| Opening the tin brought me back to earlier days and drugstore tobaccos. It has an odd large cut of the bright component, and needs careful packing into the bowl.
The smoke and pouch aroma are much the same, a medium but obvious vanilla with some more complex fruit smells - peach, I think, maybe apricot. But while the tin smells completely of topping, the tobacco does break through the flavourings at times. I first smoked it in a briar, then a cob. Both smoked dry and without gurgling, but hot.
As I was putting the tin away, the art on the cover caught my eye. The smoker shown there is in an odd mishmash of costume, as if he raided a theatre closet with only a vague notion of history; but the pipe he held was a longstem clay, and it piqued my curiosity. I carefully loaded a bowlful in a 1750's style "tavern pipe", and that changed the tobacco's character completely. The toppings melded and muted, and a light but clean and sharp tobacco taste came through clearly; smoked with moderate care and frequent tamping it did not bite at all, and I enjoyed it. At the end, however, I felt as if I'd just finished a dinner of nouvelle cuisine; yes, that was wonderfully light and refreshing, but may I please have a plate of barbequed ribs for dessert?
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| This aromatic concoction, about 1/3 "wild cut" golden Virginia and 2/3 "double-fermented" Black Cavendish, is blended by Alois Pöschl in Germany. It smells like vanilla-cased, cavendish-processed leaf always does. The Virginia only insures that it burns hotter than Cavendish typically might. The taste is mild, clean, unmemorable.
A non-gunky, pleasant enough offering for the aromatic smoker.
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