CAO Cherry Bomb

Two words; Cherry & Bomb. The "Cherry" stands for harsh chemical and the "Bomb" stands for Fail.

In the tin this smells great. In the pipe however it's a different story. This blend lights easily and smokes consistently to a fine ash although I wished that it had never lit at all. I tried this blend several times in several pipes both self made and store bought, from block meerschaum to briar to mulberry and all with the same result. Cherry Bomb tasted strongly of a nice vanilla on the char. After only a few puffs the cherry kicked in. It was a horrible cacophony of chemical flavors. It was almost as bad as moontrance mixed with bulk vanilla. Even when smoking cautiously this blend will bite.

There is an upside to this blend. The room note is delicious and draws compliments from smokers and non smokers alike. Also Cherry Bomb blends very nicely with bulk vanilla. 1oz Cherry Bomb to 1lbs vanilla smokes much more nicely, no trace of the chemical cherry taste and it's bite is reduced to naught.

Now I will start explaining why I gave this 4 stars I am not a fan of cherry blends they smoke to hot and usually give me a headache. But this is the best Cherry blend I ever smoked/ But let it sit after opening. I picked it up on sale. The name caught my eye. So I tried it one day while running low oin my other blends. The first time i didnt like it at all. So it sat about three months in the tin. So with the price of tobacco today I didnt toss it. So I gasvr it another try. Not bad at all. If you know how to smoke it nice and easy it is really enjoyable. It has a good Nicotine level and as far as strenght it is a full black canvendish very smokey. I will surley pick up a few more tins. It is a departure from my main blend Old Dog & London MIxture.

I am a big fan of cherry flavored tobaccos. This one is at the top of my list. Now, I will say the cherry in this is more like a cherry jolly rancher than actual real cherry. From the tin the cherry scent hits you (KAPOW), makes me think of cherry slushies and long summer days. The flavor is amazing It's sweet, and juicy with a clean crisp finish. The flavors remains from beginning to end of the bowl. From the tin it was ready to smoke, this one will be in my regular rotation.

Upon the process of us moving, we gave this nice lady Maria a lot of our potted outdoor plants, pavers, etc. She noticed that I was smoking a pipe and said that she would bring in some pipe tobacco to me that her dearly departed Uncle had. I was expecting a few open tins of Captain Black, etc. but was gifted a shopping bag of 12 unopened tins and 1 pouch of various blends. This is one of them. I took it to the club and smoked it in my Chacom Volcano pipe. The tin note was very cherry and this smoked with consistent flavor and without any bite. Cherry blends, seem to get a lot of mixed reviews but I found absolutely nothing wrong with it and did not seem artificial tasting either. Another member of the club smoked some and liked it also and I did not get any complaints regarding the room note. All in all, I found this to be a well-made Cherry blend and will add it to my summer rotation. A nice gift from a nice lady.

When I opened the tin my nostrils were attacked with harsh chemicals that stung my nose. Little did I know this was a warning of what was to come once I lit my first bowl. I’m reminded of cherry flavored Cola, can’t decide if that’s a bad thing. On one hand I’m quite fond of Cherry Cola, on the other hand I’m not sure I enjoy smoking it. The tin says Vanilla Cherry I think that’s why this reminded me of of the aforementioned Cola. The taste is not complex and honestly doesn’t have a lot going on. I’ve been told Cherry smokes too hot and this blend is no different. It’s unfortunate as I’ve said before I’m fond of cherry flavored things but it’s looking like I’m going to have to keep searching for a Cherry Blend that I enjoy.

Well the tin note is nice. Right off the bat I was hopeful. It smelled strong of cherry as the name imparts. Very dark, moisture content was perfect. Charring light was nice, no relight needed. Smoke had a bite if you were not patient. But the flavor.

This is where it lost me. The flavor is bland. Its missing a lot. Even the cherry was not great. It just had......nothing. I was waiting through the bowl, and still nothing showed up. I was pretty disappointed. Will try to age a bit and see what happens.

Cherrybomb is a pipe tobacco I noticed many people were harsh towards in their criticism. In fairness to this tobacco I decided to try it, after all in a world where everybody is a critic it's best to try things for yourself right? Well... this is one instance where the critics were right. Cherrybomb has a weird smell to it, it smells very faintly of a weird cherry and vanilla flavouring that does not smell good or compliment the tobacco. But hey, don't knock it until you try it right? Cherrybomb burns very quickly and has the same weird taste you get from the tin. Honestly I feel like this blend tries too hard to be a nice versatile blend of cherry and vanilla but fails at both. In the end I gave this one away. Try at your own leisure.

Well folks I like this one 4 stars,,,, and why you might ask? Well its a solid well flavored cherry aromatic. The black cavendish is of the best quality too which makes all this possible. CAO knows how to choose a base tobacco for their full cherry topping. There can be vanilla undertones at times which is simply wonderful. This one has also smoked better and better as the tin empties and the remaining tobacco becomes more dry. I have always enjoyed aromatics as well as some English and straight VA blends, and this one will be in my rotation from now on. It may be one of the best aromatics I have ever tried. I am now excited to try the other CAO blends and plan to order a tin of each of them soon.. Cheers All..... !!! 🙂

Cherry Tobacco's take me back to my childhood, my dad smoked Cherry exclusively. I tried his favorites - Middleton and Paladin which only left me wondering why my dad choose these to smoke. I ventured out and started looking for something else. BOOM! I found Cherry Bomb. A room note reminiscent of my childhood in a tobacco that doesn't bite with a mild taste. smoked the bowl to the bottom with 1 relight and no bitter taste at the end.

CAO - Cherry Bomb.

This one perplexed me. With a name like Cherry Bomb I'd expected a one sided smoke of insuppressible cherries. That couldn't be further from the truth.

The ribbons are jet black and the first giveaway that this wasn't to be what the name implied was the aroma. It smells like a simple vanilla cavendish. It's a little damp, but nothing that impaired imminent smoking.

Now, I'm confused as to whether the weight of flavour varies tin to tin. Some reviews say it's strongly flavoured with cherry, yet others not so much. Well, my tin lacks any cherry flavour, but has a straightforward vanilla Cavendish one. So maybe Vanilla Bomb would be a more apt name! I like it but it's not what I asked for. The aromatic smoke I get is pleasant enough, albeit it's like any other sticky vanilla aromatic out there. The burn from it's quite slow, the temperature's cool, and it doesn't bite.

Nicotine: very mild. Room-note: pleasant; pleasant, but there's no cherries!

If this was called Vanilla Bomb I'd rate it well, but for the fact it's nothing like it's billed as being I'll give it two stars:

Somewhat recommended.