HU Tobacco Fayyum

The Cyprian Latakia is smokey, woody, earthy, musty, incense-like sweet, and boldly takes the lead without turning this blend into a latakia-bomb. The sugary black cavendish adds a mellow sweetness as a condiment. The woody, earthy, floral, herbal, dry Kentucky is slightly spicy, and plays back up with a hint of cocoa and nuts. The Virginia is tart and tangy citrus sweet, grassy, lightly woody and earthy as it sets the stage for the other ingredients. The cake itself is a little moist and breaks apart with ease. The strength is a couple of steps past the center of medium to strong. The taste is filling. The nic-hit is just past the medium mark. Won't bite, and has fewer rough edges than expected. Not a harsh note to be found. Well balanced, it burns cool, clean and a little slow with a very consistent, deeply rich, mildly creamy smooth, sweet and more savory campfire flavor that translates the long lingering, pleasant after taste. It does leave a slight bit of moisture in the bowl if you don't dry it just a little. Requires some relights. Has a strong room note. Not an all day smoke, but if it hooks you, you'll repeat it.

-JimInks

This blend is obviously dominated by latakia, however not resulting in an "essential" taste, still leaving a campfire taste in the mouth the day after, but much, much more pleasing, which is obviously the dominating characteristic of this wonderful and smart balanced latakia blend.

In these days, regarding the manifold offerings of latakia blends, it is not easy to present something which would draw attention. Fayyum does it !

Probably it is the well chosen decent amount of Kentucky, the lack of Perique, and in particular the Black Cavendish, which might be the decisive factor in this composition. This results in a wonderful taste, rich in "body", but never overwhelming, and along with some "refinement" which I miss on many offerings seen previously. Fayyum appears to me as a true delight, if not even a highlight - 4 Stars !

With the untimely death of Dunhill (Good night sweet, Prince); Fayyum is the resurrected, superior form of Aperitif and My Mixture 965.

Fayyum is closer To Aperitif than MM965, due to the higher Latakia content. The Latakia in Fayyum has a creamy leathery, yet perfumery and campfire taste. There is a mild sweetness from the Virginia and Cavendish tobaccos, with the Virginias having sweet citrus overtones and the Cavendish balancing the blend. Unlike Aperitif and MM965, there aren’t any Orientals in the blend and the Kentucky tobacco in Fayyum plays the supporting role instead, adding a mild spice and further depth to the smoking experience.

Overall, a great blend and will be a part of my daily rotation with the demise of Dunhill. An excellent (and better) alternative to MM965 and Aperitif.

The Fayyum Mixture is very similar to the Fayyum Kake, which I smoked first. Yet the two got some significant differences!

Whilst the Kake is very "oily" (best I can describe it), almost ethereal in taste, the mixture is rather "dry". In the Kake the sweetness is a bit more intense, so is the Latakia. In the mixture the sweetness is more tamed and its more intensly earthy and woodsy to me... Cavendish and Latakia have a totally different character in interplay and the Kentucky is a little more prominent than in the Kake cut.

I couldn't say which one I prefer.. the Kake is bold, intense and far from being an All-Day-Smoke for my gusto, but a very excellent nightcap or after-dinner smoke! Insanely intense flavours, oily/ethereal-ish texture, whilst the mixture is the tamed, All-Day-suitbale twin brother of the two! I like the mixture for its woodsy and earthy merits, whilst I like the Kake for its intense aroma... hard to say and I think I'll go with both for my rotation! 😉

Either way both are superb blends and the Fayyum Mixture is a 4-star blend just as the Kake is! Both favorited! I never would've thunk that such high ratios of Latakia as Hans uses for his English blends would appeal or work for me... but it does so damn well! Somehow he manages to use high ratios of Latakia (50-60%) and still leave room for the other components to shine and interact in the blends - great!

With just about two thirds of Syrian Latakia in Fayyum, it is obviously a Latakia lovers delight, the remaining 35% is taken up by dark-fired Virginia, Kentucky and Black Cavendish. Now, the blender Hans Wiedeman does not use a lot of BC in his blends so in this case, he must have envisioned a slightly sweeter English than his other ones, and it works! This could just be the blend I have been looking for as I like a lot of Latakia and a touch of BC. A great addition to his already great line of Foundation by Musico high quality tobacco's.

Not much to add here. Wonderfully balanced full latakia blend, on the sweeter side due to the black cavendish. A little moister than other english, but that helps maintaining the taste and is no flaw regarding its smoking qualities: no gurgle and only (as mentioned by another reviewer) a wee bit of moisture on the ground of the bowl.

It definitely reminds me of Peterson's Old Dublin tastewise (syrian latakia + bc), but imo it's smoother and has a lesser tendency to bite. Also it's fuller, richer, there's more to "chew".

I have to disagree with one of the reviewers in terms of mustiness. Or maybe not and it is a mere linguistic problem (with English not being my mother tongue as you "may" have noticed... ;-). To my mind it IS musty and to no small amount. That sweet, delicate taste of decaying leaves with a hint of mud and more than a hint of thickfertile soil, lovely! This is exactly the taste that I seek in a latakia blend. So far I only have found it (to sufficient amount) in Dunhill's Nightcap, in the aforementioned Old Dublin and maybe (been a while) in My Mixture 965. Two of them contain cavendish (MM965 + OD), one doesn't, so I really don't know what exactly creates that taste.

Easily 4 stars.

P.S. To my fellow Germans: I urge you to give it a go WITHOUT a filter! 😉

After the Old Dark Fired from MB I've also tested the new Foundation tobacco Fayyum blended by Hu Tobacco. The Fayyum is a strong english mixture. A good portion of latakia mixed with a bit kentucky and firecured virginia and black cavendish. The recipe does not sound exciting, but the result is quite impressive. The Fayyum is a gorgeous blend paired an ethereal flavor with the richness of chocolate kentucky tobaccos. In addition cryptically always a slightly sour note to give the tobacco imparts freshness. Despite the high proportion of the Latakia is not dull or musty. On the contrary the Fayyum has something special in itself that I can not describe. This makes the Fayyum not only absolutely interesting but it also makes addicted.

4 stars from me, because it is an high class interpretation of the english tobacco direction.

Upon opening the tin note is sinuous and silky, smoky dried figs and prunes.

This has the aroma of the noble "old blends." The ribbons are medium length, dark to dark brown in color. The blend requires little drying.

Notes of toasted cereal, hardwoods, leather and cocoa. The Cyprian Latakia is exquisite. Not all Cyprian Latakia is the same, I'm discovering, and this material is top-shelf.

The bowl note is absolutely marvelous. I found myself often wafting the smoke from the bowl toward myself.

There is no harshness, no dryness, and no aftertaste. I could detect no chemicals or humectants of any kind, and the blend doesn't bite in the least.

Sipping this blend yields complex and delicate smoky, floral notes. I would recommend this as an all-day blend, as the intricacies of it show through particularly well in the morning before the day has dulled the tongue's senses.

Structurally speaking, this blend smokes well in all the pipes I've tried, with each format having the expected effects upon its flavor. Wide bowls pair well with the delicate qualities of the blend, while taller chimneys build upon its stout characters of body.

This is a Balkan blend par excellence!

I just finished smoking a bowl of this in my davorin morta. I am blown away. This is a pretty full Latakia blend, but it has great balance. It smokes very cool and carries a wonderful side stream.

I have been pleased with all the HU blends I have tried so far. This is one of the best lat blends I have tried, so I highly recommend it.

I was able to sample this one also from the club. Thanks PKT. This appeared to be a soft cake, a really heavy Latakia blend with the usual smell of leather, spice, etc. With 65% Latakia this kind of reminds me of Pirate Kake. Produces lots of smoke and would be a great blend sitting around a camp fire in the winter time. Not sure what the African Line means unless some of the tobaccos are from the African Continent. Not sure what Fayyum means as I only could find the definition of Faiyum - Middle Egyptian culture contemporary with Badarian culture in Upper Egypt.