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

Good Morning, it's a cool morning here in Tennessee and that means its just right for Latakia for me. Since doing these reviews I have tried a lot more Latakia blends than I would have and I am grateful for it. It used to think that Latakia was a very one sided leaf, and I didn't detect a lot of change between blends, but like with anything with experience comes wisdom.

Captain Earles Mystic blend comes in a crumble cake just like all the others. Qhen open my jar I smell woody Latakia, tangy, sour orientals, dark fruits and some Virginia sweetness.. I still like the fact that the cake crumbles into a ribbon, instead of dust. One of my favorite blends is Pirate Kake, but my only gripe about that blend is the amount of Latakia dust left over after you rub some out. Thus rubs out easily like the others, and packs well. I like to put a few chunks in the bottom of my pipe and then fill with ribbon. I don't find it too moist, but like with most blends a little dry time never hurts. It lights really well and it stays lit pretty well.

So taste. I think this is pretty smooth. Smoother than I expected. The Latakia is nice, rich, earthy, and not overpowering. The Orientals are definitely here and they taste sour and incense like. The Perique is here, I can feel it in my nose as well as taste some nice dark fruits every now and again. There are Virginias in here, I think they are a little harder to detect than normal because of everything else that is going on.

The taste is quite full, and the smoke has a tendency to coat my mouth. I enjoy the complexity of the flavors. The strength in this one is a solid medium, I don't think Lady N is trying to grab my attention. All in all a good blend. It's not an all day blend for me, maybe a once or twice a week sort of smoke. I give it three stars.

Yes I have reviewed this. Look under Hermit. It's one of my old favorites & deserves more recognition. We remember Jay fondly and still miss that gravelly voice.

I just had one of those rare smokes where one match took care of the whole deal. Didn't even realize it until I had tapped out my pipe. I had to run an errand tonight. Tucked the kids into bed, kissed my wife as she slept and loaded up a nice Radice apple, one of their twin bores. In the car, I grabbed my matches. Onlt one left! No worrie, I have a pack in my pocket. Nice charring light a quick tam with my finger and back at it with the match.

The smoke was smooth and warm on this cold Ohio evening. The latikia making its presense know right off the bat. This is a nice even blend. Nothing too exciting. Not somthing that one has to concentrate on to get the most out of it. My bud left the cigar boxes on his front porch for me - my wife is doing a craft with some grade schooler: cigar box purses - and I'd barly even stared my smoke.

So I stop in at a local pub to finish my bowl. I quit puffing for a minute as I enter, unsure of their smoking policy. A few folks were smoking cigarettes at the bar so I knew it was ok. Much to my surprise the pipe is still going! Puffing away with a nice Pete's Wicked, the orientals start to chime in. Bring a bit of an astringent taste to the fore. Latakia still present, but not front and center as with the beginning of the pipe.

Finished my beer and I'm off for home. The Virgina starts to show itself about now. The last few puff on my doorstep are sweet, the Virginias really coming into their own. A very nice ending.

All in all a very enjoyable smoke. Burned clean down to the bottom leaving a nice gray ash. Nothing as complex as Renasaince where I feel like I'm missing out if I don't pay close attention to the smoke. Not a complex some but again very good. I need to get myself some more of this.

Just a side note - It'd be neat if we had an area here to discuss the virtues and attributes of out pipes here too.

=)

This is a good blend, but not outstanding. It comes in the form of a crumblecake and smells very complex, but I do not believe that all blends benefit from being pressed.This is one of those blends that I would have liked to smoke before it was pressed. It is primarily dark brown in the tin with a light speck here and there. It crumbles fairly easy and the moisture is perfect. Lighting was about a four vesta job, but after that you shouln't need to re-light. I tried this in a group 6 ring grain poker that smokes crumble cake blends the best for me. The flavor is not as rich and complex as you would think by the blurb about "Nine different tobaccoes". It tastes like a good "english" blend. It reminds me of "London Mixture" and maybe a toned down "Margate". The room note is fairly strong and may scare non-smokers away, so use discretion. You can definitely taste the Latakia in this and at least to my palate I detected both Syrian and Cyprian types and of course there is a very light touch of perique(just enough to tickle you once in a while). I believe the virginia and turkish are smothered in this blend and are too much in the background IMO. The nicotine is medium strength whic is fine by me. It leaves a mottled dark, dry ash when you are done. Again, this is a good blend, but there are others out there that peak my interest more. Rating 4 out of 5 points. Enjoy...

A nice dark, mottled cake with a smoky leather, hay, and fermented-earthy manure tin note. The taste changes throughout a bowl but is prominently that smoky, slightly-sweet burnt cereal milk flavor to me. This isn't as complex as I would have liked given the description, but it hit a sweet spot for me halfway through (maybe the perique coming through?) and was quite pleasant.

Like the blend itself I tend to flip-flop on this one, but try it out for yourself. I will use this slot in my rotation for other blends, but may come back to this one down the road. Personally, if it is coming out of C&D, I'd probably lean toward a G.L. Pease blend to take this spot, but that's just my taste preferences.

Aside: “It is not down on any map; true places never are.”

Aside #2: I made a latte with slightly over-roasted beans and I smell Mystic Blend very strongly in my cup, really nice on the senses

I like latakia, but I am not a latakia lover, and I usually like it best as a condiment rather than the main course. To me this is a predominantly latakia mixuture. It comes in a pressed cake in the style used for several Cornell & Diehl tobaccos. It is very dark and crumbly and slightly moist. There is absolutely no harshness or bite in this blend. It is smooth, pronounced latakia from start to finish. The tin says it is a blend of nine of the world's finest tobaccos, but I tasted only latakia. And it does become slightly bitter towards the end of the bowl. If you are a latakia lover, you might go for this in a big way. I will probably keep a little on hand to smoke from time to time as a change of pace. Paddy.

I have just finished my first tin of Mystic. I tend to either really like Jay's blends or just plain hate them (I could not smoke a full bowl of Midnight Lace). Mystic Blend was one of the "likes." I usually smoke a group 1 sized bowl during the day for a quick break at work, and not many English blends will work properly in such a small pipe. This one does.

It starts out with a quick and easy light, usually one match to a bowl. The leathery base note of the latakia develops right away, and, even in such a short time as the tiny pipe affords, there is a pleasing complexity of fullness, smoky earthiness, and a slightly herbal flavor which alternate all the way down the ten-minute smoke. I noted a rather cool and dry character all the way through, and my 14 dollar meerschaum smelled fresh ten minutes later.

On a slightly down note, the cakes which seemed so intriguing at first left me with far too much unsmokable dust at the bottom of the can. On the whole, though, a pleasant English for a quick break.

UPDATE: Just finishing a tin that's 8 or 10 years old. I'd swear I tasted all nine of the tobaccos at one puff or another - still the lat-bomb I love every now & then. Love it.