| Ordered some of this loose, 25g. Couldn't find a tobacconist anywhere that stocks it pre-packed.
Perhaps because it was loose it was pretty dry when I opened the packet and decanted it into an old tin. It got very dry very quickly even though I smoked it in about a fortnight. It did make lighting simple though.
The aroma is superb. Like opening the top of a honey jar. As with most of the aromatics I have tried, it registers only briefly in the first few draws. After that it's just a fading memory. Not narsty by any means, but a bit of a disappointment after the initial load and light. Ironically it's got a really nice room note.
I don't particularly like all black tobaccos. You can't tell if you are throwing half of it away when you tap out. Golden colour would be better.
Can't say I'd want to invest in any larger quantities of this blend even if I could obtain it a little moister. Certainly worth a try if you like honey.
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| I was happy to find this a nice, dark Cavendish, as opposed to what might have been an all too airy Virginia, with a vapid shadow of a bouquet. This one's a dark, highly fragrant and quite heavily cased cavendish, with a superb top note of honey that's both sweet and rich.
As far as taste is concerned, the dark, caramel-honey taste is representative in the smoke, which is rather pleasing for a stock aromatic, available off the shelf, and the room note also manifests itself as a moreish, pleasurable, lingering sweetness. Work towards the bottom of the bowl and it becomes something akin to cinder toffee (if you've ever been familiar with the festive British candy), and evokes warm memories of those bitterly cold 'Guy Faulkes Night' bonfire displays in all their glory.
Likewise, there's something rather warming and wholeheartedly comfortable about the tobacco, although it's let down, as sadly is the case with many of these heavily cased aromatics, by a rather offensive tongue bite, if smoked too quickly. Absolutely, Stokkebye's Black Honey should be smoked slowly and it will then retain it's qualities.
Given casings such as honey, caramel, or, say, vanilla, I cannot quite see why a blender cannot add some kind of smoothing agent to give them a more mellow, creamy taste, as opposed to something that has the potential to bite rather nastily. I think it would be beneficial to the majority of medium-heavily cased aromatics, such as this one.
All in all though, I'm nit-picking, and this is a pretty solid version of a honey aromatic that not only has the fragrance of what it says on the tin, but something of the taste and room note, to boot. There may well be better blends, I'm sure, but I'm quite convinced that there will be a vastly higher percentage that fall well short.
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