Cult Blood Red Moon

Once in a Blue (Red) Moon, I get the hankering for a Cherry blend. Over the years every time I would see this in catalogs, I would think to myself maybe I should try it. I finally bought a tin a few weeks ago. Cherry blends to me are an Enigma, I have tried some that bit like a rabid dog and others that are fairly decent. I opened this up last week and was blasted with a strong cherry smell that on first thought reminded me of Luden’s Cherry Cough Drops. Heck, as a kid I would buy them and eat them as candy. Guess we were poor, just kidding about the poor part. The description says it is flavored with Royal Ann Cherries which I had to look up. Also called Napoleon Cherries, a yellow sweet cherry. I am smoking this again today and my Claw Meerschaum still smells like Cherry so I would advise a dedicated pipe for this puppy. It smokes of a strong cherry with a little chocolate fading in and out. I was enjoying this with a Jarrito’s MCXN COLA and thought to myself, hum, I’m having a cherry coke. I find this a really pleasant blend, most of the tobacco in the tin was I presume black cavendish. I have noticed quite a few reviews complaining about medicinal cherry/artificial flavor of this blend and others of the cherry genre. I personally do not know if this flavoring is natural, artificial, or a combination of both. It is a strong-tasting cherry in the beginning but I find it tames itself down toward the end of the bowl. A second observation I have noticed is the complaints of people smoking an aromatic and not being able to taste the varietal of tobaccos in the blend. Sorry, but for me if I buy a cherry blend, I want to taste cherries, if I want to taste Virginias, etc. I will buy a blend accordingly. This took me a couple of years to get around to buying and I am glad I did. After this tin, I may not smoke a Cherry blend for a few more years but it is always a nice option to revisit from time to time.

What a delightful smoke. Honestly I think Cult hit this one out of the park. The tin note is absolutely exquisite. "You can just sit that out and let it freshen the room" - Wifey. Wonderful scents of cherry and cocoa on opening that are not at all unpleasant. Smoking is the quintessential cherry pipe tobacco experience. The cherry and cocoa flavors are present and bring to mind a cherry covered in dark chocolate. But make no mistake it's not in a syrupy artificial way. There's a subtlety so there's no syrupy medicine taste to the top. There's also a hint of earthiness in the smoke. It packs well and needs minimal relights. The room note is the classic cherry pipe smoke smell that has please so many for so long. My wife loves when I smoke it in the house because it brings back memories of great grandpa who smoked a cherry blend.

Had to try this due to all of the hipe and glad i did, now have a new favorite aromatic, velvety smooth with no bite at all, super sweet (smoke your desert rather than eat it), requires practically no relights, great room note, super tin aroma (maybe just a little heavy), smoked clean burning to nice grey ash even with minimal dry time, slightest of ghosting to pipe. best cherry blend I have ever had!!!

12/12/16 update- simply had to downgrade rating due to fact that this is "over the top" aromatic that gets tiresome and has a much higher "ghosting" affect than i originally thought. Be careful what you put it in! Go for the cobb or the pipe dedicated to aromatics.

I begin this review with the following proclamation because me thinks an aromatic guy should more fairly judge aromatics & a natural tobacco guy is going to do the same for those blends which are low or lack casings & top notes. But when all is said and done .... personal tastes are well "personal". I've been a fairly dedicated aromatic pipe smoker for 35+ years (although I occasionally like a Vaper or mild Latakia blend for a change of pace). This aromatic is a very good one. Excellent Burley tobacco taste with a good cherry/chocolate casing. Burns well with consistent flavor to the bottom of the bowl. IMHO, me thinks this is one of the best (if not the very best) cherry blend on the market today. I will surely use this one in my rotation of aromatic blends.

Not an expert but both feet are pretty "wet" at this point. I have tried some very interesting (and some NASTY) non aros and I am definitely an aro guy. I have had some very decent Cherry styles, some I would buy again some not so much. THIS is the blend I have been wanting but it took me wading through a bunch of others promising very cherry, mild, "no tongue bite" (man, you do get tired of hearing that, huh?), with that super pleasant room note. I gotta say that as much as I was awash with memories of my dad's pipe when I was a kid, the first time I fired up Peter Stokkebye 302, Cult - Blood Red Moon was that on steroids, in a very good way. The room note and taste was just SO over the top. I LOVE this stuff!

One of my favourite aromatics. This blend features a sweet, almost cherry cordial-like taste while not overpowering the the tobacco flavour. Most aromatics taste like hot air, especially cherry aromatics. Not this one! This is an exceptional aromatic and one of the few cherry aromatics that gets it right. This blend produces thick clouds of smoke that are very pleasant to the nose (good for smoking inside!). The flavour of this tobacco is about half cherry and about half milk chocolate, which is why it reminds me of a cherry cordial. The casing doesn't overpower the natural tobacco taste, which is also present within the blend. Overall, I'd rate this one of my favourite aromatics, up there with Lane Dark Red.

This summer I went on a cherry exploration. I love cherry and thought I'd try and find something in that genre that was a pleasant smoke and agreeable to the palate. I worked my way through about a dozen offerings and was gravely disappointed with exception of two - this blend being one of them. It offers a great balance with the cherry note and it doesn't come across all artificial like so many cherry aros. It is thoroughly enjoyable beginning to end with a nice mixture and balance among the tobaccos. It doesn't let you forget your smoking tobacco at the expense of the flavoring. It also has a more natural nuance to a soft and smooth cherry note. A thoroughly enjoyable aromatic!

This was a gift of a friend. I had several bouts with cherry tobacco almost 40 years ago and my tongue came out on the worst end of it all. But, I have heard a lot about this and I was thrilled he gifted me with some!!!

Opening the humidor I was greeted by the smell of delicious cherry cordial and chocolate. Sort of reminded me of chocolate covered cherries. The tobacco was slightly moist so it was placed on a paper towel for a little over a half hour. The coarse cut loaded easily into the bowl and after the char light it lit right up splendidly. It burned at a medium rate and would get slightly warmed if pushed but it never came close to biting. The smoke was medium, creamy and hung in the air and what a mouth watering room not of cherry cordial it gave off. The aftertaste is of sweet chocolate covered cherry during the smoke and after the smoke is finished this aftertaste lasted for about 45 minutes. This burned down to a dark gray ash, left no goop but did leave some moisture. The stayed mostly consistent except at the very beginning and for the last 1/4 of the bowl when it weakened a little bit but remained pleasant.

Lighting the bowl the brought forth a wonderful cherry flavor that was mouth watering. It stayed that way for about 10 sips and then in came a light creamy chocolate. The Cherry played the lead role with the light chocolate singing in the second role and they balanced and complimented each other wonderfully. In the background danced a very slight nutty flavor with a touch of grass and a perfect very slight tangy flavor each complimenting each other and harmonizing well with the Cherry and Chocolate. The Chocolate picked it up a notch from a 1/4 way into the bowl till around the last 1/4 of the bowl where it and the other flavors except the Cherry faded slightly although they remained delicious till the end of the bowl

This is a wonderful blend that has the Cherry dominating with a strong backup by the lite Chocolate and still has room enough for the tobacco flavors to shine lightly through. Sweet and pleasant this is a great advancement over the old cherry tobacco of 40 years ago which burned the skin off the tongue. Delicious and pleasant I would definitely buy some and use it on special occasions. If you like Aromatics, Cherry, Chocolate with a creamy smoke give this a try. A true beauty of a smoke I give it a 3.6 our of 4 stars.

I have had a tin of this stuff sitting in my cellar for some time now. I decided to open it up and give it go. Man I was blown away! This is a really good aro. It actually tastes as described on the tin and the flavor lasts through the entire bowl. Flavor wise it’s cherry, but it’s not overwhelming or cough syrupy. There is also a nice chocolate flavor that accompanies the cherry, making it taste similar to chocolate covered cherry candy. It’s definitely a sweet smoke but not in an overwhelming way. It’s a very smooth smoke with no bite at all. It does leave a little goop in the bottom of the bowl but not as bad as some other blends that I have tried. This one is definitely worth trying.