Hearth & Home Cerberus

The smoky, woodsy, earthy, musty, leathery sweet Cyprian Latakia is the lead component, but it doesn't drown out the other tobaccos. The Oriental/Turkish provides smoke, wood, earth, herbalness, floralness, vegetation, some mildly buttery sweet and sourness with a hint of spice as an important supporting player. The perique is a supporting actor with some raisins, figs, plums and spice. The Virginia offers a little grass, earth, and wood and tart and tangy citrus as a condiment. The lightly nutty, dry, woody, spicy, sour, herbal, floral, earthy dark fired Kentucky lightly underscores the blend. I suspect a little sugary black cavendish is present. The strength is medium, while the taste is a couple of steps past that mark. The nic-hit is a slot below the strength level. Won't bite, but it does sport a few rough edges. Burns a little slow, fairly smooth, cool, clean and creamy with a well balanced, complex, mildly sweet and more savory campfire flavor that translates to the pleasantly lingering after taste and stronger room note. Leaves a slight bit of moisture on the bowl. Requires some relights. Not quite an all day smoke.

-JimInks

I received some generous samples from Russ Ouellette at the Newark Pipe Show recently and Cerebus was one of them. Cerebus is the latest entry into Hearth & Home's top quality Marquee Series, joining the two other English blends, Magnum Opus and Black House. The pouch scent is leathery and smoky with no hint of sweetness. The chopped ribbons are mainly dark brown and black with a smattering of Virginias. From the appearance, my first thought was that this would be a Latakia heavy blend and it is, but from the first match, it becomes clear that the Oriental flavors are going to run the show. The Latakia just plays a solid supporting role even though there is more Latakia in the blend. I didn't get very much sweetness from the Virginia tobacco. Cerebus is a creamy, cool English blend. The strength doesn't build very much as the bowl progresses. It's isn't as strong or complex IMHO as Black House, even with the addition of the dark fired. The taste is on the full side. Cerebus is another example of Mr. Ouellette's blending skill as the Marquee Series really showcases H&H's top shelf tobaccos. Highly Recommended!

HOW's Barking Dog with more flavor, better leaf, more strength and more Burley. I think it is a blend that traditional English fans may not go for, but those who enjoy Burley and Latakia will appreciate greatly. The Perique is far off in the background but can be detected. A very cool burning smoke.

I himmed and hawed for two days about ordering a few tins of the IPSD 2012 offering and it proved too long a delay as they sold out quick. So I jumped on ordering a couple tins of Cerberus upon its release. Just finished the first one and cracked the second one after a 7 month rest.

I enjoyed the blend and do recommend, but was surprised to see this one carrying a four star rating. It is high in Latakia, but that shouldn't be a surprise as it is clearly stated as such on the description. It is pretty smooth however with the proper cadence. The quality of the product is great as one would expect from this blender. It lights and smokes great, cool and a bowl last s along time.

To me it has an incense like quality that I found very unique and I do recommend it as such, but It doesn't quite hit the four star for me. Perhaps my mind will change as I near the end of this tin. I have found it growing on me with each bowl smoked as I think I would be at a touch over two stars on my first bowl. But with anything unique, the first bowl is kind of a WTH is this type of moment. YMMV of course. Only way to find out is to try and do recommend so doing.

Picked up this on a whim when as an adjunct to English-American blends. While not quite in that category, this little gem works great for my taste. Described as a Latakia lover's blend on the label, it is not, so don't be scared off by the description. This great tasting blend favors more of the Oriental, Virginia taste with a good, but not overpowering, hint of Cyprian Latakia, just enough to satisfy. A slightly sweet undertone finishes the mix. This just may be my go-to blend. Fans of Maltese Falcon will enjoy this change of pace. Smoked this in my favorite Armentrout pipe, I want more! Highly recommended

A few light pieces of ribbon, otherwise very dark in the tin.

Smell is campfire, burnt cedar, leather. Lots of smoke and leather.

Thick plumes of naturally full-flavored smoke. Took a match well and didn't need many relights. Solid dose of nicotine.

Strong/complex flavor and aroma with a rough edge; borders on a cigarette or cigar-like taste and aroma. Suspect the Kentucky, but who knows? Could be the Orientals and/or Perique too.

A bit too heavy for me; I prefer Russ' slightly mellower Magnum Opus and a good bit mellower White Knight to this one by far. Quality product though, and definitely something lovers of Kentucky and especially stout English blends should try.

(Steel Cowboy opined that this is not as strong as Black House. I haven't done a side-by-side comparison, but based on memory, I found Black House a bit mellower; probably due to the lower KY component? But he'll get no argument from me that this is yet another fine example of Russ's blending skills.)

I've smoked enough of this now to feel qualified in my review. One liner: very nice place to visit, but I wouldn't want to live here. Highly recommended, in small doses.

In more detail, this blend is curious. The Latakia and orientals are the most pronounced to my palate, Latakia being the smokey / leathery note, orientals being creamy and deliciously sour. Off to a great start. It's the things that play backup that are the enigma. I can sense Virginia grassiness / sweetness on one draw, and raisins / figs from the perique on the next. About every 4th draw I can make out the distinct taste of Kentucky (which I love), but it is the subtlest of the flavors.

Mix all this together and you get a complex smoke. I'd call it an experimental Balkan, as the orientals and Latakia drive the experience with some rather unusual contributions from unexpected condiments. But to me Balkan prevails, providing plenty of the soda water flavor, with leather, creaminess, and subtle sweetness to round it off.

In my opinion, the size and depth of the flavor spectrum make this a wonderful occasional bowl when your normal haunts sound too boring or mono-dimensional for your mood. I reach for it about once a week, and thouroughly enjoy it every time. Not a particularly good "fire and forget" kind of bowl; Cerberus gets your attention and won't let go.

I found the tin a little dry but not exceedingly so. I did find it pleasantly unprocessed (little to no humectant), and the somewhat chunky leaf to be of good quality. No sticks / stems to be seen.

Bought a tin of the 3 headed dog to round out all of the H&H Marquee Series. Darn glad I did. As wirh the large majority of Russ O's blends this one is a winner. DFT Dang Fine Tobacco! The Lat is the key player but it s not overly strong, The Ky adds good balance and the virginia adds a note of hay like sweetness. This tobacco in a few brief words is an almost perfect balance of these tobaccos. You can really hammer on this one and not get a bite. If you like Lat blends you need to give this one a try.

I was scared to open the tin up, after all there was a three-headed dog monster guarding it! The cover had me expecting an English so dense, I was going to have an accent afterwards, and crave Bangers and Mash. While it was in fact knee deep in advertised Latakia, it was a very approachable smoke.

The cut is one half Virginia, Oriental, and Perique ribbons, the other half is filled with an unusual black dust (I assume the Latakia). It made for a bizarre pipe filling, with the micro bits getting all over (expect a few in your mouth on the first drag). The aroma has a hint of motor grease atop the chimney sweepings. The smoke is rather dry and required some relighting maintenance. The lit product may just have enough brimstone to transport you to the sunny side of Hell, but in a good way,... it is remarkably quite mild.

This one may require some housekeeping, as the burnt dust tended to puff out on occasion making a bit of unexpected mess, which did caused a drop in 1 star for me, still I had a good time with it and would recommend it to any English fan who may want a break from those tangy Oriental blends out there.

This is a bit stronger than Magnum Opus to start. It is a little stronger on the throat...but a little milder on the nostrils. Also...it is a little more stepped up in flavor and taste. I say it would be a tremendous choice after a perfect steak dinner followed by a nice Irish or Scottish single malt. It starts to mellow a bit about 1/3 down the bowl. Another excellent blend by Russ O. It relaxes quite a bit on the throat as it progresses past the first third of the bowl. But the tremendous flavor hangs in there threw out the whole bowl. If you are in for a bit stronger version of Magnum Opus....buy this...pack it up...and revel in it.