Robert McConnell Pure Havana

This tobacco is a chopped ribbon, medium brown, about the color of an English wrapper. It has the very faint aroma of chocolate that I find in several McConnell tobaccos, but no chocolate flavor comes through in the smoke. It packs easily and burns evenly all the way to the bottom of the bowl to a fine white ash, similar to cigar ash. The taste of the smoke is reminiscent of a cigar, but not quite; it does not have the full bodied complexity of a cigar, certainly not a fine Cuban, Dominican, et.al., maybe a White Owl or an El Producto. It is sort of cross between a pipe smoking experience and the flavor of a very, very mild cigar, and it is very lightly sweetened so as not to interfere with the leaf's flavor. This tobacco burns fast and hot, but is mild and offers no bite. It has flavor but no depth which makes it a boring smoke. I would not smoke this tobacco straight on any regular basis. However, it is a nice additive to some home made blends I like to tinker with. The cigar leaf adds a little nuance to a mixture that I find interesting. I recommend it for that purpose, but not as a straight pipe tobacco. Paddy.