Iwan Ries Three Star Ebony

ok folks. I registered today & this is my first review, so be kind! I love iwan ries: cool, shabby chic, enormous, friendly, a lot of very masculine woods on the walls & you can play there for hours without feeling rushed. the ebony tends to be rather wet when you first open the air tight pouch. it dried progressively during the 2 years it took me to finish the pouch, but today I filled my pipe with what was left & it was perfect. keep in mind I live in a tropical country with an average 70% humidity, no heating to accelerate the drying; once I put a iwan ries chalk humidifier in a park lane #7 pouch & next time I checked there was mold all over it. you can get the picture. perfect for an occasional puffer, very mild with almost no tongue bite. is it bland? no personality? well, when you want a calm smoke & not a sensorial odissey this is a great tobacco. I mean perfect to smoke while listening to a mozart concerto, not janaček. it's so mild I like to drink a medium sweet fortified wine with it. no need for a malmsey madeira or a pedro ximenez jerez: a boal or an amontillado are enough or even white port wine. it's a comfort smoke you puff when you're in a mood for pancakes & maple syrup, not for the whole irish breakfast... if you're a seasoned smoker who needs to find challanges, drama & wild emotions in every puff, you will think that this black cavendish is a lemonade to your latakia bourbon &, actually, my favorite drinks are the boulevardier & the old fashioned, but sometimes I really need the calm waters & no storm this mild tobacco provides me with. If I'm not wrong it's quite unexpensive so you get calm pleasures for a little buck. I like a bargain: it's easy to buy good stuff spending a fortune. not the other way around. isn't it clear I love iwan ries?!?!?

Three Star Ebony is my go-to blend. Kind of like a middle reliever, if you're into baseball metaphors. It's nothing show-stopping, but it gets you to the ninth inning and keeps those around you in the game with it's room note that truly cannot be beat. If you're looking for an aromatic crowd pleaser, this is your blend. It's definitely not a no-hitter, or even a shutout, but it's a solid performer who is consistent every time you send him to the mound. I had some last night (it had been a long time), and the tobacco was still very moist and just as I remembered it. This is your classic pipe aroma, if that's what you're looking for. Super sweet and enticing to those around you.

I do not smoke black cavendish blends on a regular basis...but when I want something along those lines, I order a batch of this stuff. It is light and just a tad on the bitter-sweet side. You will not tire of smoking this all day. For those of us who enjoy a bit more flavor, this will not be a regular. But, for a black cavendish, this is cool and burns cleanly down the bowl without goopy residue once the load is done.

What a pleasant surprise. I have been playing around with aromatics for a change of pace but have found most to be just too sweet or "treated" tasting.

This was very good. All black Cavendish with nothing else. So I figured it would be too sweet. But it was not. It had a nice musty/bittersweet taste that was not cloying. A mild preserved fruit taste as well. Pretty dry and clean burn. Fairly easy to keep lit.

Try this for something different.