Edward's Honey Bucc

Edwards in Tampa is where my pipe and tobacco education began back in 1977. Being young and having a very limited attention span I smoked a bit of everything but back then my default setting seemed to be aromatics. This one was a staple back then as it seemed to have a good balance between body and sweetness. It was also apt to wow bystanders (especially those of the fairer sex) which back then was an important consideration.

With age, I guess I just grew out of aromatics for the most part and my tastes generally shifted to stiff and/or very stiff burley blends. Today they're known as American English blends but back then they were classified as Natural blends (i.e. OJK, Billy Budd, Edwards Brandywine, Edwards Colonial.) But this morning I happened to be in the area so I decided to stop by Edwards. For some reason, I just couldn't leave without a bit of Honey Bucc. This blend was every bit as tasty as I remembered it. As I said, I'm not an aromatic smoker by a long shot, but sometimes, you get the sweet tooth, ya know? Sometimes you want barbecue and other times a piece of pie hits the spot. This tobacco is a great choice for that dessert blend.

Its smoking manners are superior to most aromatics I've ever had occassion to smoke. Everything is very moderate, no sickly sweet, goopy or bitey aromatic here, just a subtle sweetness, a very nice body and a very pleasant room note. Unlike most of the genre, it's disinclined to bite even if puffed hard and will easily burn down to the last puff leaving only nice light gray ashes in the bowl. I've had several bowls of it today and overall, I think it has done well to make me wonder why I don't burn aromatics more often.

Alas though, the elephant in the room begs to be acknowledged. Like most aromatics, this is extremely light in the vitamin N department and would generally require a vitamin N rich back up (for crusty old codgers like me.) For this reason, I doubt it will ever be my go to but when a sweet tooth beckons or I'll be out and about smoking and public relations issues arise (i.e. I'd like to wow the crowd or get those very nice compliments on how nice my pipe smells) This will likely be the blend I reach for.

If you're looking for that sweet tooth tobacco or something to reach for when heavier blends have burned you out a bit this might be just what the doctor ordered. Conversely, if you're a full on arophile, this is must try and will undoubtedly make your top five.

Smokes nice. The couple of similar Edward's tobaccos I have make a thick smoke I like. Honey Bucc has a mildly sweet scent in the pouch, but not overpoweringly sweet. Room note has a sense of baked cookies or pie to me. It isn't too strong and sweet though.

This aromatic blend is a 50/50 blend of two of Edward's popular tobaccoes -- honey cavendish and buccaneer. The Buccaneer is a black cavendish that does well in providing a cool, flavorful smoke with no bite, and the honey cavendish yields up an equally cool, bite free smoke and the blonde part of the blend. Together they meld very nicely to provide a cool, easy burning smoke with a great room aroma, and a deliciously nutty taste in the mouth with no bite. Just a bit of vanilla overtones to it all too, but I find that in several of Edward's aromatic blends. The Black Cav Buccaneer is recommendable by itself (that's a whole 'nother review) because it is mild enough to tame some harsher blends and make them palatable. That nut like aftertaste lingers for quite some time....something I find very enjoyable and I attribute it to the honey cav in the mix with the buccaneer providing the aroma of a fire cured tobacco. Together they blend to make a pleasant,cool, tasty smoke.

Update 6/30/2007: as I've matured more as a pipe smoker, I've come back to revisit some of my own reviews with a somewhat more critical palate. While Honey Bucc is still a tasty blend, I'm going to bring my recommendation from highly recommended to recommended. Still a tasty smoke, yet I've come across so many other tobaccos that I've found this one simply fits best in a recommendable category and not in the areas I'll now reserve for the 'best of the best' as highly recommended. As a further update, I can tell you that this tobacco also ages pretty well, I've had some bottled away for about 2+ years now.

Sorry to be the lone dissenter here, but I found this to be another hot smoking, steamy blend. I write this from previous notes that include the terms above as well as "sickly sweet, too wet, goopy, bitey". I can acknowledge that it may have a place in a number of tobacco cabinets, but not in mine. YMMV. Did not work for me then & probably never will.

Honey-Bucc is a mix of Edward's of Tampa two highly popular blends. The black cavendish Buccaneer and the blonde Honey cavendish. I chose this blend because i do not prefer all black cavendish blends. They do not have any oomph or nicotine usually. This has a wonderful honey and vanilla taste and aroma. Very cool smoking and no bite whatsoever since the Edward's tobacco's are not topped in the traditional sense, they employ essences. Edward's is a pleasure to do business with, and what fine tobacco they sell.