UPDATE 11/19: Wow, what a change with a little age. I Smoked several more bowls over the last week and really enjoyed them. This is how I like my VaPers, with a bit of perique but the main flavor is the virginia. I fully agree with DK (see below). He gives the best review of this blend. Bowl size matters on this one. The nic hit can be a whammy.

An unlit sip brought the raisin and fig taste to my palate. Overall the raisin and fig tastes seemed to dominate. I could also grasp the brandy flavor that other reviews I have read have mentioned. It was very full bodied with a wicked hit of nicotine. This blend burned to a dry gray ash, leaving a nice room note, and a short finish.

This blend may have been too complex for me to give an adequate review. I have been used to smoking more straightforward tobaccos of late, and I was not ready for what this blend had to offer. I enjoyed the nice sweet flavors I could detect, and the cool burning of this blend. I wouldn't smoke this blend on an empty stomach. I tried it once, and it left me feeling queasy. I think this would be a great after lunch smoke to carry one through to the end of the work day. I also think anyone who enjoys a full bodied, high nicotine blend with perique will enjoy this smoke. I have another tin in my cellar I'm going to let sit for a few years, and then tackle this one again.

In the tin, it is very peat like and tart smelling, composed of the spectrum of colors and in a ribbon/rough cut. It is very easy to load in the pipe and quite easy to lite. Once lit it burns nice and slow and emits a strong, sharp room note very typical of VaPers. When my wife complained about the aroma, I knew I was going to enjoy it this time. I love perique and this contains a great deal of it. The mixture of Virginias along with the perique make for a not so subtle, rich, creamy, spicy smoke. It has non of the haylike sweetness of a lot of VA based blends, it is deep and flavorful and very rich in taste right from the start, yet it produces no tongue bite at all. It smokes great with coffee or a beer and could easily be an all day blend for those that like strong tobaccos. It burns down to a dark grey ash with a little dottle at the bottom of the pipe. I have smoked 10 bowls of this in two days now and the more i smoke it the more I am liking it, in fact I just ordered another 8oz tin of it. So I have moved from unimpressed to recommending it now. For perique lovers, it is a must try.

The tin aroma is striking... it's got all the figgy, raisin-y goodness of Perique... on steroids. It smells so concentrated, almost like candy. Amarena cherries come to mind - which perhaps gives credence to the notion that there IS an alcoholic topping on this (the so-called "exclusive process"). But if this is a topping, then I really don't mind... it complimented the blend nicely without overshadowing the individual characters of the constituent tobaccoes.

This gives rise to what I truly enjoy about HD. This blend let's all of it's players be heard clearly and in harmony. Another Perique blend I enjoy, MacBaren Arcadian Perique, is so dense in its flavor. It's like the Wagner of tobacco... complex, blustery, great thick walls of texture. Haddo's is more like Bach - equally complex but in a more orderly, methodical way. The parts were all heard clearly and in good measure. I enjoy both, but in entirely different ways.

The downside for me is the wretched nicotine buzz I got after smoking this. I was thoroughly dizzy... much like when I smoke an entire, high-quality cigar. In fact, the pungent, rich flavors of this tobacco made me feel like I was smoking a cigar - not literally, but the overall experience was similar.

Sadly, I won't be indulging in HD regularly, I guess I'm a nicotine wimp. But I do like it. Anyone looking for a unique and challenging tobacco should try this.

***UPDATE #2*** I have let this age now for over a year. This is now a spectacular VaPer Mix. WOW!!! Wonderful, tasty, subtle. I can taste the spiciness, but just a hint along with the sweet virginia's with a hint of hay. Wonderful!!! Excellent Tobacco...just late it age, would be my recommendation.

**UPDATE** I have let the tin sit and age for about 6 months. It's still wet a bit but much dryer than it was. This time I smoked it in a pipe that I use only for aromatics. The experience was quite different...sweet, tasty VaPer. I was impressed. The raisin smell came out in the taste, just hints.

I'll be sampling a few other Pease blends in the future, but will make sure to allow them to age a bit.

**OLD**I was truly disappointed that I didn't find something more appealing here. Reading reviews and descriptions of this tobacco I thought for sure I was going to love this.

I picked up a tin. Upon opening it the smell of raisins and sweetness filled my nose. I was excited. Lit up a bowl and nothing... flat... No taste, except, and sorry to use the term, smoke. I thought I was smoking cardboard with pieces of tire chips in it. I've tried it a few times with the same result. Maybe I got a bad tin of it. Maybe I need to let it sit.

In fact...that is what I'll do. I'm going to let this age and try again.

The perique "feel" is strong, in that it definitely tickles the nose and the back of the throat, but the perique flavor is a simple enhancer. The virginias played the lead role to my taste and the perique and brandy (or rum or whatever) were vocal backseat drivers. Excellent body to this one and it was just a "fun" smoke, as long as I didn't overdo it, as the nicotine could be just a bit over the top in the large bowls I favor. The flavors did a lot of dancing and were brazen almost to the point of haughtiness. But it was all in fun. A complex smoke, this can also be smoked as a dessert blend to relax me after a tough day. As much as I enjoyed Barbary Coast, this variation on that theme struck me as superior, and I immediately bought a 16 oz tin. The only downside to this is that it willfully smote any attempts at DGT. It simply didn't like being extinguished and relit hours later. But that's ok - I don't often DGT.

Yes, this could be considered an aromatic by some people, and there's nothing wrong with that. Highly recommended as something different and... yes... fun!

The blend is made of several Virginias and what Pease describes as a "generous measure" of perique, with unflavored black cavendish and white burley added to round out the flavor and add more strength. This is a beautiful tobacco to look at, with rich, deep golds, browns, and black. I popped open my tin of it as soon as I got to the car, and treated my nose to the rich aroma of fresh coffee and raisins. My daughters were in the car with me, and both remarked that, unlike most tobacos, the tin aroma of Haddo’s Delight was pleasant, and both remarked on the smell of raisins. One mentioned Haroset, a fruity Jewish Passover treat. The moisture level of the tobacco is, to my smoking technique, just right. When you buy a Pease tobacco you pay for tobacco rather than added moisture.

Arriving home, I immediately loaded my first bowl of the blend, then set fire to it. The burst of flavor was wonderful, and very smooth. Tamped down, relit, and off I went, into what I can only describe as an extremely pleasant smoking experience. Often, perique blends hit my tongue like wolverines, but Haddo’s Delight provides the deep and spicy richness of perique without the bite. The burley and cavendish bring some nice richness and body to the blend, but neither overwhelm the tang and taste of the perique. The Virginia provides a nice sweetness, but is tempered by the other tobaccos. The taste left in my mouth after finishing the smoke, though, is a pleasant sweetness, like a memory of a sunny afternoon. The word "complex" comes to mind to describe this blend; it’s strong without being dizzying, full of flavor without being overpowering. Deeper into the bowl, especially the last third of it, the flavor and characteristics of the blend change subtly, taking on a bit more of an earthiness. But the tobacco is never unsettling, never bitter or rancid. There are more undertones than overtones, nuttiness, tang, sweet, fruity, rich.

I so enjoyed the first bowl of Haddo’s Delight that I immediately loaded a second. It’s very rare that I don’t wait a couple of hours after a smoke to have another, but couldn’t resist. I’ve interspersed bowls of it since, between bowls of favorite Virginias, Cumberland, and another Virginia/perique blend. Each time I come back to Haddo’s I receive the same pleasant surprise, the same, well, delight.

Appearance: Mostly light- to medium-brown bits with a good amount of black chunks, presumably the Cavendish and Perique.

Tin Aroma: My first impression was of chocolate-covered cherries. Then the acidic tinge of some kind of topping, that chemically aroma that normally turns me off.

Flavor: Sometimes I taste the sea – the west coast…that cold, salty, briny air washing over the tidepools. I certainly taste the Perique, and feel it at the back of my throat although it’s not nearly as strong as I had expected. The topping does affect the taste, at least for the first half of the bowl, and I don’t really like it. The burley comes through much more than the tin description hints (“a little air- cured white burley ribbon…”). There seems to be enough in there to affect the flavor quite strongly, too much in fact for my taste as that ashy flavor seems to become too prominent at times.

During the second half of the bowl all the ingredients seem to meld and it becomes a much better smoke. The topping never really disappears but it becomes much less noticeable, and the richness from the Virginias and perique make for a very nice flavor. But I’m afraid it’s too little too late. In every pipe, it takes a half-bowl to get to the good part, and even then it’s just good, not great. Would love to try this blend exactly as it is but without the topping.

I am not an aromatic fan, and I just have to categorize this as an aromatic, at least as close as the Pease lineup gets to aromatic (after Barbary Coast that is). Can’t really muster more than two stars for this one. No reason for me to buy more with all the other excellent blends out there, including many of Greg’s.

Oh, dear Lord, Haddo's is really weird smelling in the tin. My first thought was that the weed has been literally soaked into a liquor (I know it's rhum, but regarding me it could even be cognac...).

Haddo's lights and burns easy. The liquor topping affects a bit heavily the first third of the bowl. The smoke starts mild, sweet and liqueurish. A VaB thing, at this stage I'm not able to detect any of the Perique which should be added in "generous" measure. Smooth, very smooth indeed. Reaching the second third, the topping has gradully disappeared, leaving room to strenght and body. At this stage I clearly feel the VaBPer combination, and should start slowing down my sipping speed to avoid a slightly ashy feeling. Notes of stewed fruits but not much pepper... The last third is where the smoke is going be masculine, still sweet but earthy, of ripe fruits, traces of smokiness a-la fired Kentucky... and here the pepper tingling my nose.

A nice trip, and very uncommon experience in evolution of strength, flavours and body. Haddo's delighting me.

Ehi, the driest smoke and ashes ever ! Plus: the only non-aromatic tobacco whose room aroma pleases my wife, and that's absolutely wonderful.

Well done, dear Greg.