Just For Him Bombadil

“Ah, the warm, pleasant memories of fall mushrooms and fermenting frog in a cellar.”

Holiday custard.

Seriously, it smells like holiday custard… buttery warm caramel and spices, toasted vanilla, and brown spirits. Additional aromas of subtle smoke and slight incense are vaguely present: seemingly eager guests, patiently waiting at a surprise party.

The blend's coarse ribbons are moist and slightly tacky. Once packed, the dry-draw has the quality of a Dutch aromatic: a slightly musky, vanilla-like fragrance with traces of yeast dough. The room-note, upon the charring light, echoes these characteristics, with my eldest daughter commenting that the tobacco smells like “fresh pastries in the bakery!”

Once burning, the red Virginias are sweet and bready, with the aromatic nature of the blend racing forward, front and center, accentuated by a seasoning of perique. The casing's cocktail of caramel, vanilla, and spices please the palate while painting impressionistic strokes of whiskey (perhaps, bourbon) flavor.

Early on, there are a few enigmatic moments of attempting to decipher if the blend is more creative aromatic than forced crossover, when—suddenly—Latakia and crew leap out from behind a cloud of smoke; all streamers and confetti; declaring: “SUPRISE!”

A classic, well-rounded Latakia-forward blend develops, with the whiskey relaxing comfortably into its supporting role, specifically on the retrohale. The English-style base is soft and balanced, never becoming overwhelming. The pleasant creosote and smoldering leaf-litter are kept relevant with the occasional fading wisps of incense.

The blend burns clean to the bottom, with few re-lights, has a medium-mild to mild nicotine hit, and makes a lovely afternoon or evening smoke.

Bombadil seems to elegantly hack into a nostalgia circuit in my brain. It's a jaunt through Shortcut to Mushrooms, AFTER raiding Frog Morton's Cellar.

(If you still have an extra whiskey stave lying around, why not toss it into a jar with a couple ounces of Bombadil and see what happens?)

Bombadil is a comfort blend; it's both familiar and unique… and happily fills a missing spot in my current rotation.

3.5/4

This not like a lot of aromatics that smell great but taste like flavored air. Full of deep cold weather flavors that make you want to keep puffing. Another review mentioned custard, and that’s spot on. I find it similar to Whiskey Biscuit Gravy, but seems to burn better. When the leaves start to come off the trees, this move to the front of my cabinet. Pairs great with a pale ale.

This is one of the most interesting blends I have ever smoked. I had no expectations other than "It's really good bro, you def need to try it." And I am normally not a huge aromatic fan, but I thought I would give it a shot.

When I opened the bag, I knew I was going to love it. I got a nose full of a pleasant blend of caramel, cinnamon and other holiday-ish type smells but also at the same time smells similar to what you would expect to find in a wine cellar. It still today baffles me to try to explain the taste and smell of it.

But anyways moving on, I bought it in the summer and I wish I had bought it during the winter. It is a very heavy smoke yet full in taste blend. I was not expecting so much flavor from an aromatic. The taste isn't necessarily from the leaves, but it's not *not* from the leaves either. It has a strong taste exactly like how it smells (which is finally great to taste what you smell from an aromatic); but at the same time you get some taste from the cavendish as well. Very pleasant smoke, but I have to be in a certain mood to smoke it.

I know some people have compared this to Frog Morton Cellar, and I want to explain about that for a minute. FMC has that good strong taste that you get from the smell. Smells like whiskey, tastes like whiskey. It is similar in that regard, but the tastes are vastly different. So take that for what you will.