Hearth & Home Larry's Blend

I've only been smoking a pipe for a couple of years. About a year ago I bought several samples from pipesandcigars.com. One of those was Larry's Blend because of the good reviews found here. I find it quite pleasant and a nice smoke. It was my first blend with Latakia in it and found it wasn't too strong for my palate. I like the smokiness “campfire” smell and taste. The wife just says “It's ok”, which means she doesn't like it. I now have bought several different Latakia blends that I have stored in my office. The smell of Scotch and tobacco leaves no doubt this is a “Man Cave”.

MMMMMMM. This is a superb blend. I grew interested in latakia after sampling Shortcut to Mushrooms as one of my first pipe tobaccos. I bought Larry's Blend since it was so highly rated here and I was already placing an order at pipesandcigars. I am so glad I got a sample of this tobacco! The Virginia and latakia blend beautifully together and the oriental is an excellent bonus to the flavor. Very complimentary flavors. Extremely enjoyable smoke. Great with a book out in the sun!

Larry's blend is a super tasty English/Balkan I highly recommend it!

Well here goes nothin, I'm a brand new smoker and have only tried four blends so far (the Victory Lap Sampler). I smoked them all in the same pipe so I bought a brand new pipe and tried my first bowl of Larry's Blend in my Larry's Blend dedicated pipe. I don't have much to compare to, but here's what I think so far.

When first lit the smoke was very mild. About halfway through the bowl the smoke gets much more rich and the latakia taste becomes just wonderful, like I'm standing next to a barbeque with ribs on the grill. I should have stopped at half a bowl but decided to smoke it down to the last, that's when things turned south a bit. I'm not sure if it was the tobacco or my brand new pipe with the first bowl of tobacco, but the taste became harsh and rather bitter, perhaps it was the briar wood burning LOL. I stopped at half a bowl everytime on my other pipe and had a very pleasant experience with all of my tobaccos, even Larry's blend, perhaps my bowl just needs some conditioning, and I'll probably stop at half to 2/3 of a bowl and dump the rest from here on out.

I have to say that this is probably an aquired taste, i.e., the smokiness of the latakia. When I first opened the zip lock bag I was afraid to smoke it because the smell was so strong LOL. But the taste isn't nearly as strong as the smell of the tobacco. I do like the fullness of it, much fuller than Trout Stream.

By the way, I'm still tasting what seems like wood about an hour after smoking, I'm almost positive that I burned the wood on my pipe a little which made the end of the bowl a bit nasty. I'm giving four stars and blaming the bad taste at the end on my burnt pipe LOL.

By the way, I ordered two ounces of this, and recieved another small sampler with my second order, both were beautiful ribbon cuts, not swept up crumbs like other reviewers stated below. My tobacco was nice and fluffy, no small bits at all.

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Here's an update, I smoked another bowl and was very gentle at the bottom of the bowl. No burnt pipe taste at all, very nice taste that lasted for hours! Four stars all the way. In fact I just ordered a pound of this delicious weed!

Best full latakia blend I've ever smoked. Not very complex, but extremely satisfying. Love it.

Dear Mr. Loerzel and Mr. Ouellette,

All I can say is thank you, thank you, thank you for what I consider to be a masterpiece of tobacco ingenuity. Excellent blend. Need I say more?

Re-read Pipepundit's review. It says it all! Think I'll move back to the States so I can get at the Hearth and Home blends.