Hearth & Home Cerberus

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

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.

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.

After a mistake with an order from P&C.com back in 2012, my order was corrected and they generously included a sample of Cerberus. Although I was grateful, I suspected it was something they couldn't get rid of and through this tin in. How wrong was i, and I keep at least two tins on hand at all times. Great tobacco.

This blend is now my new favorite. As far as I'm concerned it's perfectly blended if you love Latakia prominent blends. It's heavy with just the right amount of Perique and orientals to give it an amazing flavor profile. I'm not quite sure why blackhouse is the favorite of this series when this exists. Fine with me though. Makes it easier to get. Excellent aftertaste as well. There is so much flavor here that to me it's an aromatic for English lovers. Great stuff!

Got a sample of this from P&C with my last order. Very full & very tasty. Holds it's smoky,toasty flavor all the way down. Reminiscent of Frog Morton OTT but a tad stronger. A very good blend that I'll include with my next order.

This is a balanced and rather mild blend. The taste is what I call "buttery", most likely due to the high proportion of Latakia in connection with Burley. The Burleys round the blend up with some nuttiness, the Perique plays in the background, giving it an ever so light spicy note. The smoke is cool, there is absolutely no tongue bite. It burns well, even when slightly wet. The taste stays more or less the same through the whole bowl, with maybe some more spice at the end. Definitely an all day smoke, Cereberus should please both Balkan and English aficionados who don't like their blends too strong.

For those who like the taste but find the blend too mild I would recommend SG Balkan Mixture or Commonwealth Mixture.

This blend has a supberb flavor. Another home run by Russ. The closest others would be Brebbia Balkan and Bill Baileys Balkhan Blend although the latter is heavier in Latakia. The proportion of Dark fired Kentucky seems to be the ticket that sets this apart from the other heavy with Latakia blends. It smells mostly of Latakia upon opening the tin but once lit the DFK fills out the flavor profile very well. It was just about perfect for smoking right out of the tin with only 10 or so minutes of drying time for a bowl full. Produced a fine white ash with only a tad bit of dampness at the bottom of the bowl so you do not waste much as only very little is too damp to fire up at bowls end. If you have tried Orlik's DFK and liked it you will most likely enjoy this as it has all that goodness along with the added smokiness of the Latakia. I would not suggest this to novice pipers but highly recommend to the more experienced smoker who enjoys a plentiful serving of Latakia. I will be buying more of this some to cellar but it is so good new, although I would not say it is an all day tobacco, it might be hard to keep it in the cellar for any real lengthy stay. So, to summarize: Buy some of this if you like Latakia and/or DFK blends as I believe you will not be disappointed.