Drew Estate Meat Pie

The very smoky, woody, earthy, musty, incense-like, herbal, floral, sweet, lightly spicy Cyprian Latakia is the dominant component. The Orientals provide a fair amount of earth, wood, floralness, spice, herbs, vegetation, sourness. some incense, and mild buttery sweetness as an important supporting player. Their effect prevents the blend from being a Lat-bomb. The Virginia offers mild tart and tangy citrus, sugar, bread, vegetative grass, floralness, and a pinch or two spice in the background. There’s a very mild sugary citrus casing that tones down the tobaccos a mite. The strength is a couple of steps past the medium threshold. The taste is a slot short of full. The nic-hit is a notch below the overall strength level. It won’t bite, but it does have a little roughness, and fast puffing may result in a harsh note or two. I recommend a slow puffing pace. Deeply rich, it burns fairly cool and clean at a moderate rate with a very consistent smoky, floral, spicy campfire flavor that extends to the long lingering, pleasant after taste. The room note is very potent. Leaves little dampness in the bowl, and requires an average number of relights. Not an all day smoke. Three and a half stars.

-JimInks

Purchased a few tins when these first were introduced in October 2013 and enjoyed a tin right away. I cellared the other two tins and cracked one open today (1/2018) after doing inventory of my collection. My previous notes were that this is a very nice blend, typical English with just a little something more. I noted the room note was just a tad pungent, but nothing major and if was a medium bodied smoke. For the most part those notes are still correct with the exception of the tobacco has become a lot smoother with age. Of course smoking it in my cob added a hint of sweetness, and ironically it smokes best in my Ukrainian Pear wood bent pipe. There's a bit of creaminess to it, and I really like the way it finishes. Completely recommended to all level pipers.

Drew Estate has a great reputation in cigars, so I thought I'd try some of their pipe tobacco. I'm partial to English style tobaccos, so I gave Meat Pie a try. It's a good English, but slightly milder than I'd like. My gold standards are Dunhill 965 and Perfection. I give this one a 3.

I read the others' reviews and thought this would be worth a try. At first opening, it smelled leathery and tasty. It was good at first light. The tobacco tasted great from the start, but I had a problem getting too much goo in the shank with this blend at first. I set the tin aside for a month or so, and I opened it up again tonight. WOW! It seems to have smoothed out. It tastes even better, and it doesn't seem to goo up my pipe. I did have some smaller pieces that stuck at the bottom, but a few cleaners in and out cleared it up. The taste was worth it. It's not my favorite, but it is very good. Someone mentioned Stokkebye Proper English as analogous. I find it similar too, but it isn't the same. It's smoother, but I don't find it as smooth as Luxury English. Worth a try. I'm going to buy it again.

Nice mix of blacks, browns and tans, seductive aroma of a classic English blend -- smoky, woodsy, spicy with a hint of tire fire to it. Variety of shag, flecks and ribbons show off the diverse components in this blend.

Packs easily, has needed some relights in my experience (more drying time before packing perhaps?) but smokes well overall.

At times (especially middle third of the bowl), this stuff is magical. But I'm struggling to enjoy the beginning and end of a bowl. Maybe I just haven't found the right pipe for it, but I also suspect the particular oriental components might not agree with my palate.

High quality blend and components, just not a personal favorite.

A very solid Medium English. I'd say it has a more pronounced smokiness to the Latakia component. Earthy as well. My tin was dry as a bone as it lost its vacuum seal somehow. Not a huge problem, but was surprising. A bit of hydration added and I was on my way. Burns even and all the way down with a fine salt and pepper ash. No bite. A good blend.

The first time I tried this tobacco I wasn't impressed. Tried it again tonight indoors in a different pipe and have come to appreciate it more. The latakia is at a moderate level; just enough to taste but not overwhelming. The oriental tobaccos provide ballast and character to the mix. This mixture smokes fairly cool. The first time I smoked it I was overwhelmed by a taste of something like creosote, but now don't detect it, only a satisfying meld of the Virginias, Orientals, and Latakia.

I sampled this blend a while ago. I cannot lie, the Blend name made me hesitate for a bit. I genuinely enjoy the names and descriptions of Drew Estate's blends and found this to be a curveball. The creativity of Drew Estate stands out in the origination of this name and backstory. Apart from the description and blend name, the tobacco itself is simply vivacious! It packs well, the moisture is optimal. The rich complexity of this blend is it's draw. It's very smokey with a leather like smell as well. Hints of coffee and some sort of sweetness enters the palate midway. I found that not every bowl is consistent though, it keeps the smoker guessing and on his/her toes. At times, it completely lacks coffee notes, and is supplanted by cocoa like hints. It might be bitter-sweet at the beginning of one bowl and at the end in another. This is not bad, the term vivacious applies. It burns down nicely and even. Not much of a vitamin N kick, or at least in my opinion. It's a rich blend in flavor but very smooth and mellow, much like Dunhill MM 965. However, I find this blend to be a bit more like G.L. Pease Westminster in its robust characteristics. I find it goes well with a porter. All in all, I recommend.

Drew Estates claim they dare to be different with this one. This couldn't be more true. This blend is just kind of weird. Smoky and sweet. Really unlike anything I have tasted. I rather enjoyed it.

I had a small sample of this, probably 4 bowls in total, but I have already bought another tin. I am going to put three stars down now and plan to come back to this review later as I think I may up this one to four later.

10-27-2022 Update

I just finished that single tin I cellared, and I am holding at 3 stars. I think I have just smoked so many latakia blends over time that I no longer find this that unique. One thing that has changed in the 7 years since my last review is that this is no longer made. I do not think this is worth paying big bucks to obtain, but if it is available at a reasonable price then I still recommend it. It is a solid english/latakia blend.