John Aylesbury Summerhill

The grassy, citrusy golden Virginia and the sugary, mellow black cavendish are hardly noticeable in this blend. The stars are the rich tropical fruits (I sense orange, lemon and coconut in the mix). The bourbon vanilla is an important condiment that you observe in every puff, but sports a lightly distracting chemical note. The strength is just past medium, while the taste is a step that. The nic-hit is near the center of mild to medium. May bite a fast puffer, and may tingle the tongue of a moderate one. Burns warm at a reasonable pace with a light inconsistency in the rich flavor. Leaves little moisture in the bowl, and requires an average number of relights. Has a decent after taste despite the chemical hit. Not quite an all day smoke.

-JimInks

I bought this blend for the tin and because I thought that the description was something I might like. The tin itself is durable with a really good seal but the label is sadly enough affixed where it is easily ripped off. Had they painted it on like the Special Reserve tins from Peterson I would have been well pleased with it but it's not. The tobacco itself is pleasant to smell in its raw form. To smoke it gives me the sense of puffing on a cigarette and that's not what I want from an aromatic. I'd say that from tin to light up there's a great transformation and not a good one at that! Oddly it's quite hard to procure perhaps because it comes from Europe.

I received a nice size sample of this several months ago but just have not been in an aromatic mood but decided to try it this evening. This is a course cut ribbon with a nice sweet-smelling tin note, fruity, maybe hint of vanilla. This was not a bad aromatic but as one reviewer mentioned it did sort of remind me of Blue Note, maybe it was the addition of Bourbon Vanilla. History lesson, bourbon vanilla beans are cultivated and cured on the Bourbon Island of Madagascar and has no relation to Bourbon Whiskey. With that said, this blend is okay but honestly, I would rather just smoke Blue Note or Sweet Vanilla Honeydew. On one site it is a little over 17 dollars for a 100-gram tin so I guess price wise it is a plus but I would rather just buy the former blends that I mentioned when you can find them.

The first thing I liked about Summerhill was the price: a 100g tin for under $10 USD, hey. The tin resembles a can of Sterno -inset friction fit metal lid that requires a tool to open. Upon popping it, I was greeted first with the scent of alcohol, then the scent of rich chocolate... hmm, not quite what I expected from a tin with a toucan on it.

The cut is very coarse compared to every other aro I've ever seen. It seems to pack and burn well enough. Once alight the taste is of coconut and chocolate, I mean it tastes like a Mounds bar. A Mounds bar soaked in rum. It does seem to lose some flavoring about mid-bowl. Oh, the flavoring never totally disappears, but past mid-bowl you begin to taste more of the tobacco, which is just fine by me. The tobacco itself seems to be of respectable quality.

Bonus: Summerhill seems hesitant to bite, even when I start to pump it a bit. I get the feeling that it certainly has the ability to bite, but that I would have to be pushing it, trying to make it bite as opposed to normal, natural smoking for it to do so. 3 stars.

As far as I am concerned, this is Blue Note in a different package, with milder added flavoring. Compare the descriptions and compare the two side by side and you’ll see what I mean.

That said, this is an excellent aromatic. Smokes great straight from the tin with excellent taste and fantastic room note.