Hearth & Home Classic Burley Kake

I don't know why, but I've had an especially hard time warming up to the Burley-based tobaccos from P&C. I gather it must be because of their choice of Burley, which strikes me as an especially obtrusive and woody tasting leaf. That's unfortunate, because I think that some of these tobaccos have potential. I genuinely disliked the LJ Heart Burley, haven't much enjoyed Beverwyck, and I haven't been much impressed with the Classic Burley Kake either.

CBK arrives as an abused looking reddish to dark brown pressed block with lots of broken chunks floating about the bag. Though I understand that this tobacco is designed partly as an homage to the OTC tradition, I find this much more heavily flavored than most of the familiar OTCs. Bag notes are strong and a combination of chocolate, licorice, and sawdust. Rubbing out is easy, though it does tend to stick to the fingers. For me, at any rate, the flavorings used here are just too strong and too overdone. The smoke itself is dry and pleasant, but the aggressive flavoring made the first dozen bowls a chore to get through. And the chocolate and licorice flavors tended to be overmatched by that sawdusty Burley.

I do, however, find this to be an admirable blender. I'm a big fan of lightly flavored Burley and I find a small quantity of CBK (about 10%) can add interest to more neutral Burleys like MacBaren's Symphony, Peter Stokkebye's Cube Cut, even Carter Hall and Five Brothers.

As for rumors of its relationship to anything Edgeworth…nada, niente, nil. And given that some reviewers have described as "tasteless" a blend I find overwhelmingly aromatic...well, I wonder about product consistency. It'll take me a good 5 years to go through the pound I foolishly ordered.