Peterson Hyde Park

(2.96)
Hyde Park is a traditional English blend of bright and dark fired Virginias, sun cured Indian and burleys tobaccos. This luxurious smoking experience is achieved by the addition of rum and maple sugars to pressed mahogany tobacco

Details

Brand Peterson
Blended By Peterson
Manufactured By Scandinavian Tobacco Group
Blend Type Virginia/Burley
Contents Burley, Virginia
Flavoring Maple, Rum
Cut Ready Rubbed
Packaging 50 grams tin
Country Denmark
Production Currently available

Profile

Strength
Medium
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Extremely Mild -> Overwhelming
Flavoring
Mild to Medium
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
None Detected -> Extra Strong
Room Note
Pleasant to Tolerable
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Unnoticeable -> Overwhelming
Taste
Medium to Full
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Extremely Mild (Flat) -> Overwhelming

Average Rating

2.96 / 4
38

30

22

10

Reviews

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Displaying 1 - 10 of 100 Reviews
Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Oct 16, 2013 Medium to Strong Mild to Medium Medium Very Pleasant
OK, I finally had to write a review of this exquisite blend. I currently have a dozen tins of various types of blends (not including duplicates that are unopened and/or aging) and about fifteen other blends in stock. Hyde Park is in my top three of all those blends and in my top five of all time. The tin smell is magnificent with maple/honey and biscuit notes. There is also a little distant fresh soapy scent that comes through. Smoking it, however, is when the real greatness makes itself known. I am a long time smoker, and love cigars about as much as pipes. My favorite cigars mainly being those that Don Pepin Garcia had a hand in blending. There is a certain level of pepperiness to his blends. There is a similar peppery profile that makes its way in Hyde Park. There is absolutely no tongue bite. I think that some novice smokers to these types of blends may be mistaking the pepper quality for tongue bite. It is possible that they are sipping too hard, or some cases have not built up to pipe smoking in such a fashion as to where enjoying such a blend as Hyde Park is possible. I also believe that some smokers cannot handle the nicotine level. While it is not full strength, it does flirt right at the line between medium and full.

Alas, I do digress. The main flavor that makes this blend so great is the sweet, Golden Grahams-like goodness that marries with the perfect tobacco flavors in this blend. It is smoky, sweet and still much more complex than a typical aromatic. I only say aromatic because this blend does have a very agreeable room note. Smoking this blend around others leads to a positive olfaction experience to those in its presence – at least according to those individuals who have complemented on its contribution to a pleasing environment. This has been made known to me on multiple occasions from a plethora of individuals. This may be the only blend that seems to be as enjoyable to the smoker as it is to non-smokers in the space/room. In both cases, it is very pleasant. I hope that Peterson and/or the blender never to anything to change this blend. It is as perfect as it gets. I usually enjoy strong flakes or Latakia-heavy English blends. This one is neither, although the tobaccos appear to be of flake origin and are tinned after being broken and slightly rubbed out. This would be one of the only blends I would give five stars if that was an option.

I want to add that when smoking my last bowl, I was on my deck outside where it was 48 degrees Fahrenheit. I rested the bowl on a chair, headed back inside to do a few things. I left the bowl out there for just shy of five minutes. When I came back outside, I only needed to draw a couple of times, pack it down a little with my tamper, and it was blazing at a more than adequate level again with no need to relight. After a few more sips, it was prime again. It smokes great all the way down until it is just a ubiquitous mass of light-grey ashes. I usually don't know that it is almost all ash until it is just ash. It tastes great the whole way. What a wonderful smoking experience all the way around.

I have dedicated a pipe to this blend. It is a Peterson Shannon with a smaller bowl. I suggest that you also consider dedicating a pipe to this blend if it floats your fancy. Try allowing the cake in that bowl to be built exclusively by Hyde Park. I have another pipe, an old Bonnie Brier, that I used to utilize for smoking this blend. While I do still use that briar for Hyde Park from time to time, I mainly smoke it in the Shannon. It still smokes great when I do use the old Bonnie Brier "Highlands" to enjoy this blend from time to time.
37 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Apr 22, 2015 Medium Mild Medium to Full Pleasant to Tolerable
The maple and rum toppings are mild supporting players, and compete for attention with a mild soapy, floral Lakeland-like essence. They mildly sublimate the tobaccos. The burleys are boldly earthy, woody and a bit nutty. The dark fired Virginias are earthy, woody, mildly floral, with a slight grassiness, some tangy dark fruit, light citrus, bread, and a bare hint of spice. The burleys often dominates the Virginias, but the interplay is essential to this product, and while this is not a very complex broken flake, there’s enough variety of flavors to keep you interested. The strength is medium, while the taste is a couple of steps past that mark. The nic-hit is a step below the strength level, but a little more obvious in the last third of the bowl, eventually hitting the medium threshold. Won't bite or get harsh, but it does sport a few small rough edges. Burns cool and clean at a moderate rate with a mostly consistent, deeply rich sweet and savory, rugged, floral flavor that translates to the pleasantly lingering after taste and stronger room note. Leaves very little moisture in the bowl. Requires a couple more than an average number of relights. Not an all day smoke, but it is repeatable.

-JimInks
32 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Feb 27, 2015 Mild to Medium Mild Mild to Medium Very Pleasant
This is a new favorite of mine in he Peterson's line-up. A quality aromatic with nutty burley flavor enhanced with predominantly maple. It burns cool and very dry for a cased aromatic. And what I really liked about Hyde Park is the fact that it had some strength which is not often found in aromatics.

Pipestud
30 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Aug 27, 2013 Medium to Strong Mild Medium to Full Pleasant
Purchased my first tin of this when it was a highly rated 4 star tobacco ,since then i have watched a handful of reviews drop it's position to 3 stars

How anyone can give this tobacco 1 star is beyond me it has replaced some of my favorites time & time again i find myself wake up in the middle of the night craving a bowl of this, it is sweet sometimes peppery never bites the tongue & has just the right amount of nic ,i find myself going into a dreamy state of contemplation with nearly ever bowl of this

It is the only non flake tobacco i smoke, my other regular tobacco's are irish flake, university flake, 1792, st james, Best brown, FVF, Firedance but to name a few in my rotation but my excitement grows every time i open the tin with this one

I have trusted this website for a lot of the choices i have made in trying new tobacco's & felt i had to defend this great smoke to new smokers or old smokers wanting to try something new ,i know everyone has different taste buds i personally think dunhill flake tasted like old socks but is highly rated ,but to all out there give it a try love it or hate it make your OWN mind up
27 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Jun 29, 2013 Medium Medium to Strong Medium Pleasant to Tolerable
Original Review 6-29-2013

Not what I expected. Not to belabor the point of it being called an english amidst the most conventional understanding of that term, I was most expecting an Irish Whiskey (the Peterson blend, not the libation) type backdrop with the flavoring of the rum and maple as that was the topping indicated on the tin.

I was highly surprised to get blasted with Lakeland scents. It now makes sense that this would be made by GH as the plastic bag did throw me; it is not what one would suspect when opening a round tin from Peterson. I bought this tin last November as is customary for me to do at Ash tobacco in Gaylord for the opener of the Whitetail firearm season. They always have something new there, it's a great shop.

The surprise taste left me disenfranchised at first and I don't think I smoked any more of it until later when I returned home. I really don't get anything maple in this at all. My only experience with maple before was C & D's Autumn Evening where I found it too heavy (and which I now love.lol). This is not like that at all. I also don't really taste the rum. It is pretty much a Lakeland. If you don't like that type of thing, don't buy it.

Based on all of this, you may think I didn't like it. Well, five months later it started tasting pretty good to me. Granted I did not enjoy it as much as GW Best Brown #2, which leads me to believe this might be too heavy in Lakeland essence as the aforementioned is quite light. Nor did I enjoy it as much as Irish Whiskey as that has a little more of a burley taste that I enjoy.

I will add that the plastic bag, albeit crude and inelegant in comparison to other Pete offerings, did a fine job; in the 8 months I had this open, I never needed to transfer the contents to a jar as the leaf never got crunchy.

In terms of smoking properties, it burns well, smokes cool and provides a pretty good hit of the nicotine. It can be a bit monotone, but overall, it is a good tone. It will definitely ghost a pipe, so if you have some to spare, dedicate. Also, this can be smoked all day without a problem, I just did so at a golf outing yesterday and I enjoyed that so much,

Overall recommended to those who are intrigued by the idea of Lakeland aromas on Peterson Kentucky, Va base of tobacco.

Update 8/12/2019

I just finished a tin of this recently and my impressions and rating pretty much stick. The only thing I can add to this is that in the 6 years since I first reviewed this until now, I have finally had the opportunity to try both Rum Flake and Maple Twist by GH. I will say given the choice, I would reach for either of those before Hyde Park, but I still find Hyde Park to be a three-star blend.

Of the three aforementioned, I found Rum Flake to be the best; it is easily worth all 4 stars I have given it. I find it more Virginia forward than Hyde Park and that Virginia sweetness just melded well with the components in the topping (which I feel is pretty much the same for all three).

I have also rated the maple twist as a three star and would only prefer that to HP by a hair. It just comes down to the depth of body that all the twists inherently have, which surpasses what the burley in HP has to offer. All three are great, bite free and tasty.
17 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Nov 10, 2012 Medium Mild to Medium Medium to Full Very Pleasant
I love Peterson's, burley and Virginia's, rum and maple, broken flake, Lakeland taste and Gawith and Hoggart....this is all of these, this blend, without a doubt, is made for Peterson by GH or maybe even SG. It even comes in the same plastic bag inside the tin as GW use. As far as I know Petes other blends are made by K&k and Orlik, some by one, some by the latter. These are two of the greatest blenders in Europe today, they can do almost any blend...but not a Lakeland, only GWs distinctive flavor can be produced in their factory with their centuries old presses.

This is a GWs Rum Flake with more burley and more punch and it is total perfection, TOTAL. They have taken on one of my favorite No.1 blends and made it better...in case you haven't heard its all about outsourcing these days, like it or not there's no going back. Well done to two great giants in the pipe smoking world for putting this gem on the shelves. Top marks.
16 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Sep 09, 2014 Medium Mild to Medium Medium Very Pleasant
Peterson - Hyde Park.

The mixture itself gives off a beautiful/sweet Virginia aroma and is of a great moistness, that said you can begin smoking it right away as it requires zero drying time ... perfect. The broken flake pieces are quite uniform in shape and size, mostly about half to 3 quarters of a C.M long.

The moment I light this, which it does with ease, I instantly get a two word phrase come to mind .... "steady smoke". It seems to me that this would be the quintessential go-to smoke. The flavour is very much full Virginia with an underlying sweetness to it. If I retro-hale the smoke then the rum addition becomes slightly more apparent, not strong at all, only more available on my palate. The nicotine is brill', not strong, not weak but just enough to quench my desire! Throughout the entire bowl it burns splendidly with an evenness that is unequivocally steady. The temperature is great, a mid-temperature so not too warm nor cool. The room-note is, again, brilliant in the fact it gives a pleasing full Virginia aroma with a nice sweet touch but the fullness doesn't match the consistency as it appears quite light in the air. The final good point (for me) is I don't get any tongue bite at all!

A great smoke, well done Peterson!

Four stars.
Pipe Used: Peterson
PurchasedFrom: Smoke King
Age When Smoked: New
12 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Aug 04, 2013 Medium to Strong Extremely Mild Extremely Mild (Flat) Unnoticeable
Hyde Park = HYPE Park, and I'm kicking myself for not paying attention to the ingredients, rather than focusing on the PR. What's so English about this blend besides its place of manufacture. Packaging is excellent, but the product is way too green-or maybe that's just my fantasy (as I bought 5 tins of this in June).

I state it extremely mild-from a taste perspective, but really that's because we don't have the option of "Extremely Harsh" from which to chose:(

As a 4 star admirer of all things G&H, this has no indication of any of that stellar brands' characteristics-plastic baggies are available world-wide.

It's solely on Peterson for this feeble attempt at mixing C Choice maple flavoring with immature Virginias and excessively strong Burleys. "Luxurious smoking experience..." In a pig's eye!

My only option-besides deep-sixing the entire lot, is to hope that my Lord & Saviour doesn't rapture me outta here before I can give this stuff 5 years to age- and then even that might not salvage this otherwise Epic Fail. Here's to being around many years from now for an update. Not recommended in any way, shape, or form!!!

Current Rotation: G&H Top Black Cherry, FMOTT, Bob's Chocolate Flake, Dunhill Deluxe Navy Rolls, Esoterica Penzance
11 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Mar 25, 2014 Medium to Strong Mild Full Pleasant to Tolerable
Well this is a pleasant surprise.

There's a wonderful texture upon opening the tin. It's a rough ribbon-like consistency with bits of broken flake here and there, which makes it easy to choose a texture that suits your smoking preferences. I rubbed it out minimally.

The balance of this blend is really striking, with enough nicotine to make it a nice evening blend, but a mild enough flavor not to overpower you in the afternoon. I dried out a bowl's worth when I first opened the tin--smoked it about two hours later, and the flavors were just magnificent. Woodiness and a slight must from the burley are balanced by a tiny hint of tang from the virginias, and the rum and maple sugars just barely evident on the finish, with a natural tasting sweetness on the front-middle of the tongue.

One year later, I reopened the tin and the aroma is far better than it was even the first day. Rustic, natural tobacco aroma with a remarkable sweetness, presumably from the combination of aged virginia leaf and rum. I'm smoking another bowl of this as I write, and not much has changed aside from the moisture content being much more smokable, and the burley taking a bit more of the spotlight. There is still a mild sweetness lingering on the finish, and the nicotine is hitting the back of the throat, and leaving me with a nice little buzz.

I have smoked about 8 bowls in total over the course of a year, and each time it was a pleasure.

Well done!
Pipe Used: Peterson System 305
PurchasedFrom: ThePipeGuys.com
Age When Smoked: New-1 Year
10 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
May 30, 2013 Medium to Strong Mild Medium to Full Pleasant to Tolerable
Nice looking sand colored broken flake with an inner baggie, a la G&H. Tin scent is reminiscent of G&H as well, with a malty, tobacco-y base and a slightly soapy undertone (no florals). I'm not sure if this is blended by G&H, as per the rumors I've heard, but it does share some characteristics. It's kind of a heavier Rum Flake but the flavor of this one is much cleaner and more focused. The rum and maple sugar taste is very much in the background on this one and the aroma of same even more so. That kind of maltiness lasts down the bowl. It's been years since I've smoked Sam Gawith's Kendal Creme Flake but this one reminded me of that. I should try that one again.

The nicotine in this one is very sneaky. At first I was careful but noticed no issues, then I got caught up in the robust but slightly sweet flavor and let my guard down. The nic hit reminded me to pay attention. Overall, my experience with this one was very positive. It's far from the best "Lakeland" blend I've ever smoked, and it doesn't make my regular rotation, but it's definitely good enough to have around. Worth a try if you're an anti-Lakeland but just want to dip your toes in those waters.
10 people found this review helpful.
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