E. Hoffman Company Distinguished Gentleman

I generally like crossover English blends and this one is no exception. It is pleasantly sweet, rich and lightly smoky. It produces a decent amount of smoke and has a nice mouth feel to it. There is a light topping here but I can't discern what it is, other than lightly sweet and maybe a little fruity, but not over done. Good show E. Hoffman! 3.5 Stars!

E. Hoffman Company - Distinguished Gentleman.

Because the tin's one of the bigger in style, there's a little room to let some air circulate, thusly achieving a smokeable level of hydration. There's one or two bigger 'leafy' pieces in the blend, but none which are too coarse/stick-like to be smoked.

The Latakia's the stronger of the four, giving a rich woodiness rather than just smoke alone. The Virginia adds almost a 'freshness' to the flavour, by being slightly fragrant; slightly. The Burley could cause it to be slightly rough around the edges, but the Cavendish placates the situation. The rum has been added lightly: it flavours the smoke just enough to enable identification, but isn't sharp, or alcoholic tasting. I get no tongue bite from it, and the temperature doesn't rise above medium.

The nicotine: medium. Room-note: pleasant.

Distinguished Gentleman? Four stars:

Highly recommended.

From the description I really looked forward to trying this blend. Lately I've really enjoyed the blending of Burley, Cavendish and Latakia in a number of tobaccos and in my own experimental blends. After opening the pleasingly nostalgic tin I was greeted with a very pleasant aroma reminiscent of raisins. The cut was very chopped up and fine like what I had found in some generic store brand blends of the past. However with the anticipation of happy puffing I loaded up an old classic Sasieni Lovat and lit up. Immediately as I began to draw on my pipe up some of those finely ground particles found their way into my mouth. Undaunted I expectorated and continued. At first the smoke was smooth, fragrant and pleasant tasting, similar to the Altadis Revelation match. My pleasant piping was abruptly cut short when very soon my pipe stem began to fill with nasty, acrid juice and the flavor now became very harsh in kind of artificial and chemical tasting manner. Now this blend began to remind me of another disappointment, Rattrays Professional Mixture. Both smelt of raisins, started off very nicely and then became too aromatic in an unpleasant manner. Like P.M. my solution in order to enjoy D.G. is to treat it like an aromatic and smoke it in one of my Vauen, Big Ben or Dr. Grabow filter pipes.

12/17/2012: I'm updating my review. As I suspected, this blend should be treated as a "drugstore style" aromatic and smoked in a filter pipe. I'm now puffing away with this stuff loaded up into a Vauen. While still a bit chemical tasting the nastiness has been filtered out and I could recommend this to someone looking to try out a 1970'S style drugstore pipe tobacco. while I won't be smoking it that often I'll move it up to three stars. 12/25/2012: I likely shouldn't spend so much time writing about such a mediocre tobacco but I felt an update was appropriate. I continued to try and enjoy this blend filtered as I smoke other drugstore and aromatic blends. The more you smoke it the less you like it. While supposedly rather mild it even filtered has a very nasty gaseous and chemical aspect that makes it become unpleasant as the smoking proceeds. Back to a very lenient two stars. I'll put this stuff away for a few years and save my palate for better blends. Again only recommended for a time machine drug store tobacco experience.

Tin note of sugary spices, vanilla and musty vegetation. Tobacco is a Coarse cut of yellowish tan, light brown, brown and black. Moisture content is good. Burns moderate with few relights. The strength is mild to medium and nic is mild. Flavoring is listed, but other than smell, I couldn't detect it. Taste is mild to medium and somewhat consistent, with notes of smoky incense, herbal floral, tart and tangy citrus, nuts, spices, sour vegetation, wood, sweet grass, toast, peaty/musty, orange peel, zesty, a mildly lemony background note, and a peppery retro. Virginia and Latakia fighting for the is leading with Burley and Cavendish supporting. Flavoring is supporting from afar. Room note is pleasant to tolerable, and aftertaste is good.

Preparation & Burn: 7/10 Burns pretty well but a bit warmer and sharper than I prefer. Good cut. A bit moist.

Taste: 11/20 Decent light lat blend with sweet and booze topping. Unfortunately lacks tobacco taste.

Mildness: 9/10 My idea of a good smoke is a relaxing, low nicotine session. Therefore, the milder the better. Not much nicotine here.

Total: 27/40

This is the first American blend (whatever that means) I have tried, and I can safely say I'm proud to be an American 'blend' smoker. That is until the tin aired out for a few days.

The cut is certainly rough, but not from twigs or annoying bits, it's just thicker ribbons dried with a coarser feel. The aroma is enticing, not overpowering, yet hard to describe... perhaps the old photo on the cover has bent my imagination, but I can envision a steam train conductor smoking it. Likely motor oil, treated lumber, sweet whiskey, and other guy scents were thrown into this cauldron.

The contents takes a few seconds to light, but smolders nicely once lit. The smoke has a wonderful dark sugar flavor with some weight, yet is not overwhelming on your lungs. The problem I had was when I returned to the tin only a few days later, everything became bland with a cardboard taste. It was a frustrating feeling, since my first few bowls were an easy 3 stars.

As an Aromatic fan I really enjoyed the initial experience, so I'll give this 1.5 star blend a small nod to 2.

Nothing about this blend works for me. It burns hot strong bite and overpowering burley taste. I get no Latakia taste. To many good blends to smoke this

This is just what you might expect from am English Aromatic. The “English” comes through predominantly, with a flavor profile similar to a light version of Peter Stokkebye’s Proper English albeit with a slight sweetness. The sweetness, of course, can be attributed to the cavendish and the flavoring (Rum, we’re told but it tastes more like a honey-bourbon. The “Lightness” comes, I suspect, from the Burley. If this were my blend. I’d cut the burley in half, allowing the other components shine a little brighter.

This is one of those blends where the tin note is not a great reflection of the flavor profile when smoked: Much sweeter in tin then in the pipe!

Smokes well right out of the tin, especially with a little drying time.

Falls a little flat on the retrohale but the room note, so I’m told, is pleasant.

From the Tin: Removal of the seal showed a very nicely multicolored ribbon cut tobacco. The initial nose showed an alcohol topping (possibly rum) coupled with a rich, sweet and smoky tobacco scent.

Tasting Notes: The combination of the Cavendish and Virginia give the blend a honey like sweetness while the nuttiness in the burley is easily detected. The faint campfire, woody smokiness offered by the latakia seems to be in the backdrop of everything else but is noticeable, adding an enjoyable complexity to the blend. The room note was very enjoyable with a sweet creamy vanilla and crispy dry toast aspect. Overall strength was medium and body mild/medium.

Overall Impressions: After the first bowl of Distinguished Gentleman I wasn’t immediately reaching for a refill, however, wasn’t turned off by the blend either. The tobacco is of the utmost quality and the experience was enjoyable, I just wasn’t blown away by anything the blend had to offer.

Full review at: https://cedarboxcigarreviews.wordpress.com/2017/09/19/distinguished-gentlemen/