Hearth & Home Vermont Meat Candy

What an aroma! Even through a sealed bag, this tobacco had my mouth watering. It smells exactly as you would imagine. Mable syrup and a bit of smoke. Frankly, I have no idea why a bit of Latakia wasn't added to this blend to lend that meaty smoke flavor. This tobacco packed well and smoked smoothly, if only a tad on the hot-side. I had to re-light the bowl a couple times and there was a hint of moisture in the bowl afterwards. I had some tongue bite, but if smoked slowly, I can avoid this. The flavor for me was Virginia and maple. No bacon, but there is a kind of a dry saltiness that tricks the senses occasionally into imagining the taste of bacon. The room note is really the high point of this blend. That along with a pleasing aftertaste earns this tobacco a 2 star rating for me. I probably wouldn't buy this again, but I would recommend it to a fan of over the top aromatics. I'd like to add that I plan on aging the remainder of this smoke for a couple years. I think it may turn into something special if the level of volatility comes down a bit.

Very pleasant buttery maple flavor that does not overwhelm. The hickory cured burley takes some getting used to as I would say it is the culprit for the “chemical” flavor I hear so many people mention in their reviews. This blend will leave your tongue dry, almost like a salty dry. No tongue bite at all. Pleasant nutty, grassy aftertaste. Not something I would want to make into an all the time smoker but certainly a nice novelty

I wish my palette was as sophisticated as some of these reviewers. I get a slight taste of maple and very little smoky flavor at all. That's it in a nut shell. Room note is decent and burns fairly cool. I wish I could taste what some of you folks have described but sadly I get mostly Maple and little of that.

Just smoked up the last of my trial for VMC. Everyone should try this tobacco. Not because it is an exceptional smoking experience but because it has a brand new component not yet seen, the hickory smoked burley. I'll call it the American Latakia until somebody comes up with a better name. This is a very welcome flavor but in this first iteration of a blend it doesn't work that well for me. First off, out of the bag comes a super smoke aroma with a good measure of maple. Packing and lighting are great, very easy tobacco to work with. Now to the experience. I'm a fan of both aromatics and Latakia blends but don't like to mix the two. That's essentially what's been done here, a wood smoked tobacco plus a cased tobacco. The combination didn't do much for me and I didn't get any indication of a salty/meaty flavor. This isn't a surprise but the flavor is advertised as bacon/maple which is a stretch, maybe as close to bacon as one can get from a pipe though. For me it is mostly an odd combination of sweet and savory, like pickles and ice cream. Great separately but, in combination, not so much. Another bummer for this mix is the fact that it wanted to burn hot. Not a scorcher but if you aren't paying attention it will get you.

I'll be watching for more experiments with the new American style Latakia.

With the beginning of Autumn, I pulled back out a jar which I put away last September of VMC.

Mix of light and darker tobaccos. A little moist in the jar, but not too bad. Maple syrup smell in the jar.

Easy to pack in a meerschaum. Easy to light and smoke with minimal tending.

First half of the bowl was heavy on the maple. If pushed it does want to burn a little. Second half of the bowl gave more savory sensation from the KY.

Personally I think there could have been a little more of the KY to give it a little more of the smoky "bacon" taste. It was quite enjoyable when I got there in the 2nd half of the bowl.

Nice blend for fall and I'll be rotating with Sleepy Hollow as my fall AROs.