Solani 113: Sweet Mystery

This is a personal favorite of mine as I am a huge aromatics fan. The smell is absolutely sensational and the room note is by far the most pleasant one since the invention of perfumes. I have not met one person who doesn't like the scent.

Taste wise it is very mild. I couldn't really taste the coco cream and once in a while i can taste the black currants slightly, other times it seems to be hiding. That says, it is an very pleasant and cool smoke. If i could taste the black currants every-time I draw this would by far be my No.1 blend but hey, I think the name 'mystery' explains it all.

Highly recommended to the aromatics lover and you can be sure it will delight the people around you and yourself.

Having tried the Solani Green Label 127 and finding it impressive, my taste buds lured me to explore more and chose Solani X Sweet Mystery out of the options available. Again, Solani hits the mark, and I was not disappointed. As one opens the the tin, a whiff the most pleasant and sweet aromas infiltrates ones olfactory tracts, and immediately draws you to fill up the good ol' bowl and take it for a spin. It seems that the blend is cased by fine berries dowsed in rum and topped with healthy dollop of scrumptious cream. Absolutely deliciously concocted by the blender for a sudden change of pace and 'mysterious' surprize! This is indeed a prime example of aromatics at their best with Solani taking it to a totally different level. If you are not into aromatics per se, this is surely the one to try. Its refined, its cultured, and above all not to over-powering. If one wishes to impress an audience and get the smoking satisfaction - this certainly tops the list. As with all aromatics, pace it as it will bite the impatient.

The casing just dont work for me. Soloni's aromatics just seem extremely "overcased".

-Quality-
The Cavendish and Virginias are of good quality, not quite as excellent as Rattray's blending; but still very good.

-Smoke-
Overall it smokes cool and burns clean. This blend needs a little drying though, and should be smoked slowly. It can get hot and bite if you smoke too fast, likely on the account of the Virginias. The nicotine strength is a tad above mild.

-Flavour-
The blackcurrant flavour stands out and tastes excellent. i couldn't detect any rum or coco, although there is a slight creaminess to this blend. The creaminess complements the blackcurrant but don't expect any coconut flavour. The flavour isn't excellent towards the end of the bowl and starts to give an aftertaste; but starts strong and stays strong in the middle. This forces me to dump my bowl towards the end.

-Scent Notes-
The tin is fruity albeit slightly artificial. The room note is pleasant, but leaning more towards tolerable. It wouldn't be my first choice for an aromatic to make my room smell great.

-Rating-
2.5/4. I'd like to rate this higher because I like Solani, but there are just a few too many problems with it. It is disappointing that I didn't detect any coconut, and I detected something artificial in the tin note although it smoked nicely. I wonder if the aftertaste at the end of the bowl is due to an artificial flavouring. There are better aromatics on the market, but lovers of blackcurrant should give this a try.

I obtained this tin three years ago in an internet buy and had it on my table at the 2016, 2017 and 2018 NASPC shows. Nobody ever paid any attention to it and, this time around, I decided to open it as a rum-flavored pipe blend for blending purposes. I agree with some of the previous reviewers that the rum flavoring is, basically, hidden so well as to be invisible to the pipe smoking palette. The same can't be said to be true for the other flavorings: not one, not two, not three, but four additives for aroma/flavor. Its just too much and very fruity in overall tone. This assault of aromas and flavorings mercifully evaporates somewhere between the quarter and first third levels of the smoke. I found the top third to be, generally, uneventful and artificial tasting. However, and this is a big however, the beginning of the middle third unleashed as good a flavor and aroma as a Virginia/Black Cavendish pipe blend can provide. The tobacco flavors and aromas that issued from my pipe were among the best I have ever experienced in smoking this style of blend and rocketed straight into four star territory. Unfortunately, this blend is sullied by the overzealous application of flavor/aroma inducing compounds. Add to that another characteristic noted by previous reviewers; the ability to warm the tongue with lots of Red Virginia smoke. So, all in all, a very solid three star pipe blend.

"Blackcurrant, Cocoa / Chocolate, Rum" with that kind of description I'm all in but but having now finished the tin I can honestly say I did feel it. Pleasant aroma in the can but not so pleasant of a room note.

In the tin. Sweet mystery is very heavily fragrant. Almost perfume-like. I do get the impression of currents. A fairly sour, sweet, and bitter berry scent. The cut is all over the map but it doesn't hurt or help the mixture in any noticeable way.

This smoked a bit warm and had a bit more bite to it than one would expect for a premium tinned aromatic. On the other hand. It otherwise performs well. Easy to light. Maybe one relight which is acceptable and dry smoking. It smokes a commendable forty to fifty minutes. Where everything really falls apart is in the taste.

The taste of sweet mystery is bitter and immediately ashy. It also has a very undesirable flavor in there that I have yet to really find the words to describe. I can only say that the only other blend I have experienced this in is Brebbia Sinfonia but that blend is far worse than Solani X. No complexity or tobacco flavor. Just bitterness, ash, and an unpleasant note that I would consider to be the "mystery" in sweet mystery but not in a good way. Then a light generic sweetness that coats your mouth throughout the smoking experience.

The room note was acceptable but not anything special. A fairly generic sweetness like that of the taste. Some of that unpleasant mystery note makes it's way into the room note but it's not as displeasing at this stage. Though the smoke does burn the nose a lot more than almost all aromatics out there.

Solani X Sweet Mystery is a book that should not be judged by it's cover. Despite the premium presentation. This is a mystery that should be at least looked into. Yet I don't doubt that the majority of those who give it the old college try won't stay around long enough to see the mystery solved.

This smells extremely similar to Petersons Sunset Breeze but with an added kind of plum scent. It's a bit deeper than Petersons and the tobacco was more moist in the tin but they are extremely similar. It has a mild taste...a pleasant room note. It did not taste sweet though some of the plum came through at times. I would probably not buy again and instead go for another plum cake...or aged cake aromatic in search of better taste.

I can understand why this would seem like a dessert to some. It seems heavily cased.

Perhaps not my "normal thing", but the [unusual] flavors worked out well enough for me to make the 100g tin fit into my "occasional" rotation.