Dan Tobacco Sweet Vanilla Honeydew

Seeing flint's review of Sweet Vanilla Honeydew reminded me of the time I purchased a tin. It's been more than two years ago, but I well remember the shock of not having the smell match the flavor.

Upon opening the tin, I discovered an absolutely beautiful, mostly rubbed out bright Virginia leaf that smelled heavenly. That is usually my first indication that, at the match, I won't like it. This was different though. I tasted a quality Virginia that was only lightly artifically sweetened. Despite the casing, it did not burn hot unless I puffed too agressivly.

Although I did smoke a few bowls just for fun, it will not make my regular rotation. I probably won't even buy another tin in my lifetime (which, unfortunately, gets shorter by the moment!) But, if you are a fan of aromatics and want to taste tobacco as you smoke, you could sure do worse than this stuff.

Imagine any light Va flake by K&K and add a light topping of vanilla. I have mixed feelings about this tobacco. On the one hand, it isn't flavored any more heavily than the standard continental flake that is doused in a little bergamot. On the other hand I associate vanilla with aromatics, and I've never been a big fan of aros because the tobacco is a bit on the thin side generally and you have to gently nurse the flavor out of them.

So here were have a decent Va flake with a little sauce. Honestly this is kind of what aromatics should be.

It's just not what I'm looking for in a Va flake. It's not the topping per se, as I smoke a share of tobaccos that are topped with this or that, but for this type of tobacco I want something more natural.

If you smoke aros predominantly, this may be your gateway to a better quality of tobacco. If you don't smoke aros at all, this might be the aro for you.

For me I don't love or hate it, but it's not something I'd go out of my way to smoke again. 2 stars, but I wouldn't argue with anyone who felt it was worth 3.

Tin note: hard to describe aroma, reminiscent of bee wax and hints of vanilla.

This blend is classified as aromatic, however, I was somewhat disappointed. I have a hard time tasting any vanilla. The aroma of the VAs is there, but it is very mild, slightly sweet with a mixture of bright and dark leaf. Overall, a disappointing blend for me: it seems this blend is intended to fit somewhere in between aromatic and non-aromatic, but it fails at performing either role. The sweetness and vanilla aroma are not pronounced enough as I would expect from the tin description. This blend might be recommendable for someone who would like to transition from highly aromatic blends towards a less aromatic blend. Mind your cadence, though, or you will get very unpleasent bitterness very quickly.

EDIT: after giving this blend a second chance without filter, I can definitely detect some more sweetness and a mild vanilla aroma. Overall, if you prefer using filters (like me) this blend may not be suitable for you. For people who smoke without filter, you might want to try this blend if you look for a mild aromatic.

I bought it in Austria, it was a pouch of 50gr. When I opened it a strong flavor a Vanilla reached my nose. The tobacco itself is easy to light and charge in your pipe, is a little bit "fat" it leaves most of it's flavoring on the pipe but after a good cleaning the pipe lose it's ghost. It's a good aromatic but it didn't flash me enough.

This blend had a lot of potential. With an amazing room note and taste I liked it for a while. The wife found it very pleasant and basically asked for it to be smoked once in a while.

Like other tobaccos in my opinion it was over cased and bit too much. The taste did have vanilla in it, which is difficult to achieve, kudos.

In the end it was an awesome blend to try, but not one I'd keep. I would however recommend it to an aromatic smoker.

Ok. This is a very sweet tasting, great room smoke. Even my mother in law likes the room of this. My wife thought I had lost my mind when I lit this, asking why it smelled so good. Refreshing on smell and taste, this is a fine smoke for those who prefer a sweeter, more delicte taste. I like this as a change of pace, but my tastes arent so "vanilla" or sweet. I prefer a more citrus-y tatse in my aro's.

Update: traded this tin to a friend and he is now a convert. word is, his girlfriend may make this his only blend.... I have tried this again after a stint of VaPers and burleys, and it is too sweet. Light airy but too sweet. Tastes change...

Let me first say that I love all things vanilla. The tin aroma of this tobacco is wonderful-- like the smell of vanilla-sented Yankee Candle. However, this pleasant vanilla aroma does not translate to the flavor, which is honestly quite boring and even unpleasant at times. I am not at all biased against aromatics. I like many different kinds of blends depending on what I'm in the mood for. I have tried Sweet Vanilla Honeydew enough times now to know with certainty that to me it is a big disappointment. There is little to no vanilla flavor. There is occasional sweetness from the Virginas, but that's about it. If I want a nice sweet Virginia, I can get a nice sweet Virgina anytime. I was hoping the vanilla would add something very special. It didn't--just less than satisfying Virgina tobaccos that bit my tongue, smoked hot, gurgled, and left a lot of wetness in my pipe, even after some drying time. At times the flavor was bitter and unpleasant, although as I smoked on, the pipe yielded a few nice puffs. Actually, I didn't really puff, but sipped ever so gently, and still I got tongue bite. Happily, the tongue bite didn't last too long after the pipe was finished.

Sure I'll finish the tin, because I'm cheap and hate to waste money. However, I'll never buy another tin. I gave it two stars because the tin aroma is really lovely and the room note is nice. The flavor wasn't awful (except for the occasional bitterness), just disappointing and unmemorable. I didn't give it one star because a pipe tobacco has to be pretty foul for me to give it one star. This isn't foul, just uninteresting in terms of flavor. I don't know, maybe I got an 'off' tin.

My experience with this blend has been unusual, if not unique.

I purchased it because of it's excellent reputation as a quality aro. When I opened the tin a strong, lovely aroma of something pleasantly sweet greeted me: a quality virginia with lots of vanilla, sugar cookies, honey and maybe tropical fruit. I was not disappointed when I lit that first bowl -- it was really very delicious, a quality vanilla virginia aro with hints of honey and some sweet fruit like peaches or honeydew that were at times more prominent than the vanilla. The point is, it was a very nice, delicious, satisfying smoke that lived up to its reputation. I was glad to have found another aro to add to my rotation.

Now normally, the more I get to know a blend the better I like it. This is probably the only time when the reverse has been true for me -- the more I got to know this blend, the less I liked it. A lot less. What had been a delightful smoke -- smooth and sweet -- ended up tasting like smoldering cigarette ashes: hot and bitey and tasteless, generally quite unpleasant.

Were my pipes dirty? No... Had the blend aged very poorly in a short time? Maybe, I don't know. But I never had a blend start off with such promise and end with such disappointment.

I give it two stars to average out my experience with it -- my first few smokes were a solid 3.5 stars. Then there were some solid 2 star smokes. My last few were 1 star.

It's definitely worth a try, though mileage may vary pretty wildly for no accountable reason (as the variety of reviews for this blend seem to attest -- my experience seemed to run the gamut of them). If you try it I hope you experience it at its best, which is very good indeed.

You know those marshmallows that are covered with toasted coconut? Well, if you melted one of those over a fire, you'd have the general ambience of this tobacco. That flavoring is not that obvious to me in the tin. The tin aroma is kind of like dried fruit. The toasted coconut/marshmallow flavor and aroma is very evident as soon as the match hits the leaf. Smoke it slowly and pay attention and there is a melony taste in the background.

This was my first experience with this type of aromatic and, from a freshly-openened tin, it was a bit overwhelming. Even though I liked the taste and smell, it was just too much. It also has a tendency to bite if smoked too vigorously. Back off a little and that problem goes away. I put this tobacco away for a few months and found that a little age and a little drying mellows it out considerably.

The room note is a winner with the non-smokers I've smoked around. It also gives you a nice aroma to carry around with you on your clothes after smoking.

I couldn't see making this an all-day or even an every-day smoke but, once in a while, as with those coconut marshmallows, it's nice to have a taste.