Iwan Ries China Black Fire Cured

For the rare foray into the world of aromatics, this stuff is a crowd pleaser. People tend to sniff happily at the aroma, which is VERY sweet but not overwhelming. Smoked in a tiny pipe, it can be a fairly pleasant change of pace. Is must be smoked quite gently to avoid burning the tongue, but its powerful casing gives the decent cavendishes a creamy smoothness. Not bad with a cup of strong black coffee.

I am not sure if this word fits pipe tobacco or not, but this is scrumptious. The vanilla and cocoa are not overdone. The cavendish shines through. A bit too moist fresh from the pouch, a bit of airing renders a bowl full that doesn't need too many relights. No bite, no harshness. A good intro to aromatics or a nice break from heavy English blends.

What a delight!

I was expecting a PG goopy mess with some tooth staining sweetness, and what I got was easy to pack, light and smoke, with no bite, no goop, no fussing around, just a good stock aro with nothing spectacular but nothing wrong either.

Sweet is the main thing, not overly so, can taste a bit of the tobacco in the background, the smoke is a real crowd pleaser, but unlike some others of this kind, it doesn't smoke so hot that you suffer to please everyone around you.

For a solid smoke that will stay lit for an eternity and not need messing with, why not?

I purchase a fair quantity of this in pouches from Iwan Ries just about every year on our pre-Christmas trip with my wife to Chicago. So far, it is my favorite aromatic tobacco. I'll admit, I haven't tried that many aromatics, but am increasing my sampling of these as I am working closer to getting a pass to smoke in the house!

I have learned that I prefer a tangy, even sour, taste profile in my tobaccos and tend to lean toward Oriental and McClelland style Virginia's as these tend to provide the taste I am seeking. This tobacco purportedly contains Oriental tobaccos (although not shown in the list above) which may explain why it seems to achieve the sour tang I prefer.

Along with having an absolutely fantastic room aroma, this blend also seems to behave well in most pipes for me. It does cause a gurgle in some pipes, however, it leaves only a small amount of dottle. This tobacco generates some bowl heat for sure, but isn't too abusive to the tongue.

I also find that this is a great outdoor tobacco. Often, when filling a pipe to take along on a hike with the wife and boys and beagles, it recives lots of compliments from passers by.

If you are looking for a quality aromatic with a pronounced tatse characteristic involving a bit of sour/tang, then give China Black Fire Cured a spin.

Recommended.

Heck yes! I had forgotten about this blend until I stumbled across it on this site. Shame on me. The room note can go head-to-head with Three Star Ebony, which is saying a lot in my opinion. I haven't smoked this stuff since '05 or '06, but it definitely made my 2005 highlight reel--several times in fact.

I received this in the Altadis sampler & it is one of the better blends in the assortment. It gives a sweet yet somewhat spicy smoke & has a pleasant room note. I did find that it is better if left to dry out slightly. This is definitely ?that? kind of aromatic which makes English blend & Virginia smokers think of Log Cabin or Karo syrup & causes pseudo-intellectuals to wail, gnash their teeth & rant about the blue collar pipe smoker. China Black is good in a filter pipe or a cob. The cob eliminated the tendency to gurgle that I found in a briar if I packed the bottom of the bowl too tightly. My only compliant is that if I was careless & over packed the bowl the last part of the smoke would get wet & bitter. Start out w/ a light fill; pack slightly heavier near the top & you?ll get a nice aromatic smoke. I only found it to bite if I smoked it like a locomotive climbing a hill. I can find this in local drug-stores which is no mean feat in an area where drug-store blends are usually restricted to Captain Black Gold & maybe the White. I rate this as better than CB Gold or White. The typical tobacco shops bulk Black & Gold?s are probably better on the wetness scale but don?t have the spiciness of this blend. I?ll smoke it again.

This is a rather good tobacco. It has a great taste for a virginia. Im not sure what i do differently, but i can puff as hard as i want and get almost no tongue bite. It burns to a fine black ash. I smoke it in a grabow lark bent. The pipe is a nice light color with a massive amount of figuring in the briar so maybe i got a high grade piece of briar somehow. Anyway i interchanged smoking this with the all black cavendish blend from tobacco galleria (half a pouch), maybe that flavored the pipe, but anyway everything aobut this is good. Sure it can bite if your rough with the packing, but otherwise just sit back and forget aobut it, and the smoking ocmes fine and naturally. Seems to have a creamy smoke to it.