Hearth & Home Bright Night

The bright Virginias provide a fair amount of tart and very tangy citrus, grass, some earth and wood, light bread and floralness along with a few grains of sugar, a drop of honey and a pinch of spice. This blend was pressed into a cake and then placed in a holding press for a month. As a result, the brights are mostly very dark with streaks of bright throughout the plug. This process smoothly rounded out the flavors and eliminated most of the rough, sharp edges and most of the acidity usually associated with bright Virginias. It also imbues a richer, deeper, smoother, mellower, matured, lightly fermented quality to the experience. The sweetness gets a little richer by the half way point. There’s no chance of bite or harshness present. The strength is a couple of steps past the center of mild to medium, and the taste nearly reaches the medium mark. The nic-hit is a rung below the strength level. The plug is moderately moist, and is ready to smoke when you open the tin. No matter how you prepare this easily broken apart plug, it burns cool, clean and a tad slow with a very consistent, lightly creamy, mildly sweet and very slightly savory, floral flavor that translates to the pleasantly lingering after taste and room note. Leaves little dampness in the bowl, and requires some relights. Can easily be an all day smoke.

-JimInks

Hearth & Home - Bright Night.

This is a bang-on Virginia.... brilliant!

It's right on the cusp between a plug and krumble kake. A very firm hand can prepare it for smoking, a knife isn't a requisite. The plug's a medium brown, with a few lighter and darker flecks across it. The moisture of mine was good upon opening and crumbling.

Bready, sweet, slightly sharp. That's a succinct description, for me. It isn't a smoke that's over the top with Virginia fruit, a blast of freshness, grassiness, but quite refined. The sweetness is honey-esc, and this pairs lovely with the breadiness; I used to love honey sandwiches as a kid!! It burns wonderfully, cool smoke, no tongue-bite, slowly.

Nicotine: below medium. Room-note: lovely.

Bright Night? Had a few tins in my cellar, after a quarter bowl I ordered more. Highly recommended:

Four stars.

Not sure when this blend was introduced, but I am sorry it took me this long to find it! Straight Virginia's are a narrow field in my opinion, especially with the exit of McClelland from the tobacco world. What I mean is that from Samuel Gawith to Orlik or Capstan you don't get a wide range of flavor differences until you add perique or a top note. This is a first rate Virginia and does separate itself form the pack with respect to complexity and depth. Tin note is typical: hay, grass, some citrus and a honey like sweetness along with a little earth. The "plug", which looks more like a crumble cake to me, is easy to rub out or cube and pack. It is a little moist and can bite if pushed, but I believe it is perfect to smoke if you do not puff too hard and fast. The flavor is initially similar to SG FVF with grass and citrus but quickly develops to more earthy flavors: Leaf mulch, mineral, rye bread and even some burnt toast. This continues to progress down the bowl but there is an interesting sweetness that develops just past the midway point: something like burnt brown sugar or a well done toasted marshmallow crust. I won't go as far as to say that this is one of my favorite Virginia's, but it is certainly a stand out in a crowded field. I find this to be best after a meal with coffee or if you want something stronger, a brandy. I'd say a must for any VA lover. 3.5 for me

Very good Virginia blend. To me it is very similar to Orlik Golden slice in aroma and flavor. Expect this is noticeably deeper/darker, a little sweeter, and does not have the same hint of perique.

If you like Virginia then I would definitely give this a try. High quality from H&H.

Basically a good solid straight Virginia. No real bells or whistles here. Has a sweet grassy profile. If you cannot find Gawith's FVF, this would be a good alternate option of a comparable taste profile.