Hearth & Home Armada

Mr. Ouellette was present at the 2006 CORPS pipe show in Richmond, VA, hawking his blends. Because of his ready expertise and affable manner, I ordered a pouch of this, and subsequently, a pound. I'll order more.

First pouch experience: I was pleased with the aroma, finding it to be McClelland-like, oddly enough. I had a bit of trouble getting the initial light to take, but it settled out immediately and burned well to the bowl's bottom, with only minimal coaxing and "futzing." Some stems needed culling, but roughly equivalent to the same pick-through I have to give a baggie of 965, which I also buy in bulk. Note -- for some reason, they sent my pound of tobac in eight two ounce baggies. I'd have preferred this in a large bag, subject to my own division. I think it stays moister that way.

Truth told, I have no idea what the room note is. I've smoked Dunhill (965) and several McClelland virginias for so long, I can't smell much of anything anymore. But my wife didn't complain -- however, she has a wonderful tolerance for English blends, for which I am profoundly grateful, and due to which I'm in little danger of falling into overt atheism or developing anti-social tendencies such as voting for democrats.

I think this is perhaps a young blend, and intend to age some to see what mellowness might be coaxed out through a bit of maturation. There is a slight harshness to this blend that is, I believe, indicative of its need for some quiet time.

I've found that it doesn't do as well in smaller bowls, although my puffing habits may aggravate that, or even be responsible entirely. In large-ish bowls I consider it a delight, and intend to make this part of my regular rotation.

Very smooth, tasty, very reminiscent of The Balkan Sobranie Smoking Mixture. Yum! Very pleasant! Mmmmmmm! Quite delicious! I must get some more of this excellent stuff!!!

Russ hit a home run with this English blend. It's kind of like Dunhill's My Mixture 965, which I consider the gold standard in English tobacco, to which he added just the right amount of peppery perique, subtle, not overwhelming. An excellent, full-bodied blend. It gets a 4 from me.

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

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.

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.