Hearth & Home Marble Kake

Recently, pipesandcigars.com tobaccos have been getting lots of ?press? on the ASP Forum and Newsgroup. Mostly people have been talking about Russ Ouellette's efforts. A friend sent me a sampling of several of the blends I'm most curious about and Marble Cake was among them.

Appearance: A nice selection of Red Virginia, and Bright Virginia in a dense crumble cake. Very nice mottling of colors from yellows and tans to red and browns.

Aroma: This mixture has a deep sweet aroma very enticing. Immediately one smells a deep hay-like quality, freshly mown hay, slowly drying in the summer sun. Deep, sharp and earthy. Carmel tones and nuts are evident, there is a slight sweet 'n sour tone and a smattering of mustiness.

This tobacco is nearly perfect in moisture breaking several pieces of the cake off I crumble thenI employed the ?once like a baby, once like a lady, finally like a gentleman? method of layered packing.

For this review I've chosen an Armellini Freehand dedicated to Virginia mixtures.

Lighting is very easy, and with a friendly ?lighting tamp? I was well on my way each time. As expected, the initial flavor very spicy, hay-like tones and smells and flavors of Autumn are abundant. Combustion is very self maintaining as promised, this very nearly smokes itself every time.

Mid Bowl: Approaching mid-bowl, the fullness tends to build in strength slowly along predictable lines. The Red Virginia begins to develop more of the deep fruity sweetness adding to the grassy qualities of the Bright. Unfortunately, this blend seems to get rather steamy and hot for me each time.

Home Stretch: As end of the bowl approaches, the expected complexity is just not there for me. This blend continues to be steamy and hot, tending toward tongue bite rather easily. The final third has matured nicely but the lack of complexity and steam just become a defining issue each time I've smoked it. I have plenty of fine well behaved Virginia mixtures in my cellar already and this one sadly won't make the cut.

Supplemental Notes: Marble Cake is probably a decent quality mixture, just not one I will be purchasing. Rating for those interested in numbers ** stars

Well I've never smoked Hamborger Veermaster but I have smoked C&D's Briar Fox and this blend has similarities. To me, Briar Fox, is an airy, fairly smooth stoved Virginia. Marble Kake is not, that is, not smooth and maybe should have been stoved. It has the ability to remove all feeling in my tongue ( I am a puffer). It is naturally sweet, low in "N" and not a heavy smoke but rather a non complex blend. I will cellar this and see if it mellows but I don't think this is one I need to buy again.

I just read some of the other reviews and was surprised to see others finding it similar to Briar Fox, and here I thought I was so informative!

i was not nearly as impressed with this as i'd hoped. that said, it's a lovely, straightforward and remarkably friendly smoke. a good introduction to the pleasures of Virginia for those tiring of syrup. without the tempermental behaviors of many Va's. i find i favor the richer flavors of red and stoved Va's. i may return to this occasionally for it's simplicity alone. mown hay and spring breezes come to mind. but for me, old red, and anniversary kake rule the roost.

I find this tobacco with a wonderful flavor. I would smoke a great deal more of it save for the fact that it burns much too hot for me.

In addition, the effort required to cut the cakes of tobacco just isn't worth the time and energy.

Purchased a 1 lb bag because of the price and reviews but was disappointed. Came in very dry cake slabs that did not break up easily even with a hammer! They should rename this Granite Kake. Tobacco nuggets were hard to light, keep lit and taste was average at best and bitter at times while burning fairly hot...oh well, back to my favorite Va...Veermaster.

Peterson bent brandy

This blend is in the form of ~ 4"x1/2"x1/2" slabs that were compressed so hard, that I found it difficult to break or strip. It was also on the dry side so the prep work to load a bowl was not worth the effort. How can they call it a crumble cake when you have to cut it? Uneven loading/packing resulted in hot spots or multiple relights but this could have been from my technique. Although the taste was enjoyable on those occasions where I obtained an even burn, the strength was less than my normal choices that usually include Perique.