| I like full strength English and Balkan mixtures, so I felt this could match my tastes well. In fact, I found it very flavorful, with many of the individual tobaccos (Virginia, Turkish, Latakia, Perique) all playing their part and also blending well. However, the mixture smoked too hot for me. I tested it in my best smoking pipes and found it burning hot in all, some even causing a little bite.
I'm thinking of adding some Latakia to it, to see if it helps it to smoke a little cooler. For me this tobacco is close, but doesn't displace any of the tobaccos in my rotation.
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| TIN AROMA: A classicaly sweet, dusky and smokey turkish tobacco aroma. Perhaps a bit like a mixture of earth and latakia, but richer. Not everybody's cup of tea perhaps as it's a trifle pungent but nevertheless a beautiful, full bodied bouquet, in my humble opinion. I suppose I should say 'pouch aroma' as I could only buy this loose from my tobacconist.
ROOM NOTE: Well, what can I say? It's certainly pungent. I would describe it as a 'scented latakia' type of aroma. It has that earthy, smokey, 'rubber' type of smell with a sweet, dusky, perfumed edge to it. A classically heady Turkish that perhaps only the connoisseur will appreciate!
PACKING: Being a short ribbon cut and on the dry side of a 'perfect' moisture content, it's a joy to pack and easy to attain just the right amount of 'springiness'.
LIGHTING: Very easy. One charring light, one light tamper, a relight and away you go.
APPEARANCE: A very even, short length ribbon cut that is mainly a uniform dark mahogany in colour flecked with bright and black flecks here and there. It's obviously a blend of different Turkish varietals but I don't have any further information such as the type of leaf etc.
SMOKING: This blend burns very evenly, but I must admit surprisingly quickly. It can also bite but only if puffed carelessley. If you take your time it burns as cool as a bowl of pure latakia, which is somewhat paradoxical, really. Makes a fair bit of white smoke as you get the old bellows going. The smoke, like the taste, feels fairly full bodied in the mouth and has a smokey, earthy flavour similar to latakia but sweeter and with greater depth and dimension. Burns to a fine grey ash with no dottle. Although this is obviously a good quality Turkish blend, I couldn't smoke it all the time as it's a little too pungent and monotonous for all day, everyday consumption. Strength wise, I personally found it 'medium' with a vague nicotine rush, but as my nicotine tolerance is pretty high (I find St. Bruno mild), others might find this a head spinner! I do find this a good mixture for blending with latakia and virginia to make a homemade English; it's quality shines through well. I tend to keep some handy in one of my humidors for this purpose.
PROS: A versatile, well flavoured and heady Turkish that smokes well on it's own or blended with other tobaccos. Burns very well and evenly. Near perfect moisure content. Packs and lights beautifully.
CONS: A little one dimensional and pungent to smoke all the time. Can burn hot and bite a bit, so careful puffing is required at times. Also, the room note will not make you popular as it's even headier than your average English/oriental. Can burn a little quickly.
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