Hearth & Home Sweet & Savory

Like the other reviewers, I found this a hard blend to classify, and I'll defer to some of their detailed comments about the variety of flavors. I do recommend a big bowl in order to fully enjoy the complexity of the blend. But even in a smaller bowl, it's good, buttery, with occasional bursts of the oriental and perique notes to accent the smokey and very light floral touches. The Kentucky really adds a good condimental bass note. I prefer to smoke tobaccos with a little hydration and this one is packed rather dry. Either way, it burns evenly with no bite with a good flavor. This blend is designed to please smokers of various genres and I'd say it accomplishes that goal. It's not going to be a regular in my rotation, but it's certainly good enough to be one. The more you smoke it, the more you'll like it. Hydrate it first!

-JimInks

I have been smoking this blend with at least 2 bowls a day for the last 3 days and i've got to say that between lat blends that i smoke this has me thinking of the next time i'll have a bowl.For me this is medium in strength with its own unique sort of lemony taste. It gives my mouth a tingle as i get deeper into the smoke.Room note is nice and the flavor builds but is nice and even.Need to see when after i finish this ounce if i'll crave more.If you like candy sweet blends this is not it ,but if you like any thing with some spice this may please you in a weird way. 1 year later after blending this with a variety of Latakia blends i found a nice mix that works for me. 1/4 sweet & savory 3/4 Larry's blend in a meerschaum.

I am a fan of P&C's Marquee Series' Magnum Opus so I was looking forward to trying Sweet and Savory. The tobacco, like many of Russ Ouellette's blends arrives on the dry side (The way I like it!) and is ready smoke out of the tin. It also smokes on the dry side as well. I waited nearly six months to review this blend because it was quite different and not comparable to any other blend that comes to mind. In the beginning, I found S&S to be much more savory than sweet. Considering the broad range of tobaccos, I was also surprised to find it to be a bit bland for my tastes. That was in the beginning, several months in the tin made for a much more balanced blend and the sweetness began to really assert itself. The combination of Orientals along with the other tocaccos made for a much more complex blend than I had originally thought. Each tobacco seems to show itself at different places in throughout the bowl and I find the perique, which lends a nice spice at the beginning of the bowl really takes more of a starring role near the bowl's end although its never overpowering. The sweetness also slides into the background in the last third of the bowl.

Sweet and Savory is a blend that really should age well and as a result I have several tins cellared. Except for diehard Latakia lovers, this blend seems to have a little something for everyone. Recommended.

Updated 9/6/11 Zulujerk's review below, I agree, McClelland's Tudor Castle, which, like S&S, contains Yenidje . However, Tudor Castle, if I remember, seems to have more Yenidje , more Perique and is a Flake, I don't find this like TC. Upon opening the tin of S&S, it gives off an aroma like maple syrup and does translate into the taste . I gave it the wife test and it got a 9.5 out of 10 ( 10 being the worst, actually someone thought there was a cigarette filter burning). The Orientals play a strong roll and I wish there were more, the Virginia is sweet, but the Perique doesn't play. Seems to burn a little hot from the Kentucky, and could bite. I cellared for about 3 months and it still has a lot of spice.The jury is still out on this one maybe after a year in the cellar then I'll think about buying again. Oh, my tin doesn't list the weight but it is a full 2 ozs. and it is filled to the brim with nice ready to smoke dry tobacco, you get your moneys worth, not water weight. so I give it another 1/2 star =2 1/2 stars

Updated 11/5/11 Tried this again and it is starting to mellow out and the Perique started to sing . I have to bump it to 3 stars. Very nice change of pace tobacco from the Latakia blends. The hint of maple stays with the entire bowl and is not a sickening sweet but complements the Orientals. I think people who like VaPers could like this. Still need to sip this one.

Updated 1/5/12- I have been smoking this in my rotation now for a month and the more it breaths the better it gets. I have to agree with other reviewers who say this is very hard to classify, "Savory" is good start but I would also say buttery, semi sweet , easy to smoke, a wonderful change of pace. I got to have this around and I'm buying more , however a little too spicy for an all day smoke for me but great anytime of day.Hate to see my tin come to an end.

I grok complex layers of an English with none of the Latakia mustiness. The citrusy, bright Virginias and slightly accented by Perique. I take it the Kentucky is the crispy punch that makes this a terribly enjoyable blend.

Images evoked include a skeleton kneecap and femur being turned into cricket tournament gear in a baroque challenge-match against the stern icons of Easter Island.

Well, I was in the focus study Russ put together for this one and a few others that would become the Marquee line. I remember this as my favorite of the bunch, originally assuming it was composed of Golden Virginias, Orientals, and Perique--I totally missed the Kentucky, but now it seems a bit obvious, as this mix has a ton of kick, which isn't quite evident on first light.

I described it then as a kind of dry smoke which later develops sweetness toward the bottom bowl, with a pronounced strength a product of the Perique, and I guess I can still see my original thinking there.

Truth is, I can't think of a blend like this one. The Golden Virginias add a lightness that plays well with the Orientals, some of the rarer kind (Basma and Yenidje) that are slowly working themselves into the newer artisan blends, which have such a spicy, incense like punch. Your senses will quickly overwhelm by the sheer exotic novelty of Sweet & Savory--there just isn't anything out there right now that approaches the experience. It reminds me of drinking some odd tasting foreign tea, fragrant, light and still very rich with an undefined essence.

I contrast this with the relatively tame Sunday Picnic by C&D, a sweet mix of Virginias and Smyrna, or McClelland's Tudor Castle, which, like S&S, contains Yenidje. Both are excellent smokes of a similar genre, yet they are rather conventional, by comparison. Perfectly capable, they seem to do nothing new. What makes S&S, rather, is the sheer strength of the Oriental component, so pronounced in its strange flavor as to demand further attention and exploration. We live in exciting times for the pipe smoker--so many wonderful choices, and the newer stuff keeps getting better, in huge strides.

Tin note of plum, floral, and sweet. Tobacco is a mix of tan, light brown, brown and dark brown ribbon/course mix cut. Moisture content is ok. Some may want to hydrate it a bit first. Burns fast (moderate once hydrated) with few relights. The strength is medium and nic is mild. No flavoring detected. Taste is medium to full and moderately consistent, with complex notes of savory sweet, spicy, Autumn leaves, slight buttery, rich earth, very floral, very dry, mild leather, oak wood, orange bitters, herbal vegetation, fermented vinegary sour, acidic, mild lemony, bready, spices, a stewed tangy plum background note, and a peppery retro. Oriental/Turkish is leading with Perique and Virginia supporting. Kentucky is supporting from afar. Room note is pleasant to tolerable, and aftertaste is great.

Tough one to review for me. Based on almost two tins because the first tin didn't elicit any breakthroughs. Rather, it seemed as though it was hiding something. I'm certain I have yet to figure it out! Nice light brown ribbon, dry in the tin but nowhere near arid. Tin aroma of mustiness, incense and yep, holding the tin about 6 inches from my snout gave me the scent of spilled beer, an aroma I recall well from my college days! I've since learned not to spill it. 🙂

Along with GLP's Cumberland, this is a confounding tobacco. The two also share a penchant for both studiously hiding their secrets and being delicious only when they chose to be. There were entire bowls of this that were extremely boring. There were bowls where it would start off bland and then find a zone where it would give off these numerous complex flavors for about 30 minutes and then go back to sleep. And in the right pipe (a very tall and very wide bowl), it would sing once it got past the first 1/4 or so bowl. It just took me awhile to find the right pipe, and then (when it felt like it!), it would absolutely purr. Oriental spice, more savory than sweet but with an underlying buttery essence, and finally, perique plumminess. Even when I felt i had a handle on this, it would change. Best in a large, wide bowl and sipped slowly, although heavy puffing caused neither bite nor bitters... just a bunch of hot air.

Interesting blend and recommended. I have another 3 tins - no real hurry to dig in, but it's comforting knowing they are there. And i'm curious how aging may affect this - my tins were both less than a year old.

I received a sample of this with a recent order. Arrived crunchy dry - which was not much of a problem. There was virtually no pouch aroma to speak of. Loading and lighting were relatively easy and it stayed lit without relights, requiring gentle tamping as the tobacco smouldered away.

Albeit sweet, the taste for me was primarily incense like; obviously dominated by the Yenidje and Basma leaf. It was not really to my liking. I couldn't really make out the other components as a result of this. Perhaps the Virginias added to the sweetness and the Perique/Kentucky combo added to the spiciness, but none of them stood out above the Orientals. I am sure there are those who enjoy the taste of Orientals, but I am not one of them (at least not in these proportions). I appreciate the sample, but S&S is not one for me.

I found it more savory than sweet. It arrived a tad on the dry side but still springy. On the dry side is ok if you like it that way, but I transferred it to a half pint mason jar, dropped a humidifier coin in it and waited a couple of days. (Like Balzac, I'm a champion of the human will.) S&S filled the bowl well using the three-part method, lit well and remained so with few relights. This is a really original (i.e. strange??) new blend. Somehow Russ chose to bring the "savory" part of the equation - the Orientals (Basma and Yenidje – and a bit of Smyrna I think) - to more prominence than one would expect in a blend that also showcases the brighter and lighter Virginias, together with Perique AND Kentucky leaf. Initially, I was concerned that here the added presence of the Per AND the Kentucky would translate into a baccy traffic jam and a big nicotine jolt.

Although the nicotine is certainly noticeable, the orientals and the yellow and red virginias managed to save the day for me (low nic threshold here) and make it just about manageable - as in so far so good. It seems that the virginias also sweeten it a bit, and prevent it from verging into a dark tartness, in my initial opinion. This combination, as mentioned, made me take a longer time to wrap my head around this new H&H offering. But - also as mentioned: so far so good. I frequently turn to this blend since I received the tin. So it seems that, once you're past the “strangeness” it does grow on you.