Cascadia Pipe Co. Open Water

The Virginias provide a fair amount of tart and tangy citrus, grass, bread, sugar, some tangy stewed dark fruit, earth, wood, vegetation, very mild floralness, and a couple of pinches of spice. They are the lead components. The burleys offer plenty of nuts, earth, wood, light sugar and molasses as a supporting player, though its effect varies a tad throughout the experience. The fragrant berries and plum toppings are not as subtle as the description claims. They have some potency, and moderately sublimate the tobaccos. The strength, nic-hit, and taste levels are just shy of the medium mark. Won’t bite or get harsh, and has very few rough notes. The plug is moderately dense, and is easy to cut. It may require some dry time, though I did not do that. Burns clean, cool, and slow with a fairly consistent, fragrantly fruity, nutty flavor that extends to the lightly lingering, pleasantly after taste. Leaves little moisture in the bowl, and requires a fair number of relights. The room note is pleasant to tolerable. Not an all day smoke.

-JimInks

Summary: a typical aromatic, minus the Cavendish, pressed into a loose plug of mostly bulk Burley.

Whether you claim to love or hate aromatics, some are better than others, and most are basically air fresheners that you can burn in your pipe so the people around you stop complaining about that sulfurous manure pile of an English blend you love. This one consists mostly of white Burley and young dark Burley, the standard pile that has low labor costs so makes up the bulk of most aromatics and RYO, with enough bright Virginia to give it some natural sweetness. On top of this, someone liberally poured a berry cocktail to that me tastes mostly like your industry-standard cherry blend with a few oddities like pineapple or persimmon tossed in to make it "unique" and "different." Like most loose plugs, it cuts a bit unevenly but burns easily even if you cut it in thicker slices, but the topping mostly burns off quickly with the remnant turning medicinal, while the Burley flavor dominates, having absorbed both Virginia and topping but not really amplifying them, more like dropping a heavy dose of roasted grain and nuts trail mix on top of them. This would be decent as a low-cost aromatic to compete with "Captain Black," but as a high-priced boutique blend, it falls short of the mark.

Tin note of stewed plums, spices, and sugar. The brown tobacco plug is very dense. A sharp knife is needed to cut some thin flakes. Rubs out with a little effort. Moisture content is on the dry side. Burns slow with few relights. The strength is mild to medium and nic is mild. Flavoring is mild, despite tin note. It's not sweet, I didn't taste the berries, and the plum was mild and sporadic. Taste is mild to medium and somewhat consistent, with notes of tangy citrus, musty hay, bitter nuts, strong vegetation, wood, orange peel, dry, lemon grass, earth, bread, molasses, spices, mildly tart, a mildly sour dark fruit background note, and a peppery retro. Virginia is leading with Burley and Flavoring supporting. Room note is pleasant to tolerable, and aftertaste is great.

I'm not a big fan of aromatics in general unless a certain mood strikes me. I prefer to taste the tobacco, and this checked both boxes for me. Lovely tobacco, nice aromatic component, cool smoking.

Cascadia's Open Water has a beautiful tin note of dark stewed fruits, and plums, very sweet with a slight spice note. The smoke, unlike the tin description, places the toppings ahead of the tobacco for me. I can pick out plum, cherry, and red raspberry with some degree of certainty. This makes it difficult to tell where the topping stops and the VA's start. I think they marginally lead over the burely. In any case, the smoke is earthy, woody, nutty, and sweet, until the topping burns away, then it gets that cough medicine-like taste which starts at about the 1/2 mark and stays with you to the end. This left me unhappy with each bowl, and I found myself tossing the last half as the tin progressed. The nic is mild, as is the overall strength profile. The room note is not that great for an aro, All of these elements result in me not being able to recommend this blend. a solid 1 star tobacco.