Hearth & Home Egg Nog

Upon opening my first tin of Hearth and Home Egg Nog, I was greeted by a scent which reminded me so strongly of furniture polish that I was filled with trepidation. Aside from a hint of what might be nutmeg, I could not detect any semblance between the scent of the tobacco and that of actual egg nog.

After some hesitation, I filled a bowl and lit the tobacco. The moisture level in this blend is nearly ideal, and a pinch of the tobacco taken directly from the tin compresses into a springy clump for a short time before gradually flaking apart. Lighting is quick and easy.

As with most aromatic tobaccos, slow and gentle smoking produces the best experience, but with regards to its combustion properties, Egg Nog is a well-behaved blend. I could not make this tobacco smoke wetly even in a Peterson XL315, and taking excessively heavy draughts produced not a single gurgle. Amazingly, this tobacco also burned down to fine, powdery ash that was dry as dust and exceedingly light in color.

Egg Nog is an interesting blend. A sharp and dusky spice is present in the taste of the blend from the charring light onward, with occasional traces of sweetness appearing and quickly dissipating without lingering long enough to become cloying. Frequently, a taste of something not unlike gunpowder muscles its way to the front of the sensory queue and remains there for a time. Perhaps this blend should have been named "Fourth of July".

Egg Nog produces a room note that is very pleasant, and while I was smoking it, I received approving comments and cheerful inquiries from passers-by.

In general, I found this tobacco to be highly enjoyable, but I feel that its present name will cause confusion. Egg Nog is a complex aromatic that tastes exactly the way it smells, but neither its scent or its taste resembles the beverage it is named for.

If you are fortunate enough to live within reach of a good tobacconist who is generous enough to provide a smoking room with a tobacco bar, I would suggest that you sample Egg Nog before buying it in quantity. While I enjoyed it enough to purchase an amount that would last me a few years, the blend bears a name that is sure to give a smoker a false idea of what to expect.

Pipes used for testing: Peterson XL315, Dunhill Shell 0314 Bulldog (1976), Sebastien Beo Paneled Rhodesian, Luciano 222 S* Lovat, Yello-Bole Imperial Lovat

As a general rule, I usually don't buy blends named after foods. It's been my experience that most blenders try too hard to make it smell and maybe even taste like the name, but you end up smoking something that smells like a burning tire. I'm an aromatics fan, but don't care for heavily topped or cased blends, fruit flavors and so on. I prefer good vanilla or light spices. So I almost didn't buy this one. Glad I changed my mind!

Really not sure where the egg nog itself comes in, and I'm not getting a holiday vibe from it. But this is an outstanding blend! The rum and vanilla are evident at the tin, with just a hint of nutmeg. I couldn't detect much cinnamon.

At the match, it is nicely aromatic, evenly cased and the toppings are applied with a fairly light hand giving this blend a very pleasant and friendly aroma and flavor with no bite, and no overpowering sweetness. A good all-day smoke that burns to a clean, fine ash. A real winner! Will definitely keep this in my rotation!

Ok New Review. Smoke it a bit slower because Egg Nog can Snap back at your tongue if not careful. Egg Nog is hard not to puff fast. The Aroma is intense and enjoyable to the smoker and the passer by. It makes you want to smoke more more more. move up to 4 Stars This blend needs to sit for a while to marry. And then before smoking let it stand out of the jar or bag for a day or so. This will tend to make it a richer smoke. Now not to say the moisture level is high because it is not. Blends like Hearth and Home and Boswell and Milan's Blends Need to age.

Hearth & Home - Egg Nog.

A fairly coarse mixture that has about an equal quantity of black to brown. It's too moist, but as mine was supplied bulk I just opened the seal on the pouch enough to let it breathe some. Of the aromatics I find the rum carries the most weight in the pouch-note. Although the blend has a few bigger pieces in it, none of them are twiggy, or un-smokeable.

I get a nice flavour from the nutmeg, a smooth note of vanilla, quite a sharp cinnamon flavour, but only a small amount of alcohol piquancy; the rum gives more molasses, than alcohol. It isn't anywhere near as alcoholic as the pouch-note implied. The smoke's pretty thick in build, and cool on the palate.

Room-note: very nice. And nicotine: mild to medium.

There's more than enough reasons to warrant Egg Nog receiving four stars:

Highly recommended.

This is one of my favorite aromatics, along with Trout Stream also from p&c. The rum and the other spices are expertly blended to deliver a tin aroma that matches the room note and more importantly, just as the tin reads, it comes through in the smoking flavor itself. I prefer to infuse (not spray or lace - just infuse) this blend with a quality rum and then jar it for a few weeks. Then it smells like heaven in the jar and smokes exactly the same.

I've been searching for my perfect blend, and found that I am becoming a big fan of vanilla aromatics. Too many, though, have been either insanely sweet, or singed my tongue for days. I am happy to say that egg nog is neither. Upon opening of the tin, i found the scent to be very pleasant. The first thing I noticed was that it wasn't over powering in a any way. I like the softness of it. A very classic pipe scent. it definitely has a cinnamon, nut megish, creamy note and the smoke is cool and tasty..the room note is also great. I've only smoked one bowl so far, but I can tell that this one is going to soon be a favorite of mine. definitely buying more to stock up on. If you like vanilla, you'll be a fan of this one, no doubt.

update: ive smoked a 1.5 oz. tin in a 3 week span and i just ordered 2 more tins. this stuff is amazing. a great all day/every day smoke. after i finish a bowl, you can smell cinnamon eminating in the room. going to stock up on this one. nice, mild and flavorful. just right.. do yourself a favor and try this one.. A+

I want to be a snob and shun this blend for not being sophisticated enough for my palate, but I like it. Not tolerate it, not almost like it, I like the stuff. I live on a diet of latakia, usually the more the better. Most aromatics for me are polite diversions from my normal fare, used to create a room note that is tolerable for family gatherings. This certainly fits the bill, but I find myself turning to it when I don't have a care about the room note I produce. This stuff is that good. Hail Russ.

An excellent aromatic. Burns to a fine ash and is mild without any bite. The spices do come through in both the aroma and taste. I will probably never drink eggnog again for this blend tastes better than the drink and I will enjoy the rum, nutmeg, vanilla, and cinnamon flavors in a bowl of this tobacco instead.

this one everyone loves. the burn is complete, always. just dump the ashes. as the other reviewers have noted, no goop, no bite. have only smoked 6 bowls so far in a new spanu, but i can see already, this will be a staple tobacco for me. delicious!