HU Tobacco Dockworker

I have now finished the tin and decided it's time to review this blend.

Expectations are funny things, they can really make or break an experience. It'd be good to try new things with an open, and more importantly unprejudiced mind.

Burley and oriental is an unusual combination, so let's see what it's like.

Smell from the tin is mildly fruity, sour, with a hint of sweetness, and this sets the stage for the smoke. Flakes are nice and easy to break apart or fold and stuff, both methods work, with the folding of course giving a longer smoke, but perhaps slightly less intense flavour than rubbing out.

Initially I found this blend somewhat weak, certainly weaker than my usual smokes, and the taste threw me. Sweet and sour is not my thing, I need either or, not both together. Well, in time this blend grew on me, there's an underlying sweetness, and a hint of some fruit topping, but the main taste is sour/bitter/herbal. The whole thing is very nicely crafted and works as it's well-balanced. Finishing the tin I know I enjoyed it, but won't be missing it or buying it again - I know the point of the blend is to showcase this contradiction which is inherent in Oriental tobacco varieties, and it succeeds very well, which for me justifies 3 stars, although for me it is a 2 star blend. Edit: downgrading to 2 stars as I know I wouldn't buy it again.

Tin note is very tangy with a fruity aroma which reminds me of pineapple or even blood orange. Nowhere near being an aromatic though, the aroma either is natural or very congruent to the tobacco. I’m sure I’ve encountered this aroma before, was it in G.L. Pease’s Temple Bar, I can’t really remember. The flakes are thin and break very easily not need to rub out. The moisture is just about right to smoke straight out of the tin but there’s room to dry further if one wishes to.

Easy to light, the smoke is a little sharp, not particularly bity though. The taste is quite citrucy especially in the beggining, with orientals adding perfume. Dockworker is a quite juicy tobacco, if that makes sense, it has a lot of flavour. Taste quickly moves from fruity to tangier and woodsier Burley flavours with fair complexity and a nice interplay between the bitterness of the Burley and the sweet flavours from the Virginias and the Orientals.

Strength is medium or a little past it. It’s better sipped as it might get hot. Does not really need many relights and smokes to the end. Overall Dockworker is a really nice tobacco, not very smooth as I said but that is should not be considered necessarily as a minus – goes well with strong beer (IPA).

I'm smoking this tobacco for a few years on a regular base now. Luckily nothing has changed about it, except the size of the tin. There's not really anything to add to the other four-star reviews. This blend is unique, the taste is full, nutty and chocolaty (one could say that theres added flavour, but I doubt it) and it burns quite well after a litte time to dry out. Never had any tongue bite. I prefer to smoke this tobacco mostly in spring and autumn and i cant really say why. The taste doesn't really fit to hot temperatures imo but even better to a cloudy and humid day when I'm walking the dog in the fields.

This one is wonderful. First half of the bowl is dominated by the spiciness (from orientals?). And then it comes! That irresistible sweetness of chocolate complemented with moderate spiciness. Something like chilly chocolate. But better!

This is my first experience with HU tobacco, and I must say it has been a pleasant one. What we have here is a rather maneuverable flake that can be easily broken down, actually if you rub it between the palm of your hands just like you would a stick to light a fire it breaks down so nicely that you cannot even say it was a flake to start with. A tad moist out of the tin, but just he way I like it. The overall taste is citrus in nature, more sower than acidic, with a tad of hay and a tad less of earthy hints. It burns well, slow, no gurgle, no bite, and a nic hit somewhat above mild. I don't believe it's too complex in nature, although I do find it very pleasant. The slow pace of burning may give you a long lasting smoke, so depending on how much time you have on hand I do recommend some bowl size pondering. Even a shallow bowl gives one a good hour of this fine balanced smoke.

Rated as medium, I found this to be very mild in the vitamin N division and my first impression was of chocolate. I’m glad I tried this in the summer months, I was expecting this to be a more robust Tobbacco to be saved for more cooler times, leaves a pleasant mouth feel, the flakes in my tins came slightly moist, so a little air drying was required, my wife loved it. I found myself adding a flake of Rustica to give it any flavour and send to the background the chocolate. I may be tempted to buy one or two more tins once I’ve finished burning my way through the 5 I bought, I’m on my 3rd tin now although I’ll probably be more tempted to buy HU’s Dark Moor which is claimed to be strong. I must admit I gravitate to the stronger blends, Lakeland Dark to start the day, with Dark Plug u/s taking up a fair bit of the remainder along with St Bruno flake and Salty Dogs (Plug) it’s not a days smoking without the obligatory plugs IMHO.

I'm testing a few HU mixes and so far Dockworker easily takes first place as it's the type of tobacco I enjoy the most.

The tobacco comes with the perfect humidity to load immediately. I would say for preservation it might be on the dry side. Once the pipe is lit, the tobacco is gentle but at the same time full of nuances, I suppose provided by the range of virginias from different parts of the world, to which burley is added and a bit of Turkish Oriental. The burley rounds out and enhances the virginias as I have not seen in another mixture. There seems to be some discussion about the occasional flavors coming out of the fruity kind, but they don't really seem to come from any coating being applied, they seem natural. After smoking a few pipes I was sorry I only bought one tin, so I quickly got a few more.

Dockworker has meant a great discovery for me, to the point that it has made me get serious for to write this review...

Dockworker is pretty aptly named. It's a stout, no-nonsense burley flake. It's not hard to imagine someone who actually works at a port smoking it. A burley for the burly. That sounds about right.

The tin note for Dockworker is not far from what you'd expect from a burley. There are aromas of raisins, cocoa, a slight mustiness that likely comes from the oriental leaf, and a smidgen of vinegar. There are no obvious toppings, so whatever humectant HU decided to use for this one is very subtle.

The smoke itself is a little different to its unburnt aroma. Dockworker has a rich, dark flavour, comparable to espresso or a maduro cigar. It's earthy, woody, dark, salty, and almost leathery, while at the same time being quite creamy (again, much like a cigar). This we can attribute to the Malawi burley, which takes centre stage for the duration of the smoke. However, there are also other flavours creeping around in the background. There is the tell-tale mustiness of oriental leaf that was heralded by the tin note. This gives the smoke a mildly funky, fragrant edge that complements the burley in a way that might not normally be expected. In a narrow bowl, the orientals have a heightened presence, and provide more competition for the burleys flavour-wise. In a regular or wider bowl, the orientals are more muted and condimental. There are also minor notes of black pepper, grassiness, and hay, the latter two likely coming from the virginia. These flavours come forward in the retrohale to accompany the general earthiness of the burley. Despite the addition of virginia leaf to this blend, there is no virginia sweetness to be found in the smoke. Its presence was likely added merely to soften and smooth out the strong burley flavour. If so, this was done successfully. Dockworker is dark, but not coarse.

As expected from the tin note, there is no obvious topping or flavouring detectable in Dockworker. Whatever casings were used, they are unnoticeable and do not intrude flavour-wise. It should be noted that Dockworker can develop an ashy bitterness if pushed too hard, though the blend does not require a great amount of discipline to properly enjoy.

I would not classify Dockworker as an all-day smoke. Truth be told, though I always have some jarred, I do not smoke it often. While the blend is not a nicotine powerhouse, it is still, as first mentioned, very stout in flavour, almost to the point of excess. While its tin note promises raisins and cocoa, in the bowl it is closer to soil. For the burleyphile, however, this is not necessarily a bad thing.

3rdGuy

No doubt the HU line are great tobaccos. This is my least favorite of the ones I have tried for 2 reasons. First was that I found it very light in the flavor department. Orientals a lot of the time seem to leave me wanting more but when they are working in a blend it is a special thing. I did not find it here. The 2nd problem was the humectant. It was a bit of a pain getting the bowl lit and it was every time. Too much work for little payoff in the end. My tin was from 2016 so with 5+ years of age I can say this blend just didnt do it for me. Hopefully it will for you because I would still recommend trying all of the HU blends.