HU Tobacco Port Latakia

The smoky, woody, earthy, musty sweet Cyprian Latakia comprises fifty percent of the blend. The creamy, buttery sweet, woody, earthy, herbal, mildly floral and spicy Orientals are supporting players. The tangy citrusy, grassy sweet Virginias also sport a little dark fruit, wood and earth as a condiment. I’m not sure about the added sweetness, but it’s mild, and doesn’t interfere with the tobaccos. The strength is medium while the taste is in the center of medium to full. The nic-hit is medium. Won’t bite or get harsh, but does have a rough edge at times. Burns cool and clean at a moderate pace with a very consistent, smoky semi-sweet, deep and filling flavor from top to bottom. Leaves little dampness in the bowl, and requires an average number of relights. Has a pleasantly lingering after taste. The room note is a step stronger. Not an all day smoke. Formerly known as “Sweet Latakia”.

-JimInks

Hans does it again, this time with Sweet Latakia. It's lightly aromatic and a purist would call it such, but I prefer not to as I think it falls more into the “cross-over” category. If you are thinking of Sillems Black, don't. Sillem's Black, a highly rated Latakia aromatic, has far more casing than Sweet Latakia, but there is no doubt in my mind that the sweetness in SL is derived from more than just the Virginia's. I prefer medium and medium/light Latakia blends so this wouldn't be a regular rotation smoke for me but as with all of the HU blends I have tried thus far, it's hard not to rate this as a four star blend. Well done!

Latakia is the key player in this delicious blend from micro blender Hans Wiedemann. The sweetness is derived from the addition of a little sweetened Virginia and not from any major flavouring agent. I do not know if Syrian or Cyprian latakia is used but my guess is the latter because of the blend's smokiness. Together with Viginia and Oriental grades, this makes for a blend that is easy on the palate, smoky and sweetish and of light to medium body. Don't let this one get away! Rob

Like most English smokers I don’t often enjoy aromatic tobaccos. They often taste artificially sweet and lack depth and complexity to me.

Port Latakia along with Two Friends English Chocolate are exceptions to this “rule”.

Port Latakia is most certainly flavored unlike the listing here on TR says. It’s got a stewed fruit/raspberry kind of topping that allows the smoky, creamy, Latakia still shine through. This is what I would consider a great crossover blend for an aromatic smoker looking to get into English blends. It’s very easy to smoke, has a pleasant room note and still has some complexity from the Latakia and orientals (barely detectable) playing harmoniously.

Towards the end it can taste a bit empty and ashy-y like a typical aromatic. But this is still a great blend for those cross over types: either for a beginning English smoker or a devout English fan looking for a blend to smoke in mixed company.

Not something I’ll keep in my regular rotation but a nice change of pace that’s on par with my top aromatic of choice - English Chocolate.

I've been wanting to smoke a bona fide sweet Latakia for ages, not that there's no sweetness to be found here and there in more or less any tobacco, but an actually sweet blend. When I decided to crack Khoisaan I wasn't looking in my drawer so absent mindedly picked a tin up thinking it is Khoisaan while it was in fact Port Latakia. I only checked the label a split second after the sweet, vanilla-like smell hit me. This is clearly not the type of sweetness you get when opening say a VaPer, it is artificial for sure, but it is soft and delightful. Sniffing the tin quite a bit before loading a lighting gave me that sweetness at the start, and the Latakia underneath, and this is exactly how it smokes.

The first half of the bowl is vanilla-like sweetness backed by Latakia smokiness, and a good body. It is definitely nowhere near as stout as the previous three blends, this is easygoing and relaxed. No harsh taste to be found anywhere, the Latakia content is at 50% so no tire fires or creosote. Midway through the bowl the sweetness of the toping dissipates and the Latakia comes to the foreground, supported by Virginia giving it body, and the Orientals giving it a cumin-like spice. Black Cavendish is also listed on the tin (yet not on tobaccoreviews), which is likely the carrier of the sweet topping. 4 stars

Airy applies it very well. There is no body here to speak of.There is a bit of a danish flavour in the back what makes it a "Sweet Latakia". The virginias and orientals are far too weak to weight the ncotinless latakia out. And so we have a extremly mild tobacco here which is the case really often when it comes to heavy latakia blends. Because latakia HAVE ALMOST NO NICOTINE. The strength catogery is mistakenly used here . Most smokers means strong in flavour and rate it in strength also high. Especially Port Latakia does not saturate. It is a common english taste with a little danish mixed in. Boring to me

As others have said this is an aromatic of sorts with an odd raspberry, fragrant sort of casing, that is a big turn off. This blend has most certainly changed since the earlier versions and is now just sort of a kitchen sink aromatic. With all the good blends HU makes this is an easy pass.

I recently purchased this fellow at Pfeifen Huber in Munich City. And so far, I did not regret it at all. I agree, in the beginning sweetish (really no artificial flavoring? Respect!), and towards the second half of the bowl, it gets more harsh… however, in a positive sense. Nevertheless, I would have preferred the sweetness along with the Latakia throughout the bowl, but it’s fine. Tim note for Latakia lovers (like me) very nice, for surrounding people a shock… well, we Latakians don’t care too much. Only smoked outside. Can’t tell about surrounding impressions of smoke smell… I wished beloved, I fear running away dogs. Again, don’t care 🙂 Strength: I am quite sensitive to nicotine, and I don’t feel too much, so I give it a mild-medium

I don't see Black Cavendish mentioned in the description, but certainly the current version contains it (and the tin explicitly says so). The result is a blend very heavy on Latakia, but also with a pronounced sweetness.

It's an OK blend, but it's very heavy handed and a bit monochromatic for me. Sweetness and strong Latakia, very tasty but not much subtlety.

Recenltly got a few samples of HU blends from a friend. While I really enjoyed Directors Cut and Makhuwa and others. This was a bit of dud. Its sort of just a ho hum balkan, Cyprian Latakia and some virginias. The flavor is pretty flat, not very exciting. Id much rather spend the money on some Arango Balkan Supreme or Hearth and Home White Knight.