However, as I smoked the tobacco, I noticed some very tasty notes in the tobacco, I got a nice creamy smoke with a vanilla-like sweetness flavor in the tobacco. For some reason, I was continually drawn back it and the more I tried it, the more I began to appreciate it. The tobacco really opened up when I allowed it to dry for a while, I got it to the point where it was very crispy where the tobacco would fall apart. However, the extra dryness produced a cooler smoke and it burned A LOT easier than it did out of the tin.

Overall, it's a good very good tobacco, I can understand how some people can be put off by it but I loved it once I allowed it to dry. My suggestion is to let it dry or pack the tobacco loosely in the bowl. It's definitely worth a try if you're able to spot it at the shop.

When I opened the can I did not snese any notes of pineapple or chocolate. In fact it kind of smelled like an old leaf chewing tobacco I had in the army. Needless to say, my dreams of being an antiquated playboy from the golden era of class quickly began to diminish and turn into the horrors of working in a cheap colonge filled bar of a 1970's bowling alley.

The tobacco did burn well for me, but as others had mentioned it can give a small touch of bite. It has an off flavor I couldn't quite place. It was almost a ghost stale vanilla flavor, but like I mentioned I couldn't quite place it. There is a hint of sweetness, but if you're not looking for it you could miss it. You have to puff very very lightly to get any acceptable flavor.

After trying three bowls in different pipes, and with varying degrees of puff rates...I feel this tobacco is slightly substandard which is really a shame. Maybe the next step up from drugstore blends at best.

Perhaps it would taste better in a filtered pipe.

My reason for offering only two stars is that Cocktail Hour is a little rough around the edges and can nip the tongue. It just isn’t refined. However, I think it has promise with a couple of years of age on it and as a result I have stashed away four tins to see what happens. Two and a half stars.

The tobacco is packaged in disc form, but don't get too excited, because it is not going to offer you loads of yummy flavor like some other good blends of this genre. Within the discs exist long strands of thin ribbon cut tobacco, which i personally do not care for. I find this cut hard to pack, as it is too open and springy, and it does not lend itself to rubbing out from disc form for packing. This does best if you let it dry out for a good hour or two before smoking. Even then it does not dry much, which makes me think it has been squirted with something. It lights and burns readily, however, and will not bite unless you go crazy.

As for the notes of pineapple and chocolate, I do not know what the hell they are talking about. It is not cased with anything of that ilk that I can detect, it does not smell like that in the tin, and my palate does not detect anything of the sort in the smoking. Of course, perhaps I possess a crude and untrained palate incapable of detecting such subtle notes, but either way you are not going to be smoking a pina coloda, if that is a concern.

All in all one of the most bland things I have every smoked. If you are looking for very neutral smoke to break in a pipe, than this might be a good mixture to use. If you are looking to treat yourself to that one smoke of the day, than this is a waste of time when so many other tasty blends are out there (some of which are from Villiger!).