pipesandcigars.com Firestorm

The tangy ripe dark fruity, earthy, woody, lightly bready, tart and tangy citrusy Virginias also have a touch of vinegar and a floral note as the lead components. The perique provides plums, raisins, earth, and a fair amount of pepper as a supporting player. The fire-cured mahogany Kentucky is woody, earthy, floral with some spice and mild nuttiness as it competes with the perique for position. The spice flavor reminds me of cinnamon (it isn't), though it’s more noticeable in the first half of the smoke much of the time, you will feel its presence to the finish. Whatever the topping is, it's sweet and mildly sugary. The overall sweetness is more obvious in the first half as well. I don’t think I’d say this blend gets peppery in the second half of the bowl as the description says so much as it seems to be a little less sweeter, which allows the spice to appear to be more prominent. The strength and taste levels are medium. The nic-hit is a couple of steps below that mark. Won't bite or get harsh, though the spice may pleasantly tingle your tongue a mite. Has few rough edges. Burns cool and clean with a little inconsistency in the rich, deep, sweet and spicy flavor. Has a pleasantly lingering after taste and room note. Leaves little dampness in the bowl, and requires an average number of relights. Three and a half stars out of four.

-JimInks

Hard to call this a VaPer; it's got those ingredients but the addition of dark fired KY change the profile considerably. With other VaPerKy blends I have fun picking out the components. This one blends together extremely well, becoming more than just the sum of its parts. If I hadn't heard Russ swear there's not a cinnamon topping I'd have sworn there was. It also starts out mildly sweet, but the sweetness recedes and the perique steps forward as the bowl progresses. The coarse cut is easy to load and light with an average number of relights required. I usually go for English/Balkan blends but this is one outside that genre that I can smoke all day. Four stars

A very interesting, rich and complex smoke. The perique is present throughout though it become more pronounced as you go. It starts with some sweetness that mixes well with the spice and some of the smoke of the dark fired Kentucky. Very earthy. A wonderful flavor combo that seems to change ever so slightly puff to puff. The spice seems like cinnamon or some other baking spice which turns peppery and savory later. I can not identify the flavoring as it it is slight and mixes perfectly with the DFK, perique and sweet Virginias. Thick cut and even, slow burning. No bite. Rich and full flavored. Not overwhelmingly spicy as the name would suggest but pleasingly complex. A wonferfull VaPerKy.

My initial worry for this new blend is that it is named Fire Storm, not Firestorm, and may be difficult to ‘find hereabouts’ if the search feature on. TobaccoReviews gets finicky. I have added blends to the TR site in the past.

I am a huge fan of VaPerKy blends — the Kentucky (burley) usually adds a creamy, nutty ‘texture’ to the dance with the VA and Perique elements.

In my view, the exemplars of an excellent VaPerKy would be Doblone d’Oro (Savinelli) and Royal Twist Deluxe (MacBaren). Fire Storm is a step lower than these in almost every respect.

There is a peppery, spicy element to Fire Storm which seems to demand attention. Or, one might say, some element is not playing nice with the other elements. Even with a slow smoking cadence, Fire Storm at times tastes harsh. Or arguably stronger. Or perhaps less integrated. Yet, this is tasty tobacco, not to be dismissed in any way. It burns easily and the room note is good.

I get the Virginias and the KY more than the Perique, and thus taste little of the traditional sour or raisin or plum or fig that usually comes across with the Per component, but of course, one never knows the tobacco element percentage. But I also don’t feel that there is much organic VA sweetness here. Overall this is a medium strength blend in terms of taste and nicotine.

All in all 3 stars out of 4 for Russ Ouellete’s new Fire Storm.