Tsuge Premium Pipe Tobacco Winter's Embrace

Tsuge - Winter's Embrace.

A mixture of light and medium brown ribbons which despite the fact they're squeezed together in the tin are too dry. There's a mild citrus aroma from the tin.

At first the only topping I could identify was a mild vanilla addition, but after a short while I was able to pick out the citrus. This flavour, to me, is a contradistinction to the way a Winter aromatic should taste. Citrus is for the summer, vanilla, chocolate and rum are for the winter 😉 The main tobacco flavour's the hay-like Virginia, there's a sweetness congruent with Cavendish, but I'm not to sure about the Burley mentioned in the description; if it's there it's being smothered by the Virginia, Cav', and toppings! It burns too quick and can be a bit warm.

Nicotine: mild. Room-note: pleasant.

Winter's Embrace? Not good. One star:

Not recommended.

Well it is almost wintertime, so let the seasonal Tsuge review commence. I hadn't read up on the contents of this one, so I had zero expectations.

Opening the tin I was met with that Virginia "hay" oder, so I got my buds ready for some Orlik Golden Slice or Escudo Navy de Luxe, but what followed was old cigarette smoke. I was not a fan and was immediately dreading the chore of smoking the whole tin. Not only was the taste off, but the burn sucked to; everything was just dry and turned to ash too quickly.

Upon coming to make my review I discovered to my confusion this was an aromatic, so I went back for another bowl in search of a missing flavor. I really got nothing from it, whatever vanilla that was supposed to live here had clearly left town.

It was just an all over pass for me. I suppose in the coldest part of winter I would be happy for it's warmth, but that is about it.

I bought all of the Four Seasons tins when there was a buy-3-get-1-free sale. So far I've had summer and autumn and enjoyed them both. This one, however, is a different story. I may have just gotten a bad tin. Upon opening I usually await that first rush of the tin note, but here - nothing. Tobacco is very light in appearance and is very dry, which is why I think it might just be a defective tin. I had 5 bowls of it to give it a chance. It lights right up (since it's so dry) but all I get is a very light grassy taste. Only the faintest hint of a casing. I'm going to jar the rest with a rehydrating stone in it to see if that helps. If not, I'll move on to Spring and give this one a miss.