Not much more to say.

This is a very straightforward Vaper blend. Good quality blend. The cut in the jar is pretty large. Not chunks, but wide cut. I actually like it quite a bit, it packs and burns well.

The flavor is what you would expect of a standard Vaper. Blends like this one tend to fall to the back of the cabinet for me. There is nothing wrong with them, they just don't have that extra something that keeps me coming back. There are so many fantastic Vaper blends out there that I tend to reach for one of those first. I personally prefer Russ's AJ's Vaper. That has that little extra something I like.
Pipe Used: Savinelli Trevi 320
Age When Smoked: 12 Yrs
1 person found this review helpful.
Please login to upvote this review.
Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Feb 09, 2016 Medium None Detected Medium to Full Tolerable
I just finished up a good sized sample. probably about 6 bowls. All of these bowls were just a fantastic experience delivering to me the ideal taste, for my palate, that a Vaper should convey.

The Virginias used seem to hit all the flavor notes that a Virginia can deliver, there is that light hay sweetness, citrus and even a little earthiness. The Perique is spot on. Not too strong, but adequate. All these3 flavors combine together to make an extremely enjoyable experience. I don't typically like to give four stars to a blend that I have only sampled, but I am going to with this one. It is seldom that you have a smoke that blows your mind with every bowl.

Well worth the money for any vaper lover. I will be buying much more of this one.
1 person found this review helpful.
Please login to upvote this review.
Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Feb 19, 2014 Overwhelming None Detected Overwhelming Very Pleasant
after reading all the positive review, about this tobacco, i really wanted to give it a try. this tobacco, is the first i really dislike, nothing pleasant about it, no interesting flavor, hot smoke all the way through the blow....
Pipe Used: savinelli
Age When Smoked: 6 month
1 person found this review helpful.
Please login to upvote this review.
Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Feb 22, 2008 Medium None Detected Medium Tolerable
This is my first venture into the world of Va/Pers. I have smoked other blends with minimal amounts of perique and enjoyed them.I recently started smoking straight Virginias and figured that this was the natural progression. This is the first time that I have encountered a blend where the perique is more than a condiment and ya know I likes it! That being said, I can see where a lot of perique could make a blend overbearing.This seems to have about the perfect amount to my tastes.I am an aroma man and I must say I really love the smell of perique in the smoke.I just love sitting back and French inhaling the smoke.I don't detect the same amount of Va sweetness that the previous reviewers did but that doesn't detract from my enjoyment. This goes immediately into my rotation and I will be smoking a lot of it. I'm glad that I went ahead and ordered a pound without sampling it first.That's because I am beginning to believe that Russ and Co. are incapable of making a bad blend.I don't really get much complexity in the blend but I am not sure that my taste buds are really capable of doing so. I don't like to analyze blends very much. I reduce it down to simply whether I enjoy it or not and how much. I enjoy Rolando's Own and I likes it a lot!! This may be my first venture into VaPers but I doubt that there is one out there that I will enjoy more the Rolando's Own but I will keep my options open.

Pipes and Cigars is rapidly becoming my sole source for pipe tobacco.I don't see the any need to look elsewhere.
1 person found this review helpful.
Please login to upvote this review.

target="_blank"