E. Hoffman Company Distinguished Gentleman

The Cyprian Latakia is smoky, woody, earthy, lightly musty, with a little sweet note and is at times, the most noticeable component. The tart and tangy citrusy, grassy, slightly floral and sugary Virginia mostly forms the base of the blend. The burley is nutty, earthy, woody, lightly molasses sweet and a little toasty. Its effect varies through out the experience, mostly being a secondary player. The sugary black cavendish is a condiment. The pleasant rum topping rather mildly sublimates the tobaccos. The strength is in the center of mild to medium. The taste is a step past that mark. The nic-hit is a slot past the mild mark. No bite or harshness present, and has few rough notes. Burns cool and clean at a reasonable pace with a fairly consistent flavor. Requires an average number of relights. Leaves a little dampness in the bowl. Has a pleasant, short lived after taste, and room note. An all day smoke.

-JimInks

I really liked Distinguished Gentleman and when this tin is gone I might just get another. Part of the fun of this hobby for me is smoking as many different blends as I can get my hands on, so, I don't usually take the time to smoke the entire contents of larger tins. But I did with this one. I guess my palate and this blend just got along together. I did find it way too mild on its own, but after adding some Five Brothers (strong Burley that absorbs tastes of other tobaccos without offering much of a taste of its own), I hit the lottery! The flavors of all the different tobaccos in this one, while subtle, come through in a manner that begs attention without slapping you in the face. I can somewhat compare this one to the old House of Windsor Barking Dog.

Pipestud

Greetings everyone! This is not a coincidence that "Thedstnguishdgntlmn" is reviewing "Distinguished Gentleman". I have been a customer at Iwan Ries for over a decade. They are the Nicest folks on the planet and run the best Pipe store in the world. My gratitude to Chuck, Susie, Kevin, Ron, Adam, Keith, & Mike for their friendship over the years and now for this new tobacco. Now, on to the review. I greatly enjoy crossover blends. I would often go into the store and tell the guys some of my FRANKEN MIXTURES that I would create using Iwan Ries blends. One day they asked me to try their new , and at the time Un-named blend. I was very impressed. It was sweet, mild, smoky, and very cool.Little did I know it would become Distinguished Gentleman.

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The Blend is a Shag/Ribbon cut. About a 50/50 mix of light and dark tobaccos. When you pop the tin you are greeted by a wonderful old timey aromatic smell. It is fragrant but not in a syrupy way. You cannot quite put your finger on the flavor. At first light you will be greeted by a sweet and crisp flavor. It is actually like biting into a nice cold apple. The smoke has a TEXTURE to it. After about 2 minutes it develops into a creamy and slightly sweet flavor, yet all the while maintaining a true tobacco flavor. At this point you will begin to taste the slightest wisp of Latakia. From then it is all smooth sailing. There is absolutely nothing I can compare it to. It is not a crossover like "just for him" blends. They are very good but you taste Sweet Cavendish then Latakia. This mixture has all the elements come together to form a truly unique flavor.I will say that if you enjoy 3 Star tobaccos and Latakia this will be very satisfying. It is unusual and needs to be tried. Not for the Latakiaphile or the Candy crowd but definietly for true connoisseurs of fine tobacco. Well worth a try. P.S. The room note is heavenly while you taste a little Latakia. 4 STARS!

I got a free sample of this from Ash Tobaccos in Gaylord, Michigan. This is a great shop I visit every trip up north. Every time I visit they have a new surprise awaiting me. Last November for Whitetail Rifle season, they had this and the Spillman Mixture in the 7 oz. cans. I was hesitant of making such a large purchase so they gave me a sample to try. Like I said, great store.

I enjoy the reviews of the distinguished gentleman below, so I was excited to try this his namesake. The tin aroma threw me. while I was expecting an aromatic english blend the smell actually repulsed me a bit, but I ventured on with the first bowl as I was leaving the store. I was not overly impressed so I put it aside and jarred it when I got home.

Some time definitely did it some good as in four months time I started to enjoy the blend. I finished my last bowl last night and will likely buy that 7 oz can after I smoke through some more of my stock. I am pretty heavy in this genre at the moment.

Here is my impression after a month of smoking this blend daily. The mesmerizing tin aroma is very misleading as it completely disappears when fired up, so it's useless to build expectations on it. The flavor is very subtle, so it should be smoked in a closed area to relish it fully, also DGT is recommended, otherwise you might have the impression that you're smoking tap water. It has zero tongue bite.

Update on 15 Feb 2013: Maybe it has to do with a few month's aging that I began to like this blend a lot more as it proved to be an excellent morning smoke when my senses are still not very keen. Upgraded from Recommended to Highly recommended.

This is truly a fragrant tobacco with an intoxicating aroma. Literally. Not your typical aromatic at all. The topping and casing give it an old time flavor that will make you want to take your socks off and put your feet up on a table. On the Pipes Magazine Radio Show podcast Episode 84 Chuck Levi said this was a recreation which was originally labeled as recommended by distinguished physicians and thedstnguishdgntlmn claims that he loved it so much they used the name. This is a storied blend of old and new. I definitely recommend buying this just to try it if not for the lore alone. I asked in the IRC shop what the secret ingredient was but they refused to tell me saying it was a secret or something like that. I do not smoke aromatics but this being distinguished as a crossover I will always have some of this laying around because it tastes great.

This is now what I imagine, when people say "sweet smokes". The tin smells of some spice and burnt leather. With a soft topping. Maybe from the black cavendish? Who cares....its good! This is spicy and smokey. But it also has just a subtle sweetness to it, not enough to take over, just enough to gently soften the spice. I didn't notice that topping sticking around much longer than a few minutues after my char light. Which is a-ok with me. I didnt get any bite...which surprised me. Smells great in the tin. Smells great burning. And smells good on your ratty old sweater on a chilly fall day. Stick this in your pipe, and smoke it. Thats it.

Distinguished Gentleman comes in a nouveau-retro tin that includes olde tyme labeling and two blue paper tape “seals”, just like the best OTCs had, Way Back When. It’s a crossover blend featuring short ribbons and small chunks ranging from light tan, to red-ish, medium brown, to black. The tin note includes smoky and musky VA/Bur tobacco under a very fragrant, spicy, masculine potpourri topping that’s rather like bakery spices and exotic, woody incense. Whatever it is, the topping fades considerably over a week in a re-closed tin. As for smoking it, DG worked best for me after some rest and loaded into a 3-4 pipe. This tact delivers both the best burn and the least compromised tastes. DG lights with patience, and right away it smells even better than the tin note, and it tastes OK for a while. However, it gets muddled by 1/3 unless I maintain an extremely slow cadence, to the point where it barely burns. Germane to this, re-lights that cause no problems in the early going make for bad tastes later on. At its best DG features slightly smoky, earthy, damp hay from the VAs under the slightly musty, rather bluff, earthy Burley, with the topping just proud of the tobacco. There is some sweetness, also some sour and some bitterness, and there is plenty of smoke. The topping finally craps out around 3/4, leaving a fairly ordinary tobacco blend alone to the finish, which is about 7/8 for me, when it goes out and doesn’t want to re-light. Strength is mild. Tastes are medium. Room note is pleasant. Aftertaste comes around to the best of the smoke.

I think the best of Distinguished Gentleman is worth 3 stars. Unfortunately, I can’t consistently get its best, so I guess I’ll have to give it a 2, which means I can see where someone else might like it, but I don’t like it enough to keep messing with it, especially when I can smoke, say, Savinelli’s Essenza Cipriota instead.

Spilman Mixture's more elegant and subdued brother. Is it possible to be too civilized? Mmmmaybe. I still like it though. The cavandish makes this a different tobacco but the family resemblence is unmistakeble. I think of this as a late evening smoke, when the day is winding down. A man needs a tobacco like that around and this is mine.

This reminds me of 4 Noggins, " Bald Headed Teacher" but instead of a strong vanilla it has a strong rum topping, both with Latakia overtones . This is also similar to Boswells "Premium Burley" that has whiskey topping and stronger Burley. In any case, I feel the Burley comes through stronger than I like and the topping tends to have some bite, this might improve with age. I will not buy again.