[nutcracker]

So Rob (Badbriar) generously helped me procure some of this stuff. I always wonder about hype - especially hard to find/ limited editions/ etc. Interestingly though the tobacco is not that expensive retail - just hard to find and abused by secondary markets.

I opened the bag on the weekend to give it a try and loaded a bowl immediately. Struggled to get it going, so abandoned the attempt is fear of scorching the rim. I set some aside to dry a bit for 6 hours and had a go last night.

Te appearance is like crumbling thin sliced biltong (jerky). The aroma is powerful - fills the space even before lighting. A smokey medicinal smell that reminds me of Laphroiag single malt. - iodine, salty seaweed and bandaids.

I packed a big bowl full in my Dunhill '56 Canadian shell briar. First imprssions were underwhelming, but after ten minutes this went full bore. Tons of flavour and aroma. Fantastic - BBQ meat, turkey dark meat and stuffing, maybe even dates and figs. This is a meal of a smoke.

The aftertaste hung around for a good hour. Later in the day I had some Syrian Star and it seemed positively whimpish by comparison.