Hearth & Home House of Lords

I thought I would like this blend much more than I did since Russ Oulette has quite a nice blending touch. I could not find anything distinct in the blend, save a somewhat bitter taste. It also just seemed just a little harsh to me. Too many better 3 and 4 star English blends out there.

House of Lords is a very nice tobacco. It burns well, it tastes good and it doesn't bite. I can certainly see it being an experienced pipe smoker's all day smoke or even desert island blend. It is a wonderful example of a traditional medium-strength English blend.

Having said those things, however, it must also be said that, as has been noted, there is a lot of competition in this arena, and what it comes down to is a matter of taste.

My own personal favorite in this competition is Dunhill's London Mixture. Others have mentioned Squadron Leader, and I'm sure that Penzance has its adherents as well.

Though I enjoy this blend, House of Lords just doesn't distinguish itself enough to warrent my switching away from London Mixture.

This is a blend which I can enjoy anytime, place, or mood. To me, it is quite similar to Squadron Leader (SL), but it produces thicker, richer smoke for me than SL, and I like that. For reference, SL is my favorite "general-purpose" smoke. This is a solid, no-nonsense, medium English. This blend looks good, packs good, and stays lit all the way to the bottom of the bowl. It is very easy to smoke, which I like. And given the reasonable pricing of this blend, dollar for dollar it is as good of a value as any tobacco in this category, and better than most. I always find merit in any blend from Russ Oulette, and I would say House of Lords is my favorite smoke from him. You know, if it had the history and tradition that Squadron Leader does, there are times when I think I actually prefer this to SL. Maybe I'd better kick back and do a bit more "research"....

This is a nice, simple, English blend, in the same way that an Aston Martin is a nice, simple, English car. [stately vroom]

HoL is so smooth, so rounded, so deep, and there's so much there, and yet it's even-tempered and patient. The components are quality and well-blended, but there's something else here that's truly outstanding: The way these components are joined so perfectly without any disharmonious transitions, without any harshness from top to bottom of the bowl, is truly unusual for this type of blend (in my limited experience).

I've been smoking House of Lords to the exclusion of the other blends in my cabinet for almost two weeks now, and I've developed quite a liking for it. It's an inviting mixture on presentation with its bright-gold-and black colors in the forefront and a latakia aroma that's more suggestive of hardwood smoke, as opposed to the more tarry aroma of some blends. The turkish, virginia, and latakia tastes are well balanced and smooth, not too rich. House of Lords goes well anytime of day.

My impression overall is that while there isn't anything that makes House of Lords stand out in the crowd, there isn't anything it does badly either. It's just a good, steady everyday non-aromatic, a fine interpretation of a classic English formula. Definitely recommended.

Similar to Squadron Leader in strength with less Turkish component. Caution: If you don't like occasional blasts of Latakia, break up the bigger chunks before loading your pipe. A fine medium English but there is a lot of competition in this class.