Aright let’s get this review started! This week we have Tabac Sherman 509 Blend, by Nat Sherman.

Nat Sherman also manufactuer’s cigar’s and other tobacco products.

The 509 blend is a dark cavendish which is produced out of Virginia tobacco.

Brand: Nat Sherman

Container : Tin

Ounces : 2.0

Tobacco’s: Virginia

Flavor: Toasted Cavendish

MSRP: $9.00

After a brief struggle with the air tight seal on the 509 tin I finally got it open.

The tobacco let off a very rich cavendish smell, it almost had a chocolate cake scent that I couldn’t exactly put my finger on as to what it might resemble.

The quality of the 509 seemed outstanding. Cavendish is more of a method used to treat the tobacco then a type of tobacco.

It’s slightly flavored then heated by high pressure resulting in the very dark color.

The tobacco has a great moist feel to it, but not overly so.  It’s not crumbly or to flaky and it seems very well cured.

Time to pack the pipe.

I packed it the usual way, gravity feeding the tobacco into the bowl in three stages, packing it down a little firmer each time.

I stepped outside to light her up, let’s see what this is all about.

First Third:

The 509 lit up wonderfully even in a high wind. The first taste of smoke was hard to judge since this was just the charring light. After tamping it down and lighting again, the flavors really opened up. The 509 was giving off a very great toasted cavendish that was full of creamy, sweet notes. The room note stayed light and very pleasant, once again returning to that bakery smell. There were no re-lighting issues after that.

Second Third:

During the second third the rich Virginia tobacco taste came alive, for being one of the mildest tobacco’s in the blended category the 509 blend is full of flavor.

Through out the majority of the second third the 509 remained lit, the room note was just so impressive, it almost makes you want to chase the smoke as it is carried off by the wind.

The fresh chocolate cake taste remained, as well as the natural sweetness of the cured Virginia. The rich creamy finish really amped up as well during the second third, this was one of the more enjoyable Nat Sherman aromatics I have had.

Final Third:

As the final third rolled around I found myself a bit sad, it was almost like a great vacation coming to a close.

The aroma the 509 puts out is one of the most enjoyable in the Aromatic world in my opinion.

The burn rate stayed consistent and strong, never going to hot. During the final third it really began to put off more smoke then before but that just seemed to increase the flavor.

As the end of the tobacco neared, I got a very deep chocolate taste that I absolutely loved, and throughout the final third I was getting hints of black coffee.

Right up until it finally had nothing left to burn I was enjoying it, time just seemed to fly by as I was lost in a world of flavor’s and thought.

Overall:

The 509 is absolutely outstanding, Nat Sherman really put quality into this product. The flavor’s weren’t very complex but that was expected, since Virginia tobacco is the mildest and sweetest of them all.

This is definitely one of the tobacco’s I would choose to smoke at a gathering or at a bbq because everyone would enjoy the sweet honey like aroma it lets off.

I plan to keep the 509 a major player in my pipes, and at least 4 ounces of it in my humidor.

Liked it: Loved it

Buy it again: Easily

Recommend it: Highly!!

Brand: Borkum Riff

Container : Pouch

Ounces : 1.5

Tobacco’s: Virgina & Burley

Flavor: Bourbon Whiskey

MSRP: $5.00

The  pre-light smell of the tobacco is  quite amazing. It has all the notes of Whiskey with a strong chocolate somewhere inside. The chocolate is probably due to the Burley, since that’s a common feature of that tobacco.

When I took a pinch for the photo it seemed to be blended well, not to stringy and not dry at all.

So far so good!

There Website says the tobacco’s are infused with eight-year old Kentucky Bourbon.

The pipe I’ve chosen for this smoke is actually nothing to special, but it works like a charm. I picked this up from my local B&M for about $30.00

Time to pack it.

I did the normal three layer stack.

Seems like the blend contains more Virgina then Burley. Sometimes I wish the blender’s broke it down in parts.

The tobacco was very springy and needed more force then usual to press down the final third.

I always draw air through the pipe after it’s packed, to insure nothing is blocked and to taste the flavor’s.

The Bourbon Whiskey taste was the main thing I was picking up before the light.

First Third:

I found the first third hard to keep lit.  Even after the charring light it remained tougher then normal to keep the “home fire” burning.

The initial flavor’s were mainly the chocolaty hint of the burley with the Bourbon Whiskey finishing up.

The aroma seemed to have lost it’s Whiskey quality but kept a very sweet tone that wouldn’t offend.

During the first third I kept getting this nutty flavor that I couldn’t exactly place my finger on yet. With all the burley in this blend I was hoping for a more creamy smoke but so far I wasn’t finding that.

Second Third:

During the second third, nothing had really changed, I was finding this to be a very one dimensional smoke. It offered that hint of whiskey, with a sweet hazelnut, the burley gave a small chocolaty finish but over all it wasn’t very powerful in the flavor aspect.

I didn’t have any re-lights during the second third. It really got going smoke wise, and the room note definatly increases but just stayed sweet.

Towards the end of the second third the Burley finish really began to mellow and the Virgina started to come alive. Even though the natural tobacco taste changed it seemed to actually offer less in terms of flavor.

Final Third:

As the Final Third came around I was still enjoying the mellow flavor’s but it just seemed to lack that one thing it needed to push it over the edge and make it memorable. Even though this wasn’t exactly what I was looking for at the time it does have it’s place. This would make an excellent early morning smoke when you don’t want to be over-powered, or right before dinner when you don’t want to ruin the flavor’s of your food.

The sweetness really increased in the Final Third and I had to re-light it once, but that was expected since I couldn’t devote all my time to it due to a phone call.

Overall:

I think this is a great quality smoke at the end of it all, it just doesn’t really ever come alive, but it’s always just enough flavor to make you smoke further down to find more.

I think this would make a great introductory smoke for someone just looking to get into pipe tobacco’s. It is light enough to keep a new comer interested, and tasty enough to make someone adventure out for something else.

For a 5 dollar pouch it is not bad at all. But having smoked other Borkum Riff products I guess I was just expecting somthing more.

Liked it: Yes

Buy it again: Possibly but wouldn’t be smoked often.

Recommend it: Even though I didn’t think it was quite there on the flavor side, I would definitely recommend it to anyone who is looking to try pipe tobacco’s or has been unable to find something that would go well in the morning. If you have friends interested in trying pipe smoking I wouldn’t hesitate to offer them this.