Hearth & Home Ten to Midnight

I didn't have any trouble rubbing out this blend at all, and it lit and burned just fine for me. I can taste more than latakia easily when smoking at a liesurely pace. Reminds me more of 965 than Penzance. I like the taste, very good sipping tobacco, it is sort of light on nicotine, but that might not be a bad thing if you smoke it at night before bed. Recommended...3 stars

UPDATE: I have let this age for a while, and the oriental is far more pronounced than the other components. I actually think of it as an oriental blend now, and it's still very good, smooth and slow burninng.

I really like the appearance of this krumble kake, hard as a rock, but contrary to other reviews I find it simple to break up and load. This is a very fragrant kake that takes me back to the old country (Croatia) remanisant of the winter fires and smokehouses curing hams and sausages.

Nice and dry it lights up easily and burns well straight to the bottom of the bowl. The pungant flavors reveal all of its componants, smokey, slightly sweet and somewhat floral, but the latakia is always at the forfront. As is so often the case with me, when the rich flavors really begin to develope I tend to puff harder and faster wanting more, thus ruining what I had. When puffed to hard those smokey sweet flavors quickly turn into an acrid insence type of wretch.

Bottom line, sit back, smoke slowly and enjoy !

For the most part, I have been a fan of Russ’ blends, but my first contact with 10 to Midnight wasn’t all that great. I didn’t mind the dryness of kake, but it seemed a bit rough, similar to some of the way some C&D blends hit me. (I have wondered if C&D sourced the components of this blend). But with some time put away, it really mellows out. The kake breaks pretty easily, although if allowed to dry anymore, the Latakia can get “dusty.” I have only smoked TTM in bulk form so it may be a little moister in the tinned version. It burns clean and as another reviewer mentioned, the Oriental shows itself quite a bit, although I found that when TTM isn’t aged, the Latakia can dominate more than I would prefer and drowns out the Orientals a bit. I like this on our cold New England winter evenings more so than as a daytime or hot weather smoke so it’s not an everyday smoke for me, but a nice change of pace.

One of the H&H more popular blends with a lot of flavor that is full, rich and screams of quality Latakia. I would compare this favorably to Dunhill's Nightcap and do believe it is a heavy, palate lovin' tobacco for English fans.

This is a pressed cake in the Balkan style. The flavor profile is pretty typical for this type of blend, only I find it to be a bit sweeter and less one-dimensional than some have found. Despite the high proportion of latakia, the latakia in no way overwhelms the virginias or orientals (it's not Pirake Kake, in other words) although it lacks the evolving complexity of a GLP Balkan. There were points where it made me think of a kicked-up version of Frog Morton on the Town, which is a good thing. The only drawbacks to this tobacco are that it seems to have a little trouble burning at points and is rougher on my mouth than I'd like. I think some aging might help the latter characteristic, so I'm giving this 3 stars right now but may revise upward if a year in a jar improves it.

I was given a sample of this from my nephew and probably had the pleasure of about five bowls of it. Every one was fantastic. It is smoky and smooth. Everything you would want from a latakia heavy blend. So if you are not a big latakia fan you will definitely want to steer clear of this one.

As the name suggests it is a crumble cake which is always fun and usually adds points to a blend for me. I am up in the air about how to rate this one as my bowls I have had lead me to believe this is a four star blend, but I just feel I will need to delve into a full tin before I can put it that high. So three stars for now.

Great complexity of flavor. This tobacco deserves to be smoked slowly. The tin I received was a little dry for my taste, but it burned well right to the bottom of the bowl. I originally bought this to supplement my Penzance supply and have found this to be fuller flavored, but not as rounded. Will buy this again.

I've never smoked Penzance so I cannot compare this blend to it. I CAN say that this is a very good choice for those who want a good strong English style blend with lots of Latakia. The description makes it sound real stout, but I actually found it pretty mild as far as nicotine content, and the flavors seem to mellow the further down the bowl you smoke. It reminded me of House of Lords by Hearth and Home, but without the Turkish tobacco. It packs easily, burns nicely, and creates lots of tasty smoke (smoked steak anyone?). It does go well with scotch, but I found it went best with a good cup of tea, especially after a nice meal.

Just be warned about the room note: While I enjoy the woodsy, smokey smell, my friends all did not find it very pleasant. I should have brought an aromatic, but was enjoying this blend so much that I wanted to share it. Smoke this in solitude, or in the company of other smokers who enjoy English blends; but bring your cherry, chocolate, and vanilla blends when it's social time!

Well, we all know Penzance is hard to come by these days. After perusal of the web and this site, I found a possible replacement to my beloved Penzance: Ten to Midnight.

Now I don't know if the name of the blend is in reference to the Bronson film of the same name, but I do know that Penzance this aint'!

But that isn't such a bad thing, after all...

It comes in big ole' sticks, with lots of fine tobacco dust in the bottom of the bag (I got this in bulk at Uptown's in Nashville). It smells almost IDENTICAL to Penzance, but looks like it has slightly less oriental leaf in the blocks of tobacco that I bought. The blocks will most likely make the novice (or the impatient) have a fit.

(How can you be an impatient person if you are in the Brotherhood of the Briar???? Strange, but they ARE among us!)

So, I looked at the tobacco a bit closer. Imagine a Twix candy bar. That's how this tobacco comes: in a little Twix shaped rectangle. I saw trouble rubbing this out...

Undaunted, I took my time preparing the tobacco, and loaded up my pipe.

The initial flavor rush made me think that I had FINALLY found my beloved, long lost Penzance. The intensity fades, sadly, as you progress through the bowl. It comes back and forth, in and out, and I have found I appreciate this after a few bowls.

All in all, though, I WILL be stocking up on this fine Balkan/English blend by Hearth and Home.

If you LIKE latakia and sweet, pungent orientals, then you owe it to yourself to try this blend.

I recommend this for the price and the quality.