Ken Byron Ventures Samsun and Delilah 2023

The fragrantly floral Izmir provides plenty of earth, wood, vegetation, herbs, some sharp sourness, spice, incense, and a hint of sweetness as it takes a small lead. The aromatic Samsun is very earthy, woody, floral, herbal, vegetative, mildly sour, and spicy. It is close to being a co-lead. The matured red Virginia offers a lot of tangy ripe dark fruit, earth, wood, bread, mild sugar, light tart and tangy citrus, grass, floralness, and a pinch of spice as a supporting player. The blackened burley cavendish offers a little earth, wood, nuts, and sugar. It is a slot below the effect of the red Va. The rich cocoa topping along with a few drops of vanilla very mildly tone the tobaccos, and many of the rough edges. The blend gathers a little more potency by the half way mark. The strength and nic-hit are a couple of steps past the medium threshold. The taste is a notch short of medium to full. No chance of bite or harshness exists here. Well balanced with some nuance, it burns cool and clean at a moderate pace with a very consistent sweet and ruggedly sour, floral, spicy, savory flavor that extends to the pleasantly lingering after taste. The room note is pleasant to tolerable. Leaves little dampness in the bowl, and requires an average number of relights. Can be an all day smoke for the veteran piper, and repeatable under any circumstance. It’s stronger than the previous version. Four stars.

-JimInks

Just discovered Ken Byron Ventures on recommendation from friends. Picked up 9 blends that looked interesting. Very pleasantly surprised! Of the three I've tried so far, each one is a boundary busting blend that defied classical categorization. How fun and refreshing to find an Oriental [Va/Samsun/Izmir] crossed with a Chocolate/Vanilla Aromatic [Dark Burley Cavendish]. I've made such experiments a bowl at a time playing around at home, but, this is the first I've seen a boutique micro-batch blender do it on purpose. And, I must say, I am becoming a huge fan and hope Ken keeps it up!

Pairing hint: This goes great with dark chocolate covered coffee beans. Yum! And, like them, a little bit goes a long way if you're coming at this from the "I mainly enjoy Aromatics" camp. If you're already a heavy English/Baltic/Oriental smoker, this will add interesting and fun variety to your regular rotation without needing to add any "Vitamin-N" supplements.

Very highly recommended. I wish I could give 5 stars, but, that would skew the stats from over-enthusiastic fans like me. Go, Ken! Go!