Dan Tobacco Independence

This did not work for me. I try to stubbornly finish any tin I open, but I nearly binned this one. The forest berry flavour did not compliment the perique and it was not a good smoke past mid-bowl, the flavours did not mingle well once the berry taste burned off.

I just finished my first tin of this that had aged in my cellar for around 5 and a half years and I was pleased with it. It is a bit odd in that it is a German produced tobacco presumably named as an homage of sorts to American independence seeing that the tin art is the founding fathers signing the declaration of independence. I guess that is not so odd, but the first few puffs of this delivers a burst of floral essence that is certainly evocative of the British Lakeland blends. Maybe they wanted a British presence in the blend. Who knows what was going through the creators mind while putting this one together; all I know is that it did not distract from my enjoyment of this aromatic in anyway.

The blend has a substantial amount of backbone from the underlying leaf; however, it is not heavy in nicotine. Maybe this is the heft of the latakia even though I really don't perceive that leaf directly under the topping. The topping is pretty strong, but the floral essence I was hit with in the beginning quickly receded to a fruity type of aroma that continues through to the end of the bowl.

While the topping does dominate the blend, this is not a hot air type of blend that has you puffing hard and decimated your tongue in the process; the base tobaccos, regardless of their imperceptibility do the trick to make this one easy to keep in the zone and enjoy.

I think this is a great tasting aromatic and I would buy this one again if I were still buying tobacco.

The tin aroma of these well-prepared, ready rubbed flakes is of wine or, perhaps, concord grape juice with perhaps a touch of floral scenting.

VA (red VA, I assume) is the main component behind which is a dull sweetness which is likely cavendish. Additional sweeteners may also be present. Latakia presence is minimal and virtually unnoticeable, though it does slightly offset the preponderant sweetness.

Richly sweet, Independence is a pleasant enough all-day aromatic smoke which I found to be tasty though unmemorable. This will definitely ghost a briar and seemed to perform best in a narrow gauge chamber.

One of the more interesting tobaccos I have tried. In the can it smells just like Worcestershire sauce. Honest! When smoking it it develops a perfume that is very different. I have had a number of Virginias develop a perfumeness, but never to this extent. It strikes me as very English. The presence of Latakia makes it's self known and actually is fairly strong. I kind of like the perfume smell, but may keep this one put away when the Neanderthals are around as I know they will be making some remark about "fag" tobacco or something else really stupid like that. It isn't at all, and while I won't smoke it every day, suspect I will enjoy it from time to time. Hey guys, this is one way to smoke latakia with your better half around and she won't gripe like she does any other time you smoke latakia.

Lights easily, and burns well leaving a greyish ash.

This one is a good outdoor smoke as then the perfume disapates. If my comment about "fag tobacco" offends, I am sorry in advance, but will lay odds that that is what some idiots will say.