Hearth & Home Anniversary Kake

This is the sweet dessert of VaPers. It is mild in strength which makes for an enjoyable change of pace. There is an abundance of flavor while keeping a clean short finish. Chocolate is a major component here along with several spices including cinnamon and nutmeg which may come from a dark rum. The Perique here is primarily fruity with fig and plum. It is spicy but not quite peppery until the end of the bowl. The Virginias are smooth, grassy, and sweet. I've never found a chemical note with this blend and I've never experienced tongue bite here either. I view this as a lightly topped VaPer and of its class it deserves 4 stars.

This Vaper is arguably Russ Ouellette's finest masterpiece. It's no surprise that his name comes up more and more often as one of America's best blenders. This tobacco comes with a wonderful tin aroma of figs, raisins and plums. It is moist and needs a bit of drying time. Being a vaper, it should be puffed with care as to avoid tongue bite. The flavor is on the sweet and tangy side of things. I enjoy this most in a Nording Bamboo. I have been told that the demand for this fine weed sometimes is so great that it leaves the warehouse very shortly after its made. I have cellared a good amount and watching AK's color deepen over the past several months is making it tough to wait things out! Highly recommended!

Holy smokes this is a good one. In my opinion this one lives up to the hype, if it didnt I would say so. It was what I was hoping it was and a bit more. For the VaPer lover it should greatly please. The Virginias were really sweet, and probably the sweetest I've experienced to date and were up front and dominated the first half of bowl. That is something I was looking for as my other vapers are not so sweet and this gives this blend a distinct difference from other vapers. The perique kicked in towards the middle to end and got my nose running with the right amount of spice. I greatly appreciate the easy packing texture of this cake. It also allowed for an easy burn and good smoke. Im giving it 4 stars and I highly recommend this blend. I will buy more in bulk next time. Impressed.

First blend of Mr. O I've tried-smell is figgish but with an overtone of cheap liquor. Dark tobacco, no kake to crumble, lights fair despite appearing correct in moisture contact. Taste is flat....only sense any flavor toward back of throat, but it's but bland, possibly poor quality tobacco? I don't know, all I do know is the entire tin is on its way to our local landfill, where it joins Irish Whiskey and Sutliffe's Westminster as being the only baccys achieving the title of crappy enough for the trash can... Not at all recommendable, sorry 🙁

The tobacco is wet, breaks too easily for a Krumble kake. and the chemical has something vaguely chemical.

I let it dried for a long period but it still felt too wet under my finger.

It smoked hot and was not pleasant.

Have been smoking a pipe since around '73 of the last century and have tried numerous blends. Having gone through the usual route from highly aromatic to finally settle on English and Virginia-Perique blends as many have. For the last few years I have been ordering from Pipes and Cigars.com with very satisfactory results. Presently have many of their blends and one of the most pleaaant ones is Russ' Anniversary Kake. At first put off by the smell(aromatic-like but uncased, I'm told) of the tobacco sample I declined ordering any but on a whim I re-ordered a small amount and was most pleaaantly surprised. My tastes seem to have changed somewhat and I was much impressed with this tobacco. I dried it out a little(What does DGT stand of anyway?) and it was even better. I ordered a pound of it.

Very satisfied with the resulting dried our mixture and have enjoyed it since. Russ is ,of course a master blender and a bona fide gentleman with a lot of patience and product knowledge. Correspondence with him is both rewarding and educational as it is with all of the gentlemen at Pipes and Cigars.com.

In short: relly fine Virginia-Perique mixture, a fine morning or anytime smoke and a damn fine price. Great job,Guys - Especialy Russ' blending expertise.

Based on the raving reviews I bought two ounces of this blend a few years ago. To my surprise, this blend was awful. Burned hot, no flavor, too moist, and burned my tongue like hell.. I couldn't smoke it. I left it in a jar for a while and then decided to just put it in my daily tobacco pouch and suffer through the rest of it. When someone advices you to dry your tobacco, you better do it. As it was drying in my pouch, my very last couple of bowls of this tobacco were amazing. I couldn't believe how stupid I was to miss it. Moist tobacco makes you relight and puff harder, making the tobacco hot and flavorless.

Sometime later I decided to buy two more ounces just to check it again. I left it to dry overnight and then some, regularly checking the moisture. Once it reached the best moisture I put it in a jar. This review is a bit less than a year of aging in that jar.

I absolutely love those Hearth & Home / Sutliff Red Virginias. They taste like mature wine, dark fruits, lemon, and a bit of cinnamon. This are also the notes I get in the jar.

The Perique provides both mushroom, as well as black pepper notes at the back of the mouth and through the retro-hale.

Once you rub it out and find your sweet spot in terms of moisture, this tobacco is easy to pack and smoke. It's recommended to sip in order to get the most flavor and keep it a cool smoke, but even with a bit of puffing it doesn't get hot. Flavor remains similar throughout the bowl. The balance between the Virginias and Perique gives it real depth and is perfect for me, makes it very comfortable for an all-day smoke. Not overly complex, but has enough there to enjoy every sip.

Medium body, mild-medium strength. One downside to the Sutliff Virginias, in my opinion, is the room note, which is very musty. I recommend smoking Anniversary Kake in a medium-size tall bowl. Otherwise it's harder to capture much of the flavor.

I will no longer be buying two ounce bags of this blend. It's going by the pound from here on.

I purchased an 8oz can of this in 2012 based on raving reviews, what a mistake. The tobacco was in rubbed out form not in cake form. After smoking half a bowl my tongue was on fire, I had a burning sensation all over my mouth. I dumped out my pipe and jarred the whole 8oz can, hoping it would mellow down after a few years of aging. Now 7 years later I opened the jar and tried it again, the age has made no difference, it is still unsmokable.

I bough this in bulk, and it arrived very moist, loose and clumpy. It smells delicious in the jar, with a wine-like, fermented aroma, and smokes surprisingly light and fairly sweet -- so much so, that it can't stand up to a smoky dram paired with it. After the midway point, I've typically had enough.

The biggest drawback to me is . . . Where's the nicotine?

To me, this smokes like a typical light, bulk C&D blend, which is not a bad thing, but I was expecting something more given all the laudatory reviews.