Nat Sherman 307 Mild Cavendish

Although I am an english smoker, my interest was arroused by the reviews of this blend. Unfortunately, this blend was no longer available retail. Then, as fate would have it, a single tin showed up on e-bay - I bid on it and won. Everything that other reviewers had said, I verified: beautiful tin art, well-sealed, very damp and the folded paper liner absolutely stained a dark umber brown color. I dried-out a portion overnight on a sheet of paper. It dried easily, verifying reviewer Pipestud's observation that the casing(s) were natural; i.e., water-based. The next morning I loaded-up and lit-up. The initial impression was of a rather moderately cased tobacco with a taste somewhat like raisins or even plums. I liked it. The first quarter of the bowl was pleasant - mildly fruity but solidly tobacco- flavored with that typical nutty flavor of burley.

Then things began to change. In the second fourth of the bowl I began to get tongue bite. I tried to slow my pace down, but to no avail. I set the pipe down and let it cool for a period of time before relighting. More tongue bite but still a pleasant nutty burley flavor. I finished this bowl and a couple more after that - same results. I then followed in the footsteps of brother Brizzi's advice: I grabbed a tin of latakia blending mixture that I had open and mixed it 2 parts 307 to 1 part lbm. This gave a mild english flavor to the blend; however, still tongue bite. I then mixed the next batch 1-to-1. This gave me a beautiful english blend that I really enjoyed. However; more tongue bite at about the mid-bowl point. I gave the tin away to somebody else for their use telling them that this was a nice tobacco that I simply could not smoke due to it's high burley content.

I'm not one to kick a blend around just because its not for me. This is a high quality blend made carefully with quality tobaccos that has a high degree of enjoyment potential - just not for me. Three stars for flavor but two stars for smokeability.

In the tin, this stuff smells almost like Senakot, a chocolate laxative. I almost passed on it, but since I used to love Nat?s cigars so much, especially the Union and University, I decided to try a pinch from an open sample tin at Jack?s Tobacco, Milwaukee. I was not disappointed. This is one of the finest, creamiest aromatics you?ll every try. It?s a soft blend of aromatic golden and dark Cavendish. Yes, it?s definitely a heavily cased American aromatic, so stay away if you?re a hardcore English smoker. Unfortunately, the downside is that whatever this stuff is cased with leaves a coating on my tongue that?s soapy and waxy. It also tends to leave some sludgy wet dottle in the bowl. I prefer McClelland aromatics because they don?t fuzz my tongue. But for one who enjoys an occasional ice cream sundae with their tobacco, and likes the pleasing fragrance of nougat and toffee ala McClelland Best of Show, you will enjoy this from time to time.

Three and a half of five stars