The smoke is thick and full and the taste of the Virginia tobacco is definitely there and reminded me of Solani Silver Flake, my favorite straight Virgina blend.

I copped a decent nico buzz about halfway through the bowl and was surprised by how cool this stuff smokes for a slightly damp aromatic, even towards the bottom of the bowl. Cool but not too cool - just right. It lit easily, burned beautifully, and had a consistent flavor profile which is very unusual. The bottom of the bowl tasted and smelled the same as the top. And I couldn't detect any chemical or artificial tastes, and I couldn't make it gurgle no matter how hard I puffed, which bodes well for a natural product.

I would describe the casing as quite dominant - in the realm of medium to strong. Nevertheless, I could still appreciate a good amount of natural tobacco flavor which made for an exceptionally good smoking experience. Oddly unuf, a couple of hours after smoking the bowl, the smell was still all over me like a cloud that wouldn't dissipate. More-so than with similar aros such as Blue Note. It really hangs with you.

I can't find anything to criticize. This is an expertly crafted, extremely well-executed creation. This is a great occasional smoke for those who enjoy caramel flavoring. However, it is not mild enough for the average aromatic smoker. People who rate this as 'mild' should try something like Peterson Connoisseur's Choice to find out what 'mild' is all about.

EDIT - After leaving the remainder in a jar for a few months, it has improved. The overly chemical taste is mostly gone, and there is a distinct coconut flavour in there now. I seem to enjoy it more than previously, but not enough for 3 stars.

I would reccomend this blend for seasoned smokers and even new smokers looking fir a nice aeromatic to have in rotation with their stronger English, Balkan, or even virginia bleds.

But that's not all: you still can taste the underlying tobaccos, which are very high quality. The Virginias make the mixture more complex than most aromatics. And there is NO tongue bite, another unusual feature found in aromatics.

Although I'm not an aromatic smoker, I'll always keep a tin in my cellar.

The smoke was creamy and flavorful. The smell was like a house fresh batch of Christmas Cookies. The overall impression? Just another perfect score for Dan tobacco. How do they do it?

Did not burn my tongue. Smoked very cool. I recommend drying it out for an hour to capture perfect taste.

Moisture content was good, really did not need any drying out prior to packing and smoking. Lit easily and only required a few relights. Room note was sweet and pleasant (or so I was told , years in the lab have dulled my sense of smell)

A sweet smoke, though not really heavy on the caramel flavor, no goop left at the bottom.

The bad, it bites like a rabid pitbull. It scorches the tongue so bad it makes smoking it an excercise in self flagellation. Let it dry out completly did not really help. Put it aside for several months came back to it still painful to smoke. Different pipe types did not help, tried cob, briar and meer.

If it wasn't for the extreme bitiness, I would have given it 3 stars.

The tin aroma is wonderful, and you can detect both the caramel and vanilla. I would say that the vanilla is in the background. It is a nice loose ribbon cut, and really does not require much fiddling other than a little drying out before smoking. Use any method you want accomplish this, but do not just dig into the tin and drop it into your pipe. You will suffer a mighty sting, it will burn wet, and you will have a tough time getting it lit. With a little drying, though, and a loose pack, it lights very easily, and burns steadily and coolly.

The room note when smoking is very pleasant, as you would expect, and the flavor is cool and mild, as long as you do not puff too hard or fast. Like most aromatics, this blend will bite you if you get too excited with the puffing, but that is more a general characteristic of this type of aromatic (wetter, more heavily topped german/danish style, as opposed to the drier, more natural English aromatics).

The taste to me seems relatively natural, with a strong sweetness from the casing. There is a flavor, and it might be caramel, but it blends nicely with the tobacco flavor. This does not have any appreciable vanilla flavor to my palate at all.

Overall, this is an excellent, high quality non-berry flavored aromatic. If you are used to smoking various funky food or fruit flavored tobaccos (why, oh why?) then I highly recommend this as a way to transition to something that tastes and smokes like real tobacco, but still has a nice room odor, and sweet flavor.

Update:

I have downgraded this to two stars. The reality is that this tobacco bites, at all humidity levels. I have tried drying it for several hours, and while it does show some improvement, it is still too harsh on the tongue to warrant a higher rating. I accept that many blends can bite when smoked too fast, or with too much moisture, but this one just does not calm down enough, even after significant drying, to make it a comfortable smoke. More significantly, there are other blends of a similar nature which are easier on the tongue.