Middle Earth Tobacco Rivendell

It's a shame Middle Earth Tobacco seems to have gone the way of the dodo. I received a sampler of tins a while back and just now got around to trying them out, this being the first blend I've opened.

In the tin, it looks fantastic - light brown and red ribbons, very uniformly cut, nice and springy, and no sign of stems or chunks anywhere. The aroma was sweet, but in a completely natural way - you know, the way good Virginias and burleys smell when they're allowed to do their own thing without aromatic toppings.

In the pipe, this was straightforward but very pleasing. Sweetness with a little bit of depth from the Virginia, and some earthiness and nutiness from the burley. It burned nice and cool without much effort or attention and didn't leave a sopping mess in the bottom of the pipe. The flavor doesn't really change throughout the bowl, so it isn't a complex blend...but it's so user friendly and inoffensive that this would have made an ideal all-day smoke. It won't blow your socks off, but sometimes you're not looking for that, right?

And to note: the profile for this blend is listed as "aromatic." I can't, for the life of me, figure out why that is.

I wish I'd have cracked this tin earlier and grabbed some for to have on hand before it suddenly became unavailable.