Cigar Asylum Cigar Forum  

Go Back   Cigar Asylum Cigar Forum > Non Cigar Specialty Forums > Pipe Forum > Reviews

Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
Old 12-01-2008, 06:00 PM   #1
mugwump
Still Watching My Back
 
mugwump's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2008
First Name: Mike
Location: Issaquah, WA
Posts: 133
Trading: (0)
RyJ Navy (Served With Honor)
mugwump is on a distinguished road
Default 4noggins -- Essence of Vermont

Since I enjoyed Cornell & Diehl's Autumn Evening so much I decided to try out the bulk blend Essence of Vermont from 4noggins since I was placing an order with them anyways. This is billed as a Burley blend with hints of maple and a dash of St. James Parish Perique.

The blend is a rich, dark color and gives off a typical nutty Burley aroma with only a very faint scent of maple syrup. I loaded up my Savinelli natural and headed out to the porch with a book in hand.

The pipe lit right up and once it got going it was pretty much hassle free with only a few tampers required to keep things burning nicely which was much appreciated since I was trying to read while smoking. Toward the end of the bowl I did have to run a pipe cleaner down the stem to stop a bit of gurgling but that's par for the course with most aromatics.

The initial flavor was that of a traditional, mellow Burley -- nuttiness cut with a bit of dried fruit. Burleys are among my favorite tobaccos and Essence of Vermont is at its core a very solid Burley blend.

As for the maple flavoring, I was having a hard time detecting it until I started exhaling more through my nose. After that I could easily taste the sweetness of the maple and found it to be both a bit more natural in flavor than the Autumn Blend as well as more muted. I never really picked up the Perique in this blend save for a slightly spicy finish.

4noggins' Essence of Vermont is a great, two-headed blend. If you're just merrily puffing along it offers up a hearty Burley flavor with nary a tongue bite to be had. But if you slow down and sip at your pipe you'll be rewarded with a rich, cool, maple taste that lingers on the palate long after you're done. This would make for a perfect all day smoke since you can easily change the flavor profile at will.

While the taste of this tobacco was top-notch, the room aroma was surprisingly muted. What faint whiffs I did catch were very pleasant but not on par with the full on maple assault of the Autumn Evening blend.

In a head-to-head competition with Cornell & Diehl's offering for best maple-flavored tobacco the slight edge goes to Autumn Evening. But while that blend features all the sweetness one would expect from a maple aromatic, Essence of Vermont offers up a solid burley that can be enjoyed in its own right with the maple flavoring adding just a bit of icing on the cake.

Essence of Vermont is a great tobacco available exclusively in bulk from 4noggins and is a real bargain to boot. I can see this blend competing with Butternut Burley for primacy in my current rotation (can you tell I like Burleys?) since it's such a carefree smoke.
__________________
Meandering Smoke
mugwump is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Forum Jump


All times are GMT -6. The time now is 11:25 PM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.7.4
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
All content is copyrighted jointly by Cigar Asylum and the content provider.