Hearth & Home Berry Nice

I like , I like and I like.

This should be a mandatory first aromatic smoke for all beginners as it has nothing in common with the Mac Burn and other commercial tobaccoes out there that in my opinion are ever so disappointing once lit up.

Aroma is indeed outstanding but kick back and relax once lit, as it is smooth and cool burning and without any afterbite.

One little problem is that the flakes are rather small and hard and thus dont compact well enough to prevent sometimes some of the smaller ones from ending up in your mouth.

quality wise it's extremely even burning (even in the low oxigen air of Bogota, which is an extreme test) and the taste profile is very pleasant and geared towards sweet wine/porto notes.

expect little evolution though thru the bowl as it is what it.

and what it is is berry, berry good.

Upon opening the tin I was met with a very pleasing berry aroma. My first thought was would this carry over into the taste. Yes indeed, the flavor and the room note were spot on with the tin note. smoking attributes wer good as well. Easy to light and keep lit. No problem with too much moisture or any gummy gunk afterward. Russ is one of my favorite blenders and I have never been let down by any blend he has put forward. One drawback for some but not me is that very small hint of Lakeland taste(which I am a huge fan of). This tobacco will ghost a pipe with the best of them, but if past experience is any indicator, a bowl of five brothers will chase it away. If you are looking to venture into a flavorful aromatic this would be a good entry blend.

The only reason I braved this blend was that it's made by Russ Oulette, a man who has earned my faith time and again. Jet black cavendish cut into big chunks of leaf. Was pleasantly surprised to find that the tobacco was not sticky to the touch, as is so often the case with aromatics. On lighting, the berry flavor starts out clear, then settles into a general sweet flavor. The berry room note is clear and pleasant, to the point that my fiancee has insisted that I maintain a stock of this blend on hand at all times. There is a floral or soapy aftertaste, but its a very mild aftertaste as opposed to being front and center in Mixture 79. Happily, this blend burns clean, generating white ash and little/no dottle. As an aromatic it does tend towards hot, so slow and steady is the name of the game. I also noticed that the slower I smoked it, the more berry flavor I got.

Looking at previous reviews comparing it to Mixture 79, let me say that I am one of the Mixture 79 haters, and I liked this blend.