CAO Cherry Bomb

Smoking Cherry Bomb was one of the worst pipesmoking experiences I've had. Lots of chemicals, was like smoking a urinal cake.

After a couple bowls, threw the rest out.

If you're looking for a cherry blend, try Boswell's Pennsylvania Dutch Treat.

Not recommended.

If you were a beginner and had not smoked a variety of tobaccos, you might pick this up and think that you had found something fantastic. It has a wonderful, rich tin aroma, and the room note is very nice. It looks pretty, and is not as funky (as in the existence of a chemical smell, and goopy use of humectants) as some other black cavendish blends. I find the vanilla is more noticeable in the tin aroma than the the taste or room note.

Where it falls apart is the smoking qualities, and this is where I think people are (or should) keep looking. It requires a lot of drying out, and this by itself is not a big deal. Even when pretty dry, however, this is still difficult to get going and keep burning without a lot of puffing, which of course heats things up. While the room note is rich and pleasant, the taste is pretty mild, and the cherry is nowhere near as noticeable on the tongue. It will bite with strong puffing, and sipping just does not keep this one going. This, and the need for regular fiddling and relights detracts from a relaxing and pleasant experience. If you are looking for a cherry aromatic, the Boswell cherry flavored mixtures offer much better smoking characteristics and richer, more well rounded flavors. If you really want to take the training wheels off and smoke a good berry aromatic that also tastes and smokes like a "man's" blend, then try Sillem's Red, a wonderful broken flake aromatic.

This is a good cherry blend . For all the ragging people do about hot cherry blends or chemical etc.. It's black , it dosent bite , it's not hot and burns fine for me . The cherryflavor isnt a natural cherry flavor and it isnt the flavor of those red cherries that are icecream toppings ... somewhere in between . I think they were smart . If youre only gonna make one cherry blend as a manufacturer ... they met in the middle .If yer looking for a super sweet " fake" cherry flavor then theres a ton out there .I've found this blend to be fantastic for blending . The flavor of the CAO cherry is up front and the room note is .. cherry . Btw , this is in no way a vanilla blend with a touch of cherry ... just sayin

This tobacco reminded me of a typical american youth. Basically a good kid but behavior is a problem.

The biggest drawback for me was the poor burning qualities. The cherry flavor was nice and the aroma in the room was excellent but the tendency of the tobacco to go out and the difficulty in getting a good pack with this one turned me off.

Will I put it away and never smoke it again? No. I'll definitely be trying this one again. Is it likely to be a tobacco I buy regularly? Also no. I enjoy the better burning qualities of other cherry aromatics I have tried over this one.

2 stars.

Not my cuppa. So wet in the tin that it’s shiny. I let a few bowls dry overnight and then packed up. Lights superbly. Huge clouds of thick blue and white smoke. Exploding room note. So much vanilla and cherry going on that it’s hard to get to the actual tobacco underneath. It was almost hard to smoke slowly because it burned to readily. Even after a day in the open air it started gurgling on its own. I could see very easily how some folks would just love Cherry Bomb but it’s quite a bit more aromatic than I prefer, without enough flavor from what must be very nice Virginia and cavendish tobaccos at the heart. I may try blending it. Not a total loss but phew! That name isn’t lying. If you like cherries and vanilla then this one’s for you.

Recently I launched a search for a current production cherry blend that I could live with, and, I found one - Blood Red Moon. Unfortunately, I still had one blend to test from my stash and that was Cherry Bomb by STG. I should have ended my search with Blood Red Moon. Although made and distributed by the same entity, these two blends are miles apart in quality. The tin opening revealed a dark blend that looked like it ought to be damp and sticky. Instead, my tin was rather dry compared to most aromatics that I have opened lately and ready to smoke. I didn't need a distant sniff test, as the aroma of this blend was already demanding my attention. Acidic and irritating, the tin aroma was like sniffing an artificial cherry odor in an acidic solution. This infusion was so strong that I had no desire to light it and set a sample out to air. It took about two hours of airing out to get to light up. The potent cherry odor persisted in the smoke to about the halfway point of the bowl and then faded. From that point on it smoked like a fair to middling Virginia and black cavendish blend that was okay but nothing to write home about. Apparently that is how show buyers feel, as I have had this tin on my show tables for the past three seasons (not counting our "lost" year of 2020) and no takers. Most of we reviewers have been done in by the industrial nature of the flavoring in this blend and see it as an unpleasant smoke. Unpleasant equates to two stars and offensive equates to one star in my view. Cherry Bomb is more like a one and a half star blend and is stuck between being unpleasant and offensive.

This is the first cherry tobacco I've tried. And this is my least favorite CAO tobacco. That being said its still a good one. I'm just not a big cherry tobacco person. Additionally I would buy it again if my Tobacconist was out of the other CAO flavors. Now that I've tried all four of their pipe tobaccos I may try mixing several of them together. ie. Bela Moontrance, Eileen's Cherry Bomb, or Bela Bomb. You get the picture.

I havent tried all the cherries in the world, but this one is my favorite so far. I dont taste the vanilla and the cherry has a little spice to it but I like it. Tends to burn a little hot, and my tin was so moist the tobacco was in a giant cake, so I let it dry out a little before enjoying. But over all, as a fan of cherry blends, I would recommend.

i have never reviewed pipe tobacco, but i signed up here just to do so. i was feeling hopeful and a little excited after reading other reviews on cherry bomb, especially because i would like to find a good cherry. the room note is the only good thing i can point out. to me, it makes a room smell rather nice. that is where the pleasantries end. i was trying think for the benefit of readers, how to describe the taste, and then it came to me- cotton candy, wrapped in a dirty sock. that is as honest as i can be. i am sure there is a cherry out there that is worth buying, but i tell you, it is not this. in fact, i am tossing out the entire tin, and good riddance. i only wish i could forget the experience and get my money back. unfortunately, it ghosts your pipe, so it still haunts me, and defiled my pipe. if my word is not enough for you, then you had better try it in a cheap corn cob pipe. you will be throwing it out.