G. L. Pease Haddo's Delight

Cracking open a tin from 2015. Pretty strong and distinctive tin note: raisins, chocolate and alcohol, which is coming across as rubbing alcohol. Not getting much fig, it’s too sweet for that. Testing out a new estate Tim West Canadian, which, despite having a little bit of a latakia ghost, has been thoroughly treated with rum and salt. I hope that turns out to be at least complimentary. An empty draw on the pipe gives only a faint suggestion of salt. Moisture, after all this time, is still good enough to pack straight into the pipe. Pre-light draw offers up a taste of grape Kool Aid and a little dried sweet grass.

Fairly mild in flavor to begin with. Chocolate-covered raisins is my main impression, with a backing note of salted, burntish nuts, which is the burley coming through. The fruity notes remind me of Stokkebye’s Luxury Twist Flake. In my review of that tobacco, I called it “slightly vomitous”, which now seems a little harsh, but conveys the limited tolerance I have for that kind of taste: it makes me feel a little sick, the way I do after eating too much dessert.

This burns quick and it burns hot. I’m glad for the thickness of the bowl on this Tim West, and for its six-inch shank. I never got tongue bite, but the bowl gets warm. Sip this one. Sipping improves both the temperatures and the flavor. Not hugely complex, though maybe the age has muted some diversity of flavor. Chocolate, liqueur and fruit: there you go.

There’s definitely some nicotine here. This is begging to be smoked as an after-dinner blend, in a thick bowl, when you’ve got plenty of time to devote to it. And some time to blow smoke rings! If you enjoy that particular diversion, Haddo’s is your blend. Thick white clouds that form themselves into rings from the top of your bowl. Both the sweetness of the flavor and the richness of the smoke make this a dessert smoke of the first order. I’m having dinner with friends tomorrow, and I think I’ll take this along.

Virginia leads Haddo's Delight with it's grassy, sweet hay, and slightly citrus taste and note. A bit figgy and spicy from Perique. A bit more sweetness from Cavendish and a touch of Rum is there in the background.

I can't really point to anything I dislike about the blend, but at the same time It's not one I'd consider a favorite. It's delightful overall, but one I'll only reach for occasionally. Recommended.

The name may be esoteric, but tobacco lovers know what it means. Oliver Haddo was used to caricature Aleister Crowley yet the Great Beast took the name upon himself and made it work. Further esoteric knowledge is that Aleister Crowley favoured rum-soaked Perique, so this blend is a homade to this.

I love Perique, and lots of it. I like rum blends, bring the two together and sounds like heaven, right? Wrong. When you build up incredibly high expectations...the higher you rise the harder you fall, and hard did my expectation fall. Considering this was a 2.5 year old tin when I popped it, I think hand in heart the only other time I was so pumped to try a blend was the Peterson Nightcap reissue.

Smell from the tin is actually as described here and elsewhere: chocolate-covered raisins. Pity it doesn't taste anything like that. There's a hint of Perique, a hint of rum, some spice, and not much else. I don't know what others here smoked, talking about nicotine, Perique and taste. I've had plenty of tobaccos, ranging from light, medium, strong to vertigo-inducing. This felt light, on par with something like MacBaren's Dark Twist Roll cake. Dunno about Perique either, for me the quintessential Perique-heavy VaPer is Bayou Morning Flake, Haddo's is not it. Actually based on the ribbon itself, I see little evidence of Perique as I know it, the colour ranges from yellow to light brown, to some dark brown. This could be either the Perique or the Burley.

It is inexplicable, but I have no time for tobaccos which don't deliver straight away. I really don't. I gave it the benefit of the doubt and let the tin breathe, tried two bowls and sold it on.

A while back I decided I needed a blend with more vitamin N and after some research, I found Haddo's. I found it to be an interesting, almost exotic blend. The tin note was strange to me - it was my first experience with Perique. The tobacco lit easily, did not bite, and did not have a bad after taste. But the room note was foul, both to me and my wife. I will not purchase this item again.Two stars for those who like a spicy blend.

Hado's Delight form G.L. Pease. What can I say that hasn't been said already...I do about 3 bowls a day, that way it remains special. I alternate with Escudo sometimes, although the two are very different. Westminster is my mainstay these days, especially when driving. Hado's is really a supreme example of tobacco blending. A delightful bouquet of raisins and dried figs from the tin. Packs and lights easily. Can be smoked with one post-charing light. This is a sipping tobacco, not one for pulling hard on. The Louisiana Perique forces you to go slowly (...remember the "gentle art of pipe smoking"), but provides excellent overtones, especially in the second half of the bowl. The Virginias and unflavored Black Cavendish provide body and sweetness. This is REALLY a delightful and almost magical blend, for any time of the day, but especially as a break from whatever your main smoke of the day happens to be. Stocked up the basement for aging purposes. Cheers, and happy smoking!

Haddo`s Delight provides a smooth and safe flight into the upper flight levels of tobacco smoking. 1 of my top 5 Va/Per blends. As primarily a latakia fan, departure time is best on fall mornings with your favorite cup of java. Opening the tin is the start of the journey as the aroma is most unique compared to the way it smoked. Seemed to always be at the right moisture level and you can sit back and enjoy the billows of smoke this provides. Can take you outside the box if you let it. Have lbs of this on some deserted island. Now if I can only find that WAC chart!! WHEW...here it is! Enjoy the ride!!

Haddo's smells great out of the tin, VERY much like dried apricots and raisins. After trying Fillmore, however, I realised i don't like the artificial taste of Haddo's. I prefer a VA/PER that is more subtle and natural. With something like Fillmore in existence, I can't give this more than 2 stars in comparison. I'm not sure if that's entirely fair, considering this is not a straight VA/PER. But the bottom line is, Fillmore absolutely killed my enjoyment of this. Now, the best thing about Haddo's to me is the strong nicotine content.

There once was a man who tried Haddo's,

Thinking "could this be just a fad, oh?"

He gave in to the hype,

And loaded his pipe,

And soon was found shooting his waddo.



I can endure the endless accolades heaped upon the GLP blends, and tolerate the continued deification of Mr. Pease, but this poetry has simply got to stop. Guys, save the weepy sap for the chick who's going to leave you for some big, dumb bruiser at the end of the bar, if you're lucky, or take half your money, if you're not. We're supposed to be men in here, fer crissakes. I don't compose haiku for my Ducati, and I certainly don't write odes to a tobacco.

Oh, yeah. The Haddo's. It's a terrific smoke that should be welcomed with open arms by lovers of Virginia/Perique blends. My love for Escudo, Three Nuns, et al, has diminished considerably over the years, but I can't imagine any fan of those not being thrilled with the GLP version. Packs a pretty good wallop, too. It's not my favorite Pease by a long shot, but I can understand its huge fan base.

Now go smoke some, and no more poetry, please. Addendum: While most of the Pease blends benefit from a little age, the Haddo's hasn't seemed to improve as much as I would like. I'll try again in another year. Addendum no. 2: Whoa, that went fast. Another year, another tin popped, another less than thrilling ride. 2005, anyone?