Oh, Fumari. How i have avoided spending the kind of money you demand under the pretext that your products couldn’t possibly be worth the cost…
Well, it was a long time coming, but I bit the bullet and spent the money on a couple packs of this ultra-modern tobacco. The cost was about $10USD for 100 grams of tobacco. That’s more expensive than even Starbuzz and it’s damn impressive to give those guys a run for their money. No matter the outcome of this review, just to be frank, I think it’s too damn expensive.
Upon opening the package I was greeted with a smell so sweet that it was a little jarring. I was worried that this was going to be a sweet tea flavor that drips with sugar and leaves the mouth feeling unclean. As you can see below, the tobacco is soaked through with the usual heaping helping of glycerin and syrup. I believe this is a honey based tobacco, but I need to check to confirm what is evidenced in the color.
The flavor is pretty damn amazing. It tastes like moderately sweetened, black tea and was distinctly less sweet than the smell had implied. The citrus note has some lemony characteristics, but was most definitely an orange flavor. The combination of orange and pleasantly bitter tea flavors gave the impression of something akin to Earl Gray, which I found really delightful. It’s much more refreshing than Nakhla Earl Gray and it has a clean flavor profile that I find impressive for a tobacco that’s so obviously drowned in glycerin.
All in all I would say that this tobacco has earned a spot among my favorites, but I won’t be keeping it on hand simply because it’s so expensive. If it was in the same price range as Tangiers I would probably smoke this every other day. Even if it was in the range of Starbuzz I would keep a good portion on hand. I like it so much that I’m willing to pay Starbuzz prices! That should say something to you folks. But, it’s even more expensive than that and I would rather smoke Nakhla Earl Gray mixed with Social Smoke Lemon to get something similar at a fraction of the price.
Thank you for writing this review, it is helpful to me as I’m still figuring out which flavors and brands of shisha I like best (i.e., getting tired of Blue Mist!) I’ll be ordering some Fumari Citrus Tea based on your description and ratings. Thank you also for the tip on mixing the Nakhla Earl Gray with Social Smoke lemon – will try that too.