Hearth & Home -- Classic Burley Kake

Brand: Hearth & Home
Blend: Classic Burley Kake
Style: Burley/Virginia
Pipe Used: Savinelli Natural #313
Price: $19.99/8oz.

Appearance: 7
Taste: 8
Room Note: 8
Value: 7
Overall: 8

Classic Burley Kake is a house blend created by Russ Oullette for the Habana Premium Cigar Shoppe (better known as pipesandcigars.com). This blend of various burley and Virginia tobaccos with rum, cocoa, and anise flavorings is a krumble kake and depending on how it was treated in the mail it may well be primarily ribbon-cut by the time it arrives on your doorstep. The order I received was about 25% kake and the rest had already fallen apart.

The tobacco was light to medium brown and just moist enough to hold the kake pieces together. The aroma of the unlit tobacco reminded me of classic New Orleans style bread pudding and smelled of rum-soaked raisins, vanilla, and a hint of rich chocolate.

I loaded my Savinelli Natural #313 with pieces of pre-broken tobacco, gave it a charring light and a gentle tamp, and started smoking.

From the first puff the blend reminded me of another pipesandcigars.com house blend, Butternut Burley. The tobacco had that same nutty burley base with hints of dark rum, vanilla, and maple syrup. Even the burnt caramel room aroma was the same.

Where the two tobaccos differed was in the ratios of the various flavors. Whereas Butternut Burley brings its aromatic features to the fore the Classic Burley Kake allows the tobacco to take center stage and the other flavorings serve as mere condiments. The addition of cocoa and anise flavors to the krumble kake also added some extra sweetness and a lingering tingle on the tongue that reminded me of lemongrass.

The Classic Burley Kake burned easily and never turned bitey even after some hard puffing. All that was left in the pipe was some dark ash and a bit of dottle.

This Hearth & Home blend offered up a delightful and flavorful smoke but given the fact that its little brother Butternut Burley can be had for half the cost I think I'll stick with that all too similar blend and leave the Classic Burley Kake for those times when I feel like fussing with a krumble kake.