Tobaccos HU Tobacco - Hadde's Best Irish (United Passion)

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	JimInks (3022)	2016-07-18		Medium	Medium	Medium to Full	Pleasant

The light and medium Virginias offer a little tangy dark fruit and tart and tangy citrus along with a few blades of grass along with some earth and wood. The dark fired Kentucky adds some spice, earth, wood, herbs, floralness, light dry sourness, and a little nuttiness as a competitive, complimentary partner. The raisin, fig, plum and spice aspects of the perique are mostly in the background. The rich almond and floral geranium toppings have some strength while the honey adds a smoothing sweetness. The toppings sublimate the tobaccos to a moderate extent. The nic-hit is a step below the medium mark. The strength level is right at medium, while the taste level is a shade past that. Well blended and complex, it burns at a reasonable pace, cool, clean, and spicy, sweetly smooth with a very consistent flavor. You’ll notice most every taste characteristic in every puff. I suggest a wide bowl for this product. Requires few relights, and leaves virtually no moisture in the bowl. Easily burns to ash. Has a lightly lingering, pleasant after taste and room note. Not quite an all day smoke, but it’s repeatable.

-JimInks

13 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	DenizBeck (323)	2017-04-09		Medium to Strong	Very Mild	Very Full	Pleasant

I got this as a sample to my order at HU (Albert Bosch), along with some candies, which made me really happy. Very nice customer-service. Imho things like that - or a hand written note make the transaction personal and memorable. But that's not what I'm writing this for, just wanted to mention it. I'm writing this to honor a very good (tasting) tobacco.

"Typically irish topping" - what could that be? - I was thinking. It's Almond, Honey and Geranium (=a slight flower note). Well...thats a venturesome mix for my taste - yet it has managed to become something very tasty and special.

The tobacco is in good moisture condition and ready to pack and light. Lighting is as easy as packing and once the Irish buddy is burning you're in heaven - provided the smoker likes a floral-sweet topping! ;-)

The topping is very decent, never obtrusive, nor artificial. It's hard to describe, it's floral-sweet. A bit nutty. I guess this is a topping you like - or not! It melts perfectly with the honest and solid taste of the tobacco ingridients.

VA/PER/KENTUCKY - my favorite mix. And hell, they diddnt skimp with the Perique, nor with the Dark Fired Kentucky. The Perique delivers little fruit, more spice and peppery, tangy mouthfeel. The Dark-Fired Kentucky adds a delicious, spicy earth-tone and delicious taste of (burning-)wood. The Virginias are decently in the back. Deliver some sweetness and some fresh citrus-ish taste to make this tobacco in perfect balance.

Is it an Aromatic? I wouldnt say so. Is it a pure natural tobacco? Indeed not. It's somewhere in the middle. The flavouring or topping is just sightly added and never represses the tobacco taste. It just adds a little "freshness" and floral feeling, that flatter the taste of the tobacco ingridients.

A honest, solid smoke that deserves 3/4 Stars for being well crafted and tasty in my humble opinion. Do I need it in my tobacco rotation? Not necessarily. Would I buy a tin of it? Oh, sure! It's a nice filler when craving for sth. sweet or when you want some variety in your rotation. Not an all-day-smoke to me, but I guess it could be to others, who prefer a slightly sweet smoke.

9 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	smoking-rob (79)	2011-09-26		Medium to Strong	Medium to Strong	Medium to Full	Very Pleasant

This tobacco reminds me a lot of Sir William Special Blend with a very similar casing and overall fullness. But here Perique is easily discernable whereas in "Special Blend" it might, or might not, be present (the recipe is a secret). Anyway, on its own this is a very aromatic (predominantly almond flavour) but also a very full tobacco flavoured broken flake, a process that is favoured by its blender Hans Wiedemann and myself as well. Pressing the tobacco brings out the flavour of Virginia, Perique and Kentucky and marries them together. When lit, you are rewarded with a sweet, pungent smoke that is mild, easy on the tongue but one that packs a real punch. I find it immensely satisfying! Hans is a new force to be reckoned with and up there, if not above, the other established micro-blenders. Enjoy, Rob

5 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Stefanos (222)	2017-07-06		Medium	Very Mild	Medium to Full	Pleasant to Tolerable

Yet another excellent tobacco from Hans Wiedeman. It is supposedly an aromatic of sorts but I do not sense much more flavouring in Hadde’s Best Irish than in your average “non-aromatic” tobacco. It has a considerable sweetness which may be coming not only from the tobacco itself, but nothing here smells or tastes artificial. This means it should appeal to smokers of non aromatic tobaccos mainly.

It comes in a mixed cut of ribbons and broken flakes of different hues of brown. The tobacco seems well aged. Tin note smells of natural tobacco and if I try hard I can also smell a slight perfume, floral and honeyed possibly. I do not know if it is my tin but to me this is not an aromatic.

It lights easily and has a perfect mechanical behaviour, it smokes dry and burns slow and completely to the end leaving only fine ash.

The taste is quite complex but not on your face, rather nuanced I’d say with Burleys and Kentucky being more prominent. It is nutty, at times cigar-like but honeyed/sweet at the same time and smooth and also mildly spicy. Do I taste almonds? I am not sure, but everything in Hadde’s Irish tastes natural. Hadde’s is a wonderful tobacco mixture.

4 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	doc'spipe (241)	2017-04-19		Medium to Strong	Mild to Medium	Medium	Pleasant

I anxiously awaited the arrival of Hadde's Best Irsih...10 days from order to USA doorstep. A beautiful dark brown rubbed out broken flake at a perfect moisture content. Very subtle honey/vanilla/almond tin note with the slightest of floral hint (not Lakeland at all). Loading and lighting were without effort as was keeping the tobacco lit. The Kentucky and Perique presence really lent some oomph to the smoking experience. I've never been a fan of Perique but it was certainly complementary here. I really enjoyed the subtleness of the flavoring agents and for those put off by anything floral, if I didn't read that beforehand I'm sure I would have missed it. Whatever it is added to the overall experience. For my tastes, I'm finding subtle is better - especially where high quality tobacco leaf is used as is the case here. I must say that I find the honey addition to be the best handled I've ever experienced in a tobacco. A highly satisfying smoke that garners 5 stars.

Pipe Used: Stanwell featherweight half bent Dublin

Age When Smoked: Fresh from tin.

Purchased From: pfeifendepot.de

4 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Uncel (3)	2017-10-07		Medium	Medium	Medium	Pleasant to Tolerable

The Hadde`s Best Irish is a middle to dark brown ready rubbed flake. The tin note is a fruity and spicy. It makes appetite to smoke this blend. The handling is easy and after three times to light the tobacco burns very well. The smoke is cool and dry and absolutly uncomplicated. The taste is between an aromatic an a natural tobacco. It means the fruity, light soapy aromatisation is a teamplayer with the Virginias, Perique and the Kentucky. The taste is complex and interesting. From time to time the Kentucky is is more present and the taste is wonderful spicy with fruity notes in the background. This makes this blend absolutly interesting and it`s far away from an danish aromatic blend. I can recommend this blend all natural lovers and all aromatic lovers who like a flavor in the irish style. The taste is not harsh and without tongue bite till the end of the bowl.Very well made and of course 4 stars . This blend shows me again why I`m a fan of HU Tobacco.

Pipe Used: Rattray`s

Age When Smoked: fresh

Purchased From: Esterval`s Pipehouse

3 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Jonno51 (11)	2021-03-01		Medium	Very Mild	Medium	Pleasant to Tolerable

Tin note - Sweet, nutty, spicy, slightly astringent

Appearance - a mix of mainly dark and rich brown ribbon, with small pieces of broken flake. The tobacco was on the dry side of 'ready to smoke', despite a reassuring hiss when I popped the tin open

Impressions - It lights well, with plenty of smoke and ends as ash after one relight two thirds down the bowl, with no heat issues despite the apparent dryness.

I found one review on YouTube in German with subtitles, and it was interesting. The blender, Herr Wiedemann, describes it as a hybrid tobacco, neither standard nor aromatic. I agree and would suggest it is much closer to standard. Those of you who hold up a cross when someone says 'aromatic' should not be put off. It is an interesting smoke, with all sorts of tastes popping up - sweet from the honey topping and the Virginias, nutty from the almond, smoky/woody from the DFK and the occasional cigar like note as an unexpected bonus. I didn't get get any floral at all, but the Perique was there all right, a lingering tingle at the back of the nose after the retrohale.

If you can get hold of some, it's definitely worth trying. A masterclass in the subtle and sparing use of toppings to create a different and satisfying smoke.

Three stars from me. I will revisit that once it has been jarred for a few months, and rehydrated a touch.

Pipe Used: Vauen 4415 bent briar

Age When Smoked: Tin arrived this morning

Purchased From: German website via a friend

Similar Blends: Like nothing I have smoked before.

2 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	hawky454 (107)	2017-06-18		Medium	Medium	Full	Very Pleasant

This one really hit home. I got the recommendation for this tobacco from mister lowercase and after he turned me on to some of my now favorite tobacco blends it was a no brainer that I had to try this one too.

The top note just perfectly works with the underlying tobacco and is an excellent choice for the warmer months. This is by no means similar to the Lakeland style blends but it does have a subtle floral note that really enhances and brings the tobaccos to life. I am not a fan of American aromatics mainly because they seem to use inferior leaf and drown out the flavor with some cheap tasting aro-chemicals and they're usually void of any real tobacco character. You won't find that here, no, this is in line with the best of the traditionally scented European classic tobaccos that are unfortunately hard to find in the US. This one has character, not just from the top note but from the top quality tobaccos used. Unfortunately this one is not available in the States either but I would highly suggest seeking this one out, along with all the other blends in the HU line up.

Essential

Pipe Used: Savinelli, Neerup

Purchased From: Esterval's

Similar Blends: Scandinavian Tobacco Group (STG) - Erinmore Flake.

2 people found this review helpful.