GQ Tobaccos Classic English

The smokey, woodsy, slightly sweet Cyprian latakia is almost the predominant flavor, but it allows the other components to have their say. The cigar leaf is woody, earthy, mildly spicy, and a little more obvious at the front end than the finish, though you’ll always taste it. The brown cavendish offers a few slight honey, sugar and creamy notes. The woody, dry Kentucky is a minor addition, but you’ll notice it from time to time. The flue-cured, stoved Virginias act mainly as a base for the other ingredients, but are a little grassy and fermented cirtus sweet. Full of flavor and strength with a little sharpness and complexity, it does not overwhelm the smoker as some lat-bombs will, and this isn’t a lat-bomb anyway. The nic-hit is medium. Won't bite. Burns clean and cool at a reasonable pace with lots of billowing smoke, very little moisture in the bowl, and requires few relights. Has a strong after taste and room note. Recommended for experienced smokers, I also suggest using a pipe with a wide bowl for this mixture.

-JimInks

Now to preface this review I have been searching for a blend to smoke in the evening, a true nightcap (as I'm sure we can all agree the Dunhill's Nightcap possesses the strength but not the body to match), and then I came to try Glynn's Classic English.

I am a fan of Glynn's blends, anyone who tries them is, but I will try to remain as impartial as possible.

Out of the pouch it smells like an English heaven. Rich and powerful. Perfect consistency, mixed cut and it packs easily. First light reveals an amazingly woody smoke flowing into my mouth (cigar leaf). This fades a bit after a few puffs and a tamp. Now the smoke is a beaitiful balance of wood, smokiness, cream and a hint of spice in the background. Cigar leaf in blends normally goes without note in a smoke but wow Glynn knows his stuff. On it's own this would be a good english but with the cigar leaf, holy mother of god. The body is full, flavor coats the palate and leaves you satisfied with every puff. The strength is for me built slowly until I was almost drunk from nicotine. Perfect for putting you to sleep.

This is a true nightcap blend. I urge everyone to try it if you can get your hands on it.

Got this in a trade with StevieB. Many thanks for this one, Steve.

This is truly a wonderful smoke. The main notes are nutty, smoky and earthy. There's also a mild spiciness and enough sweetness to make this all work. Just a hint of fruit. Has a little edge to it, but still pretty smooth. Satisfaction level is off the charts. Burn is cool and consistent. IMHO, a blending masterpiece. Even though no longer available (damn shame), I have to highly recommend it.

Medium to strong in body. Medium to full in taste. No added flavoring.

GQ Tobaccos - Classic English.

This has such a deep aroma un-lit, slightly smoky, a little woodsy, with a tiny amount of spiciness. The water content is perfect, to be honest I have found most GQ blends have this quality.

Once lit the different flavours of tobacco collaborate together in a brilliant fashion. Personally, I find the Latakia to be light in the mix, it's not overly noticeable, I only get it here and there. The rest of the tobaccos seem well balanced, granted, to get a particular flavour you have to know what you're looking for as to pick it out but it's not at all as daunting and crowded as some blends can be. This carries a healthy amount of "N", it's not one to annihilate your head but also it won't suit the faint hearted! The burn with Classic English is well behaved from the word 'go', it doesn't need much time with the flame to get it going and then once it's lit it's not a blend that requires too much attention, a nice sit back and chill out smoke! The room note is pleasing but it does generate quite a bit of actual smoke in the room so I think it possibly won't be good around lots of people! I think Classic English an ideal tobacco for 'proper smokers', it's not too ostentatious, has a great depth of flavour, carries a good "N" amount and is deeply satisfying.

Four stars.

I get cigar leaf predominately with this blend,with Latakia rearing its head from time to time throughout the bowl.A nice background sweetness. Good English blend,but I miss my orientals.Turkish Izmir features in many of Glynn's other blends,and I find myself missing it when smoking this. The cigar leaf,should attract the cigar smokers amongst us.I could live without it. A well executed blend and any English fan should love this.

Having enjoyed many an 'English' blend I'm no stranger to the mysterious dark mistress that is latakia.

This however is not a very good example of an 'English' Blend in my humble opinion. From the pouch it has all the usual characteristics of latakia such as the woodsy, smoky camp fire notes however once it takes the flame things seem to change for the worse.

It has a very peculiar sour and this could just be me, but almost cheesy flavour to it. Luckily this peculiarity subdues quickly but unfortunately it gets rather acrid and harsh instead.

The list of ingredients makes one wonder how this can really be classed as an 'English' blend at all - I think the zeal of the blender must have took over him a little bit here and he got giddy with chucking the ingredients into the mix.

Not one I will revisit.

For me, this is definitely one of the worst 'English'-style blends I've smoked, and I've smoked and enjoyed many. The contents of it is way too complex, and I don't understand the inclusion of cigar leaf. Either way, just tastes sour, acrid and overall a bitter, nasty experience from the first light. I felt this was just a load of random tobaccos shoved into a pouch and they certainly didn't marry with each other, more like a violent divorce from every which way. Avoid at all costs and stick to one of the better latakia-style blends out there. If you're unfortunate enough to have some, maybe just leave the contents alone for a few years to see if ageing it makes it somewhat bearable, or just get rid.

Classic English is my third go around with GQ English/Balkan blends. Each has been well made. The pouch scent of Classic English is has the same fresh, herbal quality of Classic Balkan and Breakfast Blend. It is a little smokier in scent and in the pipe than Classic Balkan with the Latakia playing a more dominate role. With that said, like the others, these three GQ blends resist the temptation of letting the Latakia overpower the other component tobaccos. The cigar leaf is added in perfect proportion and adds a small, earthy tone to the blend and while I don’t taste the Kentucky until the very end of each bowl, I assume it adds some overall backbone to the blend. For those that don’t care for java in their English blends, I think this might change a lot of minds on its use. The brown Cavendish rounds out things nicely. The use of the brown Cavendish along with the perfect use of the cigar leaf really separates this blend from the crowded pack of English blends on the market. Overall, there is a slight sweetness to Classic English that really makes this my favorite of the ones I have tried thus far. Classic English is in a word, outstanding!

In the pouch this had the aroma of most of the English blends I've smoked and it had a pretty decent punch of nicotine, but I wouldn't rank this among my favorite English blends. Firstly there was an earthy taste, almost cloying taste that I wasn't that keen on - maybe this was the cigar leaf - and I found the Latakia (easily my favourite tobacco leaf) to be pretty subdued. I like many of GQ's bends and I don't dislike this one but I don't think this would rank among my favourite smokes. Still it's a decent smoke and certainly satisfied in the nicotine department.

I'm not really one for short reviews, but this one will be the exception that proves the rule. This blend is good, it is a very standard English mixture. Take every English Mixture you've ever smoked, the good, the bad, and the downright ugly. Add them all together & divide by their number. You will reach a mean average. This blend IS that average. As I love English blends, I like this tobacco. Sure, it's no Tree Mixture, nor an Old Dublin, but it's up there, holding its' own. A solid English mixture, and comes as a highly recommended 3 stars, not as good as the 'Elite' English blends, but a lot better than the poor ones, and marginally better than most of those in between. Room Note, Pouch note etc., can all be defined as the mean average of every other English blend you've ever smoked, but not in a bad way. I will note that the cigar leaf did not seem to enhance the smoke for me really. It didn't detract from it at all, but was not particularly noticeable either.