Drew Estate 7th Avenue Blonde

I occasionally smoke aromatics and really enjoy a few. 7th Avenue is not one of them. A strongly cased black cavensidh dominates the flavor, with an overwhelming vanilla flavor reminiscent of Mac Baren Vanilla blends. Too sweet and lacking much natural tobacco flavor for my taste. Smoked OK a little wet. I doubt I will ever finish the tin I have.

When I learned Drew Estate was coming to the world of pipe tobacco, I had to grab a tin ASAP. While I love English blends as much as the next guy, I figured I would make my first foray into this new line with an aromatic. Thus, we have 7th Avenue Blonde.

Upon cracking the tin, you get vanilla. It is an interesting, smooth, and earthy vanilla. In fact, it's unlike any other vanilla aromatic I've tried. It has the character of a good French vanilla, in reality. Not your typical super-sweet, synthetic vanilla extract-laden blend. More so the scent and flavor of the vanilla bean, itself.

The moisture level out of the tin was just about perfect, and ready to smoke. The crumble cake broke up easily with a gentle rub. It translated into a consistent, easy burning smoke. After the charring light, with proper tamping and aeration, a relight was never necessary.

7th Ave. is a cool burner for sure. I smoked this fairly fast. One would have to puff their brains out to get tongue bite here. Even at the bottom of the bowl, I did not have to dump the ash, and there was little to almost no ash flavor coming through at all. The tobacco stayed front-and-center all the while.

This is a well made blend, with quality constituents. You get the sweet character of the Virginia and Cavendish, along with the subtleties of the Burley. I do detect Oriental poking through. It all comes together in a sweet, light blend. Retrohale is pleasing, while the room note is also pleasant, and wife-friendly.

All-in-all this is a good all day smoke. Very mild, medium-strength blend. It is missing the true tobacco-punch, and seems to be geared more towards fans of scent and sweet. I am glad I tried it, the quality is impressive, but I wouldn't add this to my aromatics rotation any time soon. So many amazing blends out there still to try. If you are a avid fan of either vanilla, Drew Estate, or both, give it a shot.

Tin note of vanilla, spices and sugar. Tobacco is a Ribbon cut of tan, dark brown, black and dark brown. Moisture content is great. Burns moderately with few relights. The strength is mild and nic is mild. Flavoring is mild to medium, with notes of Vanilla. Vanilla flavoring flares up in the initial light, then moves to the background where it remains. Taste is mild to medium and mostly consistent, with notes of vanilla, sugar, fermented sour, savory, marshmallow, dark tangy fruit, peaty vegetation, spices, herbal floral, tart citrus, bitter, acidic, a sweet woody background note, and a peppery retro. Cavendish is leading with Burley, Oriental/Turkish, Virginia and Flavoring supporting. Room note is pleasant, and aftertaste is good.

Not too long ago I was gifted quite a number of tins from a nice lady whose uncle unfortunately passed away. Among those were two tins of this so I decided to try one. From the internet: “7th avenue park slope is a name-brand Brooklyn neighborhood known for its organic food markets and picturesque, pedestrian-friendly sidewalks. Prospect Park, charming cafes, and plenty of public amenities contribute to the neighborhood's small-town vibe.” Now that is out of the way, here are my thoughts. Upon opening the tin I was hit with a very strong very sweet tin note. Upon lighting, my first thought was of Apricots though this says Vanilla. I have smoked this in my Chacom Volcano and in a Ukrainian Pipe made of Pear wood. I must admit I do not smoke the Aros like I use to, but this one tasted super sweet, almost too sweet for my tastebuds. It tasted like what a super scented air freshener smells like. Nothing wrong with the blend but I guess by not doing aromatics very often it sometimes takes me by surprise when I get hit with an aro bomb. It did tone down a little bit toward the end of the bowl. There is no bite whatsoever. It will probably do some time before I finish them both if ever. If I had not moved, I could have just brought them into our San Diego Pipe Club and passed them around but I am out of state. Maybe I will mail it too a friend of mine and he can take them to a meeting. Speaking of friends, we lost a great gentleman last week and I miss his texts already and really enjoyed his company at the club while I was there. He lived his life enjoying the heck out of his cigars, pipes and tobacco. He will be sorely missed.

7th ave is a perfectly good aromatic tobacco. While the flavoring is a bit strong, but it works with, and doesn't mask the tobaccos used in this blend. The more I smoke, I find a mildly sweetened black coffee/tea flavor overtakes my palate. I've decided to smoke much of this blended with PA. I'm no master blender, so feel free to disregard this idea as heresy, but this really has worked for me. As I allow 7th ave to dry a bit and mellow with the burley in PA, I enjoy each smoke more and more. A fine tobacco, but likely not the best 🙂 Too flavored for me, but pleasant all the same.

I like a milder vanilla aromatic at times, and this one does not overpower you with the topping. Burns well, smokes light and is very pleasing as an all day blend. Not my favorite of the Drew Estate line, but one that I would recommend you try.

This is a Vanilla based blend that seems to improve as the tobacco dries out. I think the proper approach to this tobacco is to open the tin and leave the cover off for at least 30 minutes the first time it is smoked. It has a lot of flavor, but the added flavorings can seem strong initially.