Vermont Meat Candy combines two great flavors - maple and bacon. We start with a Cavendish that's been given a deep, sweet maple flavor and then we added dark Kentucky that's been fire-cured with hickory wood, which delivers the flavor and aroma of hardwood-smoked bacon. Just think about those Sunday mornings when you'd dip your bacon into the syrup from your pancakes and fell in love with the sweet, smoky and salty flavor. Now you can have that flavor without the calories or cholesterol!>>
If they're going to start manufacturing meat flavored pipe tobacco I'd suggest: Prime Rib, bacon wrapped Fillet, Corned Beef and Cabbage, Lamb Chops, Hearty Beef Stew, and Tripe ... for the more adventurous.
I tried the Briarworks Bacon Old Fashioned at our pipe club meeting last night. With all the discussions I decided to give it a try. The host said it was about a year old. The tin note was actually sort of pleasant if you like the smell of meat. The taste to me had a lot of the whiskey as @pappyjoe mentioned and something that almost tasted baconey... The room note according to the other members was pretty sour and rank. I smoked 1/2 a bowl and that was enough.
I'm glad I tried it for myself so that I can form my own opinion. It's not the WORST tobacco I've ever tasted, but is NOT something that I'd ever buy for myself.
Meat flavored does not sound like something that goes with tobacco and honestly I'm undecided on the matter. I will say this, the Mac Baren HH Old Dark Fired reminds me of beef jerky and it's a great smoke.
@Anthony if you're thinking about a toasted coconut pipe blend look no further than this ... Sutliff Dulce de Leche. Here's the review I wrote for it a while back.
First a description from the P&C website:
"Sutliff Dulce de Leche is a great interpretation of the classic dessert for the pipe. A mellow mixture of premium Burley and Virginia is imbued with a smooth caramel essence to impart a lightly-sweet flavor and aroma."
Strength: Mild
Tobacco: Burley, Virginia
Style: Aromatic
Room Note: 3 - Balanced
My thoughts on Sutliff Dulce de Leche
First I needed to know what exactly Dulce de Leche was, and what I might expect it to taste like. So off I went on a search through the internet and discovered: "The dessert itself is a caramel-like confection from Argentina and Uruguay, loosely translated means "milk candy" or "milk jelly". In a traditional process sugar and milk are cooked over a low heat for hours until the mixture becomes thick and golden. It can be eaten just like that out of the bowl or poured over cake or ice cream like a dessert topping.
Okay, so that clears thing up ... it's something sweet.
There have only been a few times when I've found myself disappointed with a Sutliff aromatic blend and strangely enough when my order of Sutliff Dulce de Leche arrived and I opened the plastic bag to get a whiff of the pouch note I was a bit apprehensive, because the aroma was quite similar to that disappointing blend "Coconut Almond". Now don't get me wrong, both the pouch and room note of "Coconut Almond" are delightful, and the taste is quite reminiscent of an Almond Joy. (So up to this point you're probably wondering - "what's the beef?")
Well it wasn't the aroma or the flavor of "Coconut Almond" that I found off-putting ... it was the tongue bite I received while smoking the blend. It burned hot, and no amount of slowing down on my cadence could relieve the burn as I puffed the pipe. Very sad indeed because the flavor was wonderful ... just not worth the pain. The only way I could eventually smoke it was by blending in small amounts with other tobaccos. Three parts "Chocolate Mousse" and one part "Coconut Almond" usually tamed it down enough to quell the fire, and combining it with "Chocolate Mousse" gave it a very pronounced Almond Joy flavor. So all was not lost.
Dulce de Leche had a similar coconut aroma in the pouch - yet there was a distinct difference I couldn't quite put my finger on until I lit it up a bowl and pulled in my first mouthful. That's when I realized the difference. It was less of the raw coconut flavor you get from an Almond Joy or Mounds Bar, and instead the flavor of toasted coconut. I would liken the flavor to one of those toasted coconut marshmallows like Kraft Jet-Puffed Mallow Bites or Manischewitz Toasted Coconut Marshmallows. Not right out of the bag ... but skewered on a stick and toasted over a campfire, allowing the marshmallow to flame-up and char just a bit.
Retro-haling Dulce de Leche brought back memories of ramming that still warm melted marshmallow into my mouth mere moments after blowing out the flame. That wonderfully delightful burned marshmallow flavor, intensified by the addition of roasted coconut. This is the flavor of Sutliff Dulce de Leche tobacco - sweet, creamy, nutty, and best of all - not a hint of tongue bite. It smokes slow and cool, and burns to a nice white ash. The room note is exactly what you'd expected from a marshmallow roasting over an open campfire. Another great aromatic blend from Sutliff which has been added to my rotation. And plan to have an ample supply in my cellar before the dark days are upon us.
The midwest appears culturally deprived; not enough hispanic influence. It's like flan, witout eggs. (You do know of flan, right?) Here in northern NJ, Dulce de Leche is available in the super markets in a variety of forms, including but not exclusive as custards and ice creams. I have a family recipe for making it at home if anyone cares. It's supremely easy and if you like rich caramel you'll love it.
Comments
@Anthony if you're thinking about a toasted coconut pipe blend look no further than this ... Sutliff Dulce de Leche. Here's the review I wrote for it a while back.
First
a description from the P&C website:
"Sutliff
Dulce de Leche is a great interpretation of the classic dessert for
the pipe. A mellow mixture of premium Burley and Virginia is imbued
with a smooth caramel essence to impart a lightly-sweet flavor and
aroma."
Strength:
Mild
Tobacco:
Burley, Virginia
Style:
Aromatic
Room
Note: 3 - Balanced
My
thoughts on Sutliff Dulce de Leche
First
I needed to know what exactly Dulce de Leche was, and what I might
expect it to taste like. So off I went on a search through the
internet and discovered: "The dessert itself is a
caramel-like confection from Argentina and Uruguay, loosely
translated means "milk candy" or "milk jelly". In
a traditional process sugar and milk are cooked over a low heat for
hours until the mixture becomes thick and golden. It can be eaten
just like that out of the bowl or poured over cake or ice cream like
a dessert topping.
Okay,
so that clears thing up ... it's something sweet.
There
have only been a few times when I've found myself disappointed with a
Sutliff aromatic blend and strangely enough when my order of Sutliff
Dulce de Leche arrived and I opened the plastic bag to get a whiff of
the pouch note I was a bit apprehensive, because the aroma was quite
similar to that disappointing blend "Coconut Almond". Now
don't get me wrong, both the pouch and room note of "Coconut
Almond" are delightful, and the taste is quite reminiscent of an
Almond Joy. (So up to this point you're probably wondering - "what's
the beef?")
Well
it wasn't the aroma or the flavor of "Coconut Almond" that
I found off-putting ... it was the tongue bite I received while
smoking the blend. It burned hot, and no amount of slowing down on my
cadence could relieve the burn as I puffed the pipe. Very sad indeed
because the flavor was wonderful ... just not worth the pain. The
only way I could eventually smoke it was by blending in small amounts
with other tobaccos. Three parts "Chocolate Mousse" and one
part "Coconut Almond" usually tamed it down enough to quell
the fire, and combining it with "Chocolate Mousse" gave it
a very pronounced Almond Joy flavor. So all was not lost.
Dulce
de Leche had a similar coconut aroma in the pouch - yet there was a
distinct difference I couldn't quite put my finger on until I lit it
up a bowl and pulled in my first mouthful. That's when I realized the
difference. It was less of the raw coconut flavor you get from an
Almond Joy or Mounds Bar, and instead the flavor of toasted coconut.
I would liken the flavor to one of those toasted coconut marshmallows
like Kraft Jet-Puffed Mallow Bites or Manischewitz Toasted Coconut
Marshmallows. Not right out of the bag ... but skewered on a stick
and toasted over a campfire, allowing the marshmallow to flame-up and
char just a bit.
Retro-haling
Dulce de Leche brought back memories of ramming that still warm
melted marshmallow into my mouth mere moments after blowing out the
flame. That wonderfully delightful burned marshmallow flavor,
intensified by the addition of roasted coconut. This is the flavor of
Sutliff Dulce de Leche tobacco - sweet, creamy, nutty, and best of
all - not a hint of tongue bite. It smokes slow and cool, and burns
to a nice white ash. The room note is exactly what you'd expected
from a marshmallow roasting over an open campfire. Another great
aromatic blend from Sutliff which has been added to my rotation. And
plan to have an ample supply in my cellar before the dark days are
upon us.
Review - Briarworks "Bacon Old Fashioned"
Matches860: "This is the worst tobacco I've ever tried...it's awful! I always believed you could find something good in any blend...I was wrong."