Hearth & Home Fusilier's Ration

I've never had Bengals slices. I wanted to try this for a long time and I finally got around to it. It is superb. For the money this cannot be. The Latakia and orientals are done perfectly. Not springy and bright, but front and center nonetheless. But it's richness and fullness is what makes it almost perfect. This is a totally tasty smoke. There is nothing here that will burn your tongue. It stays mellow and good right down to the bottom of the bowl. This is a blend to buy more of. A blend to smoke for the rest of your life. Even if I hit the lottery and could afford the best of everything. I would still smoke this all the time. Bravo!

Fusilier's Ration seems to be a tobacco sui generis. I've never had anything quite like it before.

Out of the tin, it smells like an intense English blend, with its characteristic acrid and nose-curling strength. I could immediately tell this would put hair on my chest. As the name implies, it put me back into the early 18th or 19th century on the battlefields of Europe. I imagined myself as an Austrian rifleman taking a break, loading my pipe before a pitched line battle. The smell supports the imagery, almost like a whiff of gunpowder and artillery smoke.

The Krumble Kake is rather dense and difficult to rub -- it's easy to make a mess with it. I found that grabbing two sheets of paper towel, still attached at the seam, and placing it below while I ground some broken up pieces between my hands as if I were trying to warm them up on a cold winter's day worked best. The small pieces would fall onto the paper, whereupon I could fold the towels at the seam to funnel them into a gutter and dump them into my pipe, as if I were loading a musket, funnily enough. The Czech-tool ramrod completes the analogy.

Once in the pipe, it's a little bit hard to light. It's not uncommon for me to spend a few times sparking the flint so to speak before it gets going. It requires some pretty vigorous draws and doesn't bite too hard, so don't be ginger with it. This is a robust blend.

On the tasting, it primarily presents with white and black pepper. Behind that is the subtle taste of fruity and astringent red wine, new and spicy leather, and then a dull sweetness at its foundation. The flavor, in a word, is rustic. I enjoyed it thoroughly. Fusilier's ration is not only fun to prepare and smoke, but also good enough to inspire my overactive imagination. Definitely worth giving a try if you enjoy stout English blends.

Fusilier’s Ration ~ Wow ! Opening the tin about 6 hard slices stuck together in one brick . Takes some work to rub this out but worth it . Sweet and creamy and nutty ! I definitely taste whisky about half way through a large bowl . Some floral notes but welcomed. Nice change of pace from the usual Englsh blends . I love this and will be getting more !!

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Update 10/12/19 I just got an ounce of the Fusilier’s ration special reserve in bulk . Must say this is outstanding! I don’t know if this is my favorite or Magnum Opus ? The orientals are outstanding and in every puff . I get a little more of red Virginia fruity spice in the reserve and it is a little smoother and more club soda like . Nice and spicy Oriental forward . I will be stocking up with more soon ! Magnum Opus has more bright Virginia sweetness ! Bookend tobacco blends for me . 4 stars

Nice, thick sliced Krumble Kake that is dark and chocolaty looking. Came a tad moist, but a brief drying time fixed that easily. Very oriental-forward initially, with smoky, salty, leathery Latakia and the sweet-and-sour Orientals blending seamlessly. I get a lot of cocoa notes, dark fruits, a touch of coffee, and some good VA sweetness, augmented by the creamy, sweet cavendish. I believe there is a bit of a topping that tastes a bit sweet and vanilla or bourbon like. Smolders along very well after the initial light, and burns clean. A very good oriental forward sweet English.

This krumble kake came a little dry, but smoked beautifully. Mechanically a very easy smoke after preparation. No chance of tongue bite, and stays lit well.

First impression was that this blend was very distinctive and the flavor fluctuates quite a bit. The topping is hard to pin down, but doesn't overpower any of the tobaccos. The oriental is just slightly stronger than the latakia, but not so much as a balkan blend. The latakia comes off almost more like smoldering polished wood, perhaps an interaction with the topping? That sounds bad, but it works well. The virginia is there adding some grainy sweetness, as does the cavendish, but far in the background typically. Again, the tendency was as new components would catch, each component tobacco would solo a bit more. The retrohale brought out more of the latakia and provided some buttery richness from the orientals that was very pleasant.

Overall, this is on the milder side of H&H English blends, but it's a pleasant experience.

Smells meaty, sweet, smoky. The taste is bitter overall, while sweet, much like the aroma. It is like a manly tobacco flavor. Much better when smoked sparingly as it felt less enjoyable as I was familiar with it.

Addendum: After continuing to smoke this, I noticed a floral note present throughout the smoke. I believe this serves more to prevent the strong flavors of this blend from being overpowering and helps them marry rather than as it's own flavor element, so I blew right past it in detecting the flavors present. This remains a great smoke whether you notice it or not, however.

You can see my video review of this blend here:

https://youtu.be/dIlpaMnThRo

Fusilier’s Ration has a nice tin note of a typical English blend. I detect brine, earth and spice. The crumble cake is very easy to rub out and didn’t require any drying before smoking. A note of caution though is to not rub the tobacco out too much otherwise it becomes very difficult to keep lit.

The briney, bbq smokiness from the Latakia as well as an earthy pepper are the dominant flavors. The flavor and burn remain consistent throughout most of the bowl and the earth note comes through a little more toward the final third.

Overall, Fusilier’s Ration is a well balanced English blend that requires a bit more technique to pack and smoke a bowl. However, when well packed, it required only a moderate number of relights and is a great smoke to end the day with.

I received a sample in my latest TinSociety box. The crumble cake in the bag seemed the perfect moisture. it was easy to break up and load into a smaller Belge pipe I use with stronger Englishes and Orientals.

The smell was smoky and spicy to my senses. Once lit it burned smoothly only requiring one relight. The flavor was good with a nice combination of smokiness from the latakia and spice from the orientals. I didn't get my taste of any flavoring nor too much sweetness.

It provided nice creamy clouds of smoke which my wife objected to the smell of, much like she did with my sample of Bengal Slices that I had a few months ago.

I found it to be similar to Plum Pudding Reserve in my book. A good smoke which I'd recommend and definitely smoke again in the future given the chance.

It's like it's trying to be an old fashioned english balkan cake but it totally misses the mark. It crumbles up too fine to be easy to pack and when you do manage to get a decent pack it just gets gloopy by the end. sutliff should stick to aromatics.