I tend to smoke slowly, which keeps more of the flavoring in the taste of the smoke. With this method I found the flavoring very pleasant, with no bite, though a little wet. The room note was, as others have noted, equally nice. It's not going to floor you, but it's an easy smoke. All-in-all I would recommend this for those in the market for a softer aromatic.

The first major problem I had with this tobacco is just how present the casing truly was. This is a blend that advertises the presence of virginias for the sake of the virginias, but why are they important if the tobacco is so heavily cased that all I taste is chemicals, "bourbon" (that is, vanilla beans FROM bourbon, not bourbon whiskey) vanilla corn syrup, and berries?

The second major problem I had is just how incredibly uncooperative this tobacco truly was. I tried it fresh out of the tin, and it burned chemically hot and gave me the worst case of tongue bite I've had since I was brand new to this sort of thing. In fact, perhaps it was worse.

Okay, so I just opened the tin. I'll let it sit a bit, that will help, right? No... it still bites like a copperhead.

Fine. I'll air the tobacco out for a while, let it dry. Yet it still gurgled, hissed, popped, and bit angrily.

If I must, I will smoke a tobacco that doesn't taste like much. But if it won't cooperate with me under any circumstances whatsoever, you can darn well forget about it.

This does have a wonderful tin note and may smell like roses to the people around me, but it completely fails when it comes to taste, texture, & bite. I'm sorry folks, but I don't smoke a pipe for bystanders and in my experience most bystanders seem to fall into the "I don't care if you smoke or not" and "OMG CANCER!" (and I'm not sure that I blame them!) categories. There are those exceptions that like to smell smoke, I agree- but they may be fewer in number than they once are. I won't smoke a tobacco that gets a 10 out of 10 to a bystander when I could smoke a 8 out of 10 that I like.

Stick to your tobacconist's blends (Wilshire, or for goodness sakes even black russian), or perhaps one of the W.O. Larsen aromatics.

The only draw back is this blend can bite, and I mean horrible. I tend to be a fast smoker anyway, and any blend with VA can bite me to a certain degree. This blend does however mellow out with age and dry time.

If you want to be the center of attention, pack your pipe with this. I have quite a few 8oz bags cellared for the last few years, and it is only getting better!

Previously I had heard this was the aromatics to beat all aromatics, and I must admit I have been keen to try this for a while.

Upon opening the tin, the leaves were very bright, and the cut was an almost haphazard cacophony of different shapes and styles (Shag, Ribbon, broken flake). The aroma is very bubble-gummy and it's clear that this will smell pleasant upon lighting.

Once lit I was expecting to be bowled over by a rich array of vanilla creams, berry's, molasses, fruit, etc.. However I found that whilst a nice aromatic, that was all it was...nice.

It reminded me a little of Petersons Connoisseur's choice. However I find CC is a much richer fuller aromatic with more pronounced fruitiness than Blue Note, and as such I prefer the former if given the choice.

So Blue Note is quite nice, and will please those around you with it's sweet aroma. However for a deeper richer more potent and luxurious aromatic there are others available that trump Blue Note, such as Petersons CC.

Still it's another one off the list of 'Not available in the UK' blends that I have sampled whilst abroad.

As an extra added bonus SWMBO doesn't complain when I smoke it in the house, the room note is just that nice.

The tobacco inside ranged in color from yellow to brown to black. Just the right amount of moisture was noted.

The tobacco packed well. After a charring light I re-lit and began to smoke the bowl. The flavor reminded me of an ice cream my grand child likes...Confetti Cake made by Schwans. The citrus and vanilla were the biggest players rounded out by the sweetness of the Virginia and Cavendish. The room note was good.

I don't smoke many aromatic tobaccos but this is one I'll keep on hand.

harkpipe

It has a tendency to bite if rushed so be careful when you try this stuff. Oh, also make sure ytou use this in a pipe dedicated for aeromatics; it will ruin a pipe you use for your English blends. I will reluctantly recommend this to people who really enjoy aeromatics and don't like the taste of tobacco too much.