Hearth & Home Armada

A little strong , a little spicy/ bitey, a little harsh around the edges, good "N" hit, full latakia flavor with Orientals supporting . I've never been real good at identifying the quantity of Perique, except it's here. Not bad , nothing great, a little hard to smoke at a sip or it goes out ( similar to Frog Morton burn characteristics). I'll cellar my tin for a year and see what develops, it has got to take the heat away or I will keep it at 2 stars. Seems a little pricey at only 1.5 oz. in a GIGANTIC tin.

Updated 12/25/12- I've had this cellared for 15 months and some diffrence in the heat. Flavorfull, some hot spice, smokes at a sip ,but still has a bitter harshness too it, Powerful, not a sweet smoke. I tried this back to back against "Ambassador" ( no Perique)and Ambassador is smoother. This is 2 1/2 stars but I won't buy again.

This is a clean smoking full Balkan. I detect a certain bit of additional flavor presumably from a topping of some sort, but it's minor and artfully applied. Dry, with lots of orientals at the start and a bit of latakia, but develops throughout into something very full flavored with depth. I do prefer other English blends, notably many of the GL Pease offerings, but this is a good one and well worth trying.

a complex spicy one but with strengh .An all day tobacco

As the last reviewer commented on, the synergy of the latakia and perique is quite unique.

This is a blast in-your-face complexity that marches to the rumbles of a different drum.

It brings out aspects of perique that oft go unnoticed and it makes for a good, once-in-awhile smoke for me.

Images evoked include membranal walls of gnashing teeth in front of a skeleton band with three fiddlers competing for a dark lord's favor.

I have never experienced perique and latakia synergizing like this before; like other reviewers have noted here, this was an epiphanic "I just got it" kind of blend, and I have new respect for the power of perique.

Here the perique serves to do more than "zip things up," actually melding and working in concert with the other components, much as I have experienced it doing sucessfully with burley in other blends (though of course there is no burley here).

Armada is unique, powerful, and complex.

Among the Ouellette's blends I have smoked this is the one I love the least, I think it's because of the Perique. The taste of this mixture is a little confused, the latakia is overlied by the perique. The result is surely a good tobacco, but it lacks personality.

Armada is blend with a variety of varitiels that despite this variety, is well balanced. The VA stays in the background affording no tartness nor sweetness. The latakia is used as a condement should be, contributing to the aroma and taste in a positive fashion but never dominant or overbearing. The use of the perique is what ties everything together without being applied to heavy as many times happens with blends using this ST. James weed. Over all a complex and pleasent taste with no one varitiel dominating the others. Packs, lights, burns clean and smokes smooth. A tasty treat for seasoned palates.

I kind of assume that this is hearth and Holmes version of odyssey. I don't know, I don't love it as much as other Latakia blends. First off understand this.

I've gotten old now. I am not an all-day pipe smoker, because I value my tongue. So I usually try to limit it to two bowls a day. However this can change depending on the circumstances. Therefore I place great value on the time I can find to smoke. I'm not saying I don't want to waste my time on cheap tobacco. I'm just saying it's smart to only smoke the ones that you really enjoy. This one I didn't really enjoy. I guess it's just too much latakia. Or else it could be that hearth and home doesn't use the best Latakia. When it comes to wonderful latakia blends I've always stuck closely to GL peace, and dunhill. Armada is certainly a Latakia blend, but I don't find it as tasty as others. For me latakian doesn't need to be found in huge quantities in order to satisfy. I think it's much more important to surround it with other tobacco's that complement it well. This one will definitely sate your Latakia sweet tooth.

But I really don't think it's the best Latakia blend out there. I found black house (also by hearth and home) to be much better. And I think white knight is a wonderful fresh and tasty English blend. This one needs to be mixed with something.

This is an interesting blend. This is the second blend I have reviewed from Russ O.'s Hearth & Home selections. The Virginia stays in the background. The Latakia is there but it is not that noticeable either. What really comes out is the Oriental/Turkish and the Perique. In fact, it's just a little to much for my taste. That's not to say it's not a fine blend...because it is. For someone who likes Oriental and Perique, it should be your go to blend. Packing was just fine, but there were quite a few relights. But when all said and done it left a grey ash and no dottle left behind. But for me it is just a tad to strong. However, I'm still inclined to rate it a 4. It is put together very nicely. Even though it's on the strong side it's still a fine tobacco.