It surprised me that there were such things as "drugstore" blends that could best be classified as English and contained Latakia and other condiment leaf in them. Drugstore blends to me are the heavily cased aromatics such as Captain Black, Borkum Riff and others of the same ilk. Even though it clearly says Barking Dog contains latakia in the description, I wasn't prepared for the heavy Latakia scent upon popping the tin. Once upon a time not all that long ago, I was really into the English latakia blends. Somewhere along the line my tastes shifted to Virginia or Virgina/Perique blends. As a result, Barking Dog wasn't really up my alley.....too much Latakia for me.

I will say this......and I've noticed this with most of the HOW blends I've tried: the blends really balance out once the can has been opened for 2 or 3 days. What was initially a strong blast of Latakia has balanced with the other tobaccos so it's not as overbearing to me. Also, I'm very impressed with the quality of the HOW blends. I expected something bordering on the unsmokeable.......I was surprised to find quality that rivals anything else out there.....

Pipe: Brookfield quarter-bent

Weather: Muggy

Modifications: Denicool crystals in bottom third of bowl, 9mm filters replaced as needed

Packaging: You can see the picture at the top; that's on the box. Inside is a foil pouch with a printed brownscale (various shades of brown) and white plaid outside decoration.

Initial Impressions: This is comprised of cubes of burley, with what seems to be some Latakia (by the pouch smell) and maybe a bit of Virginia. The color is brown, with flecks of gold and some ribbons of darker brown tobacco. The pouch smell is the heavenly and true spicy smell of tobacco mixed with latakia. I was unable to determine whether the latakia was Cyprian or not.

Unlit Taste: Spicy, with tobacco

Lighting: The cubes pack well, despite their size. You can always rub them out if you want a finer size. The tobacco was at the right moisture level right out of the box and it took a charring light and two good tamps to get it going. An occasional relight was needed, but it totalled 2 relights over the entire bowl.

Smoking (First Third): A wonderful nutty taste and a simple sweetness hits the mouth as great clouds of creamy, pleasant smoke wafts around the room. This smokes cool and a medium puffing speed is good to keep it going. Only a slight hint of spicyness if present. The tobacco has a light and fresh quality to the smoke.

Smoking (Second Third): The flavors really started to mature at this point, with the nuttiness giving way to a spicer and sweeter smoke. I'd recommend slowing down the puff speed to let that little bit of Virgina (it seems like Va, anyways) infuse the tobacco with a nice, mellow sweetness. A solid smoke all the way to the end.

Smoking (Bottom Third): As an interesting note, the Denicool crystals at the very bottom of the pipe were not dark brown, as is usually the case. I'm taking this to mean that a lower level of moisture and nicotine are standard with this tobacco. The room note remained pleasant, with bystanders complimenting me on a fine choice in smoking tobacco.

Aftereffects: A nice aftertaste is present, but this can be eliminated well with a brushing and some Biotene and about 30 minutes of waiting. The room note wasn't stale at all and had a nice quality to it.

Overall Recommendation: This is a GREAT tobacco that I am adding into my rotation as an all-day smoke. It's light enough and gentle enough to be at home in any pipe and it'd be great for building cake in a new pipe. This is a winner for Windsor and I'm planning on getting a large tin of this to ensure that I have some on hand at all times. Like it was said before, this isn't so complex, but it doesn't need to be complex. It's a simple, yet fine thing to experience!

Notes: This is a tobacco of wood-paneled station wagons, summer fishing with Dad and lazy summers in the hammock. This tobacco feels like Americana and it's not just the packaging! This is what the noxious Mixture no. 79, Half and Half and other common mixtures want to grow into. This is not only a hearkening back to a simpler time, but the smell unlocks particular memories of Grandad and fishing trips and crabapple tossing for me. If you compare it to a heavier blend, like McClelland's "British Woods" or a GL Pease English, this seems light and airy. To me, a full english is like a T-Bone steak; full and satisfying, but more than one is too much. Barking Dog is more like half a sub sandwich; satisfying and pleasant to get into, but never so much as to make you regret eating it. Thumbs up from me.

Barking Dog indeed has no bite. Upon opening the tin, I smelled Latakia, but at the match that condimental leaf stayed deep in the background. The Perique was so far in the background that I only tasted hints of it from time to time - particularly near the bottom third of the smoke.

There is a delicate casing in this blend of Latakia/Burley/Perique/Virginia. Wonderful stuff, although I could not identify the flavor.

If you enjoy cheap and tasty, grab some Barking Dog. It's a pleasant puppy!

PS.....the more I smoke this blend the more I appreciate it. Barking Dog can be puffed on like there's no tomorrow and still be as biteless as any tobacco I've ever tried -- and I've tried a bunch!