Medium strength with a full taste without the bite or harsh taste of tobacco. I found it to burn slow and smooth down to the bottom of the bowl without the bowl getting hot in a Bjarne Bent Brandy.

Well, my nature got the best of me and I plunked down another $14 to get a can of HOTW. Man, am I glad I did. This stuff is amazing! If all the Rattrays were this good, I would have tried it long before now.

A little drying time is necessary fo me, but after that it's off to the races. This is one you will get the most out of by smoking it slowly and sipping the bowl. I will not even try to describe the flavors as it is impossible. Suffice it to say that I have found what I believe to be one of the all time best va blends out there.

This gets 5 stars!!

The strength refers to nicotine content of which Hal has a very hight amount.

I like to smoke HOTW in the evening, enough nicotine for the end of the day. Dried out properly you get a tasteful VaPer with a special hint (Kentucky). I guess it's the Kentucky which sets HOTW apart from other VaPers. Everything is said about quality, flavor and taste of this baccy!

4 stars! Period!

Mostly dark brown and red Va, broken flake easy to fill...

For me its need 30min to dry...Than easy to lit and smoke perfect...

Generally i use group3 bowl...Its perfect match...If you like Va and nicotine use HOTW...Another winner from Rattray's...

I have not been happy with most Rattray's blends, and after my recent experiences with Marlin Flake, I was ready to give up on this House of Tobacco.

After perusing the many reviews of Hal O' The Wynd, the vast majority four stars, I decided to give it a try. I purchased 2 100 gram tins, one which will age a bit, one I am smoking now.

The tobacco appeared moist fresh out of the tin, thus I allow it to dry a bit before smoking. Tobacco quality appears to be excellent, and chosen carefully.

I find this to be a nice blend, with good Virginia Tobacco sweetness through the bowl, with a hint of spice added for complexity. I do not find this to be an extraordinarily full tobacco, nor do I find it to have any more than a medium nicotine content, if that. The taste is nice gaining depth through the bowl, but not necessarily gaining complexity, and somewhat on the monotone side of flavors, which isn't necessarily a bad thing.

I am not crazy over this tobacco, thus I rate it a solid three stars. Don't get me wrong, this is a good tobacco, and I like it well enough, that being said: I am not certain this will make my everyday rotation yet, but it could, time will tell. Pending smoking an aged tin, this rating may move to four stars.

My current, and all-time favorite, and I would give it 5 stars if I could, is Solani Aged Burley Flake. To me, the Aged Burley Flake is what tobacco is all about.

Happy Smoking, and Happy Holidays!!

This is tasty stuff and has become one of my favorite straight Virginia tobaccos. When I open a new tin of this tobacco, I'm presented with the notes of raisins and figs that I've come to expect from a good Virginia. I've gone through 4 tins of this tobacco now and they have all been a little wet for my taste. I empty the tin on a sheet of paper, spread it out and let it sit for a few hours until the moisture feels OK to me and then put it back in the tin. This takes care of getting it lit easily and the heat issues later on.

If you pack this tobacco lightly so that it has just a little spring when you press it with your finger, it lights easily. Initially there is a sweetness and unadulterated tobacco flavor and aroma that comes from an uncased, nicely cured tobacco. As the bowl progresses, I get a very nice, pungent savoriness that I usually associate with perique or oriental blends. The flavor and aroma stay that way until the end of the bowl.

If you like unadulterated Virginia tobaccos, you will like this blend. No additives to change the flavor. A pure Virginia experience.

Original Review: This is the second tobacco I smoked after coming back to my pipes. While Balkan style blends had always been my favorites, more-or-less straight Virginias had always been next on the list. Because I was essentially a new smoker again, my technique left a lot to be desired with this coarse cut tobacco. It was also quite wet out of the tin and I didn't know to let it sit for a while to dry out a little. As a result, I had a heck of a time getting it lit and keeping it lit. It smoked pretty hot for me at first. I think because I packed it too tight and puffed too hard, it also knocked me on my butt.

On the positive side, I loved the aroma and the flavor early on before things got too hot. I ended up mixing the rest of the tin with some Old English from Pipes and Pleasures. It let me smoke the rest of the HOW, but it wasn't really recognizable anymore.

Now that I have some time and experience with technique under my belt, I think I'll revisit this tobacco. The flavor and aroma at the beginning of the bowl would be worth it.

Don't know what is was like back in the day when it was made in the UK, but the Kohlhase & Kopp reproduction is great.

I've tried it "fresh" and after a couple of years in the cellar, and I can't tell any difference. It has a strong scent of dried figs in the tin, and this may be the K & K house topping, which I suspect has some honey in it, but the very light casing does not detract from the flavor of the weed.

My wife (a very attractive and intelligent woman) keeps telling me how much she likes the smell of this smoke. She has asked me to make it my usual or regular tobacco. So I will be smoking more of this in the future.

Update, 4 May 2013: I'm downgrading this from my original 4 star rating. Hal was one of the first blends I ever loved, but the old passion is gone. Not just HOTW, but all Kohlhase & Kopp blends seem bland to me now, sort of one-step-up from cigarette tobacco. There is just not enough flavor. I've found better Virginia blends. And Hal is still only a medium in the nicotine department.

Fresh out of the can it is rather moist and do benefit from some airing, most certainly there is humectant involved, but never the less, it burns quite well and doesn't cause any difficulty keeping lit. It does however improve a great deal after being opened a month or so.

All in all this is an excellent medium-strength mixture with a good nicotine hit, very satisfying, but not tiring to the palate, even after a big bowl. I can't imagine tonguebite being an issue for anyone smoking this. It's remarkably cool. A solid 3/4.

PIPESTUD writes that it burned dry up to the end. I will not agree with him because to me, on the contrary, it was so humid till the end of bowl, that it felt a bit tiring.

A good tobacco, but for me it is worse than GOLDEN SLICED of ORLIK and SILVER FLAKE of SOLANI.I emptied the tin by mixing it with AUTUMN EVENING.

It needs a lot of attention when filling the bowl, it does not need pressure. A tobacco good as a time-out, after Oriental or aromatic.

Not that much strong as tin says, not that much bland for an every hour smoke either. It needs to be dried before smoking for a satisfying flavor. Tends to moist a bit but you can adjust this with your puffing skills. With a careful smoking I am sure you can taste the real tobacco taste with a subtle sweetness.

Leaving a dry and clean ash, demonstrating the presence of high quality leaves.

The 100grms can (inner strap and plastic lid) is the packaging available in Italy.

The smell at the open tin is wonderful: fruity/sweet&sour. The cut is a medium-fine ready rubbed; unlike the EM of the same brand, which are largely wet, the tobacco was ready to smoke for the very opening. The colour of the weed is a mix of mostly medium brown with occasional lighter and darker flecks.

A old Castello Old Antiquari KKKK straight apple having a narrow chamber has been very easily filled and lighted.

HOTW smokes cool and dry, robust - I truly cannot share the opinion that it's strong or more, those reviewers should try Irish Flake instead... - and substantial; fruity and somewhat earthy sometimes; always sweet, sometime faintly sour; biscuity and peppery to the nostrils; the palate is pleasantly tickled from mid bowl.

I'm feeling a very rewarding smoke, and wondering why I have been far from HOTW so long (some five years or more from the last can). It has all the features I may ask to a Virginian.

My highest recomendation.

10 for nicotine, 7 for taste... 8 overall

Upon ignition the bouquet becomes more smoky emitting sweet but also mildly bitter/truffle-like signs. This process increases toward the mid-end of the bowl and though doesnt overwhelm like other Virginia-Perique blends still manifests potency.

Thankfully the added tobaccos to the virginia basis (perique and/or kentucky?) do not alter the main grassy-sweet and deeply warm body of this blend but rather add a quirky bitterness that complicates this very good tobacco.