Robert McConnell Ripe Honeydew

(2.40)
This pure, medium strength, light gold Virginia tobacco impresses with its natural sweetness with subtle citrus notes and therefore requires no other flavor additives apart from the special casing.

Details

Brand Robert McConnell
Blended By Kohlhase, Kopp & Co.
Manufactured By Kohlhase, Kopp & Co.
Blend Type Straight Virginia
Contents Virginia
Flavoring Honey
Cut Ready Rubbed
Packaging 50 grams tin
Country Germany
Production Currently available

Profile

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

Average Rating

2.40 / 4
1

6

6

2

Reviews

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Displaying 1 - 10 of 15 Reviews
Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Oct 03, 2017 Mild to Medium Mild to Medium Mild to Medium Pleasant
The light flue cured Virginia is very grassy, hay-like with a little tart and tangy citrus. The darker Virginia sports a little tangy dark fruit, earth, and light woodiness as a condiment. I’m not sure which varietal is responsible for the obvious hint of floral. The tart fruit topping is more sour than sweet. The touch of honey is barely noticeable. The toppings don’t sublimate the tobaccos much. The strength and nicotine are a hair past the mild level, while the taste is just past the center of mild to medium. Won’t bite or get harsh, but does have a rough edge here and there. Burns cool at a reasonable pace with a very consistent, lightly sweet, tart and sour flavor. Leaves little dampness in the bowl, and requires just a few more than an average number of relights. Has an unattractive, almost bitter after taste, and a pleasant room note. Can be an all day smoke.

-JimInks
8 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Jun 23, 2004 Mild to Medium Very Mild Mild Pleasant to Tolerable
The term "Honeydew tobacco" was originally meant to describe a light, fragrant Virginia, not a topping flavor. The description of this tobacco says that it has a light honey topping, which is obviously worlds apart from honeydew.

I smoked this tobacco with the understanding that it was untopped, and I tasted no honey. I understand the mental need to mention a honey flavor when you KNOW that it contains honey, but I truly believe that 9 out of 10 people who tasted this blind would not detect any topping whatsoever. It is a bit hot, and I would not pretend that this is a complex blend, but it is light, a refreshing change of pace, and possesses a sweet, fragrant, grassy character that I haven't quite found elsewhere. Oh, there are tobaccos with these qualities that I like better, but none quite like this. Please give this a try before you relegate it to "just another bright, hot Virginia". There is much more, which I suspect you will enjoy greatly.
4 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Apr 08, 2020 Medium Mild to Medium Mild Tolerable
This one just didn't work for me. It is a European aromatic which is normally right up my alley, but in this one the topping really takes the natural Virginia flavor in a direction that is not good to my taste buds or nose.

It is a shame that this is topped at all IMO because the Virginia is so good once the topping starts to dissipate, which is something it will do about 2/3 through the bowl. But the truth is, McConnell makes many good straight Virginia blends anyway. This is clearly meant for that person who likes this topping.

As to the topping, It seems many of the reviewers say this is Honey or is supposed to be honey. I love honey on aromatics and this is nothing like that to my tastes. I think that it truly is supposed to emulate the taste of the honeydew melon. Melons can often have a rank type smell to me and that is kind of what I get off this topping.

So for the last third I will hold it at two stars, but the first two thirds are a little rough getting there.
Age When Smoked: Three years Four months
3 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Nov 02, 2016 Mild to Medium Extremely Mild Mild Pleasant
Sweet hay with just a touch of fruit. Flavor is a bit thin with mostly high notes. Can burn hot if you're not careful. Topping is extremely mild, sweet and nondescript. I get a slight ph bite throughout the bowl. There are many similar blends on the market that are much better than this one. Can't recommend it.

Mild to medium in body. Taste is mild. Flavoring is extremely mild. Burns very well.
Pipe Used: MM Dagner Poker, Country Gentleman, Marcus
PurchasedFrom: smokingpipes.com
Age When Smoked: fresh
2 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Mar 05, 2016 Mild Very Mild Very Mild Very Pleasant
Ripe Honeydew is typically top shelf in quality as are most of the K&K made McConnell offerings. It is a rubbed out cut plug that is very dark in color. It is from one of McConnell's earliest formula's and the presentation is naturally sweet and not a blockbuster in strength. Just ripe and right!
2 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
May 23, 2015 Medium Medium to Strong Medium to Full Unnoticeable
This has a muted cotton candy sort of sweetness with a fruity flavor that is very enjoyable if I sip the pipe; but if I get into a puffing mode the flavoring quickly becomes cloying. Overall the tobacco taste of the Virginias comes through nicely. Great smoke to satisfy that once in a blue moon sweet tooth that even tobacco purists can develop from time to time. To me the flavoring is vaguely suggestive of the Lakeland style, although there's little, if anything, here in the way of perfume and floral notes. This probably merits 2½ stars, meaning I don't regret buying it, but a little will go a long way.
Pipe Used: Rattray's, cobs, Butz-Choquin
Age When Smoked: a couple of years in the tin
2 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Jan 19, 2015 Mild None Detected Mild Pleasant to Tolerable
I received this blend as part of a trade in the fall of 2013. It came to me in a ziplock bag and was very dry; since it was already opened and not in its tin I don't know if this is the "norm" for this blend or not. I jarred it the day I got it and waited a few weeks to try it. I don't remember the exact weight I received (the volume easily filled an 8 oz. Mason jar without packing it too tightly) but have smoked it on and off since receiving it up to this writing, which I have about 12 grams now remaining, keeping it jarred the entire time.  I didn't really detect any honey topping in the tin (jar) note, nor in the subsequent smoke. It did have a pleasant, grassy note, with a sweetness that may have been the topping but wasn't coming through as honey to me; it smelled very much like I would expect a Virginia to smell.  The smoking experience with this blend was very consistent over time and from pipe to pipe, which I'll describe in a moment. I would add here that another reviewer commented that the "honeydew" in the name doesn't refer to the flavoring but to the old term for a sweet, simple Virginia tobacco and I affirm his statement, both by experience and researching the comment. Being very dry, it was easy to pack; it was in a ribbon like state, I don't know if that is how it is packaged or if it had been rubbed out before I received it. It took a flame very easily and produced a nice bloom on the false light. The true light, which alway came on the second try for me, again produced a nice, but slightly lesser, bloom and it smoked with little more than the occasional tamp: no fuss, no muss kind of blend, which I liked.  The flavor was pure Virginia goodness in my opinion; I didn't taste the honey topping at any point that I recall. The blend did require sipping to avoid it getting too hot and, perhaps because it was so dry, burned fast: similar to a shag cut I'm that respect.  I have smoked the tobacco in a variety of pipes (materials and sizes) and found it to smoke/taste consistent in all of them: burning well, tasting sweet and grassy, and not wet smoking unless puffed hard.  As I mentioned in the first few sentences, I have a small amount remaining and have commenced and experiment with it. Since I found the blend, or at least the batch I have, to be rather one dimensional and fast burning I added about 10% Perique and 5% Latakia to it, in hopes of a,ping up the flavor and slowing the burn. After a good mixing and a few days "marrying" in the jar, today I tried out the "amped Honeydew" in a Falcon. The results were very good: the blend burned much slower and cooler and was given an extra zing and a tad bit of depth from the added tobaccos.  While this is a pleasant enough smoke on its own and may be better if I had gotten it straight from a sealed tin, it is unlikely that I will purchase this blend in the future. I would consider it on a trade Or if I got a VERY good deal on it since I think it would be a good blending Virginia.
Pipe Used: Corn cob, Falcon, Meerschaum, varietyy of briars
PurchasedFrom: Recieved in a trade
Age When Smoked: 1-2 years
2 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Nov 01, 2014 Mild to Medium Mild to Medium Medium Pleasant
Honeydew, mild, smooth, sweet Virginia that's gentle on tongue and palette. This one is pretty good. The name honeydew does impart on its flavor because many of them do taste like honeydew melon and have that aroma to match. I'll take McClellands honeydew over this one. This is good but there's something lacking ? I wish my all t time favorite Rich Dark Honeydew by Gallaher was still available in the states ! McConnels isn't bad and it is a honeydew just not my first choice.
1 person found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Jul 19, 2008 Mild to Medium Mild Mild Pleasant
I like juicy melons as much as the next guy. This has been kicking around for several years, now I remember why. Looks and smokes like great leaf, but doesn't deliver the flavor as promised. There's good Virginia in there, but it takes too much effort to coax the flavors out.

Not a bad step up for smokers of sweeter aromatics.
1 person found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Oct 07, 2001 Mild to Medium Very Mild Mild to Medium Pleasant
A combination of fully rubbed out flake and what appears to be some ribbon cut, this blend of various lighter Virginias has a very pleasant, tart tin nose. The slight casing of honey is detectible in the tin aroma and adds a sweetness to the citrusy and grassy notes from the light Virginias.

The blend packs easily and burns well, but I'm of mixed feeling on the flavor. Generally, I'm not one for topped tobaccos and I feel the honey detracts rather than adds to the overall composition. The honey is certainly not overwhelming, but neither does it strike me as particularly necessary to the blend. I'm also not one that usually suffers from tongue burn from Virginias, but this seems to be irritating my mouth slightly.

The flavor is by no means bad, but I just don't find it particularly interesting. The honey seems to add little sweetness to the Virginias and I don't really think the Virginias could hold much interest on their own.

On the whole, I would say that there is nothing really bad about this blend, just that it doesn't really appeal to me.
1 person found this review helpful.
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