| It's black as my hair used to be! Because of the blending process, it's extremely moist in the tin and needs to be dried a little. I asked Russ O. about that and he said they leave it wet because it'd lose a lot of the flavor if they dried it. After drying some of it a bit (but not completely) and smoking it, I see that he's right about that. It's slow burning mainly due to the moistness of the tobacco, so you have to go slow to enjoy it. Puff fast and you'll lose some of the sweetness. I suggest giving it a little air time, but not too much. When I smoke it straight out of the tin, I get a more flavorful experience. Dried or not, there's no tongue bite at all. Tastes great with coffee, too.
It's sweeter than what I generally prefer, but it's a very nice smoke to relax with. I taste very little of the burley, which is fairly overwhelmed by the sweet flavors (I think sweet rum is one of them) added in the steaming process. It has a black cavendish look and taste, like a very high grade Capt. Black White on one hand, but it's a little toastier, and not sickeningly sweet or harsh as I find CBW to be. Believe it or not, it's not goopy either. I detect a slight hint of cinnamon and a little molasses with a light vanilla taste. I don't really notice the fruitiness that's described on the label, but the baked goods claim is fairly accurate. Well, when smoked halfway dryed out, there's a little berry note and only then am I noticing a hint of light toasted burley. My lady said it smells like I'm baking a chocolate cake when I smoke it.
I probably shouldn't compare it CBW too much because its taste is only slightly similar to what I'm reviewing here. I'm just using CBW as a generic baseline. It's obvious to me that the tobaccos used here are of a much higher quality, and it's more complex than CBW. I'll say this: if you smoke CBW and try this, you may not go back, because this is ten times better.
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