Ashton -- Guilty Pleasure

Brand: Ashton
Blend: Guilty Pleasure
Style: Aromatic
Pipe Used: Savinelli Natural
Price: Gift

Appearance: 8
Taste: 5
Room Note: 9
Value: 8
Overall: 7

I received a tin of Ashton Guilty Pleasure when I bought a couple of pipes recently and figured that I should give the stuff a try. Upon opening the tin you see a typical ribbon-cut Cavendish which in my case was also bone dry. The tin aroma is very sweet and cloying which didn't bode well for the taste of the tobacco.

I loaded up my Savinelli Natural #313 and gave it a quick charring light. The first few puffs were very harsh probably due to the dry nature of the tobacco. Usually I'm good to go after that but this stuff just refused to stay lit and required relighting after every few puffs. Since the tobacco was so dry there was no goop or gurgle to deal with.

The taste was fairly mild when smoked slowly but any quick puffing resulted in tongue bite and a harsh cigarette sort of flavor. There were some nice hints of berries and the blend wasn't nearly as sweet as the tin aroma led me to fear. But the tobacco never really progressed from there and remained a mild, barely interesting smoke.

The room aroma was excellent however and I would easily rate it among my favorites in that category. While the berry flavors were quite mild the aroma was jam-packed with the smell of a fresh baked blackberry pie. I only wish it tasted half as good as it smelled.

Ashton Guilty Pleasure is a nice smelling but thoroughly bland tobacco and there are much better aromatics out there to put up with this very high maintenance blend.