CAO Moontrance

I tend to smoke aromatics with my morning coffee, which is exactly what I'm doing now with Moontrance. After several bowls, all of which have given me a consistent pleasant experience, I think I can safely recommend this tobacco. The flavoring is not "in your face", but nevertheless results in a bigger taste than I expected (but not quite medium), yet refined. CAO also makes a Moontrance cigar, but since cigars for me need to be full-bodied, I'm not likely to buy one. Still, this is a fine morning smoke.

If you don't like aromatics or if you are diabetic stay away from this stuff. It is a type of mixture that is sometimes called a "dessert blend." It is strongly cased and it is similar to Blue Note, Melange and Sweet Mystery. I wouldn't want a steady diet of it but it nice to occasionally have a pipeful after dinner or as a nightcap. It is superior to most of the OTCs such as Captain Black.

first. very vanilla up front. a bit of bourbon and the sweetness of honey is light. I think the Viginia leaf adds to the sweet flavor more than honey. a good burn throughout. I sip on it indoors as I'm not a big aromatic fan. I don't get a lot of the fruit that others detect. the tobacco is of good quality. as my palate has evolved over many years, I tend to favor Balkan/English blends. I do try some aromatics on occasion, and I do like this one. just rich enough to satisfy my taste. of course, the room note is favorable to the nonsmokers around. you must like vanilla to appreciate this one. think creme Brule when smoking and sip it to enjoy the flavor.

As a revived pipe smoker I am trying all types of tobaccos, both aromatic and non-aromatic blends. I have roughly 20 tins in my collection of both varieties and have opened a little less than half of them.

I have to say that when I opened the Moontrance tin I was blown away by the smell. I do like to smell it a lot more than the other aromatics I own. Very strong bourbon vanilla smell with some fruity notes in there as well.

For some reason that great smell doesn't carry over to the smoke in my opinion. Don't get me wrong I like Moontrance but I'm not rating it quite as high as I have others. The first few times I smoked it I got some tongue bite but mainly because it was a little too moist and I didn't let it dry before packing a bowl. Now that I've had it jarred and it has dried out a little, I don't get much, if any, bite.

This blend does burn well and it doesn't require but may one or two lights after the charring light. It just doesn't have the same taste as it does smell. I do get the bourbon vanilla flavoring and just a touch of the fruit. The room note is excellent as it is another one of my aromatics that my kids like to smell in my house.

The biggest negative point for me is when I get down to the bottom of the bowl, every time I have smoked a whole bowl of it, it turns bitter. I don't know what causes it to do that but the last couple of times I have smoked it I only smoke it down to a little above a quarter of the bowl then let it go out. As long as I do that it is a nice, pleasant smoke. When I smoke it too far, I get that bitter taste and it really turns me off. I'll keep smoking it and I'll recommend it if you are an aromatic fan.

Remember those days gone by when the concoction of honey with a bit of whiskey was mixed in with the tea and stirred with a vanilla stick or drop of extract for those medicinal purposes.. cough; well, lighten up on the tea and whiskey and you get Moontrance.. I thought I would try a four tin CAO sampler and this turned out the best of the lot. Opening the tin I am greeted with the vanilla and honey sweetness. A fairly good looking tobacco with a wetness to it. Careful loading into a Savinelli Eleganza 606 Brownblast, It lights fairly well. Glancing down the rich dark blue stem, past the shiny spigot mounts, towards the first rise of the smoke from the beautiful blast on the bowl, it presents itself as a light sweet honey, coated over by some very pleasant vanilla. The Virginia gives me a slight tingle to keep me awake. The blend for me, burns slow, a bit hot and all the way to the bottom. a good after meal smoke that I will probably buy again.

This stuff is pretty good. The toppings are mellow, and are just sort lingering in the background. Not much of a nic hit, and burns at a nice pace. If you like Navy blends, you might want to give this one a try.

I smoked this twice from two different pipes. The first, in a no name briar pipe that I restored and the second in a MO Meerschaum MacArthur style corn cob. The second was that pipe's first ever smoke. Right when you light up, you're met with cool mellow smoke with a fleeting taste. It isn't completely tasteless, but as other reviewers have said it takes some slow inhales and nose exhales to really catch the flavor. This last until about a fourth of the way into the pipe when I experienced a rich, fruit taste. In the briar pipe this lasted, quite enjoyably, for the rest of the smoke. In the corn cob, it did come but was only there for about an eighth of the rest of the bowl. I definitely enjoyed this more out of my briar pipe than my corn cob but it was an extremely good smoke with very little bite. One of the few tobaccos I've smoked that didn't draw disgusted comments from my Mother! In the end, it is a good blend to smoke if you are a fan of aromatics, but stay away if you tend to enjoy english blends more.

The vanilla and honey flavors come through well. The fruit flavor is sweet but not overwhelming.

As a newer pipe smoker, I am mainly exploring the different blends (I favor aromatic blends, although I am dipping my toes into the non-aromatic blends now) to find what I like. Opening the tin, what I smelled was vanilla and liquor. The flavor I tasted was mostly vanilla and not much/if any of the liquor. I did not have any tounge-bite with this blend.