Dan Tobacco Devil's Holiday

Smells great in the tin, and in the pipe. As for the taste, not bad, but not great either. This gave me some pretty good tongue bite. Will I try it again? Definitely, but it wont be any go to tobacco for me. Something for the days when you want to please others while enjoying the pipe. Thats pretty much it. I wanted to give this a glowing review after all the positive comments I have read, but that just didnt happen.........sorry y'all.

Devil's Holiday has always tasted best to me on a clean palate, smoked in a solitary moment without having had any other tobacco before it. It's best enjoyed in a pipe made from a more neutral tasting material. I have had most favorable results rendering its delicate flavor using a well seasoned cob, which is perfect because I never smoke blends like this in my briars, ever.

A semi-sweet, thin black cavendish flavor with a high note of berry, accompanied by a subtle tanginess is mostly what I taste here. The room note is truly delightful. It burns fairly well, although it does generate some heat, so it needs to be smoked slow. The smoke is smooth and fragrant with no bite and very few off-flavors. The bottom portion of the bowl gets bitter and I typically end my smoke at that point regardless of what's left.

Overall, this is a mixture that the ardent aromatic smoker will likely enjoy. Those looking for much in the way of actual tobacco flavor will more than likely be disappointed.

I noticed the composite score for this one is 2 stars. That is right on the money in my opinion. I will smoke up what I have and doubt I will buy more, unless....... it grows on me which has happened before so I won't write this blend off out of hand.

Tin Aroma: Wonderful berry essence, aromatic fans will love it. Aroma burns off quite a bit by 1/2 bowl. Dry smell, if that is possible.

Taste: Very mild but surprisingly, a bit harsh and dry in flavor. Tastes like Cavendish that has been desiccated somehow. Once in a puff I get a slight bitterness, very odd and not to my liking. Dry.

The mix is visually appealing with mostly black cav. with a few blond VA strands mixed in. Dry.

The smoke is without the creamy roundness present in many other cavendish mixtures I have enjoyed. A little vanilla would have made this one a knock out. As it is, the berry essence is a little "Thin Tasting" and "Hollow" for me. Dry.

Did I mention it has a dry taste? 😉

I am going to mix this with a little McClelland Vanilla Black Cavendish and see what happens, I may mix them and press it for a few weeks with a little white rum to marry the flavors.

I think that will be either a stunning success or a disastrous failure, no in between.

We'll see 🙂

2 stars (*)-(*)

Good Draw to You, Cheers,

Glorfindel

They were not joking; this does ghost your pipe really bad. It ghosted my clay pipe after one bowl! Good thing I like how it tastes.

Very strong on the berry topping, but the tobacco is present and seems to fight for dominance. My tin was dryish upon opening so I didn't allow it to sit out.

Do not recommend if you dislike strong berry tasting aros! For actually tasting like it smells rating is 3.5. But for extreme ghosting and disharmony between flavors 2.5.

Barely there nic.

Again, do NOT try in a pipe you like. If you dislike the taste you will regret it.

If you're familiar with Dan Tobacco's Blue Note or Milonga, you'll find Devil's Holiday to be lighter in tobacco flavor. It's much darker than the other two, being about 85% brownish-black Cavendish, so this isn't surprising.

The tin aroma is much more subdued than Blue Note or Milonga, yet still significant. And like Blue Note, if I hadn't read the label, I wouldn't be able to identify the casing flavors (Milonga is obviously Caramel).

About 15% of the blend consists of wispy strands of golden Virginia that deliver an opposing taste and aroma that's very noticeable and a bit annoying because it hits you intermittently. Therefore, I would describe this blend as mild but not smooth or seamless. Also, the smoke is too light: not enough body. And to me, the room note is an unidentifiable sugar smell.

Devil's Holiday doesn't float by boat. Blue Note is much better if you're looking for fruit-flavoring.

When I opened the tin I was very surprised at the sweet candy aroma...right away I thought to myself I have to order another. It reminds me of wine gum candy. I've tried several bowls and though it is a very unique tobacco I think for me I'm going to age it a bit and use it sparingly. It does leave a residue in the pipe and the taste stays so I would recommend using a special pipe with this blend. The filter got really blackened by it which surprised me as did the pipe. I can see why it is so popular but I personally would only smoke it once in awhile. It maybe too much for some people's taste but I think it's worth a try if you like aromatics.

Update 12/24/2016-As a Christmas blend , from the same tin with 5 years of age, it's now very smooth and interesting. Obviously the topping has mellowed. More "Christmas Treey" rather than luden's cherry cough drops. Maybe should move this to 3 stars ?

original: Tin aroma= Ludens Cherry Cough Drops. Taste= Ludens Cherry Cough Drops. Room Note= Ludens Cherry Cough Drops. Would rather buy= Ludens Cherry Cough Drops. Easier on the tongue= Ludens Cherry Cough Drops. I do like the little round tin.

I think if you were a beginner pipe smoker or looking to impress the ladies, than this is a good choice, but I wouldn't want to be in a small room with someone smoking this.

One of those rare aromatics that actually tastes like it smells. I read the reviews here so I knew what I was getting into. I'm always searching for an aromatic that I can work into my rotation to smoke something different now and then. I aged the tin for almost 3 years, and surprisingly Devil's Holiday needed no drying whatsoever. The flavor is pretty good if you have a sweet tooth. No tongue bite, but it does burn hot in the pipe. It burned dry in the pipe as well. It's worth a try if you're looking for an aromatic with a sweet berry flavor. Not too bad...

One of the things that gets to me is when people write a review knocking a tobacco for the type of tobacco it is: English, aromatic, etc. A blend should be judged within its field, and that is how I will attempt to rate this blend.

First of all, the tin just looks great and inspired me to try it, along with the irony of ordering this blend on Christmas Eve.

Upon opening the tin, I was hit by the powerful aroma of berries, sweet and ripe. I really enjoyed the nose, though it did smell a little overly synthetic.

The leaves came out of the tin after a little over a month of having the blend at basically a perfect smoking quality: still slightly moist, but dry enough to be lit well, with limited relights.

The sweetness of the tin aroma transfered to the smoke, though not nearly as overpowering, to my taste. Don't get me wrong, it was sweet, very sweet, but not enough to stop me in my tracks.

The room note was really nice; it was one of the few blends where I fully enjoyed the smell while still smoking.

This wasn't the best aromatic I have tried, but it was enjoyed, and a really nice blend to use to celebrate International Pipe Smoking Day.