After five or six bowls I finally feel comfortable giving my opinion of this tobacco. This is a very strange blend. It is both the best aromatic and the worst English I've tried to date. It works well as an aro in that it maintains its casing/topping flavour throughout the entire bowl, not burning out after only a few good hauls like so many other aromatics do. The artificial flavour itself is not too cloyingly sweet or overbearing like lots of lesser aros can be. And it burns pretty well, too, even if it's not dried out a bit before it's packed. Surprisingly, I still haven't been able to get it close to feeling hot in the bowl or biting my tongue, and I puff like a madman with this stuff trying to get some decent natural tobacco flavour out of it (see next paragraph). But the praise ends here, I'm affraid.
There's obviously more going on with this tobacco than its respectable aromatic song 'n' dance. The latakia and Virginia in this mix unfortunately are mostly burried by its artificially sweet aspirations. The sweetness here is definitely not the natural variety coming from its Virginia component. I actually cannot taste the Virginias at all. The latakia manages to poke through a bit but, again, it gets wrapped up in artificial sugary sweetness (subtle as it may be) and loses most of its natural qualities. Instead of smokey latakia, all I smell--in pouch and smoke--is perfumey sweetness. As far as its strength goes, well, it just doesn't go at all. Looking at Northwoods as an English blend, it is sorely lacking in the richness and fullness of other English blends. Even though it produces a lot of thick smoke, the smoke itself doesn't have any backbone to it. I experience it as weak and limp... it looks good floating around my head but it seems like it forgot to drop off the goods while it was in my mouth and nose.
A friend of mine was over the last time I smoked Northwoods and he commented that the room note smelled like pot. Mind you, he's neither a pot nor pipe smoker, so take his impression for what it's worth. Based on everything I've experienced with this blend, I have to wonder if I wasn't given the wrong tobacco, if maybe the person filling my order accidentally threw some Boswell's No Bite DeLite into my Northwoods baggie. Most reviews of Northwoods that I've read talk it up as fairly stout and flavourful tobacco. I simply don't get that. Not even close. Wish i did, though. Those that like it seem to reeeally love it. My Churchwarden that I got in the same order however did live up to the Boswell's fine reputation. It is easily my best smoker so far. Felt like I needed to end this on a positive note.
There's obviously more going on with this tobacco than its respectable aromatic song 'n' dance. The latakia and Virginia in this mix unfortunately are mostly burried by its artificially sweet aspirations. The sweetness here is definitely not the natural variety coming from its Virginia component. I actually cannot taste the Virginias at all. The latakia manages to poke through a bit but, again, it gets wrapped up in artificial sugary sweetness (subtle as it may be) and loses most of its natural qualities. Instead of smokey latakia, all I smell--in pouch and smoke--is perfumey sweetness. As far as its strength goes, well, it just doesn't go at all. Looking at Northwoods as an English blend, it is sorely lacking in the richness and fullness of other English blends. Even though it produces a lot of thick smoke, the smoke itself doesn't have any backbone to it. I experience it as weak and limp... it looks good floating around my head but it seems like it forgot to drop off the goods while it was in my mouth and nose.
A friend of mine was over the last time I smoked Northwoods and he commented that the room note smelled like pot. Mind you, he's neither a pot nor pipe smoker, so take his impression for what it's worth. Based on everything I've experienced with this blend, I have to wonder if I wasn't given the wrong tobacco, if maybe the person filling my order accidentally threw some Boswell's No Bite DeLite into my Northwoods baggie. Most reviews of Northwoods that I've read talk it up as fairly stout and flavourful tobacco. I simply don't get that. Not even close. Wish i did, though. Those that like it seem to reeeally love it. My Churchwarden that I got in the same order however did live up to the Boswell's fine reputation. It is easily my best smoker so far. Felt like I needed to end this on a positive note.
