Hearth & Home Virginia Spice

I opened a tin from 2006. First this tin is not ribbons. Far from it. Many, many years ago on a trip to Germany I ended up in Munich and visited two of what i would call the best tobacco blenders ever. I purchased several tins from each and continued to travel. Once home and smoking these several blends, several which included syrian, I learned several things. First, back then, they were some of the best. Yes dunhill was up there. But back to this blend. It is something different. First, there are no crystal sugar stars. Next, it is , at least in this 2006 blend, not ribbons. What I learned from the Munich tobacco was the term-torn leaves or torn tobacco. This 2006 blend is beautiful torn leaves. Perfume. Wonderful smoke. Great taste. Really can’t describe it. I don’t know what the current version is like. But let’s just say “I met her one night and I will always remember that night”. There will be others but not that night.” So. This is not syrian, not current production, etc. but my tins are not ribbons. Far from it. And if you haven’t had a torn tobacco I think you have missed something.👍👍👍 As to cigar. I think it is not here

in this 2006 there is no cigar. Not that I can discern and I am a pretty good discerner. I love some of the cigar blends, specialty the warped. In those you can in some certainly smell, taste the cigar. I can’t distinguish any cigar at all in this 2006 blend.

What an odd smoke, but a very good one.

Who would have thought to put cigar leaf in with a VA blend???

It really works though. It is really spicy, but whereas some of these blends tend to taste like hay and burn hot if you aren't very patient and they haven't been aged well, this one has a forcefield around the heat due to the cigar, and its not a heavy cigar either, so its very clever in that you full hard and get the absolute best from the spicy and tangy VA's, but then the cigar adds that creamy richness and it combines into a very nice smoke.

The smoke it easy, dripping with flavor, aroma-rich, and inviting.

It warms up and develops as it goes, my only drawback is its a little mono, and I expected more to keep happening as the bowl went on, but it didn't change much.

If you want to take this into the stratosphere, soak a wood stave in Johnnie Walker 10 year for week and fasten it into a mason jar with the Virginia Spice. The result will blow your mind.

Alone, sometimes I get a little too much cigar, but the Virginia-Perique taste is very nice. This one may change every time you load a bowl, as it's a very heavily mixed tobacco, seemingly with different types just sort of tossed together. That's okay of course, that's how you blend tobaccos, but I prefer one that's been pressed or flaked, as the different tobaccos have a chance to mix better, to sort of flavor each other. The way this is, sometimes it tastes like a cigar, sometimes like a chocolate cherry, sometimes like grass. One word of caution, I was smoking this stuff one day and it made me a bit woozy, so something in there is strong, but I'm not sure what. It's good but not that good for the price, which I think should be a little lower for what you get, not that it's bad at all.

Creamy, mellow, slightly sweet base smoke performs the bed for a nice addition of Perique lending a healthy note of spice as well as dark, plummy fruit aroma like berries hidden in dark chocolate. Not heavy handed in any component. Well balanced. Very enjoyable for a VaPer smoker. Whatever is added by the cigar leaf, which I can’t pick out specifically, must be part of that mellow creamy base that provides the foundation this blend is built upon. 3.25 stars.