Drew Estate Central Park Stroll

UPDATE. This gets much much better when the Tin is opened and reclosed left sitting on your desk for three weeks. I am moving my rating to 4 Stars. THIS is a Great Chocolate Blend

I haven't smoked a Chocolate Blend since my College days. CP is a good aromatic blend Chocolate with a little Vanilla. A very pipey blend. I am really enjoying the tin. Purcahed it because I thought it was blended in the USA by Drew but should have know better. A good Danish Blend. Similar to Stobekkye Chocolate Blend. No bite if you know how to smoke Black Cavnedish just draw easy. Works well. Nicotine level Good. My only complaint with Central Park Blend is that the moisture level is way to high. As with most Black Cavendish they tend to be moist due to thier topping and casings. And if they dry out they burn to quickly and smoke hot. If moiture level is addressed it would be a 4 Star rating.

There seems to be a mindset that one must choose aromatics OR English, and that the former evolves to the latter. I consider such logic a form of bovine colonic effluvia. Smoke what you like. I'm omnivorous, myself, and go back and forth without inhibition. A pipesmoking nudist, so to speak. I do keep separate sets of pipes, though. CPS was an unexpected joy from the Drew Estate lineup. It surpassed easily Sam Gawith's Chocolate Flake as my favorite chocolate scented smoke. It strikes me as a product to be smoked in a hookah because of its sweetness and intensity. Make no mistake, this is an after dinner smoke. While many aromatics can be off-putting with over-the-top flavorings, CPS gets away with it. Two caveats: pipe choice and loading. With my habits, I find that I have to pack unusually loosely unless I use a vintage Kaywoodie pipe with a hole (carburettor) in the base of the bowl. The product is moist and I believe is best smoked that way to convey the flavor. Good ventilation keeps the pipe lit. You will struggle to keep it lit otherwise, and drying loses essences you want to retain. Vanilla is unfortunately ubiquitous as a flavoring in aromatics, yet I don't notice it in this one. I agree with other reviewers: chocolate liquor cake. Perhaps rum. Perhaps a bit of coffee. No fruit. I smoke this indoors in the presence of a chocolate loving woman who adores the aroma and requests me to light this up. She's a keeper, so is this. It doesn't bite, smokes cool, and a medium sized bowl lasts an hour with careful puffing. 4 stars for those of you who like aromatics, 0 for those whose tastes are restricted to English only.

Central Park Stroll is the first of the Drew Estate pipe tobaccos that I tried. On opening the 50 gram tin I found a jet black broken ribbon that was quite moist. The tin note was not that strong, but a pleasant enough chocolate. I loaded the pipe and tamped with my finger. My finger was stained black. I was expecting a difficult light. I gave it the charring light. To my surprise it proved to be the full light. It stayed lit, and needed no tamping.

Once lit, the flavor was fuller than sniffing the tin suggested, a full medium. What did it taste like? Chocolate liqueur cake. It was chocolate, with a little vanilla, and a bit of caramel, as well as (I suspect) a little mocha. Chocolate liqueur cake is normally fortified with chocolate liqueur (not chocolate liquor, which is the term for non alcoholic chocolate put in liquid form). Some recipes use Bailey's Irish creme for the alcoholic note, and the caramel note suggests this may be the case here. But the best thing about the experience was the remarkably smooth mouth feel, which lasted throughout the smoke.

The room note was quite pleasant. It was not as sweet as some aromatics which have a stronger vanilla dose, but one which in my experience has engendered some positive comments.

At the end of the smoke, there was a bit of dark dottle in the bottom of the bowl, topped with a very pale grey ash. I did not find much gurgling from the dottle, but the very end of the smoke veered toward bitterness, my only objection to the experience.

Because this is an aromatic, i used pipes reserved for them, which include several Dr. Grabows, which I smoke without a filter. A Grabow minus filter can be harsh in a full flavored tobacco, but rather than harshness I experienced that soft mouth feel which I found appealing.

Some pipe smokers do not like aromatics. They need not try Central Park Stroll. Those who smoke aromatics exclusively or predominately will probably find this blend to be a winner, and for them I rate this as four star. But those who smoke aromatics as a change of pace will likely find this to be worth a try, and they may find it to be a blend worth repeating.

Even though I have gotten out of cigars, I always liked the ACID line, so I was excited when these were announced by Drew Estate.

The tin note is fantastic, and gets better after being open a while.

This tobacco is a good reason not to lose faith in aromatics. The cavendish burns clean for about 3/4 of the bowl with nice billowing smoke that tastes like eating a black and white cookie. I love it; it tastes sweet without tasting cheap.

The last 1/4 for me always gets soggy/damp, but I smoke a little fast and to be honest, I don't really mind. I mean if you smoke a cigar too fast, same problem (except you're out $10). So I can't detract the tobacco as some of the dampness is probably my fault.

I will say this: the flavor got even better after having the tin open a few weeks, so if the first bowl doesn't meet your expectations, give it a little time. Recommended.

The black cavendish is smooth and vanilla sweet. The chocolate topping is much more obvious than the vanilla and caramel, which are back up support. Very monochromatic. Burns wet even with a little dry time, and leaves moisture and a little dottle in the bowl. Won’t bite, and has no real nicotine to speak of. No harsh spots. Has a pleasant after taste and room note. It’s not bad, but is a very routine entrant in the genre with a little thinness in the strength of the toppings. Not a two star product because of the goop in the bowl and lack of depth of taste, so it’s one and half, rounded down to one, which may sound tough, but there’s richer and deeper tasting mixtures with the same flavor profile at a cheaper price.

-JimInks

I was given a partial tin of this as a gift. Even though the tin was only about 20% full, the tobacco was still very moist...too moist, in fact. It has been very difficult to dry out quickly and and it is very difficult to keep lit. As I type, it is sitting with the tin open -- hopefully drying.

However, the taste is right up my alley. I am partial to smooth burleys and Cavendishes and this fits right into the taste profile of those types of tobacco. It is the first "pure" Cavendish I have smoked, and I am impressed. I find the flavor to have just a hint of chocolate that now and then peeks out of a solid base of a naturally sweet tobacco.

I have ordered a new tin and hope it will be a bit dryer.

I received this as part of an 8 tin sampler of Drew Estate tobaccos with my Tsuge Drew Estate pipe. I really like Central Park Stroll. It really does smell and taste good enough to eat. The tin presence is, to me, a strong bready smell. The tobacco is black and seems to be very moist like it would have trouble staying lit, but it really fooled me, and stays lit just fine. I don't usually smoke a lot of straight up aromatic blends but when I do, I don't want to waste my time with nonsense. This is just a good, nonsensical, mildly chocolatey offering. Once I finish this tin it might be awhile before I revisit it against but would probably buy another, just to have around when smoking around a discerning crowd. It is not offensive to either the smoker or the folks around them.

Ok first lets get this out of the way. On the back of your tin of Central Park Stroll, is chocolate spelled with a "k" instead of a "c" and is the "h" missing from the word "with" so it reads, "wit mellow tobaccos"? Or, do I have a special early Drew Estate tin that one day will be a collectors item and I'll sell on ebay years later for a phat 2 dollars? Its as if some non-english speaking employee went with the google translation and decided to print it anyway.

I'm not an aromatic smoker but Ive been wanting some sweet chocolate flavored/ tasting/ smelling style tobacco for a change. So after reading all the reviews I passed on MacBarens Chocolate and Honey and decided to give Drew Estate, offering a try. I'm a fan of their cigars but not the ACID line. I dont want to light up expecting a great tobacco and discover a heavily perfumed ho rising out of the end of my stick.

Here is my honest description of this blend.

Upon cracking the seal the air fizz let loose a strong smell of a fresh bakery. Thats a first for me. It smelled JUST like one and began to fill the room. I havent even opened the top of the lid yet. When I opened it I dont know what I was expecting but the color of the tobacco was dark black with no variation. It looked like someone had baked a dark chocolate cake and stuffed It in the tin. Next the topping of alcohol was strong and began to release throughout the air. I pinched a bit to check the moisture. It was sticky and instantly stained my fingers with a dark sticky stain. I grabbed my large Apple bowled Bertram pipe and headed to the porch.

Packed easily, char lights lit easy enough. On hard light a Very dense grey smoke poured out the bowl. Tasty. Chocolate. The liquor is there. My daughter doing her homework outside in the sun said, "Dad I dont like the smell of that pipe." I asked, "What does it smell like? She said, "cardboard" That's another first. I was just finishing up that bowl and said. "Its suppose to be chocolate." "Uh yeah ok I can see that." I went inside to get the tin and when I came out the smell of chocolate was in the air as a nice sweet smell. This is a decent blend. Since it was an aromatic you get more artificial flavoring taste than natural tobacco, but every so often I could taste the tobacco and it was good.

Later that night I asked my wife to close her eyes and asked her to tell me what she smelled as I put the tin under her nose. She agreed it was a chocolate liquor cake. The tin after being opened by 8 hours now changed a bit. I swear it smells JUST LIKE A dark chocolate liquor cake you might get at Christmas time. Its equally strong in liquor and chocolate and with the look of the dark tobacco Central Park Stroll is like smoking a cake. I noticed this blend also left a sticky black even covering in my pipe bowl and I would recommend not using your best pipe. I do recommend this blend for the new experience, but I lack experience to judge it according to aromatics and other chocolate blends. However, I believe I have described its behavior very accurately.

Update: Since my review I put this tin away and would get it out when I wanted to smoke a pipe at an event or outing. I made friends FAST. Later, I realized this blend IS REALLY QUITE good! I've toured a few more aromatics and this stuff is awesome! Since my review I have tasted hints of vanilla and the caramel along with the chocolate. The only bad thing I have to say about this blend is it leaves a sticky goopy black mess in your pipe. Don't smoke it in a high end pipe you really care about. I have been smoking it lately in an old frankenstein monster of a pipe I beat the crap out of. Happy Baking.....

Fantastic smoke. Manly taste and aroma. Not too fruity or perfume ridden tobacco. Seem to taste a hint of Figs or something. A great overall smoke with no complaints at all other than the price. Fantastic!

This is a solid contribution to the Aromatic genre. It is bite-free. The flavorings of chocolate, vanilla, and (perhaps) coffee are pleasant. But this is from Drew Estates, maker of the Acid line of cigars...so I was kind of hoping for an offbeat/different interpretation of the standard aromatic type of pipe tobacco in the way that Acid cigars differ from most every cigar, including flavored cigars.

So while this is a fine blend, I can't help but be disappointed that Drew Estates didn't do more with it. Having said that, it's still a good tobacco and I recommend it.

By the way, if you find yourself in Southeast Michigan, stop by the JR Cigars outlet in Southfield (a suburb of Detroit). Aside from mucho cigars, this shop has a nice selection of tinned and bulk pipe tobaccos and a decent selection of pipes, too. And their staff is friendly and knowledgeable.

Govern Yourself Accordingly.