The King Street Emporium

Milk & Honey

Virginia Cavendish (base)

Milk and Honey, or Halav U'Duash in Hebrew, is part of the Hebraica Series, a line of blends with an unusual origin. William Serad, a longtime collaborator of Cornell and Diehl founder Craig Tarler and the blender behind Red Carpet and Cross-Eyed Cricket, was friends with rabbi Ira Stone. Stone had particular tastes in pipe tobacco, favoring Burley, Oriental, and Perique mixtures, and asked Serad to put some blends together for him. Those blends became the Hebraica Series. Rabbi Stone named each one, drawing on the language and spirituality of Jewish tradition. Halav U'Duash, the biblical phrase for a land flowing with milk and honey, gives this blend both its name and its orientation. The construction is a generous one. Black and red Virginia Cavendish form the base, with rough cut Burley and dark fired Kentucky adding body and earthiness, Middle Eastern Oriental leaf contributing its characteristic dry and slightly tangy character, and a touch of Perique rounding out the back end. Light aromatic toppings are present but applied sparingly. This smokes closer to a natural tobacco blend than a traditional aromatic, with the components doing more work than the flavoring. Ribbon cut, mild to medium strength.