Hearth & Home Chatham Manor

I smoked CM and CH back to back all weekend and I prefer CH. CH has more bourbon evident in the topping, CM more chocolate. I like the bourbon. While the tobaccos in CM have a little more body, I prefer the flavors of the tobaccos in CH. CH is nuttier and sweeter. All in all CM is close, very close, to matching CH, but doesn't quite pull it off to my taste buds. It's still a very good smoke.

Mild to medium in body. Mild in flavoring. Mild to medium in flavor. Burns perfectly. Smooth with no bite.

Been looking for something a little more wife-friendly than my typical English and Balkan blends - or the more hardcore burley blends like Old Joe Krantz - all of which I enjoy. I’ve had a pouch of Carter Hall - and while not offensive at all - it just didn’t float my boat. To me - it had a slight chemical taste and was a little sticky. Wanting to try something reminiscent of the old school American tubs - I went in for a 2-ounce bag or Chatham Manor.

Note upon opening the bag was cocoa powder, vanilla, and something boozy. Not overwhelming - but definitely pleasant. Moisture was a tad high for my liking, but I packed it up straight away.

Charring light and true light - and we’re off and running. Cocoa and maybe some vanilla are present - but not too strong to detract from the fact that you are smoking tobacco. This is absolutely not a candy bar aromatic. This stuff burns so easily. Mindlessly even. Smoke gets a little thin... oops I forgot to tamp. Tamp and again you’re off and running. No relights - just maybe the occasional touch up. I tend to be a fast smoker - and sometimes smoke to hot and get bit in the process. No such thing going on here. You’d have to work pretty hard and have the tobacco pretty wet to get bit. Again - like I said - it’s an effortless smoke.

The essence of cocoa and booze are present throughout. But they seem rather complementary to the basic tobacco taste, sitting in the background but consistently making their presence know - enhancing it, rather than dominating it.

Large volumes of delicious smoke. No real complaints from the wife - so that’s always a plus. Not much strength. But calming in the aspect that you’re partaking in a hobby that you enjoy, and you don’t have to put much effort into enjoying this blend. Pack it. Light it. Tamp it. And go on with your business or your leisure.

I’ve had several bowls out of several briars. No ghosting that I can tell - but I’ve never been very good at noticing that anyway. Always gives the same pleasant, easy smoking experience. Easily repeatable. Easily and enjoyable all-day smoke. Pairs nicely with your morning coffee. Goes great on your morning drive. Can’t say enough of about the simple pleasures of this tobacco.

I’m quite glad I’ve returned to this type of blend and have rediscovered the simplistic pleasures of smoking and American style burley without the bite. This won’t blow your socks off - but it won’t disappoint if you just want to smoke and not think about anything at all. I plan to add a 14 ounce tub to my cabinet and return to this regularly. Lastly - I’d highly recommend this for beginning smokers.

Chatham Manor is a great tobacco. It burns evenly. No goop left in the bottom of the bowl. I get some mild tastes of cocoa in this blend with with a little bite and harshness if not sipped. Makes a good all day smoke for me.

I won't spend time going over the flavor profile of Chatham Manor as several reviewers before me have so eloquently told it all by now. IMHO this blend shares a few similarities to Carter Hall (a great Codger Burley blend that has withstood the test of time) but only a few. As much as I like CH as a regular, no frills, just load & forget it smoking blend with great tobacco flavor ... I like this one too but not quite as well as CH. This blend is different enough to warrant standing on its own merits without being dubbed a CH copy cat. The flavor is quite good ... but its "impotent" in my opinion. Puff it slowly or you may get more "steam heat" instead of the nutty flavor. After 40+ years of smoking everything "legal" under the sun ... I'm finding that my tobacco palate nowadays prefers great tasting monochromatic blends without a ton of "jump up and slap you in the mouth" complexity of flavors. Sure I still enjoy a myriad of complex blends on occasion .... the so-called boutique blends. However, more often than not, for the times when I want just a good, clean, mild, easy to smoke blend with great natural tobacco flavor ... Chatham Manor does the job well and it's a nice slight change of pace from some of the other "just good ole Codger tobaccos" ... just wish it had more depth. I recommend packing it rather tightly (to help increase the depth of flavor), sip it slowly, and I think you’ll find some nice clean flavors there to enjoy. This one gets my 3 star vote.

I finally found an all day smoke that I don't get tired of. An aromatic that won't bite, Chatham Manor has overtones of cocoa and is very smooth. Plus, this tobacco is very affordable.

I was pretty excited about trying this as Carter Hall is, perhaps, my favorite of the American OTC blends and this, of course, is Russ' Tribute? to that blend. I think Tribute is a good term, because I did not find it that similar, so as a match, IMO, it definitely misses the mark.

While Carter Hall is sometimes described as chocolatey, I think that flavor is more a result of the interactions between the other toppings and the natural chocolate notes of the burley; whereas, with CM, the chocolate is taken too literally and it is full on topped with some chocolate topping. I, personally do not like chocolate topping on tobacco, so this was a turn off to me.

The good news is the topping does tend to lift a bit and, for the most part, you are left with an easy burning flavorful VaBur. In further comparison to CH, I don't think this is as strong in the nicotine as CH although this is not by a large margin.

On its merits, it packs easy, it smokes easy, doesn't bite, can easily be smoked all day. Its positive attributes do resemble CH, but the taste, and even the texture and color of the leaf, does not. So it is kind of a split review in that I would not recommend this as a substitute for CH (mostly because CH is available and cheap), but I would recommend this as a VB on the chocolatey side. I am somewhere between 2 and 3 stars, but I will round up since two of the nicest pipe friends I have love it.

Solid blend but not as good as advertised. It tastes like what it is burley and red Virginia. The red Virginia and burley are very well balanced and the addition of the flavoring is very lightly done and adds a chocolatey, nondescript sweetness. It’s good but not my favorite. If you like red Virginia then you’ll probably like this. It does burn very well and I had few relights. For me it’s so well balanced to a fault because it lacks any sort of character. I enjoy the sweet cask more because even though the flavors are lighter and more subtle it has more character in my opinion. Next stop for me is chestnut in the mid town series, I’m very excited about that one!

First tried this several years back, when it first came out and didn't really care for it probably because I smoked so much Carter Hall and felt it did not compare. Fast forward to now and I smoke it quite a bit. This is an enjoyable mild all day smoke that burns well, smell nice and tastes great. Maybe my tastes for burleys has changed or I just like different things now but I do recommend giving it a try.

I agree with most of the other reviews. Chatham Manor isn't remotely similar to Carter Hall but it stands ok on its own merits. I could taste nothing but chocolate and, in that respect, it would be a good match to Sir Walter Raleigh Aromatic except it doesn't bite as readily as SWRA. It smokes cool and dry down to light gray ash with no chemical taste. It is monochromatic compared to Carter Hall's complex taste but, at $24 per tub it is a much better value than the plastic bags of chemical soaked cigarette tobacco sold as pipe tobacco.