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elcome to another episode of "Tasting Notes." Today I am talking about the latest and greatest, in fact, the first new addition to the Two Friends line of pipe tobacco in some time, Two Friends Homeward Bound. For those of you that may not be aware, the Two Friends line of pipe tobaccos represents a long-standing collaboration between G.L. Pease, the Dark Lord himself, and Cornell & Diehl. The original formulations were a collaboration between Greg Pease and Craig Tarler, and recently Greg and Jeremy Reeves have teamed up Two Friends to basically revisit this entire line and to update, reformulate, and improve the existing Two Friend SKUs and to bring us something brand new to try.

Homeward Bound: A Bespoke Aromatic Mixture

I was initially really excited to try Homeward Bound because it is billed as a bespoke Aromatic mixture and knowing that it was a collaboration between Jeremy Reeves and Greg Pease, I was really excited to see what those two had in store. I mean, I would say that as blenders, they have both demonstrated a wide range of capabilities, but we tend to associate certain types of tobaccos with certain blenders. And I would say that Aromatic is one of those categories that neither comes to mind when I think of either Jeremy Reeves or Greg Pease. And I think that's kind of what's exciting about Homeward Bound: it's an opportunity for those guys to play in a space that they definitely have plenty of experience in, but that maybe at this point those of us that are consumers and that are fans of theirs don't associate necessarily with their names, if that makes sense. I wanted to see what they could do with the classic American Aromatic blend.

Nostalgic Flavor Profile & Room Note

Homeward Bound is a mixture of matured White Burley, Dark Burley, Red Virginia, and Bright Virginia. There is a proprietary top dressing, and basically what you end up with is a very familiar and a very nostalgic American-style Aromatic mixture that emphasizes the natural tobacco properties a little bit more than we might typically associate with those type of mixtures and includes a flavor profile and a room note that are especially broad in their appeal. I mean, honestly, this is an archetypal Aromatic pipe tobacco. It has everything that you want plus enough complexity and natural tobacco flavor to keep even those purists satiated.

Enticing Tin Note With An Earthy, Semi-Sweet Aroma

As you would expect, the tin note is most enticing. That's definitely not just the tin note, but the room note and the flavor profile overall. In the truest sense, it's an Aromatic pipe mixture. You do get a little bit of the tangy, grassy, and earthy tobacco notes coming through, but mostly what I get is a semi-sweet and very boozy quality from the tin note. It's kind of difficult to pin down and I think that Greg and Jeremy did an excellent job coming up with the dressing in the top note for this blend, because it is all encompassing. It really does feature most of the traditional and desirable aromatic elements in pipe tobacco, I would say. There's a boozy quality, something that reminds me simultaneously of also chocolate and vanilla, a little bit of nuttiness, and a good bit of sweetness as well. And I think that does come through in the smoke, although the smoke is much more complex than the tin note. Cut wise, I think the moisture content is pretty much perfect right out of the tin here. Really nice long ribbons, a couple of chunkier pieces, and a mixture of bright medium chestnut and dark leaf.

Perfect Moisture Content Straight Out Of The Tin

For most Aromatics, I do not really advise giving them too much dry time. You do want to keep as much of the aroma as possible and as much of the complexity as possible. So I gave mine a little bit of aeration before packing, but not any more than a few minutes of dry time. I think that it still takes to the flame rather easily and performs and stays lit very well, partly due to the cut, but really it's the perfect moisture content for enjoyment immediately out of the tin.

Initial Light: Traditional Aromatic, Modern Spin

Seeing as Aromatics are a little bit outside of my wheelhouse, personally, it usually takes me a little bit longer with the tobacco to really wrap my head around it. And I will say that even though I'm still finding new things to enjoy about Homeward Bound, the initial light, just like the initial whiff of the tin itself, was immediately nostalgic. This feels like a traditional Aromatic with a modern touch, mostly due to the quality of the leaf here and the fact that that's very much present in the smoke itself. It's such an archetype for an Aromatic blend.

You have creaminess and sweetness, but it's not cloying by any stretch. I do notice notes of vanilla initially as well as a boozy quality that is definitely more rum than it is whiskey. And by that I mean there's some sweeter notes, maybe some deep-spiced molasses kind of tones and not necessarily a lot of sharper woody type notes. Additionally, there is a pretty pronounced nuttiness that I think could both be due to the topping and to the Burleys that are used in the blend. They complement each other really nicely in that case. The retrohale is really outstanding. You get a lot of those lovely aromatic qualities, but you also get a pretty good tobacco base. I feel like I'm tasting the Burleys maybe more than anything else here, the mixture of the White and Dark Burley grades. You have a bit of that cocoa vibe, a little bit of earthiness, and a little bit of what I consider a regular tobacco flavor that I associate with things like air-cured leaf and cigars. Additionally, there's a ton of body and creaminess. There's a surprising amount of body, actually, and also a decent little bit of strength.

Decadent Room Note, Pleasing For Non-Smoking Companions

This is checking all the boxes for me and adding a new box that I don't normally have on my list, which is the lovely aroma, with both the retrohale and the room note. I'm getting reports, generally, that the room note is to die for. It smells incredible. This is something that in mixed company, not only will you be tolerated as a pipe smoker, but I think this is the kind of thing that somebody would go to Anthropology and spend a lot of money on within a candle that smelled like this, for sure. It has just a beautiful room note and aroma. I love the way that this burns. The spontaneity that it has reminds me a lot of what I like about a lot of English mixtures. Just a little bit of a tamp and you're off to the races again. I am sipping this as slowly as possible and I'm not having any real issues keeping it lit. The burn is perfect. It's really well behaved in the pipe and as the bowl progresses you start to get more and more of the natural-tobacco qualities.

Natural Tobacco Characteristics Mixed With Aromatic Sweetness

I'm still primarily getting the Burley influence. But the more that I go on, I am getting a cereal kind of note, a little bit of tanginess, and a little bit of that grassy and citrusy kind of nature that you get from the Bright Virginias. I think the Red and Bright Virginias here as the bowl progresses start to make themselves more present.

What you end up with is an Aromatic tobacco that I think would appeal to a lot of different pipe smokers. Like I said, it has enough body, strength, and a natural tobacco character to please the purists. But if you want to switch up your rotation, add something with a little more aromatic quality to it just to challenge yourself for a change of pace. Or if you are smoking in mixed company in public or at home inside, if you're that lucky, this is something that's going to go over super well with your non-smoking companions.

Homeward Bound By Two Friends: Perfect For Aromatic Fans And Purists

Today I'm smoking Two Friends Homeward Bound in a Clarin Clay Canadian model. This has become my go-to tasting pipe and with this mixture I really wanted to get the full scope of what the aromatic qualities had to offer in the retrohale and on the palate. The Clarin Clay fit the bill for that. Two Friends pipe tobacco is a long-standing collaboration between Cornell & Diehl and Greg Pease. I'm particularly excited to see the direction that Jeremy Reeves and Greg take these blends and the new additions to the line, in particular. And with Homeward Bound, I think that they've captured something very special, which is an Aromatic blend that feels simultaneously classic and nostalgic and also modern and fresh. The underlying blend of the tobaccos are super high quality and provide a fantastic mix that's very balanced and gives you the best qualities of different grades of Burley and different grades of Virginias. But really whatever it is that they've concocted to top this tobacco with, like I said, it just ticks all the boxes.

You've got the right levels of sweetness, the right levels of complexity, a little bit of chocolate, a little bit of vanilla, a little something boozy, and a little something nutty, as well as a few things that I'm still trying to wrap my head around. I think that regular Aromatic smokers are going to find something that is going to shoot to the top of their rotation immediately. And I think the rest of us deserve a little treat every once in a while. Why not smoke something a little sweeter? And it is very satisfying, including for those in the room with you. Thanks everybody. I'll see you next time.