After about a dozen bowls, so far, so good. For me this is a user-friendly, sweet aromatic, which is to say it doesn't bite. As another reviewer observes, it is great after a meal, or indeed any time of day. Although the flavouring is strong (gorgeous tin aroma!) I get the tobacco taste as well. Seems on the dry side on opening up the tin but it smokes well. I like it. If you favour sweet aros I'd say it's well worth a try.

The aroma was very sweet and lived up to the description on the tin. "A full bodied, slightly sweet mix with a tempting aroma of Almonds, topped with a Bourbon, Vanilla flavor." I could smell raisins and prunes as well.

The texture was dry for an aro. I thought this was due to the tin having already been opened. However,after reading the above review, I would agree.

It packed well and lit on the first try. (Only had one relight half way through.) This is the first aro I have had that has a very strong, sweet flavor. A little too sweet, if truth be known. I would compare this to eating a very rich dessert. One that tastes incredible, but is hard to finish. It reminded me of a sweet pound cake, like what you would eat around Christmas.

It was not hard for me to finish the bowl, as the flavor began to weaken as I smoked it. Overall, Savinelli Aroma is a blend I would smoke after a very strong meal with a cup of equally strong coffee.

If you are a fan of aros I would suggest giving this a try. If you hate aros, stay away from this rich, sweet blend.

In conclusion, I give this 3 out of 5 pipes.

This said, if you like an aromatics, give this a try. I bought a tin of this on a whim when I was at my tobacconists recently. The description interested me, so I figured, why not? I would like to point out that I'm still new to pipe smoking, so it should be understood that I like aromatic blends, quite a bit.

When I got home and cracked open the tin, I was smacked with a sweet smelling tobacco. I immediately thought of carmel-covered almonds. I then could pick out the Cavendish and Jim Beam. I couldn't smell any Oriental in there, but I figured I'd taste it once I lit it up.

I prepared to air it out but when I dug into the black and gold, I found it wasn't moist at all, which surprised me. I usually have to let my aromatics air a few minutes before I can pack them and light. But this time, I packed my Wellington half-full (still breaking it in, but that's like smoking a full bowl on most of my other pipes anyway), and lit up.

It lit well right out of the tin, and after the charring light it stayed lit for a considerable while. It went out a few times, but I chalked that up to me using that beast of a pipe. I'm still learning its ways. It smoked cool and had an incredible room note. I enjoyed it to the bottom (OK it was mostly done, but it started to rain, and I decided to go in).

The taste was sweet which I figured must be the Virginia's doing their job, but also the casing and top-flavor. I savored each puff before letting it drift from my mouth. There was no tongue-bite. That made me happy. The room note smelled kinda like candied apples, but without too much of the apples... It got my wife's approval in a major way. She moved her chair to get the aroma better.

The next time I smoked it was very similar in most cases, but I found that my corncob pipe burned a bit hotter (it's no Wellington), and the smoke seemed to be smoother. It again packed well, but I didn't relight at all. It burned to the bottom leaving a fine, white ash. Still no tongue-bite, which surprised me as Virginias tend to nip me when I smoke them in my cob.

In conclusion, I am really pleased with this blend. I find it is increasingly my first bowl of the day, and goes great with my morning cup of coffee. It's made its way into my regular rotation, but it hasn't replaced my Black Cavendish as an every-day smoke.