Hermit Tobacco Works Co. Captain Earle's - Honor Blend

WOW…WOW, I've been smoking a pipe for 40 plus years and worked in 2 pipe shops. I tried mostly all tobacco's available. Capt. Earl's Honor blend is the BEST VaPer blend on the market for me. I love all of their Cake tobacco's The combo of these tobacco's are very tasty and satisfying to smoke. I'm so surprised that there are not more reviews on this one and Hermits. All of you pipester out there owe it to yourself to get this and store it up for future days. “J” is looking down on all of us Hermit fans from heaven with a big smile. God bless him may he rest in peace knowing he did a fine job in blending his fine tobacco's for us to share. Please give this a try. I know you will enjoy this as much as I do. A very HIGHLY RECOMMENDED blend and thanks to Louise and C&D (the Best tobacco blenders in the world) for keeping Hermit going. Others that are wonderful are as follows: Private Stock, Mystic blend, Night watch, Stimulus package, Ten Russians, C&D'S Bow legged Bear, Kajun Kake, Tuskegee Airman and Sunday Picnic and if you want an aromatic, Altumn Evening is to best aromatic for me. T.J.

You can smoke a dozen VA/Per blends from around the world and never find anything like this. That alone warrants 4 stars. Any lover of virginias knows how hard it can be to find something new or unique. If you are used to smoking McClelland type virginias or any number of VA flakes, this will definitely be new. As for unique, well, just read on.

This is packaged, as many have noted, in a crumble cake form. When I first wrote this review similar offerings in the US were rare, but now they have become very popular. These crumble cakes do indeed crumble, and this again offers a unique, and pleasant, packing and smoking experience. It packs easily, with a little tap on the side of the bowl. It burns readily and evenly so long as it is on the dry side. It burns, in fact, very well, much easier than tobacco of a similar cut that I have tried.

The flavor also sets this apart. It offers copious smoke with a rich, natural tobacco flavor. The cavendish offers just a hint of sweetness, along with the virginias, and adds complexity. Overall it is rich and not monotone if smoked slowly. I think of the overall experience as offering a "dry" smoke, both in flavor and smoking characteristics, but this is an oversimplification which does not do the blend justice. I have not found this to have any bite at all, nor have I found it to be a hot smoke. One of my favorites, especially in a really good smoking pipe.

As I update this review I wanted to add a note about pipe choice. This is strong blend in the nic department. Unless you can stomach that in a large pipe (which I cannot) I suggest a smaller sized bowl. I think taller and narrower works better with this than a really wide shallow bowl, but you may have different results. I find that I can still get 30-45 minutes in a small bowl and the overall experience is much more enjoyable.

I've not tried the new Honor Blend, but really liked the late 90's version when the late Jay Jones over sighting the blending. Honor blend combines a variety of leaf but the most notable to me was the deeply rich and smoky Latakia and Ripe and naturally sweet Red Virginia. It had a true depth of flavor that I appreciate and while the Perique appeared a bit, the presentation was wispy and just enough to perk up the palate.

Pipestud

Hermit - Captain Earle's - Honour Blend.

This review's from a 2oz tin, not the 8oz one.

The tobacco is presented as a single kake, rather than the way Bengal Slices and Hearth and Home's Ten to Midnight arrive: slithers of kake. It's medium brown in colour, with some lighter and darker spots, and a touch too moist. It takes quite a firm hand to crumble it; I twist and snap the kake into pieces then rub them in between my hands over the kitchen work surface, and then I allow some time to air.

Considering this contains Perique and Turkish, which can be a bit prone to cause the smoke to be overly sharp, it's a very well rounded taste: I get some good notes from both the Perique and Turkish, but also a drop of honey from the Cavendish, and a slight touch of Virginia-hay in the background. The temperature of the smoke sits about in the middle, and it doesn't bite me even if I really put strain into my puffs. Providing it's been given enough time to abate the moisture content it gives a good burn, but without an airing it will use a lighter full of fuel for one bowl!

I like the room-note, albeit a lot of folks would probably find it too strong, and the nicotine's easily more than medium.

This is very good, I'll happily highly recommend it.

Four stars.

When I first tried this tobacco, it was at the Hermit table at the NYPC's show. It knocked me out with it's strong hit of nicotine! It also was very peppery and spicy. I was immediately intriged. Here was a natural virginia with perique that really satisified my taste buds for a potent virginia blend. The sample i tried was fully rubbed, but when i popped my first tin, it was pressed...in other words, a crumble cake. Preparation for a bowl can thus be a little messy, one should take care in rubbing or will result in tobacco dust. After numerous bowls, i also found it wise to leave some chunks to load into the bowl first, to provide a platform for loading the rest of the bowl. That way, you will not draw the smaller particles into your mouth. That said, you will be rewarded with a delicious smoke that gets stronger as you down the bowlful. It amazed me that it gives off volumes of thick smoke with very little effort. I also recommend not smoking on an empty stomach. It is now one of favorite virginia smokes in my almost exculsive virginia tobacco rotation! This one's a keeper!

To me, it tastes like Kajun Kake with Oriental that gives a slightly smoky flavor, great for home, lots of nicotine which I like, small amount of tongue bite develops if you let it get too hot, non-aromatic VaPerCav with oriental to spice it up makes a unique blend for followers of the non-aromatic VaPerCav blends. If you have to sneak a bowl in the home office while the wife is home, this might be worth a try. Great for Sunday mornings when you need a little nicotine to jump-start the last day of the weekend. Definitely one of my weekend go-to blends.

Captain Earle’s Honor Blend seems like a good choice for when you don’t know what you want, but it’s not Latakia, and it has to be easier than differential calculus. Composition is light to medium red, to dark brown, short, slight ribbons pressed into a nice, easily managed krumble kake. The basic tin note is actually fairly deep and even intense, but there are significant overtones that are mostly rendered in a “higher frequency” that seems rather bright for the ingredients, like sourdough, paprika and cocoa over slightly earthy, moist hay. This tobacco smokes fine right from the tin, and better with some rest. The initial taste is a little saccharin for me, but not to worry, it settles down quickly into a nice, even smoke. Both strength and tastes rise to just over medium, with the slightly earthy, zesty, citrusy red VA providing the backbone. The Orientals are spicy but not really hot, likewise the Perique. Again, think, paprika, maybe some chili powder. There’s enough Cavendish to smooth and enrich the ample smoke. The lot is sweet, sour, and savory, also zesty at just above “mid-band”, and it only bites if you insist. The combusting scents and the tastes run parallel to the tin note, adding fragrant wood resins. Both the tastes and the scents deepen somewhat over the course of a bowl, and I like it better and better, to the last drop, which (hooray!) is easily gotten with regular tamping and even scant attention to cadence. Room note is better than tolerable. Aftertaste is a lingering best of the smoke.

If you (like moi) aim for four stars every time you smoke, CEHB can fill the bill without graying your hair. Just prime your chosen pipe with a “sacrifice” bowl or two, and you’re off to the races. 4 stars.

The Virginias and Cavendish here are the top sirloin, with the Orientals and Perique being the seasoning rubbed on top, then pressed together in a crumble kake that's easy to break apart into your bowl.

This blend is like a good steak: rich with flavour and perfectly seasoned. Thoroughly delicious and not your typical Va/Per. Easily a 4/4 blend.

Hand's down my favorite tobacco blend. It does smoke a little bit dry, but it's still sweet and full flavored. The perfect Va/Per, with a bit or Turkish. Sweet, savory and s touch of spice from the perique. The cavendish is so mild, I suspect it's only there to add some body to the smoke. The dominant flavors are the Virginia and the Orientals, with the perique adding just enough not to subtle spice