Hearth & Home Black House

Having enjoyed White Knight a lot, and finding it a decent "clone" of Balkan Sobranie Original Mixture, I expected to enjoy Black Horse just as much. It didn't happen.

First of all: this has no resemblance whatsoever with Balkan Sobranie 759, to which it is supposed to be a homage. I have smoked every version of BS 759, from the rich and spellbinding '70s version, to the less complex but still very rich version from the '80s, to the weaker, softer but still fascinating pouch incarnation of the late '90s. This doesn't taste like ANY of them. A much better reminiscence of 759 can be found IMHO in GL Pease Blackpoint.

That said... what about judging this blend according to its own merits? It burns great, but the thing that puzzles me is how it changes from pipe to pipe. Sometimes it can be described as an all day Latakia mixture, medium in body and taste, and perfectly satisfying although not stellar. Much more often, it tastes on the flat side, a bit cardboardy and empty. And say what you wish, but to me the addition of Kentucky does NOT belong in a "Balkan" blend, and it sticks out like a sore thumb.

I can't say this is a bad blend: quite simply, half of the time I find it flat and predictable, while the other times I find it enjoyable. The complexity is there, but the "meat" often is not.

Personal rating would be around 2.5 stars. Since this is not possible, and since there are similar blends that I very much prefer and which provide more consistent flavour, I will be "strict" this time with a 2 star rating.

Hearth & Home - Black House (Marquee Series).

The ribbons are medium in size, the blend appears to contain an equal amount of each colour, on the low side it's a bit dry, and includes a few twigs.

The Latakia takes the lead, but doesn't render the other ingredients redundant. The smoke's given a soft touch by the black Cavendish which reduces some of the sharpness from the Lat'. The fire-cured Kentucky gives a flavour which is easily notable, but if I'm honest it lessens the enjoyment by providing a caustic character which isn't placated too well by the black Cav'. The Turkish adds a woody-fragrant note, which is subservient to the Lat'. The Virginia's the lighter of the ingredients, the tame Va flavour struggles to compete with the bold flavours of the Lat', Kentucky, and Turkish. It burns reliably but a bit quick due to the dryness. Overall I'd describe the flavour as rich.

Nicotine: medium. Room-note: quite pleasant.

I won't highly recommend this mainly because of the hydration. I won't recommend it because of the Kentucky. So that said I can only somewhat recommend it:

Two stars.

I want to like this. I really do. Maybe, it's the Kentucky, but this one is on the strong side as far as vitamin N. The cool latakia taste is great. I agree with other posters that this burns a bit quick. This stuff just goes to my head. I think this is going back into my closet for a while.

Bought 8oz in bulk. First impressions were a weak tobacco without much flavor. A month later I found the flavor and aroma did not come on until about a third of the bowl was smoked, but for the rest of the bowl it was very tasty, woody and nutty. Full flavor. Leans more toward the Oriental side rather than the Latakia side. moisture was about right. It was very good but not excellent, however, I would guess after 6 months or so of aging it might be excellent. We'll see. Recommended.

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 mostly leather. Being the first latakia tobacco I tried, I am going to try a few more blends, but this was not my cup of tea.

Okay right off, I'm not sure what happened with this tin, if something was amis, or I was coming down with covid-19, but I just couldn't taste anything. I smoked 7 bowls and it was the same each time. The Cavendish makes this blend so smooth and sweet I had a hard time teasing out specific flavors. My first two bowls had me totally perplexed. I couldn't taste much at all. It was like smoking seltzer water with a hint of Latakia. I had read many, many reviews and was expecting a superb flavorful blend. I do like the soda taste from the orientals in this one. That was nice, and gave an enjoyable aftertaste. I'd like to order a second tin and give this another try.

I wanted to like this one, I really did. I fell in love with Whiteknight and was expecting this one to be just a slightly fuller version. I was wrong. I'm no fan of Kentucky baccy, and its obvious in this blend. There are some good flavours here, but the Kentucky killed the blend for me. It took me about six months to finish the tin. If you don't like Kentucky, steer clear, but if you do...try it!

I was just not a big fan of this and I don't know why. My personal tastes for this type of tobacco are more towards Dunhill's standard mixture. I found this to be a too much in your face latakia blend without all of the subtleties that such blends should have.

I tried to like it but I do not. I bought it because of the hype around the similarity to the famous Sobranie blend. Quality is good and packaging is good. I tried it over a period of a couple of months. I prefer 965 and Nightcap.