Hermit Tobacco Works Co. Captain Earle's - Ten Russians

Hermit Tobacco Works Co. - Captain Earle's - Ten Russians.

I love a nice English as the first smoke of the day and as I've finished my jar of Germain's Special Latakia Flake and my order to replenish it's been delayed by the bank holiday I went to my cellar and grabbed this.

The smell of Ten Russians gives a perfect impression of what kind of smoke's on its way: strong Latakia. It's a loosely compressed kake so a pipes worth can be gently rubbed from the block. Once rubbed it's a good idea to give it a short airing.

'You say you like Latakia? Well, try this!' It may say it contains Oriental, Virginia and Cavendish, but the only flavour I get is Latakia......STRONG Latakia. I like English/Balkans but this is too much. The Latakia tastes harsh, acrid, bitter, astringent, caustic, acetic and severe! That's me out of descriptive words, lol! I can't smoke anymore than a quarter bowl before I get Lat-Overload.

Nicotine: very strong. Room-note: strong.

A decent enough Latakia but better as a blender than a straight smoke. Somewhat recommended:

Two stars.

I've tried and tried, but all I can taste is latakia. I can't get anything else out of this. The one plus here is that it's good for use in tweaking other blends.

A massive blast of Latakia which is great and that's all it does all the way down the bowl, with minimal complexity.

The first third of Stimulus Package when packed does the same thing, a blast of Latakia then the Orientals begin to shine with far greater complexity and nuances throughout combing/supporting the Latakia which is still very much apparent all the way down.

While I adore Latakia which Ten Russians has in spades, the preferred blend of economists everywhere is Stimulus Package; myself included.

The name sure is colorful - moreso than the black (and only slightly lightly flecked) cake tobacco I found in my sample bag. Break off a cake, drop it in the pipe, top it with some "starter" broken flake, and it produces HUGE amounts of lovely dirty white smoke.

Captain Earle's 10 Russians is a quality latakia centric blend. To the point it is a bit deadening to the palate. I love latakia and don't mind this excessive smokey sweetness. But I'd probably normally reserve this for a last smoke of the day. There isn't a huge amount of variation but the orientals do kick up to a spicey/tangy pitch later in the burn. Certainly all top quality and IMO a bit more flavorful than even some famous tinned premium blends. Not existential, but a hearty latakia smoke. I agree that this tastes *a lot* like some of the C+D latakia mixes.

Overall high quality but did not blow me away in any particular sense that would urge me to order a ton of this stuff. But I certainly will finish off my sample!

Strong, pungent stuff. But lacking something. Pretty straightforward. Isn't overly complex so you find yourself having to sit and sus out every note in there either. Pretty good stuff, not my fave but I don't hate it either.