Lane Limited Dark Red

I chose to get a couple 1 oz. samples of Dark Red with a tobacco order. I was really interested in trying this tobacco after hearing all the initial comments on pipe forums. I have only tried a couple cherry aromatics, so I was intrigued.

The scent in the bag is not overpowering like some aromatics tend to be, it's seems more laid back. The tobacco is a small chunky cut of black cavendish unlike other cherry blends I've tried that were ribbon cut virginia. I was surprised that the tobacco I received was not as wet as other aromatics. My 1st bowl I tried straight out of the bag & it was a little wetter than it appeared, hard to keep lit at first. It did get a little bitey with me trying to keep it lit. I found letting it dry for 30 - 45 minutes proved to help a lot.

The taste was something I enjoyed, it reminded me of the small town soda shop we used to go to when I was a kid. I actually expected this to be a lot sweeter tobacco, I'm glad it was more mellow. It's like drinking a black cherry soda while eating vanilla ice cream topped with caramel. The flavorings mix & compliment each other well. It's a great tasting cherry flavored aromatic, but not something I could smoke all the time. It's more of something I have to be in the mood to smoke, a treat so to speak.

Now this is a black cavendish that I can smoke. I don't reach for aros very often but this will definitely stay in my rotation. The cherry flavouring is not too sweet or heavy, the vanilla is in the background adding it's part, a very pleasant tasting tobacco. What really sells me on this one is the cut, more of a ribbon cut than the rough cut chunky black cavendish that I've had so many times before. It packs and burns very nicely, no snap-crackle-pop like some other cavendish blends. As a basically non-aro smoker I have to recommend this one.

I don’t like aromatics, cherry flavored anything, or super sweet casings...so, I should hate this.

But I don’t. It’s a cherry I can stand because it... 1. Has the vanilla and caramel to balance/tone down the cherry 2. Not sickenly sweet 3. Is a darker/mature kind of cherry rather than the bright, cough syrupy cherry of other blends.

Open the bag and what you smell is exactly what you will experience in your pipe. A rich cavendish that has a distinct cherry flavor second to none and th flavor of the final sip is the same as the first. No goop in the bottom of the bowl. Requires a few relights, but I did not dry it at all. Very low nicotine. If you like cherry tobacco, you do not want to miss this one.

As others have noted, similar enough to BCA, but with a bit less vanilla, and a hint more cherry, just not overwhelming. Smokes quite well right out of the bag, the aroma of which seems to be a rich prune cake. A toss up with BCA for me, but definitely a keeper, and well worth trying. As others have stated, should mix very well with 1Q, for a bit more carmel/vanilla hit. Lit well, and stayed lit right out of the bag. Not too wet, and no gurgle or glop at the end. Very cool smoking all the way through. I have a couple of ounces of Russ' Cherry Cordial, and I'm guessing that these two should marry up very well, also. The complexity of BCA seems a bit more pronounced than Dark Red, and stays as one of my top choices. But, this will definitely be in rotation, and I would order more, if it happens to go on sale. Worth trying

Noted that the cherry in the room note stayed present for quite a while. Very nice.

EDIT: Three hours later, I still had that latent cherry taste in my mouth, and it had turned into a medicinal, almost cherry cough syrup taste. Recommendation changed to three stars. I wouldn't get this again, but some may find it enjoyable.

Another enjoyable Lane product. As far as cherry flavored tobaccos go, this is very nicely done. The cherry vanilla note is soft on the palate and provides for a nice nuance in flavoring. It is not harsh like a lot of cherry flavored tobaccos and it not all chemically or cough syrupy like some. Lane found a great balance with this one. A little wet. Even when dried it can be wet at the end. Nontheless it doesn't distract from an enjoyable smoke.

This one is maybe the best Cherry automatic out there! I don't get that Robitussin cough syrup chemical flavor from this one. Never was much of an aromatic smoker, but lately I've been enjoying aromatics as a change of pace, and I've gone through quite a few of the Cherry ones... you can look at my review of Cult Blood Red Moon for my opinion of most of the others out there.

Introduced to pipe smoking as a young man by my Uncle Vince, who was a Paladin Black Cherry devotee... it HAD to be Paladin, it couldn't be Borkum Riff, it couldn't be Captain Black... Vince was a very old guy (he made it to just short of his 89th birthday), and since he didn't drive, my dear sainted mother used to have to pick up his tobacco for him... I can recall mom grumbling as we went from store to store trying to find Vince's Paladin! Vince was the guy decades ago who taught me all about how to care for a pipe. I think it's funny, even though that was many many years ago, I still basically follow his pipe care routines; rotating pipes, letting them rest, keeping the cake at a certain minimum level, and cleaning cleaning cleaning... each day when he was done smoking, that days pipe got cleaned! He had a couple of Missouri Meerschaum and a top of the line Dr Grabow... each one meticulously cared for. The pipe care process was part of the smoking process, you didn't just put the pipe down and forget about it till the next smoke! He also taught me the trick of mixing in a little stronger tobacco like Five Brothers or pure Perique (much as I love Petique, and I keep plenty of Saint James Perique jarred up here, I don't really think it would be a good combo with most aromatics, but to each their own!) to get a nicotine kick if needed. This Lane Dark Red takes me straight back to those old days with Uncle Vince... the only drawback here is apparently Dark Red seems to go in and out of production, sometimes it's available and other times it's no longer listed on any websites. I picked up 8 oz last time I saw it so I've got a nice big bag here... makes an interesting parfait with Lanes BCA too... a nice cherry vanilla!

Smoking now:

Pouch note is a subtle cherry vanilla. Packs and lights well for an aromatic cavendish.

Taste is a sweet sugary vanilla with hints of cherry. I remember smoking a lot of Lane BCA a while ago and this is exactly that with hints of cherry. Very mild, hardly an after taste, great cherry retrohale flavor, and a great room note. The cherry flavor comes and goes but the taste is sweet and mellow throughout. No chemical or artificial taste. Will leave moisture in your bowl as expected. No bite but I’m sure if pushed hard it can.

Not a whole lot to say, a well smoking cherry cavendish blend. Three stars for that.