Exclusiv Black Cherry

First and foremost, I must apologise, as when I requested this blend to review I submitted 'cube cut' in error. I bought this tobacco loose and hence cannot quote the package notes; the cut is similar to a very thick flake fully rubbed out but the strands are fairly long. The cross section of the strands is almost perfectly square.

Tin Aroma: Wonderful. Very fruity in a dark way; it has genuine depth without the cheap 'tartiness' of a mere superficial casing. But the cherry is inmistakable; indeed my six year old daughter pronounced 'cherry!' without hesitation.

Room Note: Again, very pleasant. People tend to sit close to you in the pub! I'm told it smells of cherry but not in a sweet, sickly way: a relaxing, fruity aroma.

Packing: A little fiddly as the strands are quite long- you have to break them up a little. Moisture content is a bit on the moist side for my liking.

Lighting: As mentioned, this tobacco is a bit on the moist side and so takes a bit of perseverance to get the fire stoked. It takes me about three to four matches and tampers to get it going.

Appearance: To be honest, although this is obviously a good quality tobacco, it does look a bit arteficial. Imagine taking some long, square section shavings of wood, then spraying them with a satin/gloss black paint and you get the idea! The colour and texture is totally uniform: no browns, tans or yellows-just black. Every strand is the same shape and length apart from the odd bit that naturally breaks off.

Smoking: This tobacco was a pleasant suprise. Cherrys have a habit of being malevolant and representing hellfire in a pot. But this really is a 'cherry without malice' because it burns very slow and cool despite being an aromatic. Even with furious puffing it doesn't burn the tongue, palate ot throat. Apart from the initial lights it doesn't produce much smoke either and seems to pleasantly 'simmer' once underway. The flavour is a pleasnt black cherry but is not at all sweet and sickly. Despite it's moisture content it hardly gurgles but I am an exremely dry smoker so others may disagree. I couldn't detect the cheap 'woody' taste that I have detected in other Exclusiv blends. I have found in the past this tends to lurk in the background until the casing quickly evaporates leaving a very dry tobacco that represents burning wood chips. Not so with this particular blend that retains it's casing, keeps moist and doesen't seem to want to dry out. Despit moisure content it burns very evenly to a medium grey ash. The only thing I know about the content of this blend is that it'a a black cavendish. My taste tells me it's a burley/virginia mixture that errs on the side of burley because of the smokey cool taste. However, I could be wrong here! I have mixed this down with some straight burley and it seems a natural mate. All in all a very tasty black cherry tobacco that is ideal for a change of pace without roasting your mouth and tasting sickly. It doesn't seem to taint my pipes, either. Nicotine content is mild (although stronger than a lot of aromatics!), so avoid if you're looking for a head banger! Aftertaste is mild and pleasant.

Pros: A pleasant smelling and tasting aromatic that burns cool, slow and evenly with minimal maintenance-once you get it going!

Cons: A bit of a swine to light and a bit moist. Appearance is a tad naff.

Score: 4 out of 5. In my humble opinion, one of the best cherry aromatics out there. Well done, Exclusiv!

Literally the first aromatic I ever smoked, lovely deep black Cavendish and a strong smell of black cherries. In terms of smoking, it's a very strong cherry taste with an almost floral undertone and an aftertaste that lingers almost too long but isn't unpleasant. The room note is very pleasent and a few (non smoker) friends commented on the pleasent smell of cherry pie. The nic hit is good without being overtly strong. I'd reccomend this blend to anyone who appreciates a good aromatic.