Sutliff Tobacco Company Christmas Spice

I am not an aromatic smoker 99% of the time but I am sucker for Holiday Blends, McClellands now gone Holiday Spirit being the pinnacle and C&D ('days of yore and Autumn Evening) and Boswell's Christmas Cookie being my other go to's. I bought this around Christmas of 2019 and smoked if fresh (almost impossible) and November of 2020, smokes like a charm. Like most aromatics it needs a lot of drying time. That said even with all of the casings this is a nice mix of tobacco that stands up to the heavy flavoring. I have long ago given up on trying to tease out tobacco flavors buried under flavoring. It is like buying Wagyu beef, dumping a bottle of ketchup on it and then commenting on how the beef tastes. All I will say is that there is some tobacco goodness that comes through and I assume that is the addition of the VA and Burley in a distant second. I say that because Burley and Cavendish tend to soak up casing extremely well and are the norm for most aromatics. Whenever a VA is added it tastes more like tobacco to me, even when flavored. The best part of this smoke is the pouch and room note. In the pouch it smells like you could eat it. Vanilla and a hint of Rum is what I get in the pouch and in the room it is Vanilla/Caramel. The smoke is heavy with vanilla and a hint of rum. I get some cinnamon on the finish only. There is a nuttiness to the smoke as well that compliments the Christmas theme. Very nice smoke when it is time to get into the Christmas mood! As with any and all aromatics, I smoke in either a cob or a filtered Savinelli. Filters remove the bite for me and soak up the moisture that tends to kill aro's for me.