Hearth & Home Anniversary Kake
(3.31)
Created in celebration of the 1st anniversary of the Hearth and Home line of tobaccos. This is a special blend of Virginias ranging from lemon through brown, combined with a liberal dash of St. James perique, presenting an exquisite aroma and naturally sweet flavor.
Details
| Brand | Hearth & Home |
| Series | Signature Series |
| Blended By | Russ Ouellette |
| Manufactured By | Sutliff Tobacco Company |
| Blend Type | Virginia/Perique |
| Contents | Perique, Virginia |
| Flavoring | Rum |
| Cut | Krumble Kake |
| Packaging | bulk, 1.75 ounce tin |
| Country | United States |
| Production | Currently available |
Profile
Strength
Mild to Medium
Extremely Mild -> Overwhelming
Flavoring
None Detected
None Detected -> Extra Strong
Room Note
Pleasant
Unnoticeable -> Overwhelming
Taste
Medium
Extremely Mild (Flat) -> Overwhelming
Average Rating
|
3.31 / 4
|
Reviews
Please login to post a review.
Displaying 51 - 60 of 162 Reviews
| Reviewed By | Date | Rating | Strength | Flavoring | Taste | Room Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 16, 2015 | Medium | Extremely Mild | Medium | Tolerable |
The tin note is kind of like dried cranberries or figs mixed with a slight banana nut bread essence. The taste is grassy, sweet, citrusy, raisiny, figgy and tart. There is an occasional floral aroma in the nose. Also present are notes of paprika and ginger. So far I haven't really gotten much rum or cocoa from it. I really love this blend but it was my first Va/Per and it really does make me realize how much I love blends like Plum Pudding which have Virginia and Perique AND Latakia. It is a blend which isn't incredible complex, but did have those more floral moments It was nice to experience just the Virginias and Perique without the latakia but I do like Latakia. You really have to like the taste of Virginia tobacco because it's very prevalent in this. It was moist out of the bag but it still smoked really nice and consistently. I enjoyed it, but the first time I felt the sweet and sour Virginia grassiness was kind of jarring. Since then I have begun to like it more. It's not as overwhelming like it was the first time. I have noticed that this particular blend will definitely ghost your pipe, so keep that in mind. It had a moment at the end of the last bowl where I got a note of something I would almost describe as cologne-like. Sometimes a smell at the end creeps in that is very similar to taking a tuft of fresh pine needles, twisting apart and inhaling deeply. Piney and with a bit of orange. It also has something else towards the end in the nose that you can experience occasionally. It's similar to a brand of incense made in an ashram in India called "Triloka Ayurvedic Meditation (Air)" incense, which is made from sandalwood, and various exotic gums, herbs, woods and resins. It's by far the most exotic incense I've come across in my life and I've explored a lot of different ones. There is a note that you sometimes get which is something like that. I don't know what else to compare it to really. It's very subtle but ethereal and exotic. Something like the elemental essence of air and water. It's hard to explain. It doesn't happen through the entire bowl and you really have to pay attention closely. This blend is good practice for honing the palette to perceive subtle variations that occur over the course of the smoke.
Pipe Used:
Tom Briar, MM Corn Cob
PurchasedFrom:
pipesandcigars.com
Age When Smoked:
Fresh
| Reviewed By | Date | Rating | Strength | Flavoring | Taste | Room Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Feb 04, 2015 | Medium | Mild | Medium | Pleasant |
Received a sample of this, a little aged and drier than from the tin I assume. It was a good long smoke, Had great flavor and a hint of spice. I am new, and for a VaPer I have Comoy's Cask 7 to compare it to. I do enjoy the Comoy's a bit more right now-but time will tell. Overall a great smoke, and it seems to have a good following. Probably not in my regular rotation, but I would not turn it down either.
| Reviewed By | Date | Rating | Strength | Flavoring | Taste | Room Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
| Apr 24, 2014 | Mild | Mild | Mild to Medium | Pleasant to Tolerable |
Wow is this good! Sweet and creamy, with a citrus tang from the Virginia's and a great tingle on the tongue from the Perique. My tin arrived ready to smoke but some have said it may need some drying time. Russ knows his tobaccos! Gonna have to give more of his blends a try.
PurchasedFrom:
PipesAndCigars.com
| Reviewed By | Date | Rating | Strength | Flavoring | Taste | Room Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 05, 2014 | Mild to Medium | None Detected | Medium | Pleasant |
Hearth & Home - Anniversary Kake (Signature Series)
After seeing so many positive reviews, I bought a small evaluation sample from PipesandCigars, which came ready rubbed rather than in the cake form I was expecting. The tobacco did not disappoint.
First, the visual and tactile: I found the color and feel of the ready rubbed version to be reminiscent of a freshly crumbled bran muffin ... essentially a pile of soft, mildly sweet smelling semi-moist short broken ribbons of a nearly uniform med-dark brown color (with a few darker flecks present). As someone else mentioned, there seems to be a small amount of humecant present, giving the tobacco a soft and slightly spongy feel.
The tobacco packed and lit easily, and midway though the first third of the pipe, the flavors slowly began to steady and come into focus as the remainder kilned off its moisture. Given my experience with VaPrs to date, and the hefty dose of perique mentioned in the description, I was expecting a somewhat austere and mildly sweet smoke with a long peppery finish, and I was surprised instead by a mellow, buttery, and semi-sweet flavor that (for me) prominently evoked *Scottish Shortbread*, accompanied by subtle hints of bran muffin and fig. I’ve never experienced a butter-cookie note in a non-aromatic VaPr before, and yet there it was, and it carried all the way though the middle third as well. As I reached the bottom third, the smooth gentle salty/pepperiness of the perique finally emerged from behind the short bread, and lingered pleasantly long after the pipe was done.
This is a very pleasing smoke, and an entertaining left-of-center choice for VaPr fans looking for something a little different. Recommended. I give it a solid three stars (of 4). I'd like to give it 3 1/2, but the rating system here doesn't allow halfsies.
After seeing so many positive reviews, I bought a small evaluation sample from PipesandCigars, which came ready rubbed rather than in the cake form I was expecting. The tobacco did not disappoint.
First, the visual and tactile: I found the color and feel of the ready rubbed version to be reminiscent of a freshly crumbled bran muffin ... essentially a pile of soft, mildly sweet smelling semi-moist short broken ribbons of a nearly uniform med-dark brown color (with a few darker flecks present). As someone else mentioned, there seems to be a small amount of humecant present, giving the tobacco a soft and slightly spongy feel.
The tobacco packed and lit easily, and midway though the first third of the pipe, the flavors slowly began to steady and come into focus as the remainder kilned off its moisture. Given my experience with VaPrs to date, and the hefty dose of perique mentioned in the description, I was expecting a somewhat austere and mildly sweet smoke with a long peppery finish, and I was surprised instead by a mellow, buttery, and semi-sweet flavor that (for me) prominently evoked *Scottish Shortbread*, accompanied by subtle hints of bran muffin and fig. I’ve never experienced a butter-cookie note in a non-aromatic VaPr before, and yet there it was, and it carried all the way though the middle third as well. As I reached the bottom third, the smooth gentle salty/pepperiness of the perique finally emerged from behind the short bread, and lingered pleasantly long after the pipe was done.
This is a very pleasing smoke, and an entertaining left-of-center choice for VaPr fans looking for something a little different. Recommended. I give it a solid three stars (of 4). I'd like to give it 3 1/2, but the rating system here doesn't allow halfsies.
Pipe Used:
Grabow Freehand (Group 4) & Royalton (Group 3)
PurchasedFrom:
PipesandCigars.com
Age When Smoked:
Unknown
| Reviewed By | Date | Rating | Strength | Flavoring | Taste | Room Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
| Mar 07, 2014 | Medium | None Detected | Medium | Very Pleasant |
Not being completely new to Va/Per's I found A/K to be somewhat of a disappointment. The tin note is extremely sweet and has a strong nose resemblence to Prince Albert in my opinion. The brown and tan pieces of crumble cake are very light and airy and one would need to use a magnifying glass to see any of the black perique within the mix. It's claimed to contain 15% Perique like Escudo but when smoking one would be hard pressed to sense any Perique at all. I suspect that the extreme sweetness of the virginias somewhat mask the perique. This loads and lights nicely with the tin moisture level being just right. There are many Va/Per's that are far better than A/K IMO and comes no where near the level of Escudo and others. The smoking experience is somewhat like smoking warm air. This is so light in strength and taste that I found it to be quite boring. This is just my opnion though. I tend to lean toward blends with a little more kick. Since this is all subjective, you may find it to be quite good.
I'm humbly revising my earlier review of this blend after revisiting Annie Kake for another try. I don't know what to attribute my change of heart to, but I decided to give Annie Kake another opportunity to impress me and for some reason it did just that. I found the experience to be much different than my first encounter with this blend. It just goes to show that one should never judge a blend without giving it an honest attempt. The lack of a presence of Perique was still the case but somehow it was not missed. I did notice a nice sweet taste on the back of my toungue and the snork aroma was heavenly.
I'm humbly revising my earlier review of this blend after revisiting Annie Kake for another try. I don't know what to attribute my change of heart to, but I decided to give Annie Kake another opportunity to impress me and for some reason it did just that. I found the experience to be much different than my first encounter with this blend. It just goes to show that one should never judge a blend without giving it an honest attempt. The lack of a presence of Perique was still the case but somehow it was not missed. I did notice a nice sweet taste on the back of my toungue and the snork aroma was heavenly.
Pipe Used:
Briar
Age When Smoked:
New
| Reviewed By | Date | Rating | Strength | Flavoring | Taste | Room Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
| Jan 11, 2014 | Mild to Medium | Mild | Mild to Medium | Pleasant to Tolerable |
Best to smoke this tobacco in a small cob to get the flavor, body and improve burning characteristics. Virginias blend well, and together with the somewhat sweetish-mellow perique and chocolate undertones (and sweet, tinny highlights), finds the introductory pulls on this VAPER scoring high for this smoker. Really a fantastic first impression. After the first 2/3 of your bowl, things go a bit downhill. Last 1/3 of bowl can be bitter and just really full of wet unburned tobacco. Not sure why this blend of Russ’s stays so wet. Anyway, give it some time to dry, smoke it slow, take in the thick smoke and mild nicotine, and keep it in a small cob for best results. Small cob does not require much drying time at all, but if you plan on smoking in a medium to large briar, plan on lengthy drying sessions before you put it to the flame. Rating is as smoked in small cob.
Pipe Used:
small MM corn cob
PurchasedFrom:
pipesandcigars
Age When Smoked:
1 year
| Reviewed By | Date | Rating | Strength | Flavoring | Taste | Room Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 27, 2012 | Medium | Medium | Medium | Pleasant to Tolerable |
Anniversary Kake. A very nice toasted sweetness leads into a plummy, spicy, perique. The Virginia is dark, hay, toasted and wonderful. Virginias aren't the lead though and leave lots of room for the Perique. It's a load of good luck this is available as a bulk blend. Very well balanced. Great morning smoke with that toasted dark fruity note. A real Joy to smoke.
Pipe Used:
Bjarne
PurchasedFrom:
Smoking pipes.com
Age When Smoked:
New
| Reviewed By | Date | Rating | Strength | Flavoring | Taste | Room Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
| Sep 11, 2012 | Medium | None Detected | Medium to Full | Tolerable |
Tin aroma is rich with fruit/fig notes, upon the first few openings it almost has a liquor casing scent, but after several weeks, that has cleared up. The taste carries on as the aroma, rich, with the fig taste persent. This is a different kind of vaper, one i've never experienced before. The burn is good, it's tangy which can lead to a little bite if smoked too fast.
I have added it to my rotation, it is not an all day blend for me, but I usually find myself smoking a bowl in the evenings when I have time to take it slow. When you factor in the price, it's a great deal, and well worth keeping a tin of around.
I have added it to my rotation, it is not an all day blend for me, but I usually find myself smoking a bowl in the evenings when I have time to take it slow. When you factor in the price, it's a great deal, and well worth keeping a tin of around.
| Reviewed By | Date | Rating | Strength | Flavoring | Taste | Room Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
| Sep 08, 2012 | Mild | Mild | Mild to Medium | Pleasant |
Hard to beat! I have been cellaring this for two years, after a small taste when I received it of course. It was great then and now it is awesome. Nice hint of chocolate and nice aftertaste. Room note is not offensive at all I've been told. Recommend with a heavy red or port/muscat. cheers
| Reviewed By | Date | Rating | Strength | Flavoring | Taste | Room Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 19, 2012 | Mild to Medium | Extremely Mild | Medium | Pleasant |
This is my favorite VA/PER blend. Russ really did an excellent job with this one. The best part about this blend is how well it ages. If you add a couple years of age the smoke just really sings. I can't give this one high enough praise. It's naturally sweet and a little tiny bit spicy from the perique. The longer this one ages, the better it gets. Smoother, more refined and more amazing every year. Thanks Russ!
target="_blank"
