Hearth & Home WhiteKnight

Hearth & Home - White Knight

Perhaps you've heard of the "internet white knight", that guy who always sticks up for women regardless of any virtue simply because they're women.  I'd like to coin the phrase "tobacco white knight": the guy who sits up all night waiting for Penzance to come back in stock. Well, anyway...

Not that I needed saved, but this is some seriously good tobacco, especially if you like orientals.  I've never had the original Sobranie anything and consider myself better off for it, but I could compare this to Peretti's Royal...I like this one a little more.  White Knight is a shade less sweet, less leather, more spicy mouthfeel.  The latakia is so well blended I never catch a *distinct* taste.  The yenidze spice is almost overwhelming at times and I enjoy it.  The tobaccos combine into a taste that is clean, crisp and almost refreshing for tobacco...toffee, rye and fresh lakewater with hints of dry wine is my best stab at describing it.  The room note is quite nice for a blend of this kind. Mr. Ouellette done a stellar job on this mouth-watering blend and I will absolutely purchase more... ... ...if it ever comes back in stock.

Contrary to some others, I had no problem packing or lighting this tobacco. It seems a perfect moisture directly from the tin. When lit, it lets out a fragrant incense-like aroma though not necessarily of a scent that your wife might appreciate. The flavors are smooth and creamy despite this, and the "soda" flavor I get reminds me of an unsweet cookie with a lot of baking soda. Doesn't bite and burns all the way down clean. My only complaint and I am not sure I can blame the tobacco is that it removed some of my bowl's rim finish and darkens the rim considerably, though this is probably normal with English blends (I usually smoke aros). All in all I can see why folks like this and I do tend to smoke it from time to time, but only outside.

edit: I had my wife smell the tin and she nearly vomited (lol). Said it smells like "pig sh_t). I could see that. To me I was thinking more like cow manure.

It would be unjust to compare White Knight to Balkan Sobranie. WK, in my own opinion, is more interesting in its complexity. This is one of the very few tobaccos that tastes utterly delicious even without aging. The Oriental taste dominates the blend not because a lot of Yenidje leaves are used, but rather due to the fact that the abundance of Latakia is well-mixed with high quality Virginia, the overall sweetness of which is balanced by a top quality Yenidje leaf.

This is the work of a master blender. Highly recommended.

Like its sibling Black House, White Knight cam a little dry in the tin and needed minor humidifying. With that out the way, tin note is a little stronger than Black House with the Orientals being the main aroma. This is an oriental forward blend with bright, grassy Virginias playing a supporting role. Latakia is in the background, but well behind the Orientals. Smooth, creamy smoke with incense like orientals come to life, with a satisfying tingling of the nostrils on retrohale. Again, like Black House, this blend is hard to keep lit for some reason and tends to clump in the bowl, so you'll need to tip the pipe more often than usual with this one. Otherwise a very rewarding Balkan mixture I recommend as a better alternative to Dunhill Durbar.

I contend that the cut should have been finer which, I think would have provided a better burn rate. Although it has received rave reviews from some, I can't go along with the majority on this one. FWIW, of the readily available Latakia blends these days, Cornell & Diehl's Mississippi Mud & Old Dublin are my favorites of this genre & mainly MM because of its strength, abundant smoke & flavor plus Old Dublin due to its unique flavor but I'll confess to being a rather novice piper when it comes to English/Balkan blends. Could be that I just lack understanding of what Balkan or English blends are all about. Most of them just don't appeal to me that much & have never been my cup of tea but to each his own, right? Of course, most of you "old timers" seem to like these Latakia blends & I can get that because I have smoked the best of them. Problem is, the truly great Latakia blends are "gone with the wind". However, I do feel confident in Russ Oullette's blending ability and glad to see that most of the pipers appreciated this blend. Once again, I didn't dislike it and being recommended with a three star rating ain't bad, right? I appreciate all you reviewers for your experience & guidance. It's helped me to pick up on some of the finer points of the better blends.

Not a perfect match to Balkan Sobranie, but it is reminiscent of some aspects, such as the tin note (sort of acrid and fermented), its appearance (black and gold leaf, coarse cut), and its subdued sweetness. So what am I missing? In true honesty, this is a really good smoke, but if you want more bang for your buck, I'd say buy yourself a tin of Samuel&Gawith's Squadron Leader.

This starts off as a light smoke with subtle sweetness. As one gets further down the bowl, it becomes more of a full body smoky blend. There is no bite and so far has smoked to the bottom leaving nothing but white ash. If you like Latakia, this is a good blend to have on hand, just understanding the Latakia comes in more towards the end of the smoke.

Curious tobacco. On opening the tin it looks, somewhat, like what we are all trying, so hard, to remember the old mixture looked like forty years ago - and so much for the similarities. I want to state up front that I (once again) agree with Mr. Big 2014-10-31 and also RC in VT 2015-09-05: this tobacco blend's cut is very different from what I remember from BSM in the old days. I remember BSM as a thinner and longer ribbon cut; much longer ribbons (almost stringy) with very little of the crinkle that is in the current blend. l also remember original BSM as having a stronger tin aroma. But, the greatest difference of all is in the smoking aroma and taste of White Knight. I agree with tabaco 2015-11-08 that this mixture is "a bit insipid". It smokes nowhere as strong as seventies BSM and is the mildest iteration of the old Sobranie Limited formula that I have ever smoked. In fact, it is the mildest Balkan mixture I have ever smoked. Now, usually an English that I don't care to smoke straight out of the tin also fails me in micro blending; not so with White Knight. I was moderately pleased with it in blending and that elevated it's two star rating to three stars.

Well, I was there in the 60s and 70s when you could get the real thing...Original, 759 and the one in the yellow and brown tin from Sobranie...and their cigarettes. All were great in their time...classics.

I'm happy to report a couple of things. First, I just ordered seven tins @ $7.49 per 1.76 oz tin...a happy come down from $9.99 per 1.50 oz tin. Yep, $4.25/oz is better than $6.66/oz! Second, if you mix 40-50 % of WN with 50-60 % of Samuel Gawith's Skiff Mixture, you're 90+% there with even greater savings.

When you open a tin, it's easy to notice the cut ain't the same as the original...it's much more coarse, not the medium ribbon of the Original...but it's gots the yellows, the reds and the blacks. Smokewise, it's got more bite...but it does have the piquance! And the tin doesn't look the same either. So, it isn't Original. But, for what it is, it's good.