Warped The Haunting

Making an end run around the arcane symbols and words on the label, what you have here is a scarce item in the pipe blend world. Here we have a cigar leaf blend whose base is comprised of Virginias and, that's it; no Latakia, no Perique, no black Cavendish, no Burley, no nothing. Think back to when was the last time you smoked this type of blend? I can't say for sure that I have. So, let's find out what The Haunting has to show us. The opening revealed a blond/red/medium brown ribbon cut that illustrates this simple blend's ingredients; blond and red Virginias and cigar leaf. The tin aroma, however, was predominately Virginia with something else spicing it up. The moisture level was from light up now to slight air out and I gave mine about thirty minutes. The smoking profile was identical in each pipe I smoked it in. The top thirds were simply four star material and were dominated by the quality Virginias with a slight nuance of cigar leaf. They were some of the best Virginia-based smokes I've ever had. In the middle thirds, an equilibrium between the two tobacco types is reached and you have your first taste of a Virginia/cigar leaf fifty-fifty blend. In the bottom thirds, the cigar leaf dominates until you are, basically, smoking a cigar. Now, to some of us this won't be positive while to others of us it will be okay and novel. I'm in the latter category. I began to use The Haunting in blending and that was quite positive. I am highly recommending this blend to fellow smokers at four stars and feel that this blend is a progenitor of the varietal cigar leaf blends we have in abundance today.