Cult Conspiracy

This tobacco is one insane ride. From the tin I am smacked with a robust, rich, smoky tobacco sent. On a deeper inhale there are floral hints, and a fruitiness, but it's not overly cloying, or too sweet in any way. The flavor is very unique, and burns well right out of the tin. I allowed the tobacco I am smoking for this review to age for a week after opening the tin, and it has allowed a bloom in the flavors. When lighting I get smokiness with an almost buttery taste on the retrohale. First quarter of the bowl, provided a light sweetness with the slightest touch of vanilla and honey that in no way interfered with the smokiness, and rich tobacco flavor. I really enjoyed this part, an evolution of flavors happening as I smoke through this. Halfway into the bowl, the sweetness peaks with a creamy caramel hint, and some spiciness as the Latakia seems to be competing for top flavor. There was a little bite on the retrohale going into the last quarter of the bowl. Only hints of sweetness left, very smooth smoky tobacco flavor with a little woodsy aftertaste. My bowl finished clean, with little moisture, very flavorful all the way through. I can't wait to see how the aging progresses the flavor. Not an all day smoke to me, but I could easily add this to my nightly rotation, a good after dinner smoke.

Not sure about this at first. I am not a fan of latakia. When I opened the tin that's all you can smell. I thought I was going to be disappointed. I tried it and the Lat isn't overwhelming. The blend is well balanced and I can say it's a good smooth smoke.

This was my first time to try anything with latakia. I don't see myself adding any latakia-based tobacco to my rotation anytime soon. VaPer's and orientals are more to my liking in the non-aromatic field. I tried Conspiracy's cousin - Conspiracy Theory first and found it to be an above average aro, but all of the things I liked about "Theory" were overshadowed by the latakia. That being said, it was a little moist, but burned well, not too hot and few relights. It seemed to be a good quality tobacco, as is consistent with the Cult line. I am sure there are many pipers out there that will love this tobacco, it just isn't my thing. Giving it three stars to be fair.

This is the first aromatic I've had containing, albeit in very small quantity, some latakia. The topping is milder than I generally expect in an aromatic. So some actual tobacco flavors are discernible. The sparse latakia lends the smallest touch of smokiness, and melds very well with the vanilla & honey topping. Its fairly moist out of the tin, so I give it about 15 minutes dry time. This tobacco really wants to bite, and I've been bitten several times. But drying it a tad seems to lessen the odds and enhance smokability. I really enjoy the room note and so does my wife. Sort of reminds me of sugar cookies baking in the oven. It's not great, but is good and enough so to warrant 3 stars. I doubt it will be one I repurchase but I was not disappointed in trying.

This was a pleasant aromatic on the sweet side, with a mild caramel flavor and perhaps notes of scotch whiskey. Plenty of nice creamy smoke and burned well with few relights directly from a freshly opened tin with a light Frank method pack. As others have noted, there's scantly a trace of Latakia here. It's been awhile since I smoked Lane HGL, but if my memory serves me correctly, this is similar, but with less smokiness. I love a good smoky sparerib with sweet BBQ sauce and it seems like I should like this sweet and smoky (sort of) flavor profile in pipe tobacco, but so far it's just OK for me. This strikes me as a slightly higher grade of tobacco than HGL, but then again, I've only had HGL-2000 from a mostly empty jar at my local tobacconist.