HU Tobacco My Special One

In Hans' description he says " there are just some things we don't talk about" . A fitting statement of description for this blend . The tin note is , well , confusing .Since I dedicate my pipes to a single type of tobacco I had trouble deciding which pipe to smoke it in . I settled on an unsmoked Golden Burl . Maybe it's me , but I didn't taste any of the specifics that Jim speaks of. No figs and raisons , no virginia sweetness , no Kentucky spice , nothing that I could recognize at all except the latakia which does make it's presence known throughout the smoke . It was , however , a real enjoyable smoke with a taste of it's own not to be compared to anything that I have ever smoked . Hans has taken us on a new adventure here . If 4 guys smoked this you might get 6 different opinions , all good , but none specific . Smoke on a day where you think you have figured everything out , then you will know that humans are fallable .

My review is based on a small sample I was gifted with which I smoked three bowls.

It seems to consist of mostly ready rubbed flakes of mixed cut. Contains tobaccos of all colors and I did not detect any added aroma. The moisture level of my sample was just right.

Mechanically it is a very well behaved tobacco which smokes cool, at a decent pace and does not leave and dottle.

The taste is medium but intriguing, unusual and quite complex and it gave me the feeling of being very natural tobacco taste. At times I seemed to taste more of the yeasty, tangy Virginias and other times the earthy and smoky Kentucky and a slightly cigar-like Burley. One thing My Special One is not is monochromatic. It’s not very sweet either; I’d say it plays on the savory side. Now as far as Latakia is concerned, I did not notice it in my first bowl but I realized that it had crumbled at the bottom of the little pouch and I might have failed to load any in my first bowl. Yet I did taste it on the two subsequent bowls. Still Latakia is lightly used and adds a leathery nuance to the blend. Perique on the other hand I could not taste.

Nicotine wise it quite satisfying without being strong - I don't think it's a particularly strong blend - and room note is tobaccoey, not pleasant for a non-smoker. Overall it’s a very good tobacco with elements from many styles of blends, at times it even tasted like a mild English. I wish I had more to smoke to understand it better. As it stands for me, it is at least a three star tobacco. Had I smoked more I might have liked it even more.

The reviews give a somewhat varied opinion of this blend in terms of it's taste. In particular what dominates the blend. This causes me to want to throw my hat into the ring. Starting with opening the tin I smell a fruity mixture such as figs and raisens. I found the moisture level too high so I dried the tobacco out over night. After smoking a couple of bowls I decided to rub the broken flake out so that packing and lighting would be better. Once these steps were taken the blend was easier to smoke with fewer relights required. The total experience was enjoyable, but for me, not HU's finest achievement, but certainly a good smoke. I experienced a mostly Virginia, Kentucky, blend. The perique was spicy, almost too spicy. As for the Latakia, it rounded out the blend giving solid fullness. I didn't taste the Latakia, but I experienced it in how it affected the blend. Over all this blend is a testiment to the art of blending. Each tobacco has a purpose and is crucial to the smoker's experience. In terms of giving this blend three stars as opposed to four stars it is because of my preferences of one type of tobacco compared to others. As a grade for the blender's achievement I would give it the full four stars.