Watch City's "Blue Ridge Special" (Bulk by the Ounce)

Package note of tangy sweet and smoky sauce. Tobacco is a ribbon cut of reddish brown, dark brown and a little black. Moisture content is great. Burns moderate with a few relights. The strength is mild to medium and nic is mild. No flavoring detected. Taste is mild to medium and moderately consistent, with notes of tangy dark fruit, mild sweet incense, spices, sugar, wood, fermented vegetation, savory, mildly sour, sweet bread, earth, hay, tart and tangy citrus, acidic, floral, a deeply sweet grassy background note, and a peppery retro. Virginias are leading with latakia supporting. Room note is pleasant to tolerable, and aftertaste is great.

I really like this one and prefer it to Fat Bastard. The burn and balance are great, and the extra latakia makes this one a bit more savory and tasty to my palate. One of my two favorite Watch City special blends.

Another excellent blend, a little sweet and spicy

I found this tobacco to be a great blend, it has a very good flavor & pleasant room note. I highly recommend this blend.

Decided to try another Watch City blend and my only disappointment was that I didn’t try this sooner. A great balance of the Virginia tobaccos and the doctored Latakia. Not sure what they do to it but I like it. Chalk up another great blend from Ernie, suddenly I’m not missing some the blends that have gone by the wayside and grateful for what we have right now!

Been wanting to try this, and boy, am I glad I did! Sweet and full of flavor!

Although this blend is described as a Virginia/Latakia blend you really wouldn’t know it without reading the description. Whatever process Ernie uses on the Latakia is terrific! It just adds a subtle smokiness and imparts a genuine depth to the Virginias. I even thought a time or two that there was a Perique quality to the blend as well. Superb blend!

Amazing blend. ANOTHER amazing blend thay is. Ernie is a magician when it comes to blending tobacco, and not only does it show with Blue Ridge, it shows with everything else I own from Watch City. The Latakia is supplied with a delicate hand, in the perfect amount to be a condiment rather than a true role player. To me it adds more depth to the already fantastic Simply Red. So to my taste, this is more of a different (incredible) version of Simply Red rather than being Simply Red w/ Latakia if that makes sense.

You know how some blends attack your senses? Like jumping into the shallow end of a very cold pool? You are shocked but still half in and half out of the water. Not so with Blue Ridge Special. Like all of Ernie's blends, the tobacco taste is more nuanced; no need for a sensory attack. Blue Ridge Special is like slipping in the perfectly warm water of an almost quiet pool. Right up to your neck with comfort. Somehow, the Latakia enhances and tempers the flavor of the Simply Red, but without screaming LATAKIA! This is a smooth smoke with a spicy edge that massages rather than cuts. The flavor stays true right to the end of the bowl and while I may not try to, I believe I could smoke it all day.

I was skeptical. I enjoy Latakia but I’m not a devout fan. Blue Ridge Special is a good reason to rethink that opinion. I can smoke this blend everyday, it’s that good. Simplicity is such comfort.