Hearth & Home Black House

Simply marvelous ... it's one of those English blends that stands out, meeting all the expectation one has from a classic English with some added complexity. The general note is the smokiness that the latakia gives (which in my opinion is top quality), alongside a very pleasant sweetness which I would guess is due to the cavendish more than the virgina. While you progress through the bowl the note turns a bit spicy, an oriental spicy that I suspect is being a bit amplified by the perique in the mixture. I am not sure what role the Kentucky plays in this whole deal, but over all I consider this to be a state of the art blend - I only wish I could get more.

I'd like to think there's a perfect blend out there for everyone. Something that represents the ideal tobacco that a smoker dreams about at night. Most blends fall short in one way or another, leaving us slightly disappointing. It's that feeling that drives us, however, onward to the next tin and so on, in search of that perfect smoke.

Well, you can probably see where I'm going with this. Black House is, for me, that perfect blend. It is nothing short of the ideal English is my eyes. Solid Latakia base and just enough of this and that added extra for the perfect compliment. The flavor gets leather and wonderful at the end of the bowl, while it starts with a very herbal, grassy, elusively wonderful flavor.

I have tried a lot of English blend- all the Dunhill stuff, various Samuel Gawith, Frog Morton, and many more. Black House just does things with flavor the rest can't. Please, go try a tin if you love English blends. You'll be satisfied and resting on your tobacco quest...at least for a little while.

This is a fine Balkan blend of the highest order, the smokiness of the blend interplay ed well with the orientals, which were blended about right. I thought my tin was a bit dry, but nothing that took away my pleasure in smoking it .

For transparency I'll state that I've never experienced 759, and I did like this blends Showdown competitor Blue Mountain -yet neither holds a candle to Legends in my mind - as well as palate. At least as it pertains to a true 'Balkan' blend.

My tin was the old school large H&H type that could I expect hold twice the amount; some sizable stems and twigs, good moisture and light figgy note, subtle. I smoked this in recently cleaned Balkan pipes -sea salt & Everclear, so I didn't have any ghost flavors to detract or mask this blend.

It behaves well in the pipe, does emit copous creamy smoke, and gravitate toward a peppery finish at bowls - end. Burns cool, tolerated excessive sipping well, tolerant of Thomas the Train's types like myself.

The only negative for me, though minor, is that I consistently find Turkish components in blends to be like celery is to good gumbos, they both can be flavor killers to their recipes. Too heavy a hand while blending and -for me- the entire blend becomes lessened...muted.

I consider 4 star blends to require my full attention, and I burn through the best of the best at breakneck speed upon introduction to such gems... that didn't occur hear. So far in my trip through the Marquee Series I'm 1 for 2, as El Nino was a 4 star experience.

I wish all could compare their Balkan favs to Legends and taste what I'm trying to sell 🙂

Disclosure: I only smoke bent pipes outdoors (yes, the wife objects to indoor smoking) and cannot speak to "room note" as such but the aroma from the burning tobacco hitting my nostrils is what I enjoy the most about pipe smoking.

I have found this blend to be slightly sweet, smooth, subtle, sophisticated, and satisfying without smashing you with latakia or nicotine. It does not have sensational aroma but enough to please me. I think it is a splendid blend and I give it an S+.

I bought this tinned and bulk, both exactly the same. Although the bulk smoked a bit better out of the gate which is usually the case.

Somewhat vaguely similar to 759 it's been a quite a long time, and superior to Blue Mountain in my view. I'm puzzled by the Virginia heads reference I get very little of that, moderate nicotine as well, unless the comment refers to natural flavours which Black House has in spades.

In a blind tasting I feel one could easily indicate a Sam Gawith or a JF Germain concoction. Russ has a done an excellent job and his offerings are better suited to my palate. I wish I could say the same about Greg Pease; sobeit one of the reasons for so much variety in the pipe tobacco world.

For me this blend likes to sipped like a single malt although at a steady pace to keep it smouldering, too quick or too large a draw and it'll go off-kilter.

Black House is not one of the tobaccos you 'must try' before you drop off the twig; however, it's worth a punt and a nice one to have in the rotation for a change-up even for those on a prescribed regimen of Latakia and Orientals.

Latakia and oriental are in the forefront of this blend. It is topped with a sweetish liqueur-like flavor to have it apparently resemble an older bygone blend. Judged on its own merits, it is very well balanced and smooth as silk, lacking any sharpness or edge. It burns and smokes effortlessly to ash with few relights. The flavoring is sublime, and intriguing with the first pipeful, but the bold flavor statement can get somewhat tiresome with a second bowl.

Wow. I last smoked the "real thing" in the late 1970's and I still have a distinct memory of the spicy, strong, almost perfume like hit I got in lighting up. I was extremely interested to try this new interpretation.

I was not disappointed. Not in the least. Too long for a direct comparison, of course, but the pure, strong flavor hit, the bright, clear tastes definitely remind me of the earlier experience. Unlike any Latakia blend I have tried since the original Balkan Sobranie.

More detail: lovely ribbons, easy to pack and smoke to the bottom of the bowl, great, sharp tin note, ecstasy in a bowl. I wish there were more than 4 stars to award.

This too shall pass.

Drawing rooms and old leather, single malt, neat, maybe a brandy, deep and portentous discussions concerning the state of the Raj and what to do about the "sick man of Europe"... how else can I describe Black House? It is elegant, refined, and so very, very rich that lighting a bowl almost requires setting fire to a $100 bill.

My experience with Sobranie goes back to my college days in the late '70's. My uncle worked a B&M back then. Being from Scotland, he steered me hard away from anything that wasn't a "real tobacco." That meant a heavy dose of English, Balkan and Virginia mixtures. I wish i had appreciated my "tobacco upbringing' more at the time. i drifted from pipes to cigarettes (although, in my defense, they were Camels, Sobranies, and the occasional pack of Players or straight Virginia's). I do remember that late 1970's incarnation of 759, though. Like a ghost on the edge of a dream, it has toyed with my memory for 30 years, and I've never found any blender who managed to capture that ghost.

Until Russ Ouelette, that is. Black House isn't the 759, but it is darned close. Greg Pease wrote an outstanding article describing that perfect smoke. Mr. Ouelette delivers that with this blend. I sat through an enchanted hour with this paragon of a Balkan blend.

On opening, the tobacco weaves it way through your senses. It is ready to smoke right out of the tin, no drying need. Its aroma is a fine incense, a tribute to the blender's art. It is black, and brown, and golden. It feels like it wants to be smoked "right now." really, it smells so good, the temptation is there to snack on it.

I chose an egg meerschaum for this, but I'm thinking of dedicating and expensive briar (donations accepted to assist in this research goal). It took the first light immediately. i could have probably stayed with that, but I settled down and gave it a second light after the char. No further lighting was necessary. black House burns evenly, with a light gray ash, all the way to the bottom of the bowl.

The smoke is heavy, fragrant, and luxurious. yes, there is Latakia, but the Turkish varietals provide that heady incense. As for flavor... if you eat steak, you'll know what a perfect rib eye or prime rib will do for you. I felt the same with black House. It's full, smoky, and sweet. The Virginia and Orientals weave in and around the Latakia, while the Kentucky provides a solid foundation for the whole. The sweetness is evident from the first of the bowl until the end. And, like any great meal, try not to gulp it down. it's hard not to, but patience really does reward this smoke.

Oh, hey, absolutely no bite, whatsoever, in case that's a worry.

My wife says I've spent more time writing this review than i do on the garden, so I'd better stop. Still, even she enjoys the tin note, and is looking forward to sitting with me during a bowl. plusses there, too.

Anyway... 5 out of 4 stars for a more than faithful recreation of the 759. I've started cellaring Black House. It's going to be that sought after in years to come.