Hearth & Home Cerberus

Cerberus smokes smooth and creamy throughout the bowl. The Latakia is noticeable and the Perique hovers in the background. I love this tobacco. The flavor is sweet with a hint of spiciness in the back of the throat. I've ordered a second tin for the "cellar" and highly recommend this blend.

Bought this a couple days ago, but don’t know the age of it as the tin is not dated, but the ribbon had dried out some so I’m gonna guess that this tin is at least a year old.

With that being said, this is slightly Latakia forward at the beginning of the bowl, but not so much as to be a Latakia bomb, and the sweetness of the other tobaccos play a more prominent role in the 2nd half. The balance of sweet, savory, spicy and slightly exotic make this a very complex English blend. This smokes cool and clean and the Cavendish slows the burn rate so the bowl lasts a while and that’s okay because you might want just one more puff. This is has a pretty good nic-hit so it may not be an all day smoke for most, but I don’t get palate fatigue from the various Oriental components. This is a solid 4 for English lovers.

This is the first latakia blend that I have liked. It smoked very cool and smooth with now bite, even when pushed fairly hard. Smokes down to ashes with no effort at all. Would be a great latakia blend for a newb to pipes and pipe tobacco.

Tin note of barbecue and dirt. Tobacco is brown, tan and black ribbon cut. Moisture content is ok. Drying may be preferred by some. No prep needed. Burns moderate with few relights. The strength is medium and nic is mild. No flavoring detected. Taste is medium to full and mildly consistent, with complex notes of smoky, peaty, leather, earth, spiced bread, incense, spicy, very woody, floral, herbal, orange peel/zest, quite dry, mildly of sour dark fruit, sweet grass, a mild tangy citrus and buttery nut background note, and a very peppery retro. Latakia is leading with Oriental/Turkish, Virginia and Perique supporting. Kentucky is mostly supporting from afar. Room note is tolerable, and aftertaste is great.

As I begin I have to admit that H&H make two of my favourite English blends: Whiteknight and Blackhouse, with Magnum Opus still growing on me. I love the depth of flavor and the quality blending and I have to say I havent been dissapointed yet. Buying this blend was a case of seeing the tin description online at Smoking Pipes and it simply intrigued me. Plus back in the day someone generously sent me a sample to try. Perique, Kentucky, and Latakia now those are some of my favourite things.

Opening up the tin and taking a deep breath leaves me with nothing short of satisfaction. There's deep, rich, earthy tones matched by a tangy sweetness. The Perique has a notable mustiness. Maybe this is just my Scotch playing tricks on me but I can sense a faint saltiness in the aroma. You can tell this is a Latakia blend and a rich one at that, which is really what I've come to expect from H&H's English offerings. The tobacco itself does come more on the dry side, at least my tin did. It packs just fine, and the humidity level means this had no trouble lighting up.

Even with the dryness this blend smokes pretty cool, and really benefits from slow steady puffs. When you do it right it opens up to some great taste. It's a little peppery, and woody with a typical Latakia creaminess. It's slightly leathery. There is a herbal quality to the smoke from the Turkish leaf but it's not necessarily in every puff and when it does come through though it's a nice change of pace. Even though I'm smoking it in a bigger bowl right now, I think it does better in a smaller bowled pipe and I've been using a Savinelli Dante pot for that purpose.

Strength wise I wouldn't call this a strong blend by any means but it's also not Early Morning Pipe. The taste and feel of this one is a medium full, it fills the mouth and the smoke is creamy and to an extent chewy. It needs a few extra relights but that shouldn't be a problem. All in all I give this blend 5 stars a solid English: rich and nuanced.

Hearth and Home Cerberus has a fairly noticeable earthy, smokiness straight from the tin that is fairly typical of just about every other English or Balkan blend. The tobacco is a bit of a coarse ribbon cut and had the right moisture content to be smoked immediately upon opening.

The Latakia and Perique work well together giving the blend a good mix of earth, bbq smokiness, earth, cinnamon and breadiness. There are slight hints of pepper early on that build deeper into the bowl. There’s also a hint of black tea on the retrohale.

Overall, Cerberus is an excellent smoke that burns very well. I only had to relight a few times. I would highly recommend adding this to your rotation if you’re a fan of stronger, Latakia forward blends.