Hearth & Home Anniversary Kake

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.

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.

What a complete disappointment. I was very excited to try this blend. This velvety, wonderfully fragrant cake showed a lot of promise in the bag. It reminds me of Prince Albert or Carter Hall. In the pipe, it falls way short. It may pack well, but it smokes hot and the flavor is synthetic, and somewhat chemical. Tastes like burning tires smell. Reminiscent of spilled diesel. I tried it in several pipes: a Ben Wade Danish, an Ehrlich prince, a John Bessai poker, a Peterson System 315, and a cob churchwarden. The only pipe that it was remotely tolerable was the Savinelli Trevi 626 using a balsa filter. Even with the Sav, the finish was sour. And it bites, even gently sipped. Leaves the pipe in a hot gloopy mess. I expected more from Mr. O. And the Burley Kake isn't all that great either.

I had high hopes for this, but after two ounces of very persistent and stubborn attempts to make this work, and I wish it weren't the case, but I have a lot of bad things to say. Tried drying it or not, packing it loose, tight, etc. It always smokes hot, it always smokes wet, and these two features would be tolerable if the blend was amazing tasting even once per 8 puffs, but no, it's also extremely flat. It has a very cheap cigarettey character to it, it has a very cheap chocolate/liqour flavoring which is what I suspect the "chemical taste" the negative reviews describe is, very unfortunate. The cut of this stuff is all over the place-- very long ribbons of VA, huge uncut chunks of bright va(you can find an unfold these and they are huge!), chopped up red VA, and flecks of perique. I cannot imagine such a non-uniform cut makes for a good smoke, I have no clue what the blender was thinking.

It gets worse. This stuff is absolutely *soaked* in PG/humectant, it just doesn't dry. I don't know if this is just a bad batch, or if quality went down, or what, but this is one of the worst tobaccos I've tried.

The only decent thing to say is it smells okay, but some of that artificial chocolate chemical topping comes through in the dry leaf-- I'd rather smell Escudo which smells naturally raisiny/figgy.

I love the Krumble kake cut, but my initial try with this blend I fought some bite all the way. I cellared the remainder for about 6months and tried again after letting the tobacco dry for about an hour. The smell in the jar has a distinct whiskey or rum topping. The retry was OK, but not something I would get excited about. The tobacco still smoked hot for the first 1/3 of the bowl, even at a sip. It seemed to smooth out after that, and gave a nice sweet flavor with a hint of whiskey, I don't get the chocolate, or Perique fig . It failed the wife test , but then again, they all do. I think this needs to go back in the cellar for about a year. I can't see why I would buy this again with all the better Virginias/Vapers available. I'm surprized by all the 4 star reviews below, what am I doing wrong?

Updated 12/26/13- NOPE ! Just don't feel this is for me . Even after two years of cellar time ,this is still hot and spicy. Less sweet and more sour, dries and puckers the mouth. Flavor reminds me of "Prince Albert". I know , different tobaccos, but still a similar experience, almost tastes like a drug store burley.

I wanted to like this one I really did.I like both english and aros and after reading all the good reviews I ordered this one right away.I was expecting a nice sweet smoke .It was like smoking air.There was nothing there nothing at all.No tobacco taste no sweet taste nothing at all.Il;l finshing the pouch but wont reorder.

There is too much chocolate/cocoa syrup casing in there, the Virginia has absolutely no flavor and the perique is completely imbalanced, the second half bowl is unsmokable because is the perique overdose.

This is an Aromatic with Virginia, Perique and CHOCOLATE, the Virginia is there but without any true flavor or personality. The taste is sweet, chocolaty, creamy and extremely spicy.

There is so many high grade, true Va/per with true Virginia flavor, to try before this one, Flake Medallions, Escudo, Solani 633 etc.

As long as I can buy the above mentioned Va/Per blends, I really don?t see why I should smoke this "Anniversary Kake".

For me, this is typically a nonsense blend, in fact, this is not really a VAPER, and not really an aromatic; this is just an experimental "Kitchen made" house blend surrounded with an unbelievable hype.