Benjamin Hartwell Evening Stroll

Wet in the tin, it needs some dry time. Vanilla is the star flavor with hints of dried fruit, nutmeg, cinnamon, and a light rum topping. They sublimate the tobaccos to great degree, but they don't totally drown them out. The Virginia is grassy with some tart and tangy citrus, and is sublimated a bit. The sugary black cavendish is a competitive addition. Won't bite or get harsh. The strength is just past the center of mild to medium, while the taste is medium. Has little nicotine. Burns clean, cool and a little slow with a mostly consistent flavor. Leaves some moisture in the bowl, and requires some relights, especially if not dried a little. Has a lightly lingering, pleasant after taste and room note. Can be an all day smoke, though it does lack some depth. Two and a half stars.

-JimInks

Oh American style aromatics. Why must you be to the smoking world what the sirens were to sailors in Greek mythology?

Evening stroll is another typical aromatic. It lures you in with its beautiful tin art, the description on the back has you licking your lips with anticipation. Once you pop the tin on this one there is an amazing smell of toffee and baked goods. Once you light it up you get the typical "all smell and no flavor" result.

If you are going to be around non smokers this stuff is going to win you some friends. The room note is excellent. For me, that's about all this one has going for it. It can bite if puffed to fast. Don't bother trying to dry it out, this is a very heavily cased and coated in PG blend. Smoking a bowl down to the bottom will be damn near impossible because this one creates that lovely "swamp" effect in the bottom of your bowl.

Quite honestly this one doesn't do a whole lot to separate itself from the other pipe tobaccos in this class. Not terrible, but not great either.

Somewhat recommended.

This was a recommendation from my B&M. I told him I liked his rum and honey and I like my smokes sickly and sweet, so this was his recommendation.

On opening the tin I definitely got some alcohol aroma...rum maybe? Others mentioned that it is highly cased and wet, and I definitely agree, but the tin note is superb. First light was easy with a little crackle, as I expected, but not as much crackle as a Molto Dulce.

At first, this too mild for me and there was nothing much to taste over the heavy casing. However, about 1/3 of my way through the bowl, more tobacco taste came through, but in general, it is definitely a mild, low nicotine smoke. I also began to taste some sweet buttery notes, like butter flavored with some vanilla.

All in all, a satisfying evening smoke that will enthrall friends with an excellent room note. Very good if you like sweet, sickly smok, but not for the die hard Latakia smoker.

*Warning* the room note of this blend will have your wife begging you to smoke it. Try it by your self before letting her smell it. That way if you don't like it, she will not nag you to smoke it. The tin aroma is intoxicating, buttery, vanilla, and maybe some nutmeg. The tobacco comes ridiculously wet, short cut and just dripping with casing. The tobacco tastes very similar to what it smells like (no surprise) and has no real tobacco taste. The blend will bite if not smoked carefully and will clog the heck out of a pipe. Other than its faults listed above if you want your wife tripping on your heels to get a bigger whiff smoke away. Just make sure that your pipes are ready to get soaked.

Evening Stroll. The absolute go-to aromatic blend when you want to please the wife (or ANYONE around you). Burns without much attention, plenty of smoke, flavorful and the room note is astounding. Moisture level seems perfect out of the tin and I don't get the gurgling until near the bottom of the bowl. I've never gotten tongue bite, either. I tend to keep away from this blend, most of the time, because I am afraid it would be the only thing she-who-is-terrific would let me smoke. Every time I come back to this, I am amazed at how good it is. I'll smoke this before church on Sunday or as a nightcap when the wife joins me in front of the TV.

There's more than just Virginia in my tin... A Black Cavendish that has been soaked in some kind of alcohol (tastes like cognac). It really perked up this one nicely. The added flavoring is not very strong but is noticeable the most at first light and then settles by mid bowl. I took it on down to the bottom with pure pleasure!

Pipestud

I had smoked a tin of this one and it has a beautiful tin notes. The scent is excellent, coffee, rum, and vanilla smells so nice at my nose but one thing is a big problem this tobacco is so wet and when i pick it some, it sticks at my fingers. I need about 30 minutes to make it little bit dry, i put them into a paper and let them at open air. The cut is good, not to difficult to pack them but you must careful when you tamp it at your pipe. Even after i aired them for 30 minutes, they still wet and sticks, so tamping using index finger then a tamper when you pack it into your pipe is still the best choice to get a proper pack.

Need a good cherring light for sure, if you pack it directly from the tin without air time, im sure this stuff is difficult to light. The first draw the taste is still good, almost similar with the tin notes, with the mild strength. The room notes is very pleasant, i bet every one sure love the room notes, is very good with scent of rum, vanilla and coffee cream, The problem is after half of the bowl it soaks my pipe very badly. It needs several time to clean up the stem with pipe cleaner and make a cool down. i smoke it very very slowly to make sure that i wont get bite because this stuff is will bite if not smoke very slowly.

The taste is quite good, the flavor casing is almost consistent until finish. Sometimes a grassy or earthy taste appears but the rum's taste always cover it up. For aromatic lover or for social smokes im sure i will recommend this blend, but is not fit to fulfill my daily taste.

I'm a pretty omniverous smoker who prefers English/Balkan style blends, but among aromatic tobaccos this is a winner. The room note and aroma from the tin makes you think this is an over-cased OTC blend, but the taste is mild and cool - no bite (I smoke slowly anyway), and the room note makes you a tolerable companion with this blend.

As aromatics go, and American-styled in particular, this lives up to it's billing. It's fairly refined, complex enough to hold your interest, and has just enough Virgina taste to even appeal to a Va/Per lover (my close second in tobacco preferences...). This won't change your mind about aromatic blends, but if you've dabbled in them you;ll like it, if you're an aromatic smoke you'll love it.

Oh, my word, Mr. Hartwell! The tin says you created this stuff so a dandy would attract the ladies when he took his evening strolls. I knew this one would be a problem as soon as I lifted the plastic lid off the tin. Can you believe I could smell the casing before popping the top? Initial nose: Senakot, the chocolate pebble laxative my mother forced down my gullet when I was a child. Warning: wash your hands after you touch this stuff. I think the leaf is coated in Bosco. Hint of sweetness? Are they kidding?! I?ve never had resin on my fingers after loading a pipe until now. I dropped a couple pieces of tobacco on my white socks, and now they?re stained. This stuff has more moisture than a botanic garden. This is nothing more than a glorified Captain Black. A stringy, Cavendish with enough casing to wax your floor, not to mention your tongue. The smoke is reminiscent of the first aromatics I ever tried, so it brought back about three seconds of pleasant memories. As W. C. Fields said: ?those were the good old days, I hope they never come again.? Much thicker than anything Tinder Box ever made, including Norse Gold or Middleton?s Cherry Blend. It smokes hot due to all the sugar in the leaf. It glopped my pipe. This is Altadis/Lane Limited crapola to the 10th power. Here is another tin I?ll be dropping off shortly at Iwan Ries for their customer sampler cabinet. Nod to Gentleman Murdoch the next time you see him and ask him how his ladies are doing, but please don?t put this tobacco in your pipe!

½ of five stars.

This tobacco disappeared for a little while but it's back. It is only sold in bulk now. It is not your typical Sutliffs style aromatic. At least not this new version that's out now. From reading the other reviews it seems that the original release was a wet heavily cased mess. That is not the case with this one. It comes out of the bag a little moist, not too bad. A half an hour dry time is all it needs for it to be a nice flavorful dry smoke. The bag note is intoxicating and the room note is just wonderful! The taste is very well done. It is sweet and boozy along with a caramel flavor. The tobacco has a very nice presentation, short ribbons with light and dark brown leaf along with rough cut black cavendish. My family loves when I smoke this blend. This is a perfect after supper smoke enjoyed with some Twinings Afternoon brand tea. Very relaxing with a great taste and mouth feel with a therapeutic aroma. If you like Captain Black and Country Squire aromatics you will love this! Another plus, the nicotine is noticeable in this reincarnation.