Nat Sherman 314 City Island Dawn

Nat Sherman 314 is bland in every way.

The tin when opened gives a strong vanilla cased cavendish smell that is inviting to the aromatic smoker. If there is anything besides cavendish here I sure can't find it. The leaf is ribbon cut and monotone in color like the color of honey.

When first opened the tobacco is a bit on the moist side. Packing when it is this moist will surely provide a lot of gurgle. Now to the first problem with this tobacco, if you let it dry out for more than a 15 minutes (the least IMHO that is needed to control the gurgle) the flavor begins to get flatter than flat almost as if the vanilla evaporates in the drying process. If smoked in a group 4 or larger gurgle is unstoppable. Attempting to control the gurgle, I smoked it in Savenelli 6mm and Vauen 9mm balsa filter pipes which helped tremendously. Even so, I still used more than one pipe cleaner to keep the condensation down. And, before I forget, when tried in a Peterson system pipe, it filled the reservoir - don't go there.

Strength: This is the mildest tobacco I've ever smoked (7 years smoking now). I notice no nicotine increase throughout the bowl.

Flavoring: As I previously outlined, this tobacco has a strong vanilla casing that is overpowering to say the least. It's a nice mix with cavendish, but is so monotone that the tobacco simply won't keep your interest for more than a few bowls. I never made it through the entire tin quite honestly.

Room note: This tobacco will make friends for you! People seem to love the aroma. While not as strong as some of the "cherry" blends, the aroma is definately a sickly sweet cavendish.

Bowl Experience: If dried out for about 15 minutes, the bowl lights quite easily and will smoke to the bottom with only a few relights (only needed because you're constantly using a pipe cleaner to stop gurgle). It burns down to a nice grey ash but it is hard to get 100% of the tobacco smoked. I noticed towards the very end of the bowl that all hint of the vanilla casing is gone and the flavor gets somewhat bitter.

Nat sherman calls this their most popular blend ... I can't see how that is possible. If you like aromatics I would suggest you try Nat Sherman's #307 instead. The flavor is much better and the gurgle, though still present, is less than this blend.

Legacy: The vanilla casing will stay with whatever pipe you smoke it in for a few bowls. Smoke it first in a cob in case you don't like it.

Possibility: This might be a nice tobacco to use as an ingredient in blending - if you wanted to add a slight touch of vanilla cavendish to "your custom blend".

Bottom line: If you love cavendish and vanilla is heaven, this is for you. Try it in a smaller pipe first (only to control the moisture).